Tree Of Dreams music review: Songs from the roots
Storyteller-musician Duane Forrest blends autobiographical tales, gentle fable and soulful guitar into a warm, imaginative work-in-progress
This new show from Duane Forrest (the creator and performer behind Bob Marley: How Reggae Changed The World) is a work in progress that will no doubt continue to develop as it finds its feet in front of an audience. All the early signs are good: Forrest is a born storyteller, of word and song. Tree Of Dreams links both together through a series of stories from his life as the child of immigrants in Canada, his schooling and subsequent travels. Woven in are elements of fable: that a tree of dreams encircles the world and that all dreams must come to be.
Two things take this beyond a simple storytelling session, though. Forrest is a beautiful musician; armed only with a guitar and a couple of pedals, his songs transport you to somewhere else. He’s also come up with an ingenious little prop set-up, using a water tank and a phone projector to conjure up different times and places. This is hugely effective, particularly when he uses oversized puppet pieces to create an illusion of scale. There are some issues to fix with the flow of the narrative, which feels a little confused at times (the central idea of the tree comes a bit out of nowhere and there's a second storyline about a sea creature that has to fight for attention) but this is still a restorative hour that already shows a lot of promise.
Tree Of Dreams continues at the Gallery at the Courtyard Of Curiosities at the Migration Museum until 22 March.