The Whistling Girl

About this event

Join Honor Heffernan and Trevor Knight together on stage as they seamlessly flow through rock, blues and dark carnavalesque sounds reminiscent of The Doors and reference the electronica of Kraftwerk. The sheer quality of the musicianship makes these shifts in tone seem effortless.

The release of the album “The Whistling Girl” in October 2017 was the culmination of two and a half years work between vocalist Honor Heffernan and Trevor Knight, who composed the music on the album using the words of the famous American wit, writer and human rights campaigner Dorothy Parker.

After 2 successful tours of Ireland, including an Arts Council funded tour in Sept /October 2017, 2 sellout shows at the Irish Arts Centre in New York in November 2017 and shows in Belgrade Irish Festival, Serbia, Cathedral Quarter Festival Belfast and Cork Jazz Festival .

“Sometimesa role comes along that allows a performer to weave all the strands of their artistry into one darkly thrilling tapestry; Honor Heffernan has found such a role in The Whistling Girl; a daring production that uses music, song and elements of theatre to celebrate the life of the legendary wit and writer, Dorothy Parker.

It was her principal musical collaborator, Trevor Knight who first conceived the idea of setting Parker's words to music. Knight is no stranger to fusing music and theatre and forging a new space between both mediums, having toured the world with Donal O Kelly's “Catalpa.” His range in The Whistling Girl is arguably even more impressive.

Over the course of the evening they will seamlessly flow through rock, blues and dark carnavalesque sounds reminiscent of The Doors and reference the electronica of Kraftwerk. The sheer quality of the musicianship makes these shifts in tone seem effortless.

Parker excavated beauty from the bleakest corners; her wit and words, a brilliant retort to life's cruelty and Honor breaks through, reaching a state of total honesty in her performance, making Parker's words shine like coals, her voice is silk and steel; her commitment, total.

Lyrically and musically The Whistling Girl takes many detours and skirmishes down alluringly lit side streets of human experience; streets that are paved with humor, wit and the wisdom that only comes with life lived to the brim and drunk from it deep.

Billy O’Hanluain Writer, contributor to Arts Show RTE, Arena RTE, the View RTE

“….as fresh and original a collection of songs as you’ll hear this year…. New York critics raved when the show debuted there last month…”

**** Irish Times (Review of CD)

“I thoroughly enjoyed this evening with Dorothy Parker (the excellent Honor Heffernan) and her musicians’ “Vicious Circle” of band members. You will too.”

Theater Pizazze New York

“…this show was massive and completely blew me away…I loved every minute…Heffernan was simply amazing…this was the highlight of this year’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival.”

Michael Barbour (Gigging NI)

Vocalist Honor Heffernan (Neil Jordan’s “Angel”), composer Trevor Knight (Auto da Fé) and their 6-piece band create a spellbinding alternative musical extravaganza of song and spoken word based on the lyrics of American wit and feminist icon Dorothy Parker.

Trevor Knight in his musical arrangements and Honor Heffernan in a career high performance do more than merely pay homage to Dorothy Parker; they reinvent her in such a way that she seems more relevant than ever, here is a show that deserves to win Honor a new, younger and more experimental fan base.