Lorna Rees COMPANY | GOBBLedegook THEATRE
24 ideas about trees
CANOPY is an immersive sound installation by Lorna Rees Company. Joyful, hopeful, and thought-provoking, CANOPY celebrates the connection between humans and trees. Artist Lorna Rees has collaborated with more than 500 people to develop the piece, from ecologists, artists and musicians to writers and young people.
Collect a CANOPY trail sheet from the Inside Out Dorset Information Tent at the main Moors Valley Car Park, find the Green Man Trail and then wander between the strange 24 suspended sonic seed pods in our woodlands nearby to immerse yourself in ideas about trees. Finish the experience at the vintage horse trailer and meet a CANOPY Caretaker where you can share your own ideas about trees. From contemplations by renowned experts, to new songs inspired by trees, you can start at any pod, just pick one that sparks your interest, and visit as many as you like.
SONIC SEED PODS
Moors Valley Country Park
1 What is a Tree?
Artist, philosopher and clown Remi Oriogun-Williams talks about what a tree actually is.
Words by Remi Oriogun-Williams with music Rufus Rusic.
2 The Kingdom of the Grey
Lorna and 7-year old Marcel talk about the mycelial network under the forest floor. Sound design by Jo Tyler. Words by Lorna Rees. Spoken by Lorna Rees and Marcel Riccardi-Rees
3 Oak
A beautiful reflection on Oak Trees - the mother Oak and her cycle. Written and voiced by folklorist, writer and artist Lally Macbeth.
4 Blossom Queens
A song written for a new ceremonial ritual to mark the Spring Equinox in central Birmingham to celebrate the cherry blossom. One of the messages of CANOPY is that we should notice the seasons more and venerate our trees. The song is performed by Three Blossom Queens who bless the blossom. Song written and performed by Lorna Rees, Rufus Rusic and Sandie Wood. Original Blossom Queens: Lorna Rees. Onioluwa Taiwo and Tilly Ingram.
5 Girl in a Tree
Arborist Bianca Thomas talks about being in trees, canopy science and what trees can teach us.
6 In the Neighbourhood of Trees
Author John Grindrod writes about the social history of modern places. In this sound piece he tells us about the beauty of everyday trees, of conkers bouncing on bus shelters, plane trees pushing up paving stones and the roots knitting underneath our streets. Written and performed by writer and broadcaster John Grindrod. with music by Rufus Rusic.
7 On Being Good Ancestors
Tree custodians from the National Memorial Arboretum talk about planting trees for the future, and local resident (and woodland custodian) Bernie Bambury talks about the ways in which trees and nature enhance his life.
8 Endangered Trees
Lorna reads from the State of the World’s Trees Report, a crucial report co-authored by CANOPY scientific advisor Professor Adrian Newton. The State of the World's Trees Report documents the conservation status of the world’s nearly 60,000 tree species and cites that one in three tree species face extinction. Underscored by Rufus Rusic on beats created around an autoharp Lorna lists some of the most endangered global species and those in the UK.
9 Epochs and Instants
A sound work with words and music by playwright and theatre-maker Chris Fittock. Epochs and Instants explores the experience of time by different entities and a moment of meeting between human and tree. Chris is particularly interested in the creative agency of trees across deep time.
10 Communitrees
Dancer, artist and community champion Vrushali Harihar talks about her profound relationship with trees and what they bring to her life.
11 Moors Valley
Moors Valley Country Park opened in 1988 and for the past 37 years it has provided a woodland for leisure and for play. Forestry England manage this award-winning site and talk about the challenges of recent wildfires, forestry management and this beloved place.
12 Wassail
Old Apple Tree, Sung by the community in Chettle, North Dorset. Apple Wassailing is a folk tradition that dates back to the 1500s. This is a traditional Wassailing folk song for the ‘Old Twelfth Night’ in January, to ask nature for a good harvest.
13 The Forests That Were
Award winning Earth Scientist Dr Anjana Khatwa on petrified forests and fossilised trees, recorded in Portland, Dorset. This is a piece about the traces of trees which lived millions of years ago. Recorded on location in Portland by Jo Tyler
14 Ghost Forest, Breathing Forest
Ghost Forest explores the luminous, invisible exchange between humans and trees extending from the present moment into deep time. This sonic meditation is an invitation to feel into our interconnection with Britain’s temperate rainforests which have, over the course of millennia, flourished, died and been all but excised from our landscape and cultural memory. Superflux is an interdisciplinary mash up between James Cook and Zoë Laureen Palmer.
15 Oh Magnolia
A lament inspired by a conversation with ecologist Professor Adrian Newton (who you can hear at the top and tail of the song). Adrian visited the Cloud Forests of Mexico and the extraordinary Magnolia trees within them. Magnolias are an ancient species dating to the cretaceous (95 million years ago) and are one of the earliest known flowing plants. However, 60% of the worlds’ Magnolia Trees are threatened with extinction. Will they survive us? Written and performed by Lorna Rees, Rufus Rusic & Sandie Wood.
16 Can Trees Save Us?
Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service talks about climate change and how trees could help protect us in our cities and built environments.
17 Yew Tree
A song first recorded in a graveyard in the small village of Chettle in Dorset. Yew Trees are the oldest living beings in Europe and are often associated with death. The song is how these beautiful (but deadly) trees to remind us to live, with words spoken by artist and environmentalist Becky Burchell. Written and performed by Lorna Rees and Rufus Rusic.
18 Tree Bathing
Lindsay Death talks through a guided meditation about focussing on the elements around us. Forest Bathing (Shinrin-Yoku) originated in Japan when scientists found that time spent in forests, slowing down and tuning into senses was beneficial to physical health as well as improving emotional wellbeing. Lindsey is the founder of Dorset Forest Bathing, set up to encourage people towards a deep connection with nature.
19 Trees Are People Too
A song written by electro-folk musician Rufus Rusic, inspired by Richard Powers (author of Pulitzer-prize winning book Overstory): “There comes a point when you need to take a forest as seriously as a city, and a tree as seriously as a human being”. Words by Lorna Rees.
20 The Seeds of Future Forests
Recordings of conversations and observations recorded with around 400 school children and Girl Guides about how wondrous trees really are.
21 The Trees of my Father
A deeply personal remembrance about what makes a British Forest by Adam Coshan. Music performed by Collie and Kaz Coshan.
22 Deeply Breathing
Trees breathe – in the daytime they ‘inhale’ C02 and ‘exhale’ oxygen – a process which reverses in the night time. This is a song for the dusk, based on the old German folk canon Wie wohl ist mir am Abend (Oh, How Lovely is the Evening). Music (re)written by Lorna Rees and Rufus Rusic and performed by The Funky Little Choir (with thanks to Choir Director Sandie Wood).
23 Protect our Canopy
Lorna reads from The Royal Forestry Society’s list of 70 Ancient Trees in Britain, with field recordings made by The Major Oak in Sherwood Forest. Ancient and veteran trees are all around us -in our parks, countryside and urban streets.
You can add veteran or ancient trees in your own area to the Woodland Trusts’ ancient tree inventory map.
24 Seed Pod Stories
Around 500 people were involved in the creation of these sound pieces -
ideas about trees, from children to older volunteers, arborists, veterans,
ecologists and clowns. In this pod you can hear all the audio stitched together.
CANOPY CREATIVE TEAM
Director: Lorna Rees
Design and Creation Team: Lorna Rees, Liam O’Brien, Amanda Moore
Vintage Trailer Renovation: Colin Penny (Studio 39) & Lorna Rees
Performance Lead: Natalie Querol
Music: Rufus Rusic & Lorna Rees
Sound: Jo Tyler (Soniche)
Seed Pod Artist Contributors: Becky Burchell, Adam Coshan, Lindsey Death, Chris Fittock, John Grindrod, Dr. Anjana Khatwa, Lally Macbeth, Remi Oriogun-Williams, Superflux (Zoë Laureen Palmer & James Cook) with The Funky Little Choir and Sandie Wood
Graphics: Richard de Pesando
Costume: Sophie Fretwell
Scientific Advisor: Professor Adrian Newton
CANOPY CARETAKERS (National Memorial Arboretum) Loretta Hope, Tom Forrest, Kelly Ward, Zoe Seal with Alyx Gregory-Youngson, Dalena Vo, Sarah Harding, Rebecca Phillips
CANOPY CARETAKERS (Moors Valley Country Park): Lynne Forbes, Lorna Rees, Alice Flynn and Natalie Querol
SONIC ACORNS designed by Liam O’Brien and manufactured in Birmingham by HBS Woodturnings (with huge thanks to Chester)
SEED POD bases manufactured in London at Talbot Designs (special thanks to Charles Talbot and the team for their scrap/unused domes and letting us create our work with them)
Other Contributors: Becky Burchell, Bernie Bambury, Marcel Rees-Riccardi, British Red Cross Volunteer, Funky Little Choir, Malmesbury Park Primary School, Christchurch Junior School, St Ives Primary School, and St Katherines’ CE Primary School and Girl Guiding South West.
From the National Memorial Arboretum: Andy Ansell (Head of Grounds), PJ, Rachel Smith (Head of Learning and Participation), Kate Haward (Grounds Volunteer) Iona Steadman (Social Prescribing Group)
Photography: Jayne Jackson and The National Memorial Arboretum
CANOPY is co-commissioned by the National Memorial Arboretum and Inside Our Dorset, Activate Performing Arts and Forestry England. Funded by Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grants with additional support from Cultural Hub. Presented at the Arboretum by Outdoor Places Unusual Spaces.
SPECIAL THANKS I shall forever be grateful to Chettle, the village at the centre of the universe, particularly to Alice Favre for her kindness and support and to Liam O’Brien for his total brilliance and belief that ‘Chettle provides’. Please visit Chettle Village Store. Thanks to Jarrah Burchell-O’Brien for his help and his stick and to Lilly Barfoot and the Barfoot family. Adele Keeley and the team at the Performance Design and Film at Arts University Bournemouth. 101 Outdoor Arts, the PTECH team for CSSD and the other attendees at the Base Frequencies Lab.
Huge thank you to Caroline Davis, Alyx Gregory-Youngson, Rebecca Phillips, Dalena Vo at OPUS for their support, attention to detail and excellence. Thanks to Kate Wood, Bill Gee and Dom Kippin, Matt Ort, Caroline Suri and Irene Archibald at Activate Performing Arts/Inside Out Dorset, I am proud to be Associate Artist for Inside Out Dorset and our long-term relationship has been crucial in the making of this work.
Four generations of my family have helped me to create CANOPY, I am forever thankful to my partner Adam Coshan, our children Dylan and Rufus Rees-Coshan (aka Rufus Rusic, my youngest son with whom I have spent countless hours creating this work with as he turned 18). My brilliant parents Alex and Chris (t)Rees and to my wonderful Grandad, Colin Penny.
SOUND CONTRIBUTER BIOGS
Adam Coshan is a writer, educationalist and co-founder of Gobbledegook Theatre, a nationally touring company who make innovative cross-art form work for the outdoors, usually about the planet and people. He is a graduate of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Annually, he performs the role of Holly King for the Dorset town in which he lives. www.gobbledegooktheatre.com
Lindsey Death founded Dorset Forest Bathing to make you fall in love with nature by connecting to the natural world in a meaningful way. Simple techniques and scientific information is presented in a straightforward way to enable you to reduce stress and anxiety and lift your mood. https://www.dorsetforestbathing.co.uk
Chris Fittock is a playwright and theatre-maker with an interest in cross-species and multi-entity creative collaboration. He is currently a PhD candidate exploring playwriting as a more-than-human process and is particularly interested in the creative agency of trees across deep time. His favorite tree is the red maple (Acer rubrum). https://chrisfittock.co.uk
John Grindrod is a social historian of modern places. He is a writer and broadcaster who specializes in creating work about modernist architecture, new towns, twentieth century design and culture. His three major books are Concretopia: A Journey Around the Rebuilding of Postwar Britain, Outskirts: Living Life on the Edge of the Green Belt and Iconicon: A Journey Around the Landmark Buildings of Contemporary Britain. His forthcoming book Tales of the Suburbs, on LGBTQ+ people’s experience of suburbia will be published by Faber in 2026. https://www.johngrindrod.co.uk
Dr Anjana Khatwa is an award-winning Earth Scientist who weaves narratives about deep time, landscapes and natural history. Anjana uses clues locked away in rocks, fossils and landscapes to reveal the hidden mysteries and stories about ancient life on earth. Her first book, The Whispers of Rock, is out in September 2025. https://www.anjanakhatwa.com
Lally Macbeth is an artist, writer and curator based in Cornwall. Her work wanders the line between the real and the imaginary, taking in history, folklore, performance, ritual, and artifice along the way. She is interested in the links between high and low cultural artefacts and founded The Folk Archive in 2020, and co-founded Stone Club with Matthew Shaw in 2021. Lally’s excellent first book The Lost Folk was published in June 2025 by Faber. https://www.lallymacbeth.org/
Remi Oriogun-Williams is a Paris-based clown and philosopher. Remi has a degree in Philosophy from Cambridge University and subsequently trained at the Jacques Lecoq International Theatre School. Remi is a frequent collaborator of Lorna Rees Company and is co-founder of DUMBSTRUCK, an international physical theatre company.
Superflux is an interdisciplinary mash up between James Cook and Zoë Laureen Palmer. Working with time, space, speculation and ecological nerdiness we take a playful, intuitive approach to layering organic textures with electroacoustic music, field recordings and sound. Zoë Laureen Palmer is an artist, writer and human ecologist whose award-winning work spans live performance, installation, text and participatory events.
Sandie Wood runs Funky Little Choir. She is a Dorset-based musician, arranger and educator who has inspired thousands of young people and adults to sing through choirs and music clubs. She runs Dorset's largest contemporary choir who have appeared on Gareth Malone's Best in Britain programme. They appear at large scale music Festivals on main stages as well as at community events.
Vrushali Harihar is a Dorset-based dance and theatre artist working as a director and choreographer. Her work encompasses Indian Classical Dance, Bollywood, folk, poetry and plays. Vrushali represents the Arts and Indian Community at a regional and national level and is a committed community volunteer and activist. She has been part of Arts Councils Women Leaders of the South West programme.
Dr Samantha Burgess is Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), working at the science-policy interface to improve understanding of climate risks and uptake of climate services. Within C3S, Burgess leads the climate monitoring, climate observations and quality assurance parts of the programme, working with partners to inform better decisions for society and governments. Burgess has previously focused on environmental resilience, ocean governance and sustainable finance in roles including chief scientific advisor, research director and head of policy in government, the private sector, NGOs and academia.
Bianca Thomas is a former molecular biologist turned arborist and her journey to tree surgery has been anything but traditional. She runs a female-led tree surgery business focused on a holistic, empathetic, and science-backed approach to arboriculture. She works on sustainable practices, and is building a more inclusive, ecosystem-centered tree care industry. Follow her inspiring work on instagram @girlinatree
