The 18th December saw Starfish’s final show of 2008.  Throughout the Autumn & winter months, Starfish used poetry and dance to explore how colours felt, tasted and sounded.  5 new poems and 1 new song were written, recorded and performed, whilst the core dance members of Starfish choreographed and performed Dance With The Rainbow which brought the show to a colourful end.

Over 150 people joined Starfish for their Afternoon Tea Party on Thursday 23rd October 2008 at the Tithe Barn in Carlisle. All of the usual Starfish entertainment was on show and this time included a demonstration of sequence dancing. All the proceeds from the Tea Party helped towards the new Starfish polo shirts.

Following a successful and highly productive 2008, Starfish celebrated summer with an afternoon of music, dance, comedy and art at The Salvation Army Hall in Abbey Street, Carlisle. The show was full of the usual Starfish originality and fun, guaranteeing that their audience would start summer with a smile on their faces!

In April 2008, Starfish premiered Journey at Theatre by the Lake during part of the annual La’al Fest. The show explored some of the many journeys that we take in life and apart from the usual trademark Starfish elements of music and dance, the group highlighted issues such as discrimination in the workplace and accessibility on public transport. As usual, Starfish wrote and performed Journey, but this time some of the group turned their hands to directing a large majority of the performances.

In December 2007 and January 2008, Starfish were back in action with a Best Of production plus some new bits added in.  In this production Starfish invited their current audience members to take a stroll down memory lane, and for those of them new to the fold, it was a chance to see what they had missed from previous years.  This was the first production of the new season and it lived up to the promise of delivering “sheer entertainment”.  The performance also acted as a launch for the Starfish Celebration 2008 CD.

Starfish United! is a musical that developed from an art workshop during which some of the group began to talk about their favourite football teams. The conversations soon began to turn to the subject of how good it would be if there was a Starfish team and how well they would do due to the fact that everyone was so friendly and supportive of each other. Many of the pictures that were drawn and painted were of hands, so it was decided that they would provide the scenery for the production.

Based on a true story, The Weavers is a production highlighting the plight of the Carlisle weavers during the 1830’s. It focused two families: the Riggs, who were very poor and worked many hours in the mill, and the Fergusons, who owned the mill, but spent most of their days playing croquet on their lawn. Once again, the script and all the songs were written by the participants. The show was performed at the Tithe Barn in Carlisle and Theatre by the Lake as part of the La’al Fest 2007.

This is an interactive installation using natural and synthetic textiles, shells, feathers, metal, stone etc. which explores the sense of touch and has been exhibited at Cockermouth School, Rheged Discovery Centre, The Tithe Barn and was shown on display at The Sands Centre, Carlisle early in 2007.

Following a short performance concerning healthy eating during a conference at The Rosehill Theatre in Whitehaven, Starfish decided to develop their ideas into a full length show called The Fantastic Fruit Show. It was performed throughout 2006 at Theatre by the Lake, La’al Fest, The Brewery Arts Centre and The Tithe Barn, whilst musical numbers that had been written for the show by the participants, were performed to over seventy people at Tullie House Museum in Carlisle.

Two shows written by participants and inspired by their drawings, which led to performances in 2005 at Theatre by the Lake in Keswick and The Tithe Barn in Carlisle.

Christmas Carnival

In December 2004, Starfish performed a series of short drama pieces based on animals. They also sang songs such as Hound Dog, Kumbaya and their own composition, The Starfish Song.