Thomas Dolby has one powerful memory from his childhood home on the eastern tip of an island off the coast of East Anglia: a beam of light forever flashing along his bedroom wall coming from a nearby lighthouse. When he found out the lighthouse was to be closed, it hurt. And he took action — well, creative action.
He got all James Bond and went on to the island to film the area, despite warnings that the U.K. Ministry of Defence wouldn’t allow it (for one, because of the potential for unexploded bombs). The clever musician, famous for his iconic ’80s tune “She Blinded Me With Science,” put together an award-winning short film called The Invisible Lighthouse and is now on tour performing a live theatrical version that will be performed in Toronto tonight at 99 Sudbury.
Why is this lighthouse so important to you?
I think I feel a very strong connection to that coast. My family goes back generations there. There are buildings I walk or drive past that were built by my ancestors. When I first started my music career, I moved away. The place has a very powerful atmosphere. It is very sparsely populated, and it is on the front line with Europe. There are relics of generations of invasions: Vikings, Napoleon, Nazis; there are crumbling concrete blocks, dissolved into the beach, used to be tank traps.
How did you react when you first heard of its impending closure?
Well, I felt a deep sense of loss, really. I just sort of took it for granted, that light on my bedroom wall. It seemed emblematic of my childhood. When I started filming and researching, I realized what I was digging into was memory itself.
It sounds like there was some danger involved in your filming the lighthouse.
Well, I asked for permission to visit the island. They said no. You need all sorts of permits, a guide, stay on the path, etc. So I did my own dawn commando-style raid up this muddy creek. I hid my boat in the rushes, and I went around the island staying low to avoid detection. But because the whole episode was a bit James Bond, I sort of hammed it up a bit with a flying helmet and goggles and shot some of myself with a quadcopter spy cam.
What can we expect from your show in Toronto this month?
I’m going to be bringing another performer, Blake Leyh, who is actually a world-class sound designer who has worked on movies like The Abyss, TV shows like The Wire. And he’s going to do foley sound effects onstage, and we’ll do as much of the score, narration and sound effects as we can. It is really quite dramatic.
I’m guessing, audiences will demand certain songs from, say, the ’80s?
I don’t mind playing it, my old hits. Generally what I do is, after film, there is a Q&A with the audience, and I explain the context for the film, what we were trying to do and the technology that I used, which is all very affordable, really. Then I play some songs, requests and old hits, favourite obscure songs, whatever. The last part is more just about music.
The Invisible Lighthouse Theatre Tour, 99 Sudbury, Oct. 30