Tywyn's annual spooky silent film night is back with an iconic 1920s horror, featuring the 1937 Tywyn Wurlitzer!

A masterpiece of silent cinema. A spectacular historic Wurlitzer. And a soundtrack created live before your eyes.

Experience one of the most extraordinary films of the silent era as it was meant to be experienced: on the big screen, with live musical accompaniment.

For one special evening at Neuadd Pendre, Tywyn, the landmark 1920 German Expressionist film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari will be accompanied live on the venue’s magnificent Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ, with acclaimed organist Aaron Hawthorne returning to Tywyn for his fourth year.

Whether you’re holidaying in Tywyn, staying elsewhere on the beautiful Cambrian Coast, or live locally, this is a chance to experience something genuinely different: part cinema, part concert, and a wonderfully atmospheric night out.

🎬 The film: The Cabinet of Dr Caligari

Strange, sinister and visually astonishing, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari is one of the great films of early cinema, and more than a century after its release, it has lost none of its power to unsettle and fascinate.

A mysterious Dr Caligari arrives at a travelling fair with Cesare, a somnambulist who has supposedly slept for 23 years. When Caligari begins exhibiting Cesare as an attraction - and a series of murders follows - the film descends into a shadowy world of suspicion, obsession and nightmare.

With its famously distorted sets, crooked streets, painted shadows and dreamlike scenery, Caligari helped define German Expressionist cinema and went on to influence generations of horror, fantasy and psychological thrillers.

And with no conventional soundtrack telling you what to feel, live music becomes part of the storytelling.

🎹 Hear Tywyn’s Wurlitzer come alive

Hidden within Neuadd Pendre is something rather special: a Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ.

These remarkable instruments were created for the golden age of cinema, when an organist could provide an entire soundtrack to a silent film from a single console. Far more than the traditional image of a church organ, a theatre organ can conjure an astonishing range of colours, moods and effects, from the delicate and mysterious to the dramatic, thunderous and gloriously theatrical.

For The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, the Wurlitzer becomes part of the film itself.

The score is performed live, in the room, in real time, responding to the action on screen and giving this century-old film an immediacy that a recorded soundtrack simply cannot reproduce. No two performances are ever quite the same.

It’s also a rare opportunity to hear a historic theatre pipe organ doing exactly what instruments like this were built to do: bring silent pictures to life.

🎼 Aaron Hawthorne returns!

Aaron has become a familiar and much-anticipated part of Tywyn's silent-film screenings, combining the traditions of silent cinema accompaniment with his own musical instinct, imagination and flair.

Accompanying a silent feature live is a remarkable skill. The organist has to become composer, orchestra and storyteller at once, shaping suspense, comedy, tenderness and terror while following every twist on screen.

With Caligari’s extraordinary imagery and dark psychological atmosphere, expect the Wurlitzer to show a very different side of its personality.

You won't want to miss this!

Because this isn't simply a film screening.

It’s the chance to see one of cinema’s most influential films in an atmosphere that streaming at home simply can't recreate: a darkened hall, a big screen, an audience sharing every strange twist of the story, and a real Wurlitzer pipe organ providing the soundtrack live.

If you're visiting Tywyn or exploring this beautiful part of Wales, make it one of the memorable evenings of your trip. If you're local, come and experience one of Tywyn's most unusual musical treasures in action.

You don't need to be a silent-film enthusiast or an organ aficionado to enjoy it. In fact, if you've never seen a silent film with live accompaniment before, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari is a spectacular place to start.

One screen. One historic Wurlitzer. One musician creating the soundtrack live. And one of the strangest, most influential films ever made.

Join us at Neuadd Pendre, Tywyn for a night at the pictures unlike anything you'll find at the multiplex.

Tickets

Admission £12, can be bought on the door, or online, below: