Ms. Shipton's Travelling Tea Shop

“Ms. Shipton’s Travelling Tea Shop is nothing short of a modern miracle—a unique, charming audio picnic basket delivered to your ears, begging you to brew your own cup and enjoy warm sips as you take stock of the fun goodies within.” - Jeff Van Dreason (Greater Boston, The Perfect Sentence)

We’re travelling through the English countryside in the first Local Files Club release, Ms. Shipton’s Travelling Tea Shop, a five-part audiodrama from Skadi’s Symphony and starring Greta Clarkson as the eponymous witch. Best known for their series Kane and Feels, Skadi’s Symphony brings its unique take on witchcraft, tea-brewing, and cats to Local Files Club for our inaugural release.

Ms. Shipton’s Travelling Tea Shop follows the adventures of a tea witch who breaks down in the small village of Talford. As she waits for her van to be repaired, Ms. Shipton sets up shop and meets the locals—a farmer, a publican, and a priest—exploring themes of loneliness, companionship, and queerness through five vignettes.

This audiodrama is presented along with a bonus poem, five commentary episodes from the creators and stars, the soundtrack by Oliver Morris, and original art by Rosie Shooter and Stardust Mansion.

“Ms. Shipton started at a kitchen table with my friend Greta,” writer and director Oliver Morris writes. “As she flitted around the kitchen making tea, I was glum, exhausted from a day in the audio mines. Suddenly, this brew was put in front of me that healed my soul.” From there, the idea for Ms. Shipton started percolating—excuse the pun—starting with a 30-minute drama titled simply Girl in a Van.

“If it wasn’t for Amber Devereux, the piece may never have surfaced again.” Inspired by Devereux’s Hello Earth, a tiny audiodrama distributed via .zip file between friends in the know, Morris dug out the original script for Girl in a Van and took another crack at it. This time, Morris wrote “shorter episodes, with a greater emphasis not on everyday problems, but the more esoteric, like grief, guilt, and love.”

Finished last year, Ms. Shipton’s Travelling Tea Shop was originally distributed as an audio zine. The Local Files Club release marks the first time it has been available for wider listening, featuring brand new, never-before-heard bonus materials. “I love Ms. Shipton. It’s short, messy, and weird. I wouldn’t have it another way.”