The Masque of Anarchy
On Sunday I went to the final performance of The Masque of Anarchy, part of the Manchester International Festival. The Masque is a poem by Shelley written in response to the Peterloo massacre, though as the programme pointed out he had a rather hazy grasp of events as he was in Italy at the time. It's not an account of the massacre, but of Murder, Fraud, Hypocrisy and Anarchy (personified by leading members of the British government) riding through the land oppressing the poor while Hope rallies their victims by preaching on freedom; the anarchists are not the radicals demonstrating at Peterloo, but the government that attacked them.
It was performed by Maxine Peake at the Albert Hall, built as a Methodist hall in 1910 but now being revived as an events venue. It's very close to the site of the massacre. I also saw a performance of Shostakovich's Michelangelo Sonnets there last week. It's a spectacular building, and last week's event used the organ. This week, the central space was filled with candles (I took all the photos without flash, to get a more accurate version of the lighting, but that means they're a little blurred. I stopped as Maxine Peake began to speak).
The audience filled the ground floor and the balcony.
I was in the balcony.
This is one of the windows in close-up.
Here Maxine Peake descends to the "stage".
A curiously doll-like figure from my distance, she prepares to perform the poem.
You can see Maxine more clearly in the Guardian review of her powerful performance, which played up the relevance of the poem to today's poor and oppressed.
There will be coverage of the event on BBC Two on Wednesday, though it seems to be an interview rather than a straight broadcast. But with luck they'll include an extract.
Three years later: Maxine has donated an annotated page of her script to the Peterloo Tapestry.
Also posted on Dreamwidth, with
comments.
It was performed by Maxine Peake at the Albert Hall, built as a Methodist hall in 1910 but now being revived as an events venue. It's very close to the site of the massacre. I also saw a performance of Shostakovich's Michelangelo Sonnets there last week. It's a spectacular building, and last week's event used the organ. This week, the central space was filled with candles (I took all the photos without flash, to get a more accurate version of the lighting, but that means they're a little blurred. I stopped as Maxine Peake began to speak).
The audience filled the ground floor and the balcony.
I was in the balcony.
This is one of the windows in close-up.
Here Maxine Peake descends to the "stage".
A curiously doll-like figure from my distance, she prepares to perform the poem.
You can see Maxine more clearly in the Guardian review of her powerful performance, which played up the relevance of the poem to today's poor and oppressed.
There will be coverage of the event on BBC Two on Wednesday, though it seems to be an interview rather than a straight broadcast. But with luck they'll include an extract.
Three years later: Maxine has donated an annotated page of her script to the Peterloo Tapestry.
Also posted on Dreamwidth, with
comments.