May 2019
Winter Hill
Hexagon Theatre present Winter Hill, a play by Timberlake Wertenbaker There are big plans for Winter Hill, and work has already begun on a fabulous new building. But is it a boon for the local economy or a reckless, destructive folly? And why is this group of women gathered here at dusk to discuss female heroism? Is it a book club debate or a revolution in the making? Darkness is falling. Someone is going to die. First performed in 2017…
Find out more »Stroud and the Chartists – A Radical Stroud Walk
Photo: Deborah Roberts
May 26th 1839. Revolution was in the air and in Stroud around 5,000 people met on Selsley Common in support of the Chartist demands for democracy. Radical Stroud commemorates this event 180 years on with a performative walk up to Selsley Hill. Meet at the Kitsch café (opposite Ebley Mill) on Sunday 26 May at 10am. A stiff walk follows up to the common, allowing 3 hours maximum for up and talk and discuss and back down again. The…
Find out more »FIlm premiere: Day of Hope
The Grand Demonstration took place on Selsley Hill in May 1839
Day of Hope is a new community film about the Chartist movement in Stroud. Written and directed by John Bassett of local theatre company Spaniel in the Works, the film explores the fight for the right to vote and the variety of campaign methods adopted to finally succeed. Part drama, part comedy, part surreal journey through the Stroud political landscape, the film commemorates the meeting on Selsley Common which took place 180 years ago, in May 1839, in support of…
Find out more »REVOLUTIONARY music for two pianos
Stroud Festival invited talented pianists Ashok Gupta and Jâms Coleman to put together a programme of music considered at first hearing to be 'revolutionary'. Stravinsky's Rite of Spring seemed a natural choice, with its strident sounds and jagged rhythms, as it had caused a riot at its premiere in Paris on 29 May 1913! Originally scored for ballet, it was arranged as a four-hand piano arrangement in 1913 by Stravinsky himself Debussy brought about a more subtle, but equally revolutionary…
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