Monthly News
Bath Lit Fest at The Mission
03 / 2011
Last weekend, The Mission Theatre was delighted to host a packed programme of events as part of the Bath Literature Festival. This is the first year that the Festival has appeared at The Mission, celebrating the fact that the Lit Fest has started to embrace theatrical performances and dramatic works as well as talks and discussions. The theatre was a hive of activity with Mr B’s booksellers set up at the rear of the auditorium and the Green Room Bistro upstairs providing a meeting and greeting point for authors and performers as well as serving delicious lunches, snacks and drinks to audience members.
On Thursday 3 March Melanie Pappenheim and Rebecca Askew presented FLAM, a unique piece of voice theatre penned by the brilliant Orlando Gough. The two protagonists met over a cup of coffee and discussed rumours, kept secrets, argued, fell out and made up – through startlingly effective sounds and music but almost no lyrics. The duo blended harmonies and perfect timing to move the audience from comedy to tragedy with great effect. The evening was completed with four short songs written specifically for the Lit Fest.
Friday night held the first performance in England of Leave To Remain, a journey through bereavement incorporating live music, silence, ritual and storytelling. Playwright Jo Clifford and actor Suzanne Dance shared their experiences with the audience, with an excellent cello accompaniment adding to the peaceful yet moving atmosphere.
We really hope you managed to catch The Man on Saturday 5 March. This fantastic play was one of the highlights of our weekend – an incredibly clever and innovative piece of writing that was excellently performed, staged and directed. The protagonist, Ben Edwards (played here by James Graham, the playwright) is struggling to complete his tax return for the past year. While searching through his old receipts, randomly placed with audience members, he tells a hilarious and heartfelt story of his life and loves, triumphs and tragedies.
On Saturday we were also graced with a visit from Timothy West. The popular actor and boating enthusiast was joined onstage by canal expert Tim Coughlan to discuss the life and works of writer and engineer Tom Rolt. The fascinating talk was complemented by never-before-seen video footage of Tom on the waterways around Bath and Bristol in the early 50s.
Our busiest day was Sunday 6 March with 5 events occurring throughout the day. With the Bath Half Marathon taking place just on the other side of the road, audiences waiting for events to begin downstairs enjoyed a bird’s eye view of the runners from the comfortable warmth of The Green Room! It was a day of intellectual and amusing discussion from Margaret Heffernan, Deborah Kay Davies and Louise Welsh, plus entertaining and thought-provoking talks from popular crime writers Jo Nesbo, Mark Billingham, Howard Marks and Caspar Walsh. The festival drew to a close on Sunday night with a beautiful performance of Fado Poetry – lyrically read by Mimi Khalvati in both English and Portuguese and accompanied by music from Helder Moutinho.
We hope you were able to attend some of the events in this year’s exciting Festival, and here at The Mission we would like to thank all of the performers, organisers and stewards for making the weekend so successful and enjoyable.
