DO NOT MISS…
CAPTAIN SWING’s MESSAGE TO MICHELDEVER
A unique opportunity to be part of a professional delivery of
J. R. ACKERLEY’s long poem ‘MICHELDEVER’
dedicated to Henry Cook, the youngest SWING RIOTER executed in Winchester Gaol in 1831, and performed on the site of his monument and his burial.
PLUS a select range of writings from Lord Byron, John Keats, John Clare, William Cobbett and the exceptional Hannah More (author of ‘The Riot’) who were active contemporaries in the Captain Swing era.
7.30 -9.00 Saturday 22 June, St. Mary’ Church, Micheldever SO21 3DA
Tickets priced £14 (including a free drink before the performance)) are available through
Featuring Samuel Collings from the Emmy Award-winning drama King Zedekiah, the BBC, and Shakespeare’s Globe and Nigel Bradshaw who played lead roles in the West End before he was 21 and has directed, produced and acted on three continents. Also participating Professor Bill Lucas and Professor Christopher Mulvey from the ENGLISH PROJECT.
LEGACY OF A LEGEND
The SWING RIOTS of Autumn 1830 devastated Hampshire. Arising out of a decade of agricultural impoverishment they involved thousands of people across more than 70 Hampshire villages including, notably, the Dever Valley. Put down with severity by the Duke of Wellington, the Lord Lieutenant, the riots left a powerful legacy of memory, journalism and poetry. Most notable in modem times is the poem Micheldever written in 1940 by J.R.Ackerley, then the editor of The Listener, and inspired by the experience of 19 year old Henry Cook. This is an outstanding opportunity to hear this poem performed in situ.
The production is under the auspices of
THE CAPTAIN SWING RIOTS BICENTENARY COMMEMORATION ENGLISH PROJECT
