a three day multi-disciplinary arts festival celebrating the life of William Blake in Lambeth (1790-1880)

Friday 28 to Sunday 30 November 2008
various venues in and around Lambeth
public information line: 020 7928 1000

William Blake, born 251 years ago on 28 November 1757, is one of Britain's greatest visual and literary artists; his poetry, paintings and philosophical writings are viewed as seminal works.  In 1790, Blake moved with his wife Catherine to 13 Hercules Buildings, near Westminster Bridge, in North Lambeth; his ten years spent there were some of the happiest and most productive of his life, and ‘Lovely Lambeth’ was a frequent theme in his poetry and art.

Project Blake is a multi-disciplinary initiative run by a partnership of Southbank Mosaics, Futures Theatre Company, and Southbank Sinfonia.  Project Blake aims to develop a shared understanding of Blake's work in the local community, and create a lasting legacy celebrating the life of one of Lambeth’s most famous residents.  A series of drama, art and music workshops with local residents and schoolchildren throughout 2008 culminates with this festival of activities and events, held on and around the great man’s 251st birthday.

Friday 28 November
 Blakespeare: William Blake Birthday Party
The Cavendish Arms Public House, 128 Hartington Road, SW8
Information: 020 7627 0698;  Tickets: £5;  Time: 8pm to 1am
Blakespeare, a maverick pairing of William Blake and William Shakespeare, is the brainchild of spoken word artist AJ Dehany.  Devoted to radical reworkings of the two Williams’ songs and poems, Blakespeare’s musical sphere ranges from Parnassian epithalamia to bawdy balladry, from sweet folk to avant a cappella, from psychedelia to electronic experiment.  Astrud and Jess from all-girl rock group The Rayographs; Shakespeare-ophiles Billy Wobbledagger and His Noble Kinsmen; actor/musician Niall McDevitt and poet/singer/actress Liza Hayden; three-piece experimental performance art outfit Le Couteau Jaune; and veteran beat poet Jazzman John are amongst those taking part in tonight’s 251st birthday celebration.

Beyond (Innocence and Experience): a dance-theatre performance by Anca Anghelina
Three Stags Public House, 67-69 Kennington Road, SE1
Information: 020 928 1000;  FREE;  Time: 8.30pm (running time: 45 minutes)
Bucharest-born Anca Anghelina presents a combination of theatre and contemporary Bharata Natyam (the classical South Indian dance form) to honour William Blake’s poems, specifically those exploring human evolution: from innocence and wonder, through bitter experience, then beyond, to a new dimension of hope and rebirth.  Anca Anghelina is a William Blake researcher, as well as a specialist Bharata Natyam dancer, choreographer and theatre artist.

  Futures Theatre Company: Island on the Moon
Venue TBC
Information: 020 928 1000;  FREE;  Time: TBC
A scratch performance by Futures Theatre Company inspired by William Blake’s poem The Chimney Sweeper.  Island on the Moon explores aspects of childhood: the wonders, the imagination and the innocence.  Through music and dance the audience meet Ned, a child condemned to sweep London’s chimneys, and are taken on a magical journey into his dreams where he meets wondrous creatures who transport him and his friends to an island where rivers flow clear, the sun shines bright and green fields spread as far as the eye can see.

The William Blake Congregation
Blake Room, Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1
Information: 020 7887 8888;  FREE;  Time: 1pm
A celebration of Blake 251st birthday with readings, poetry, song and fellowship.  Open to all.

The William Blake Birthday Book: exhibition
Roots and Shoots, Walnut Tree Walk, SE1
Information: 020 7587 1131;  FREE;  Time: 11am to 4pm
The William Blake Congregation, founded in 1986, celebrates the life and vision of Blake with readings, poetry, song and fellowship.  To celebrate Blake’s 250th birthday last year it produced The William Blake Birthday Book; an exhibition of the book’s original illuminated pages is on show here throughout the festival.

Blake’s Corner
Roots and Shoots, Walnut Tree Walk, SE1
Information: 020 7587 1131;  FREE;  Time: 11am to 4pm
Roots and Shoots was set up in 1982 as a vocational training initiative for disadvantaged young people from Lambeth and Southwark.  The charity soon transformed the one-acre former Civil Defence site - where once a Meccano factory engineering works and barrage balloon launch pad stood - into an eco-training centre, plant nursery, shop, Wildlife Study Centre and Wildlife Garden.  Blake’s Corner, part of the Wildlife Garden, is open to the public throughout the festival for quiet contemplation and reading.  

Saturday 29 November
The Live Literature Company presents Blake a play by Elliott Hayes
St Andrews Church, Short Street, SE1
Box Office: 020 8806 5310;  Tickets: £7/£5 concessions;  Time: 2.30pm and 7.30pm (running time: one hour)
Blake, by the late Canadian playwright Elliott Hayes, is considered by many the finest play about William Blake.  Originally commissioned by the Stratford Festival Foundation of Canada in 1983, this production, first performed to great acclaim in last year’s celebration of Blake’s 250th birthday, is directed by Valerie Doulton and stars Peter Barnes.  Peter Barnes’ professional credits include a role in the recent Brideshead Revisited film.

William Blake Walk
starts: South Bank Lion, Westminster Bridge Road; ends: Hercules Road, SE1
Information: 020 928 1000;  FREE;  Time: 1.30pm (walk lasts approx. two hours)
Jon Newman, archivist, writer, historian and noted Blake authority, leads a themed walk through Blake’s Lambeth.  The walk takes in the site of Blake's home and various aspects of Blake's Lambeth including the popular theatres, charities, and the new housing and industries which were set up after Westminster Bridge opened in the 1750s and which influenced Blake's writing in the 1790s, particularly his Songs of Experience, and most specifically the poem London which Jon will be discussing.

Futures Theatre Company: Island on the Moon
Venue TBC
Information: 020 928 1000;  FREE;  Time: TBC
As before

The William Blake Birthday Book: exhibition
Roots and Shoots, Walnut Tree Walk, SE1
Information: 020 7587 1131;  FREE;  Time: 11am to 4pm
As before

Blake’s Corner
Roots and Shoots, Walnut Tree Walk, SE1
Information: 020 7587 1131;  FREE;  Time: 11am to 4pm
As before

Sunday 30 November
The Universe in a Drop of Pond Water: microscope workshop
Roots and Shoots, Walnut Tree Walk, SE1
Information: 020 7587 1131;  Tickets: FREE;  Time: 10am to 12noon (Wildlife Garden tour at 11.30am; workshop at 12noon)
Following a guided tour of Roots and Shoots’ one acre Wildlife Garden (which includes a talk on the history of the land in this area dating back to William Blake's time), Dr David Perkins leads a microscope workshop entitled The Universe in a Drop of Pond Water (a paraphrasing of Blake's To See a World in a Grain of Sand... ) in which he uses video equipment to show the miracles of microscopic life, in this case (several) drops of pond water from the Wildlife Garden, describing the viewed living things in ecological, evolutionary and poetic terms.  Since 1999, Dr David Perkins has run many projects at Roots and Shoots combining the arts and sciences, introducing 2,000 children each year to the complex goings on in the garden.  

All That We See Is Vision: multi-media celebration
Roots and Shoots, Walnut Tree Walk, SE1
Box Office: 020 7587 1131; Tickets: £5/£3 concessions;  Time: 3 to 6pm
A multi-media celebration of William Blake featuring contemporary poetry, song and film.  Veteran poetry-jazz troubadour Michael Horovitz; actor/musician Niall McDevitt and poet/singer/actress Liza Hayden; punk journo (aka Sniffin Glue’s Steve Mick) turned poet Stephen Micalef; poet/author Jay Ramsay; literary art-rocker and Subterraneans singer Jude Rawlins; and eco-poet Helen Moore accompanied by Ken Masters are amongst those inspired by his continuing legacy performing today; all are contributors to The William Blake Birthday Book, published last year.  There will also be an open mic spot.

William Blake Walk
starts: South Bank Lion, Westminster Bridge Road; ends: Hercules Road, SE1
Information: 020 928 1000;  FREE;  Time: 1.30pm (walk lasts approx. two hours)
As before

Futures Theatre Company: Island on the Moon
Venue TBC
Information: 020 928 1000;  FREE;  Time: TBC
As before

The William Blake Birthday Book: exhibition
Roots and Shoots, Walnut Tree Walk, SE1
Information: 020 7587 1131;  FREE;  Time: 11am to 4pm
As before

Blake’s Corner
Roots and Shoots, Walnut Tree Walk, SE1
Information: 020 7587 1131;  FREE;  Time: 11am to 4pm
As before

Southbank Mosaics has created 24 large-scale replications of William Blake’s art, and these will be mounted in the Centaur Street Tunnel that leads to the site of his former home in Lambeth.  The mosaics and ceramics, accompanied by a sound installation of readings of Blake's poetry by local residents, schoolchildren, and dignitaries/celebrities, will provide a permanent public art piece celebrating his life in Lambeth.  Unveiling details TBC.

www.projectblake.org