New perspective on Rudkin monologue at BFI

Published: 4 June 2017
Reporter: Steve Orme

“Great visionary”: David Rudkin

New Perspectives Theatre Company is to host a world premiere reading of David Rudkin's Where There Is No More Sea at London’s BFI Southbank.

Scottish actor Frances Grey will present the 30-minute monologue which tells the true story of Margaret Wilson, a Scottish covenanter who was executed by tidal drowning in 1685 for refusing to swear allegiance to the English crown.

Wilson's story—with “clear, contemporary resonance for Scottish independence today”—stands as a testament to integrity because Wilson refused all offers of pardon in exchange for repenting her views.

Where There Is No More Sea will be the latest instalment of playwright Rudkin’s PlacePrints cycle. PlacePrints is a series of ten new works set in specific places across the UK.

Where There Is No More Sea will be coupled with Rudkin’s cult television film Penda’s Fen at BFI Southbank on Saturday 10 June.

New Perspectives artistic director Jack McNamara said, “David Rudkin is one of our great visionaries and nowhere will this be more evident than in these two stunning works, old and new.

Where There is No More Sea is a brilliant and hallucinatory new work. Penda’s Fen is largely considered the most important experimental film in the history of British television. Together they’ll offer audiences an evening of incredible richness from a mind unlike any other in our culture.”

Nottingham-based New Perspectives has presented live readings of PlacePrints across the country with Michael Pennington, Charlotte Cornwell, Juliet Stevenson, Frances Tomelty and Toby Jones.

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