East Midlands touring theatre company New Perspectives will present a staged reading of David Rudkin’s Here We Stay in Eyam Parish Church—coinciding with the 350th anniversary of the plague outbreak in the Derbyshire village.
Charlotte Cornwell takes the central role of Pestis. She is reunited with Rudkin for the first time since appearing in his 1976 play Sons of Light.
The reading tells the story of the plague’s devastation as well as the efforts of Rector William Mompesson to quarantine the village. The performance is to be accompanied by live music from experimental violinist Angharad Davies.
New Perspectives has developed what it says is a “unique” relationship with Rudkin. In 2013, the company presented Rudkin’s The Lovesong of Alfred J Hitchcock in a co-production with Leicester’s Curve which toured regionally before transferring to off-Broadway, New York.
Rudkin has now created his epic Place Prints project—a series of new works which vary in length, each telling a story that haunts the location in question. The cycle marks a culmination of Rudkin’s 50-year exploration of place through his ground-breaking work in theatre, film, television and radio.
Over the next two years, New Perspectives aims to present a number of Rudkin’s Place Prints in their designed location in celebration of the writer’s 80th year.
Artistic director Jack McNamara said, “David is one of the true dramatic visionaries our country has produced. After more than 50 years of brilliant and radical writing, he has now given us perhaps his most beautiful and evocative work. The ten Place Prints, so far unseen, are a major addition to his canon.
“I’m honoured to be able to begin the series in the significant setting of Eyam Parish Church and excited to watch the rest of the works unfurl in unexpected places across the country over the years to come.”
Here We Stay will be read in Eyam church on Saturday 18 July.