Actor Hillard Morley will bring Victorian poet, Charlotte Mew back, to the streets of Newport in a new promenade performance this September.
Mew’s family once ran the Bugle Inn near St James’s Square, now Waterstones, and the poet spent childhood holidays in the town.
StoneCrabs Theatre, which is producing the piece, describes Mew as a remarkable poet who is now rarely celebrated, and says the walking tour sets out to change that.
In the performance Mew’s spirit walks the town bewildered as to why she has returned, retracing old paths and reflecting on what the company calls her ultimately tragic life.
Through these memories, the company says, the piece gives Mew’s poetry the recognition it deserves, and lets her find her own resolution.
The route
The tour starts at the Yellowfin Propeller, opposite Quay Arts, at 11am on Saturday 12th September 2026.
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From there the group walks up to St Thomas’s Square, stopping briefly outside Waterstones.
The tour ends with a visit to the Museum of Island History at the Guildhall.
Following the performance
Audience members will wear headsets from a Whisper system, which lets them follow and hear the performance clearly while walking.
Behind the production
Katie Daysh wrote the piece, and revival director Cody Pevreall leads this staging, which was originally directed by Rebecca Tremain.
Franko Figueiredo is creative producer for StoneCrabs Theatre.
The walk forms part of the Can You Hear Us? project from Creative Island, supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
StoneCrabs Theatre is supported by the National Lottery Community Fund, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Queer Heritage and Collections Network, Historic England and Isle of Wight Council.
