Following last week’s news about Stage Right, Isle of Arts Festival organisers have another update. Ed
During this year’s festival we will be flying the flag for some of the giants of literature associated with the Isle of Wight.
Charles Dickens – the Squire of Gads Hill
With the nation celebrating the bicentenary of Charles Dickens’ birth (just down the road) in Portsmouth, Lloyd Lee makes a triumphant return to Isle of Arts with a new show, Charles Dickens – the Squire of Gads Hill. Join Lloyd as the great Victorian novelist working on his final novel, and, in the manner of one remembering old friends, sharing his memories of past creations with us.
Lloyd was an amazing success last year. This year his atmospheric one-man show illustrates the lives of Dickens’ characters and in doing so comes to illuminate that of Charles Dickens, the Squire of Gads Hill, himself. The performance will be held on Saturday 21 April at East Dene, Bonchurch. Previously home to the Swinburne family, East Dene has its own connection with Charles Dickens. While staying nearby to work on David Copperfield, the writer visited the Swinburnes and his children played with the young Algernon Swinburne, later to achieve literary fame as a poet.
Literary walks
If you are intrigued by the colourful writers, poets and artists who have made Ventnor and Bonchurch their home over the past 150 years, photographer David White, a keen walker and engaging raconteur, will be leading two Isle of Arts literary walks on Saturday 21 April, both setting off from East Dene.
David, whose career as a photographer has included assignments for all the top UK newspapers and glossy magazines, will take you on a literary journey past the homes and former haunts of poets John Keats, Edmund Peel (cousin to prime minister Robert Peel), and John Sterling. Learn why prolific novelist Henry de Vere Stacpoole donated the pond to Bonchurch village and hear, according to local folklore, how Charles Dickens based his character Miss Haversham on a fellow Bonchurch resident, Margaret Catherine Dick, who was jilted on her wedding day.
Wight Writers Fair
The Wight Writers Fair on Sunday 22 April will be a chance for festival goers to meet with Island authors.
In addition to buying signed copies of their latest books, there will also be an opportunity to buy antiquarian books about the Isle of Wight and vintage postcards.
Tickets
Tickets for Charles Dickens – the Squire of Gads Hill cost £16 each, including afternoon tea. The literary walk costs £5, including coffee; entrance to Stage Right is £4.00 and the Wight Writers Fair is free to attend.
Tickets for all Isle of Arts festival events can be purchased in advance from our website or via our telephone hotline 01983 862 596 (open Monday-Friday, 10am – 4pm). Tickets are also available at Seasons, 10 High Street, Ventnor.
Image: © Used with the kind permission of Isle of Wight Historical Postcards
