The Barn Theatre in Cirencester have today announced that they will host a special evening event with Michael Morpurgo on Friday 25th March, to raise money for Michael and Clare Morpugo’s charity Farms For City Children.
The evening event will consist of a performance of Vicki Berwick’s stage adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s The Mozart Question followed by an audience with Michael Morpurgo, hosted by the Barn Theatre’s Artistic Director and Chief Executive Iwan Lewis. The evening will also include pre-show canapes and drinks and a post-show hot buffet.
The Mozart Question follows acclaimed violinist Paolo Levi as he recounts, to a young reporter, his family’s connection to the Holocaust and the power of music in the hardest of times. The new adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s haunting tale of love, secrets and survival will be directed by Jessica Daniels (The Butterfly Lion, Girl From The North Country) and comprise of an actor-musician ensemble with composition, arrangements and musical supervision by Rudy Percival.
Michael Morpurgo said of his story and the new stage adaptation, “...It is the most important story I have ever written, about the best and most beautiful and most heavenly that is in us, and the worst and most wicked and most hellish too. I have no doubt the Barn are creating a play worthy of the immensity of the tragedy, a play that reflects the power of music to heal, to bring reconciliation and peace in a troubled world.”
The play, which was originally planned to debut as part of the theatre’s 2020 season, will be the fourth production based on Michael Morpurgo’s work to be staged at the theatre and continues their ongoing relationship with the internationally best-selling author. It will run at the Cirencester theatre from 21 March – 30 April.
Farms for City Children is a charity enabling children from disadvantaged communities to experience the adventure of working together on their farms in the heart of the British countryside. Since Clare and Michael Morpurgo started the charity in 1976 more than 100,000 children have been to one of the charity’s farms – Nethercott House in Devon, Lower Treginnis in Pembrokeshire, and Wick Court in Gloucestershire.
During a visit to the charity’s Gloucestershire farm Wick Court, which looks out across idyllic pastures to the reed beds of the River Severn, children will be immersed in the practical and meaningful farming tasks of the day, such as: feeding rare-breeds poultry and collecting eggs, grooming horses, herding sheep and halter training lambs, working in the kitchen garden to sow, grow, tend and harvest the fruits and vegetables and cooking nutritious meals using fresh farm produce.
The event will begin at 6:30pm with tickets being priced at £55. Tickets can be purchased via the theatre’s website or by contacting the theatre’s box office.
More information about Farms For City Children can be found at www.farmsforcitychildren.org.
