[T]he new Penrith Arts festival will be opened by the wonderful Magic Lantern Show performed by Ian McMillan and Ian Beesley at Penrith Players 7.30pm on Thursday 30th August.
Using a genuine magic lantern projector, poet & broadcaster Ian McMillan and documentary photographer Ian Beesley tell a story of the First World War from the point of view of men who survived it and lived on to old age and a changing world. Here too are the tales of women who worked in the factories that oiled the wheels of war.
The second half finds Ian & Ian exploring the subjects of magic lantern shows – from the natural world to engineering and from local novelties to the far-flung corners of Empire – with plenty of knockabout humour and improv along the way!
Ian McMillan said: “In Magic Lantern Tales the past and the present come together in pictures and poems that take the audience back to the First World War and forward to everybody’s experiences of work and play and war and loss. The room will be dark but the pictures and the poems will light up the spirit!”
‘Ian Beesley is a photographer with a specific vision, meticulous observation, a journalist’s eye for detail and a poetic touch’ Jane Richards, The Independent
‘World-class – one of today’s greatest poetry performers’ Carol Ann Duffy
Tickets are available in person from the EVAN Gallery, Penrith, 017684 28627 or online at www.edenvalleyartisticnetwork.co.uk
Doors Open 6.45pm Thursday 30th August 2018.
Show starts 7.30pm.