Audiences joined the Search for Truth in the heart of Shoreditch – London’s original suburb of sin. Over one weekend in July 2017 a host of poets, artists, performers and musicians reimagined the great medieval poem Piers Plowman in the atmospheric basement of Shoreditch’s Victorian Town Hall.
Friday 7 July & Saturday 8 July 2017
* All events feature live music by The Society of Strange and Ancient Instruments, audio work by Ross Sutherland and are performed by a company of actors.
Friday 7 July: Will’s Vision
Shoreditch Town Hall, 7.30-8.30pm
Ac on a May mornyng on Malverne hulles
Me biful for to slepe, for werynesse of-walked.
Follow in the footsteps of medieval poet William Langland in Fair Field’s unmissable opening. The dreamer, Will, walks into the Malvern Hills and begins an extraordinary journey through an unreal landscape. Langland’s “fair field full of folk” comes to life as a bustling vision of England, where the modern mingles with the medieval. Immerse yourself in a riot of colour, sound and speech as Will discovers a society in spiritual free-fall and embarks on a quest to find Truth.
Written by Tom Chivers & Steve Ely
Friday 7 July: The Marriage of Lady Mede
Shoreditch Town Hall, 9-10pm
A womman as hit were wonderly yclothed…
On alle here fyve fyngeres ful richeliche yringed.
You are invited to the wedding of the year! With the country beset by economic crisis, join socialite and millionaire heiress Lady Mede as she ties the knot with False. But behind the glamour lurks Conscience and a surprise revelation that threatens to spoil the party… In this modern adaptation of one of the key scenes in Piers Plowman, playwright Annette Brook explores the use and abuse of money – from cash for questions to pay-day loans – and asks: Can money ever be good?
Written by Annette Brook
Saturday 8 July: The Confession of the Seven Sins
Shoreditch Town Hall, 5-6pm
Thenne awakede Wrathe, with two whyte eyes
And with a nivilynge nose, nippynge his lippes.
Got something to confess? Follow the dreamer, Will, into the crumbling basement of Shoreditch Town Hall and discover an anarchic, medieval self-help group. The seven sins will all be there – from Gluttony, high on icing sugar, to Lechery, teller of the dirtiest tales. Map your own route through the basement in this immersive, provocative and comic experience of the dark side of human nature.
Written & performed by Francesca Millican-Slater & Nick Field
Saturday 8 July: The Ploughing of the Half-Acre
Shoreditch Town Hall, 7.30-8.30pm
Be seynt Petur of Rome!
Ich have an half-aker to erye by the heye way.
Will’s quest to find Truth has stalled, until a chance meeting with Piers the Plowman puts him on the right track. But can Piers recruit enough workers to plough his half-acre of land before Hunger strikes? Return to the soil in this dream-within-a-dream about labour, food and hunger. Breach Theatre combine a dramatic retelling from Piers Plowman with original film tracing the journey of modern food from field to fork.
Written & performed by Breach Theatre
Saturday 8 July: The Tower of Truth
Shoreditch Town Hall, 9-10pm
Wollewaerd and watschoed wente Y forth aftur
As a recheles renk…
Destitute and seeking redemption, Will finds shelter in an empty basement. Will he ever find Truth or the answers he seeks? The outside world threatens to break in and he falls again into a dream, with the angry shouts of protestors combining with nightmarish visions of the underworld. Discover the Truth in this powerful crescendo of Will’s journey, modelled on the ancient Christian tradition of the Easter Vigil.
Written by Tom Chivers & Steve Ely
Shoreditch Town Hall
380 Old Street
London EC1V 9LT
020 7739 6176
