Past event
Date:
27 August 2017
Letters penned by James Baldwin, Jimi Hendrix, Yoko Ono and Evelyn Waugh were amongst those brought to life at the Letters Live shows to close the 70th Edinburgh International Festival on Sunday 27th August 2017 at Edinburgh’s King’s Theatre. The star-studded line-up of actors, comedians, musicians, politicians and writers remained a closely guarded secret until the curtain went up for the first show at 7pm. In celebration of the art of letter writing, they brought to the stage live performances of correspondences from across the centuries and around the world.
Performers included actors Sanjeev Bhaskar, Ian McShane, Meera Syal, Robert Webb and Harriet Walter, comedian Al Murray and the First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon for two performances of Letters Live.
The evening also featured readings of letters written by schoolchildren from Edinburgh who had taken part in Blueprint for the Future, a project that forms part of the International Festival’s year-round work with schools in the city. Inspired by Letters Live, the creative writing and visual art project asks teenagers from secondary schools across Edinburgh to consider how they might impact the future through writing imagined letters from their future selves. The five selected letters were read by Xanthe Harris, Malachy Harris, Stella McGregor, Oscar Bickmore and Grace Bickmore.
The Craigmillar Literacy Trust and Scottish Book Trust were the chosen charities supported through these shows.
(Click images to expand)
(Click dates to expand/collapse)
My Dungeon Shook
James Baldwin to his nephew
The Cat Ranch
Jack Lemmon to Walter Mathau
A frivolous note
Roald Dahl to his mother
From your future self
EIF Blueprint Project
Fortunately, I had my new radio
Mary Grant to A. Walker
It’s up to you now
Bette Davis to B.D. Hyman
God damn
Pete Muggins to Abraham Licoln
Kiss my ass
Bill Baxley to Edward R. Fields
My muse is not a horse
Nick Cave to MTV
Our Frank
The Connell family to the Ciulla family
I am to be executed
Mary Stuart to Henry III of France
I will treasure your letter
JK Rowling to Sacia Flowers
The story comes from within you
Laura Dern to her daughter
My husband did not deserve this
Yoko Ono to the New York State Division Parole
My Dear Bessie
Chris Baker to Bessie Moore
Seat 29E
A Customer to Continental Airlines
An absurd accident
Dora Carrington to Gerald Brenan
Come on, George. Loosen up. Swing, man!
Frank Sinatra to the LA Times
To my ever loving wife
Don to his wife
Dear John
Love Letter
This is quite true
Evelyn Waugh to Laura Waugh
Tiger Mike Davies to his staff Tiger Oil Memos
Edward Tiger Mike Davies to his staff
I’m still here, trying to make it
Jimi Hendrix to his parents
The most beautiful work of all
Patti Smith to Robert Mapplethorpe
I have had my eye on you
Simon Fallowfield to Mary Foster
Dear One
Rachel Carson to Dorothy Freeman
We were brothers way before you were
Groucho Marx to Warner Bros
I admire your balls
Hunter S. Thompson to Carrie Neftzger
Thou Eunuch of Language
Robert Burns to a critic
AIDS is not a disgrace; it is a TRAGEDY
Patsy Clarke to Jesse Helms
Meeting Picasso
Edith Sitwell to Cecil Beaton
Thinking of you to the end
Rose Schlösinger to Marianne Schlösinger
Your end is approaching
The FBI to Martin Luther King
Books are people
EB White to Children of Troy letter
We all make mistakes
Sheriff Anwat to Julie and Brian
I do occasionally eat
Lucian Freud to Lynn Barber
Thank you, I hope you choke
Beatles fan to Nike
What do you want from life?
David Lavelle to The Telegraph
Five accidents in two minutes
Fred Allen to the State of New York Insurance Dept.
DO NOT be so bloody vulnerable
Noël Coward to Marlene Dietrich
A string of veritable psychological peaches
Carl Jung to James Joice
I am so close behind you
Leonard Cohen to Marianne Ihlen
Let me have artists for friends
J. D Fergusson to Margaret Morris
It’s a virus
Tom Waits to The Nation
Message in a Bottle
Robert Burns – Ae Fond Kiss (letter leading to live music)
