Past event

Letters Live at the Royal Albert Hall 2023

Date:
16 November 2023

Letters Live returned to the Royal Albert Hall on Thursday 16th November 2023 for a very special show in our tenth anniversary year!

 

Previous shows at the Royal Albert Hall have seen such talent as Gillian Anderson, Olivia Colman, Taika Waititi, Thom Yorke, Benedict Cumberbatch, Emma Corrin, Cynthia Erivo, Jude Law, Florence Welch and Laura Mvula grace the stage, to name just a few.

 

Letters Live is a celebration of the enduring power of literary correspondence. Each show always features a completely different array of great performers, reading remarkable letters written over the centuries and from around the world.

 

One of the joys of Letters Live is that you never know who is going to take to the stage or what letter they are going to bring alive. The result is a glorious event like no other and a truly unforgettable journey through time.

 

Our year-long global partnership with Montblanc, the luxury Maison with its origins in writing culture, launched publicly at this show. Find out more here.

 

 

Running order

Thursday 16th November 2023

 

Benedict Cumberbatch

 

The spectacle sickened me

George Bernard Shaw to The Times

 

Do

Sol LeWitt to Eva Hesse

 

 

Olivia Colman

 

Cremains

Lydia Davis to funeral parlour

 

Here is a list of other licences I do not hold

Jackie Morris to the BBC

 

 

Stephen Fry

 

I look forward to hearing from you GURRRRRL

Joe Lycett to Suella Braverman

 

We are fighting for the very soul of the world

Nick Cave to Leon and Charlie

 

 

Vivian Oparah

 

I ain’t never seen nothing like it

Nina Simone to Andy Stroud

 

I would like to apologise on the behalf of mankind

Benedict Winter to a walnut tree

 

 

Will Sharpe

 

I like words

Robert Pirosh to Various

 

Seat 29E

A customer to Continental Airlines

 

 

Louise Brealey

 

Keith the Giant Meat

Cynthia Albritton to Keith Richards

 

 

Harnaam Kaur

 

You will show people what beauty truly is
Harnaam Kaur to her younger self

 

 

Sanjeev Bhaskar

 

Spaghetti
Spike Milligan to his parents

 

What a bawling and a tearing of hair there will be!

Charles Dodgson Sr. to Charles Dodgson Jr.

 

 

Minnie Driver

 

I will be there in the trees
Kathleen Keyes Irish Times

 

You wouldn’t want waxing to go wrong, would you?
Hannah Scorer to Boots

 

 

Gillian Anderson 

 

Sex does not thrive on monotony
Anais Nin to The Collector

 

Why are children ever born singly?
Katherine Mansfield Anne Rice

 

 

Rob Delaney

 

Shame on you!
Pliny the Younger to Septitius Clarus

 

This guy is really a bum
Walter Becker to Rudy Giuliani

 

 

Jodie Whittaker

 

Everything begins again
Peter Capaldi to a Doctor Who fan

 

Don’t ever forget: every day matters
Heather McManamy to her friends and family

 

 

Angelique Kidjo

 

Don’t let anyone define who you are
Angelique Kidjo to the girls of the world

 

 

Woody Harrelson

 

He is not a forgiving cat
John Cheever to Josie Herbst

 

There’s no hope in war
Kurt Vonnegut to the US government

 

 

Tobias Menzies

 

I am not greatly troubled by fans nowadays
Evelyn Waugh to Nancy Mitford

 

 

Benedict Cumberbatch & Louise Brealey

 

My Dear Bessie

Chris Barker & Bessie Moore

 

 

Music

 

 

Tom Odell, plus octet
Black Friday

 

Angelique Kidjo
Kelele

 

The Spirituals Choir
Wade in the Water

 

Kae Tempest
People’s Faces

 

 

Credits: Cynthia Albritton to Keith Richards, © Cynthia Albrittain; Chris Barker to Bessie Moore, from: Chris Barker & Bessie Moore, My Dear Bessie: A Love Story in Letters, Canongate (2015). Copyright © Peter Barker and Irena Souroup; Walter Becker to Rudy Giuliani, © Estate of Walter Becker; Peter Capaldi to a Doctor Who fan, © Peter Capaldi; Nick Cave to Leon and Charlie, © Nick Cave; John Cheever to Josie Herbst, Copyright © Benjamin Cheever 1988, used by permission of The Wylie Agency (UK) Limited; Lydia Davis to a Funeral parlour, from: The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis, © Lydia Davis, 2009; Harnaam Kaur to her younger self, © Harnaam Kaur; Kathleen Keyes to Irish Times, © Kathleen Keyes; Angelique Kidjo to Girls of the World, © Angelique Kidjo; Sol LeWitt to Eva Hesse, © 2023 The LeWitt Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Joe Lycett to Suella Braverman, © Joe Lycett; Katherine Mansfield to Anne Rice, © the Estate of Katherine Mansfield, used by permission of the Society of Authors; Heather McManamy to Friends and family, © Heather McManamy; Spike Milligan to his parents, © Spike Milligan Productions, 1978; Jackie Morris to the BBC, © Jackie Morris, used by permission of David Higham Associates; Anais Nin to The Collector, From: The Diary of Anais Nin, Vol. 3. © The Anais Nin Trust; Robert Pirosh to Various, © Estate of Robert Pirosh; Hannah Scorer to Boots, © Hannah Scorer; Nina Simone to Andy Stroud, © Nina Simone Charitable Trust, courtesy of Steven Ames Brown; Kurt Vonnegut to the US government, Copyright ©1967, Kurt Vonnegut, used by permission of The Wylie Agency (UK)Limited.; Evelyn Waugh to Nancy Mitford, Copyright © 1952, Evelyn Waugh, used by permission of The Wylie Agency (UK) Limited; Benedict Winter to a walnut tree, © Benedict C Winter from the “Letters to the Earth” book and campaign