ACT ONE
Sindhu Vee
Alphabetti Spaghetti
Mrs J. Blackford to Viz
Rob Rinder
Can a solicitor sue his own client?
Miles Kington to Bevis Nathan
Her Majesty the Queen Camilla
It bangs one about until one is senseless
Queen Mother to Edith Sitwell
Olivia Colman
Directions for coughing, sneezing, or moving, before the King and Queen
Fanny Burney to Hetty Burney
Daniel Kaluuya
Barack Obama letter
Laurence Fishburne
If you promise to keep reading, I promise to keep writing
Christopher Paul Curtis to Akmed
Louise Brealey
I’m allowed to be a woman who ages
Dolly Alderton to a reader
Asim Chaudhry
Shall I poison him?
Peter G. to Town & Country
Harriet Walter
The spaghetti is going to be marvellous
Edna St. Vincent Millay to Eugenio Lanfranchi
Sara Pascoe
A book is a friend forever and ever
Susan Orlean to a fellow reader
Benedict Cumberbatch
One by one the lights go out
Alexander Woollcott to Lucy
Simon Callow & Olivia Colman
Farewell, wretch that I loved
George Bernard Shaw to Mrs Patrick Campbell
Jessie Buckley
Someday I’ll make it
Dolly Parton to her parents
ACT TWO
Laurence Fishburne
I will end your reign before it begins
Connor Relyea to the robots that will eventually replace us
Sara Pascoe
I AM NOW ON CLOUD 9,000
Marjorie Fossa to Elvis Presley
Rob Rinder & Benedict Cumberbatch
It’s not as if a seminal work can be tossed off overnight
Christopher Reid to Blake Morrison
Blake Morrison to Christopher Reid
Harriet Walter
All I ask of you now is to let me go
Käthe Kollwitz to her family
Simon Callow
It is the absolute truth
Patrick Mynhardt to his friends
Sindhu Vee
We need you buddy
Mitch Russell to the 9 year old she saw practicing karate in line at McDonald’s
Louise Brealey
The tiger is in the library
Susan Sontag to Jorge Luis Borges
Asim Chaudhry
ME HAVE COOKIE
Cookie Monster to Bahlsen HQ
Olivia Colman
What would I do without you?
Danielle Rackley to her anxiety
Benedict Cumberbatch
Six o’fucking clock!?
Matt Coyne to CBeebies
Jessie Buckley
I want to be the water that bathes you
Frida Kahlo to Josep Bartoli
Rob Rinder
Goodbye, Dad
Rob to his dad
MUSIC
Elbow
Scattered Black and Whites
Lippy kids
The Staves
Wildflowers (Dolly Parton cover)
Anoushka Shankar
Medley: In The End and Reunion
CREDITS
Dolly Alderton to a reader, ‘I’m allowed to be a woman who ages’, 2023. © Dolly Alderton; Mrs J. Blackford to Viz, ‘Alphabetti Spaghetti’, 1995. © Metropolis Publishing/Fulchester Industries; Matt Coyne to CBeebies, ‘Six o’fucking clock!?’, 2020. Matt Coyne, Man vs Toddler, Wildfire, 2019; https://www.man-vs-baby.co.uk/?p=425 © Matt Coyne; Christopher Paul Curtis to Akmed, ‘If you promise to keep reading, I promise to keep writing’, 2006. Dear Author: Letters of Hope. (2007). Philomel Books. © Christopher Paul Curtis; Frida Kahlo to Josep Bartoli, 1946. Reading of I WANT TO BE THE WATER THAT BATHES YOU by Frida Kahlo. Translation © 2015, Hayden Herrera, used by permission of The Wylie Agency (UK) Limited; Miles Kington to Bevis Nathan, ‘Can a solicitor sue his own client?’, 2004. My Mother, the Bearded Lady: The Selected Letters of Miles Kington. Unbound, 2019. Copyright © Estate of Miles Kington, 2004. Reproduced by permission of the estate c/o Rogers, Coleridge & White Ltd., 20 Powis Mews, London W11 1JN; Käthe Kollwitz to family, ‘All I ask of you now is to let me go’, 1944. Kollwitz, Kaethe. Selection from The Diary and Letters of Kaethe Kollwitz. Edited by Hans Kollwitz and translated by Richard Winston and Clara Winston. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1988. Text copyright © 1955 by Henry Regnery Company. Northwestern University Press edition published 1988 by arrangement with Krisha Winston and Arne Kollwitz. All rights reserved; Edna St. Vincent Millay to Eugenio Lanfranchi, ‘The spaghetti is going to be marvellous’, 1936. Edna St. Vincent Millay, letter from Into the World’s Great Heart: Selected Letters of Edna St. Vincent Millay, edited by Timothy F. Jackson (Yale University Press, 2023). Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of the Literary Executor, The Edna St. Vincent Millay Society, millay.org; Blake Morrison to Christopher Reid, ‘It’s not as if a seminal work can be tossed off overnight’, June 1997. Reproduced with permission of Conville & Walsh Agency, London on behalf of Blake Morrison. © Blake Morrison, 1997; Patrick Mynhardt to friends, ‘It is the absolute truth’, 1980. Theatrical Letters: 400 Years of Correspondence Between Celebrated Actors, Actresses, Playwrights, Their Families, Friends, Lovers, Admirers, Enemies, Producers, Managers and Others. (1995). Marginalia Press. © the Literary Estate of Partick Mynhardt; Susan Orlean to A fellow reader, ‘A book is a friend forever and ever’, 2017. Velocity of Being Letters to A Young Reader. 2020. Enchanted Lion Books © Susan Orlean; Dolly Parton to her parents, ‘Someday I’ll make it’, June 1964. © the Estate of Dolly Parton; Queen Mother to Edith Sitwell, ‘It bangs one about until one is senseless’, 1952. Counting One’s Blessings: The Selected Letters of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. (2012). Courtesy of The Royal Archives, copyright © His Majesty King Charles III; Danielle Rackley to her anxiety, ‘What would I do without you?’, 2020. https://www.pointsincase.com/articles/an-open-letter-of-gratitude-to-my-anxiety © Danielle Rackley; Christopher Reid to Blake Morrison, ‘It’s not as if a seminal work can be tossed off overnight’, June 1997. Copyright © Christopher Reid. Reproduced by permission of the author c/o Rogers, Coleridge & White Ltd., 20 Powis Mews, London W11 1JN; Connor Relyea to The robots that will eventually replace us, ‘I will end your reign before it begins’, 2019. https://www.robotbutt.com/2018/06/22/an-open-letter-to-the-robots-that-will-eventually-replace-me/ © Connor Relyea; Rob Rinder to his father, ‘Goodbye, Dad’, 2026. © Rob Rinder; Mitch Russell to the 9 year old practicing karate in line at McDonald’s, ‘We need you buddy’, 2022. https://medium.com/slackjaw/an-open-letter-to-the-9-year-old-i-saw-practicing-karate-in-line-at-mcdonalds-6116ceb6cb98 © Mitch Russell; Susan Sontag to Jorge Luis Borges, ‘The tiger is in the library’, 1996. Reading of ‘The Tiger is in the Library’ Letter (1996) by Susan Sontag. Copyright © 1996, Susan Sontag, used by permission of The Wylie Agency (UK) Limited;
