Letters Live at Union Chapel
14th - 15th July 2017
In July of 2017, Letters Live’s first London shows of the year took place at the remarkable Union Chapel, a working church and award-winning venue which has been open to the public since being saved from demolition 25 years ago. Over the course of two evenings an impressive array of talent took to the pulpit to breathe life into letters both new and old–those readings are listed below.
Our chosen literacy charity for these 2 shows was First Story, to whom we subsequently donated £12,100.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBpWIoa8t9g
The Shows
JULY 14TH
Kelvin Jones
Call You Home
Colin Firth
This is quite true
Evelyn Waugh to Laura Waugh
Michael Palin
Two legs are an extravagance
George Bernard Shaw to John Ervine
Noma Dumezweni & Ophelia Lovibond
I will treasure your letter
J. K. Rowling to Sacia Flowers
Simon Callow
Ye have made me such a pisser
Lord Edmund Howard to Lady Lisle
Taron Egerton
I have had my eye on you
Simon Fallowfield to Mary Foster
Clint Dyer
You killed my cat
Guy Davenport to the drivers of Lexington
Rob Brydon
Life itself is life
D. H. Lawrence to Katharine Mansfield
Noma Dumezweni
Thinking of you to the end
Rose Schlösinger to Marianne Schlösinger
Jon Culshaw
My letters are the greatest
Terry Vaught to Tampa Bay Times
Michael Palin
A strange species we are
John Steinbeck to Adlai Stevenson
Colin Firth
You will not have my hatred
Antoine Leiris to his wife’s killers
Clint Dyer
I’m still here, trying to make it
Jimi Hendrix to his father
Taron Egerton
Darling, I love you
Dylan Thomas to Pamela Johnson
Ophelia Lovibond
Everyone has to be a child
Jessica Morley to The Economist
Michael Palin
To My Grandchildren
Tony Benn to his grandchildren
Simon Callow
Nothing is ours except time
Lucius Annaeus Seneca to Lucilius Junior
Rob Brydon
Love and garlic
Groucho Marx to Chico Marx
Noma Dumezweni
Straighten up and fly right, Banky!
Billie Holliday to Tallulah Bankhead
Jon Culshaw
Save the land of your birth
Nicholas Cummins to the Duke of Wellington
Colin Firth
I do occasionally eat
Lucian Freud to Lynn Barber
Simon Callow
Get at the very heart of it
Ludwig van Beethoven to Emilie
Ophelia Lovibond
Along with this letter comes a play
Shelagh Delaney to Joan Littlewood
Rob Brydon
How beautiful!
Salvador Dalí to Federico García Lorca
Colin Firth & Taron Egerton
I am awfully comfortable
The Kiplings
Noma Dumezweni
For my Diego
Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera
Jon Culshaw
New rubbish dialogue
Alec Guinness to Anne Kaufman
Clint Dyer
Diversity guarantees our cultural survival
Martin Scorsese to the New York Times
Kelvin Jones
Message in a bottle
The Police
JULY 15TH
Izzie Yardley
By your side
Amanda Abbington
Dear Princess Leia
Carrie Fisher to Princess Leia
John Simm
He is a most exemplary young man
Sidney Lanier to Charley Lanier
Rob Rinder
The grandest looking child
Alfred Tennyson to Robert Monteith
Zawe Ashton
A few matters of etiquette
Fanny Burney to Hetty Burney
Nick Moran
It’s the trip of a lifetime
Buzz Aldrin to Barry Goldman
Lemn Sissay
Tears don’t flow the same in space
Frank Culbertson to Earth
Alan Carr
We are ridiculous
Kenneth Williams to Andrew Hathaway
Amanda Abbington & John Simm
Are you supposed to be normal?
Harold Pinter to a confused theater goer
Ashley Walters
In Brotherhood
Claude Eatherly to Reverend N.
Rob Rinder
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
Virginia O’Hanlon to the editor of The Sun
Zawe Ashton
Janis Joplin lives!
Janis Joplin to her parents
Nick Moran
He has nothing left but his poker
A. T. Harris to Atlantic City Railroad
Amanda Abbington
The survivors will envy the dead
Jacqueline Kennedy to Nikita Khrushchev
John Simm
A man has to BE something
Hunter S. Thompson to Hume Logan
Alan Carr
Seat 29E
A customer to Continental Airlines
Amanda Abbington
Between Death and Perfection
Violet Trefusis to Vita Sackville-West
Nick Moran
People simply empty out
Charles Bukowski to John Martin
Zawe Ashton
We are the gift
Melissa Harris Perry to Richard Mourdock
Ashley Walters
I am unable to accept your rejection
Paul Devlin to numerous colleges
Rob Rinder
Sleep well, my love
Brian Keith to Dave
Amanda Abbington
Meeting Picasso
Edith Sitwell to Cecil Beaton
Alan Carr
What do you want from life?
David Lavelle to The Telegraph
Nick Moran
You are your father
Saul Bellow to Martin Amis
John Simm
The Cat Ranch
Jack Lemmon to Walter Mattau
Alan Carr & Rob Rinder
You Babylonian scullion
Mehmed IV to the Zaporozhian Cossacks
Nick Moran
BRUCE IS GREAT
Joe Strummer to Mark Hagen
Lemn Sissay
Brown is as pretty as white
W. E. B Du Bois to Yolande Du Bois
Izzie Yardley
So Easy