Search Letters Live

Archive event

4-5 June 2022

Join Benedict Cumberbatch and friends as the hugely popular all-star show returns for the sixth year to Hay Festival for two shows. Letters Live 1 Saturday 4 June 2022, 7pm Baillie Gifford Stage Join Benedict Cumberbatch and friends as the hugely popular all-star show returns for the sixth year to Hay Festival and in aid of the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. A celebration of the enduring power of literary correspondence, Letters Live sees a diverse array of outstanding performers read remarkable letters, inspired by and often drawn from Shaun Usher’s bestselling Letters of Note anthologies. The full cast will be kept under wraps until the performance. All ticket sales from this event go to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. If you cannot attend in person, there will be a fundraising virtual livestream tickets on sale shortly on the Hay website. Letters Live 2 Sunday 5 June 2022, 11.30am Baillie Gifford Stage Join an all-star cast for a one-off, family-friendly edition of Letters Live, a hugely popular celebration of the enduring power of literary correspondence. The event sees a diverse array of outstanding performers read remarkable letters, inspired by and often drawn from Shaun Usher’s best-selling Letters of Note anthologies. The full cast will be kept under wraps until the performance. Price: £25.00 https://www.hayfestival.com/p-19057-letters-live-2.aspx

Archive event

30 October 2021

Letters Live returns to the iconic Royal Albert Hall with another incredible top-secret line-up.

Archive event

28 October 2022

Letters Live returns to the iconic Royal Albert Hall for the third time with a phenomenal top-secret line-up.

Archive event

26 June 2024

Letters Live, the thrilling live show celebrating the timeless power of the humble letter, made its debut in Berlin. Over the course of one evening, a top-secret cast brought life to history’s most remarkable letters, written over the centuries and from around the world, offering the audience a truly unique show, never to be repeated.

Archive event

6 March 2024

Known for its engaging performances of remarkable letters from around the world and across history, Letters Live will join forces with the Women’s Prize to create an unforgettable evening of storytelling, showcasing the art and power of the written word. Each Letters Live event is unique, as the entire list of performers is kept secret from the audience until the moment they take to the stage. Last week’s performers included Benedict Cumberbatch, Olivia Colman, Helena Bonham Carter, Angelique Kidjo, Stephen Fry, Kae Tempest, Minnie Driver, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Will Sharpe and Gillian Anderson. The letters read are unpredictable, varied and always memorable. Where some express anger or pain, others delight the audience with wisdom and humour. Over the years, letters written by iconic characters such as David Bowie, Marge Simpson, Mohandas Gandhi, Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin, Kurt Vonnegut, Charlotte Bronte, James Baldwin, Charles Dickens, Emily Dickinson, John Steinbeck, Madonna, Tom Hanks, Dorothy Parker and Che Guevara have been read, alongside hidden gems from lesser-known figures.

Archive event

12 December 2024

Letters Live is set to return to London’s Royal Albert Hall later this year for a one-off show in aid of the RNLI on Thursday 12th December. This event forms part of the celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the RNLI this year.

Archive event

27 June 2025

Letters Live makes its Glastonbury debut

Archive event

16 May 2024

Letters Live, the thrilling live performance series that celebrates the timeless allure of correspondence, is making a highly anticipated return to The Town Hall in Midtown, Manhattan on 16th May 2024 to once again enchant New Yorkers with its remarkable blend of emotion, storytelling, and a touch of mystery. Originating in London in 2013, each Letters Live performance is unique, offering audiences a one-of-a-kind experience filled with unexpected moments and evocative tales. The performers’ identities will remain a closely-guarded secret until the moment they take to the stage. Previous casts have included such luminaries as Benedict Cumberbatch, Carey Mulligan, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Jude Law, Anjelica Huston, Colin Firth, Gillian Anderson, Ian McKellen, Mary J. Blige, Oscar Isaac, Thandie Newton, Tom Hiddleston, Stephen Fry, Olivia Colman, Sir Ben Kingsley, JJ Abrams, Riz Ahmed, Juliet Stevenson, Jake Gyllenhaal, Kylie Minogue, Danny Huston, Brie Larson, Ian McShane, and more. At its first New York shows in 2018, James Earl Jones, Katie Holmes, Kyle MacLachlan, Molly Ringwald, Laurence Fishburne and others breathed life into letters written by Dorothy Parker, Helen Keller, Kurt Vonnegut, Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen, and Martin Scorsese, to name just a few. The upcoming return of Letters Live to New York is poised to be equally exhilarating, promising an evening of rich, unforgettable readings. Inspired by Shaun Usher’s Letters of Note anthologies and Simon Garfield’s To the Letter, Letters Live has consistently aligned itself with charitable causes. This upcoming event proudly continues this tradition, supporting PEN America and its vital work.

Archive event

31 May - 2 June 2025

Letters Live returns to The Town Hall in Midtown, Manhattan, for a run of three completely unique back-to-back shows on the 31st May, 1st June and 2nd June 2025, each enchanting New Yorkers with the enduring power of literary correspondence. Every Letters Live performance is a one-of-a-kind experience, with a different array of incredible performers reading remarkable letters written over the centuries and from around the world, authored by luminaries as varied as David Bowie to Charlotte Brontë, Che Guevara to Mohandas Gandhi.

Archive event

2-4 August 2024

Anyone who has witnessed the spectacle that is Letters Live at Wilderness can attest that it is one of the finest hours of entertainment you will ever experience. As headliners of the festival’s Talks and Debates programme, they bring their top-secret cast of readers, which has become their calling card, to read some of the greatest correspondence ever written. Wowing audiences since its low-key inception in 2013, Letters Live is inspired by Shaun Usher’s best-selling Letters of Note, and by Simon Garfield’s To the Letter. Its mission has always been the same: to harness the unrivalled power of old-fashioned correspondence and breathe new life into the stories contained within letters with the help of an ever-changing cast of some of the most acclaimed performing talent from around the world. Past Letters Live Wilderness performers have included such luminaries as Olivia Colman, Benedict Cumberbatch and Sir Ben Kingsley. But don't just take our word for it, watch a video from Wilderness 2023 here. Expect absolute greatness.