ELOQUENT PROTEST - a human response to war - returns to the West End on Remembrance Sunday, 8 November 2008 at 3 pm. This year's event will be held at the prestigious Duke of York's Theatre in St. Martin's Lane with the aide of the Ambassador Theatre Group.
Former MP and veteran campaigner Tony Benn will once again host the London event, presented by artists giving their time freely to explore the power of words and music against the cost of war.
This years' outstanding list of contributing artists so far includes Robert Powell (Holby City, 39 Steps, Jesus of Nazareth), Sam West (actor and director, son of Timothy West), Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy in Harry Potter), Clive Rowe (star of Dr Who and All the Small Things), Janie Dee, Roy Bailey, Peter Straker, Sally Burgess, David Harsent, Johnnie Fiori, Maggie Preece, Julian Littman, Jeff Harmer, Fiona MacDonald, Ben Goddard, Ben Griffin, Robin Colyer, Mende Nazer, Rupert Wickham, Jane Milligan (actress, daughter of Spike Milligan), Neal Thornton, Reem Kelani, Wendy Parkin, Sam Ellis, Dan Willis, Jill Kemp, Jim Holmes, Ellie Paskall, Ellie Moran, Charlotte Forrest, Adnan Sarwar, Hazel Roy and Matilda Wickham.
ELOQUENT PROTEST is directed and produced by Caroline Clegg, Artistic Director of Feelgood Theatre Productions in Manchester. It was originally conceived as a special Remembrance Sunday event with fellow producer Hazel Roy to underpin Caroline's 2006 production of NOT ABOUT HEROES at Trafalgar Studios. She was encouraged by the initial response in that first year to repeat the exercise in 2007, when the audience very quickly filled up the smaller Studio Two, leading to expansion into Studio One for 2008's event.
Says Caroline, "For years artists, writers and poets have raised their voices in eloquent protest against the terrible cost of war. They have spoken with passion against the warmongers who treat soldiers like cannon fodder and civilian casualties as mere statistics. As a theatre director, I seized the opportunity to bring together the eloquent protestors of today in what I hope is becoming an important and meaningful fixture in the London theatrical calendar."
All profits go to the Mark Wright Project, which supports ex servicemen, their families and bereaved. For more information on the organization, visit www.themarkwrightproject.org.uk.
Tickets are £15/£18 (London) (war veterans free) and are now available from the Box Office at the Duke of York's Theatre in London. For tickets call 0844 871 7623.
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