The Milky Way Shakespeare North
June 7 @ 10:00 - June 8 @ 16:00
£175
This weekend event, led by Peter and Sarah Dawkins, will take place on Saturday in Prescot, Merseyside, and on Sunday in St Helens, Merseyside.
In Prescot we will visit the Shakespeare North Playhouse, a new playhouse that opened in 2022. This 21st century playhouse is built near to the site and in commemoration of an earlier 16th century Elizabethan playhouse that was built and owned by Richard Harrington, the tenant of Prescot Hall and younger brother of Percival Harrington, the deputy steward of Prescot.
This Tudor playhouse, built sometime between 1593-5, was located on the edge of Knowsley Hall estate, the chief residence of the Stanley family, Earls of Derby and stewards of Prescot, who maintained their own acting company until 1609, which is also when the playhouse ceased its theatrical use.
As no architectural plans survive for the original Prescot Playhouse, the new theatre’s layout is based on the 1629 design by Inigo Jones for the Cockpit-in-Court theatre in the Palace of Whitehall, London.
On Saturday 7th June we will have a guided Heritage tour of the Shakespeare North Playhouse in the morning, followed by lunch. In the afternoon there will be talks followed by a performance of Shakespeare’s Macbeth in the evening.
The next day, on Sunday morning we will explore the Witches’ Brew Animal Trail in Prescot town centre, to see if we can find the sculptures of the animals that were included in the witches’ brew of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
After this, we will travel to nearby St Helens where the phenomenal award-winning Dream sculpture is located, which we will visit. This soaring white sculpture is near the northern crossing point of the Milky Way meridian and the ecliptic of the landscape zodiac of Britain (England and Wales), which is the cusp of Gemini-Taurus in the celestial zodiac in the sky.
The Dream sculpture, created by the Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, is a white dolomite-coated pillar 66 feet (20 metres) tall, sited on an old spoil tip, now a hillock in a landscaped park that has replaced the defunct Sutton Manor Colliery. The Dream’s title is ‘Ex Terra Lucem’ (‘From the ground, light’), and symbolises a beam of light rising out of the dark coalmine below. It is cast with the neck, head and face of a young woman with her eyes closed in meditation, dreaming of a brighter future.
This weekend event will be honouring this idea, with its hope for a brighter future.
Number of attendees for this event is limited (max.15).
Event Fee = £175 per person
(Event fee includes ‘The Milky Way Shakespeare’ talk, talks on site, theatre guided tour, Saturday lunch, play performance, and administration. Cost does not include travel, accommodation, refreshments, and other meals required.)
To book, please contact the Organiser (FBRT).
On acceptance of the booking and payment made, a link to a recording of the Zoom talk, ‘The Milky Way Shakespeare’, will be sent to you. This talk is essential for understanding the reason for this event and the other two events in this triple Shakespeare Mystery.
Details about the British landscape zodiac:
The displayed picture is a panoramic image of our Milky Way, by AstroAnthony. (Wikimedia Commons: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.)