BURNING BRIGHT
Minerva Theatre, Chichester Wednesday, January 12 cft.org.uk
You see his genius in the fact that Jerusalem is effectively the second national anthem in this country
Burning Bright brings the words of William Blake to the Minerva Theatre in Chichester – the very city in which he was so famously tried with uttering seditious and treasonable expressions against the king. In the Minerva Ruth Rosen will be just a few hundred yards away from The Guildhall where his trial ended in acquittal in 1803. William Blake is today considered one of Britain’s greatest artists, but the poet, painter, engraver and prophet lived a life of obscurity and poverty amid accusations of madness. Using only Blake’s own words – from his letters, poems and prose – poetry and prose performer Ruth will take us on an inspiring, moving and sometimes startling journey through the extraordinary mind of Blake’s visionary genius. ‘I thought it would be so wonderful to do this show in Chichester especially with all those connections,’ Ruth says. ‘I have done it before in quite a few places and I just thought Chichester would really connect. And I thought that would be wonderful after he was tried and acquitted for sedition to come back to Chichester with Blake’s great enius. ou see his genius in the ct that Jerusalem is ffectively the second tional anthem in this untry. rst came across when the Tate Britain commissioned me to do a reading of him because they have got so many wonderful Blakes there and that’s when I first learned about him. It was such a revelation. He is such a great genius and there is so much material.
‘He talks about man being the poetic genius and that all geniuses have their own forms whether animal or tree or whatever. But his thesis is that man is the poetic genius and he had this most extraordinary visionary faculty.’