“The Mask Of Anarchy” by Percy Shelley
Lace Market Theatre

It's not often that I venture out to the theatre in the daylight on a Saturday, but here's one that I'm pleased I did.

Many moons ago, my wife dragged me over to Oakham in Leicester to a poetry reading, and I have only just about forgiven her for the boredom of listening to a group of people, possibly unrehearsed if my memory serves me well in someone's sitting room. For a while that put me off poetry readings. But thinking about it, there's a lot of poetry in theatre and a lot of theatre in poetry.

This piece of theatre is not just any old poetry reading, it's Shelley and is performed, not just orated and is possibly one of the most powerful pieces of poetry I've heard.

"The Mask Of Anarchy" is actually a 91 verse poem written by Percy Shelley in 1819, and to celebrate 200 years since it’s creation, The Lace Market Theatre have chosen to present this in all it’s glory. It’s presented as a piece for theatre with sections of the verses shared out among the cast members.

Some of the original and intended cast have since been replaced due to ill health, but I'll list the names on the programme, and I'm sure that I'll be updated on any replacements.

James Whitby, Arnd Korn, Richard Fife, Beverley Anderson, Molly Wright, Gathoni Mwaura, Orla Deacon, Katie Buckingham, Lukasz Kosma Bonenberg, Henry Makin, Hazel Salisbury, Anna Franks, Jane Pyke, Pat Richards and Piotr Wisniewski bring the words to life. In the upper performing space, not a word of the poetry is lost and you can appreciate the power and the beauty of Shelley’s work. A piece that was never published in Shelley’s lifetime.

Shelley begins his poem, written on the occasion of the Peterloo Massacre, Manchester 1819, with the powerful images of the unjust forms of authority of his time, "God, and King, and Law" – and then imagines the stirrings of a radically new form of social action: "Let a great assembly be, of the fearless, of the free". The crowd at this gathering is met by armed soldiers, but the protesters do not retaliate.

I knew nothing of this poem until a couple of weeks ago when I downloaded it and read it, and while the words are powerful, it's not until you hear them being delivered, in parts, by an ensemble, solo and in duet, that the full emotion and power springs to life. There were a couple of people in the audience who were visibly affected by this emotive piece of work, especially the end stanzas.

Directed by Pat Richards, there was lovely flow of pace, and Pat's own mellow tones, as one of the narrators was good to hear, which added a calming influence to the action in the poetry. making the power of the whole piece flow and ebb nicely.This piece of theatre is produced by Jenny Timmins

Sound Design by Matthew Allcock and engineered by Christopher Collins, the musical entrees added to the passion and emotion and had been chosen well. Who fails to arouse emotion within oneself when hearing Hubert Parry's "Jerusalem"?

This is something different for the Lace Market Theatre, for both the audience as well as the cast.

“The Mask Of Anarchy” is performed at The Lace Market Theatre until Sunday 6 October.