| Main Performers | Shaun Usher,
Benedict Cumberbatch,
Rory Stewart,
Alan Carr,
Olivia Coleman,
Florence Welch,
Taika Waititi,
Crystal Clarke,
Jude Law,
Stephen Fry,
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie,
Louise Brealey,
Asim Chaudhry - speakers
Damon Albarn,
Sampha - piano, vocals |
| Set List | Introduction and reading of a letter received from HRH The Duchess of Cornwall (Shaun Usher),
'Plastic 100%', Sampha (Sampha),
'A Deplorable Incident' - Letter from Robert Ponsonby, Controller of the BBC to Anthony Charlton, Manager of the Royal Albert Hall about the 'Bare Bottom Prom' (Stephen Fry)
'I Have Eaten' - Letter sent by Oscar Brittle to the Sydney Morning Herald (Asim Chaudhry),
'Take Him' - Letter from Mrs Cassy Murdoch to the US Draft Board (Crystal Clarke),
'All I Know is Asthma' - Letter from Marcel Proust to Jacques Porel (Ann Carr),
'As We Wait in Joful Hope' - Letter from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on love to Emeka (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie),
'Use Your Time Wisley' - Letter from Rebecca Puig to her daughter (Florence Welch),
'Stupidity' - Letter from 'Name withheld' to Superior Insurance (Benedict Cumberbatch),
'I Look Upon Myself as a Prisoner of War' - Letter from Emmeline Pankhurst to her supporters about an Albert Hall meeting (Louise Brealey),
'I Can Only Hypothesise' - Letter from Justin Lee to the New Zealand Police [in a New Zealand accent] (Taika Waititi),
'I Have Obtained Ownership of the Opera House' - Letter exchange between R L Suisted and the Sydney Opera House (Stephen Fry and Asim Chaudhry),
'No Dream Can Do Justice To You' - Letter from Fergal Keane to his son Daniel (Jude Law),
'I'm Amputating You' - Letter from Frieda Kahlo to Diego Rivera (Louise Brealey)
INTERVAL
'(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano', Sampha (Sampha),
'We Must Win in the End' - Letter from Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) to her mother when Buckingham Palace was bombed in the Second World War (Olivia Coleman),
'Chris and Bessie' - Letters from a soldier to his sweetheart (Benedict Cumberbatch, Louise Brealey),
'Never Get a Bulldog' - Letter from Roald Dahl to his mother about a dog (Alan Carr),
'Wisdom is A Gift' - Letter from Toni Morrison to Barack Obama (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie),
'Fuck the Critics' - Letter from agent Peggy Ramsay to her client David Hare (Olivia Coleman),
'It Will Be Sunny One Day' - Letter from Stephen Fry to a young fan in 2006 (Stephen Fry),
'Not the Cabbage' - Letter from a Owen James to The Ritz hotel (Jude Law).
'We Are the Gift' - Letter from Melissa Harris Perry to Richard Murdoch after he claimed rape was 'an act of god.' (Crystal Clarke)
'Little Things' - Letter from Salvador Dali, including a segment in Taika's own made up languages (Taika Waititi),
'The Most Beautiful Work of All' - Letter from Patti Smith to Robert Mapplethrope (Florence Welsh),
'Christopher's Choking!' - Letter exchange between a reader, Darren A, and an agony aunt Dear Dolly (Alan Carr, Olivia Coleman),
'A Letter to the Future' - Letter from researchers to the future (Jude Law)
'A Gross Failure of Responsibility' - Letter from Prime Minister Boris Johnson's housemaster from Eton College, Martin Hammond to his father, Stanley Johnson, 10 April 1982 (Rory Stewart),
'The WIlderness' - Letter from novelist and environmental Wallace Stegner, 1964 (Benedict Cumberbatch),
'Lonely Press Play,' D Albarn (Damon Albarn) |
| Performance Notes | Letters Live is coming to the iconic surroundings of the Royal Albert Hall for the first time ever this October, and it promises to be the most dynamic and powerful one yet.
Inspired by Shaun Ushers international best-selling Letters of Note series and Simon Garfields To the Letter, Letters Live has since December 2013 been a live celebration of the enduring power of literary correspondence. Each show always features a completely different array of great performers, reading remarkable letters from all around the world and through the ages. Who is going to take to the stage or what letters they are going to bring to life is kept under wraps until the day.
Before Rory Stewart's reading he told the audience to take this as his formal resignation from the Tory Party. The following day, he officially handed in his resignation. He tweeted "Its been a great privilege to serve Penrith and The Border for the last ten years, so it is with sadness that I am announcing that I will be standing down at the next election, and that I have also resigned from the Conservative Party." In the same day he also announced that he would run as an Independent candidate for Major of London.
Fry, Chaudhry, Coleman, Clarke and Carr all wore Extinction Rebellion (XR) (climate change movement) pins for this event.
Letters Live filmed the event for their archive and uploaded footage from the event on YouTube. |
| Related Archival Material | Programme (RAHE/1/2019/116),
Digital Photographs,
Autographs (RAHE/8/1/12) |