Celebrating Keats in Winchester

2TimeTheatre presents A Fruitful Season: Keats in Winchester

News Release: 2 May 2019 
 
A new production celebrating Keats’ visit to Winchester 200 years ago
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John Keats is one of England’s best-loved poets. The beauty of his poems and his tragically short life make him an intensely romantic figure.  A Fruitful Season: Keats in Winchester celebrates his visit to the city in the autumn of 1819.  He and his friend Charles Armitage Brown found it: ‘The pleasantest town I was ever in.’
 
Drawn entirely from Keats’ letters and poems, the script includes his delightful descriptions of Winchester, an account of the writing of his most popular poem Ode to Autumn, and his obsessive love for his ‘Bright Star’ Fanny Brawne.
 
Keats’ months in Winchester mark his last great burst of poetic creativity, before the disease that killed his brother took hold. He died of consumption at the age of 25, believing that his work would soon be forgotten.
 
Writer Cecily O’Neill said: “I already knew and loved the great Odes and dramatic poems, but working on the script of A Fruitful Season, I discovered that Keats’ great ambition was to become a successful playwright. While he was here, he worked on a tragedy with Brown, who also features in the play. It was accepted at Drury Lane Theater (sic) but never staged, so I feel I am honouring his ambition with this production.”
 
With original music by Robert Sword and performed by professional actors, this world premiere is introduced by Professor Christopher Mulvey of the English Project.
 
2TimeTheatre’s previous productions for Winchester Festival include Venus and Adonis, Meeting Miss Austen and An Honest Soldier.
 
Performances are on Saturday 6 July and Sunday 7 July at 3.00pm at St Lawrence’s Church. Tickets £12 from the Winchester Cathedral Box Office 01962 857276 and online at www.tickets.winchester-cathedral.org.uk
 
For more information, press tickets and headshots, please contact Rachel O‘Neill, 2timetheatre@gmail.com, 07821879094.