A Most Theatrical and Musical Community Celebration of the Famous Wye Tour Produced by OperaPlayhouse in collaboration with Chepstow Museum Saturday 8 & Sunday 9 June Full show performances at Savoy Theatre Monmouth Sat 8 7.30pm (tickets tel 01600 772467 or online www.monmouth-savoy.co.uk) Drill Hall, Chepstow, Sun 9 7.30pm (tickets from Chepstow Museum tel 01291 625981) Tickets £7.50adult, £5 child, £20 family Relevant sections of the production performed at the relevant sites and stopping points, and for Free! at Saturday 8th: 12.30-1pm Ross Church; 2-2.30pm Goodrich Village Hall; 3.30-4pm Royal Lodge Hotel, Symonds Yat East Sunday 9th: 12.30-1, Mackenzie Hall Brockweir, 2-2.30pm Tintern Village Hall, 3.30-4pm St Arvans Memorial Hall On the weekend of Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June over 80 local people will perform a theatrical and musical celebration of the Wye Tour, following the journey made by tourists over 200 years ago on their trip down the river from Ross-on-Wye to Chepstow. The Wye Tour owes its origins to the Rev John Egerton, rector of Ross on Wye in the 1740s who entertained his friends by taking them down the river in a pleasure boat. The idea caught on, and by the 1770s the commercial version was becoming established as a two-day trip from Ross to Monmouth on the first, Monmouth to Chepstow on the second, becoming increasingly popular towards the end of the century when war in Europe made continental travel impossible. The boats had a protective awning, and a table for sketching or writing poetry or prose inspired by the scenery. An itinerary became established to take in the important sites and viewpoints, with stopping places for picnics that were provided as part of the package. This stretch of the Wye had everything to inspire the romantic traveller, the scenery in all its variety, infernal industry, the ruins of Tintern Abbey, castles on cliff tops and the wonders of the Piercefield walks. The early ‘tourists’ had no guidebook to tell them where to look, but in 1783 the book that was to become the essential companion was finally published – the Rev William Gilpin’s ‘Observations on the River Wye, Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty...’ Gilpin laid down rules for assessing the picturesque quality of the views encountered on the trip down the river, and while his extreme ideas were exposed to ridicule by some, the search for the picturesque scene became an obsession for the growing number of people who followed faithfully in his footsteps. The Tour can be seen as the first ‘packaged tour’ and the lower Wye Valley has been hailed as the birthplace of British tourism, such was its importance. This production uses words written by tourists of the time from the many journals and guidebooks eventually produced as well as poetry inspired by the Wye, skilfully woven together with music of the period. Devised by OperaPlayhouse with Chepstow Museum, it has been created with a host of talented performers from the Wye Valley by local director and opera singer, Karl Daymond. Professional musicians and performers will join to create the full show at the two evening performances, at the Savoy Theatre Monmouth, the first overnight stop of the tour, and at the Drill Hall, Chepstow which was the end of the tour on its second day. During the daytime you can catch for free some sections of the show that are relevant to the stopping points, following the company as they take to the road by coach, as a substitute for the boat on the river.. On day 1, Saturday 8th at Ross Church, which many of the tourists visited before setting out on the tour, from 12.30-1pm. Then having experienced the first grand scene of the tour, the magnificent Castle and now destroyed Goodrich court, find them at Goodrich Village Hall from 2.-2.30pm; and then exhausted by the climb up the rock and overawed by the natural splendour and industrial activity from the ironworks, see them at the Royal Lodge Hotel Symonds Yat East from 3.30-4pm. On Day 2, Sunday 9th, the tourists meet the rowdy inhabitants of 18th century Brockweir at Mackenzie Hall 12.30-1; wonder at the industry and Abbey ruins of Tintern at the Village Hall from 2-2.30pm; and the glories of Piercefield at St Arvans Memorial Hall 3.30-4pm. |
| OperaPlayhouse in collaboration with Chepstow Muse web site: www.monmouth-savoy.co.uk |
| e-mail: chepstowmuseum@monmouthshire.gov.uk |
Monday, May 20, 2013 |
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