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Wales Millennium Centre joins leading iconic venues as lights go out across the UK to mark outbreak of First World War
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Wales Millennium Centre will be one of many venues across the UK taking part in LIGHTS OUT, a campaign to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War.
Millions of people are expected to participate in LIGHTS OUT and hundreds of local authorities, iconic buildings, national organisations including the BBC and the Royal British Legion, parish councils and places of worship have already pledged their support. Iconic buildings and landmarks such as Blackpool Illuminations, the Houses of Parliament, Eden Project, the Imperial War Museums and Tower Bridge will turn off their lights; the Royal British Legion has launched a campaign for at least one million candles to be lit across the UK.
Wales Millennium Centre, which is currently staging Cats, and other theatre productions including those of the National Theatre’s War Horse, will invite their audiences to take part in LIGHTS OUT after their curtain calls. The Centre will turn its prominent inscription, the bilingual poem by poet Gwyneth Lewis, into a burning flame as a poignant moment for reflection.
People from all across the county are asked to turn off their lights from 10pm to 11pm on 4 August, leaving on a single light or candle.
“40,000 Welshmen lost their lives serving their country during the Great War. This is a poignant moment for Wales Millennium Centre, as a national landmark, and its staff to pay tribute to them and all the men and women who have since made the ultimate sacrifice for peace”, said Tony Jay, the Centre’s Head of Business Operations.
The project is being organised by 14-18 NOW, the official cultural programme for the First World War Centenary Commemorations.
The inspiration for LIGHTS OUT comes from a famous remark made on the eve of the outbreak of war by the then Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey: “The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our life-time”. Britain declared war on Germany at 11pm on 4 August 1914 ushering in one of the darkest periods in our history.
Four leading international artists have been commission by 14-18 NOW to create striking public artworks in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England, as LIGHTS OUT focal points for each of the UK’s four nations. Each work takes the extinguishing of electric light and lighting of candles as a point of departure. Welsh artist Bedwyr William’s work will take the form of a large-scale light and sound installation presented at the site of the WW1 North Wales Memorial Arch in Bangor.
Wales Millennium Centre’s inscription will replicate a burning flame to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War at 10.30pm, after the curtain call for Cats on Monday 4 August.
Millions of people are expected to become involved, making LIGHTS OUT one of the largest participatory events of its kind ever seen in the UK. It will complement the candlelit vigil held at Westminster Abbey on 4 August.
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Friday, August 1, 2014 |
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