Harriet Martineau Dreams of Dancing and a Talk by Joe Hardwick

The play Harriet Martineau Dreams of Dancing is running until December 3 at the Live Theatre in Quayside. Here is the summary of it from the Live Theatre website:

Tynemouth, 1844. Harriet Martineau, leading radical thinker, feminist and anti-slavery campaigner of her day, seeks refuge from the claustrophobic demands of London society, with her needlepoint and a telescope in an attic room on Front Street. But instead of escape, she finds an unequal world in need of her attention. This is a world of racial intolerance and gender imbalance, of eccentric scientific practices such as mesmerism and phrenology. A world where a negligent husband may die from a pig falling on his head in the street.

Following on from the critically acclaimed 2010 production of A Northern Odyssey ( The Guardian), Harriet Martineau Dreams of Dancing is the second in Olivier Award-winning writer, Shelagh Stephenson’s trilogy of witty and engaging plays at Live Theatre exploring the contemporary relevance of Tyneside’s political and cultural heritage. The play features music by acclaimed folk band, The Unthanks, re-arranged from songs on their Mount the Air album, and dance inspired by Northumberland traditions, choreographed by Lee Proud (Billy Elliot – the musical) both part of the creative team in A Northern Odyssey.

On Tuesday Northumbria University Senior Lecturer in History Joe Hardwick gave a talk after the performance. Listen to that below.