Some of the most celebrated artists of the day, including Sir Ben Kingsley, Ian McKellen, Benjamin Zephaniah, Kelly Macdonald, Joss Stone, Noel Clarke, Celia Imrie, Arundhati Roy and Mark Steel, have joined forces with Colin Firth and AETN UK for a unique stage performance and documentary film The People Speak.
The project celebrates extraordinary moments in UK history when ordinary people have spoken out for change.
The UK production of The People Speak brings history to life in a unique and powerful live performance narrated by BAFTA-award winning actor Colin Firth.
The live performance and documentary will be co-directed and co-executive produced by Firth and Anthony Arnove, who was co-director and co-executive producer of the U.S. production broadcast on History in 2009. Conveyed through dramatic readings and musical performances in front of a live audience, The People Speak will capture the individual voices that have shaped this nation.
The People Speak live performance will take place on Sunday 19 September 2010 at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London’s West End. The performance will also be filmed in HD for a documentary to be broadcast on History on Sunday 31 October.
Speaking about the project Colin Firth said: "To me The People Speak is the perfect response to the abject misery of my history class as a school boy. Considering the immense riches that history offers us in terms of the best and worst of human behaviour corruption, sexual deviation, rebellion, struggles for power, none of that made it into my history lessons.
"There is absolutely no reason why history should be dry and I’m delighted to be working with History on an initiative that takes history beyond the classroom; democratising our own legacy and providing a unique voice that resonates as much today as it did when it was first spoken."
Inspired by the 2009 U.S. production of The People Speak which featured Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Rosario Dawson, Bruce Springsteen, Viggo Mortensen and many others, leading names from British stage and screen will perform material based on themes of continuing struggle in the UK.
Themes brought to life on stage will address suffrage and hereditary rule, the formation of the British nation, war and colonialism, immigration, women’s rights, crime and punishment, social justice, and ecological sustainability.
The letters, speeches, diary entries, court transcipts, and songs were written, spoken and sung by the rebels, dissenters and visionaries of their day some famous, some forgotten. These are the voices often left out of standard textbooks in favour of history from the point of view of leaders and politicians. The People Speak brings alive these rarely heard words from our collective past.
Tom Davidson, MD AETN UK said: "History is delighted that this successful format has come to the UK for the first time with so many of our most celebrated artists of today.
"It is set to be a very special performance. The documentary we will create based on the performance will bring The People Speak to television audiences throughout the world."
Anthony Arnove, executive producer and co-director said: "I'm thrilled to be working with Colin and such a remarkable group of UK actors and musicians. This is the first version of The People Speak to follow on from the U.S. production. We couldn't have a better partner than History in taking the next step in bringing this project to an international level."
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