by Sheila Conway
When one of our members suggested to the committee that we find a local venue to host The Latin Qvarter’s production, ‘The Song of Arms and a Man’, we didn’t know what we were undertaking. As we understood it, we were being asked to find a venue and book hotel accommodation for the performers, then advertise the event locally and to Guildford Classical Association (GCA) members. This was what generally happened when we arranged for speakers to come and talk to our local audiences.
We
contacted local schools who often host our events for us. As expected, since
the performance was scheduled for a Saturday evening, day schools were unable
to help. However, Charterhouse very kindly offered to host the event in their
beautiful Great Hall. Their Head of Classics, Jonathan Nelmes, was enthusiastic
and planned to organise a whole ‘Virgil week’ at school prior to the
performance, which was to be the culminating event.
We
booked accommodation nearby for the performers and thought our part in the
organisation of the event was largely over, bar a bit of advertising. How wrong
we were! Our real work was only just beginning. It was at this point that it
dawned on us that we were responsible for pricing and selling tickets as well
as all the publicity, and, most scarily, responsible for footing the bill if
the event made a loss!
As
we began to comprehend just what we had undertaken, we had serious misgivings. After all, a performance of the Aeneid, much of it in Latin, has very
niche appeal. How many people these days still study Latin, or feel up to a
whole evening of it? Many of those for whom Latin was a fundamental part of
their education are now so elderly that they think twice about going off to a performance
at night, particularly at a distant venue in the countryside. On the plus side,
Virgil’s Aeneid is a central part of
the syllabus at GCSE, A Level and university, for both Latin and Class Civ
students. And how better to get an understanding of the whole story than by
watching a live performance, hearing the beautiful sonority of the Latin and
experiencing at first hand the depths of emotion in this very human story? We
couldn’t deny this opportunity to our local students, teachers and classics
enthusiasts.
Having
decided to go ahead with the venture, our next job was pricing the tickets and
working out what concessions we could offer. This was much harder than it
sounds. We had good estimates of costs from The Latin Qvarter and Charterhouse,
but how many of our members would come? And how many local schools would
arrange to bring groups of students? Would university students travel all the
way from London, Reading and Southampton? In short, would we have an audience
of two hundred, or only forty?
It is
at this point that we were helped enormously by the Classical Association and
the Roman Society, who both gave us generous grants towards the costs of the
performance, and by the businessman, Richard Balfour, who very kindly agreed to
underwrite the event. We are extremely grateful to all three, without whose
generosity we would probably not have dared to go ahead.
It was hard work finding and approaching contacts at different universities
and local organisations who might be willing to help publicise the event, as
well as distributing posters and leaflets and informing our own members and
local schools. George Sharpley at The Latin Qvarter was very helpful, providing
an eye-catching leaflet and making sure we didn’t miss a trick on the
advertising.
The
performance was due to take place at Charterhouse on Saturday, 5th
October. As the day approached, we were increasingly worried. Several schools
which had originally wanted to bring large numbers of students were, for
various reasons, unable to come. A fortnight before the performance we had
still only sold about seventy tickets; we were on course to make a loss of over
£2,000. Then ticket sales started to improve, and finally some schools
confirmed bookings. On the night, we had an audience approaching a hundred and
seventy – a record for this event. Our finances were safe, but we sold right
out of programmes and had to disappoint some.
At last
the players: George Sharpley (narrator), Emma Kirkby, Victoria Punch (standing
in at short notice for the indisposed Elizabeth Donnelly), Matthew Hargreaves,
Llewellyn Morgan and Eileen Zoratti, assembled and the performance began. The
audience was hushed and expectant as the piper, Callum Armstrong, got
everyone’s attention. How exciting to hear a real aulos player! The English
narrative beautifully echoed the original Latin and set the scene for the Latin
extracts. It was entrancing seeing such well-known passages brought to life - acted
out and performed in impressively fluent and expressive spoken Latin.
There
was a real buzz during the interval while everyone enjoyed welcome refreshments
before settling down to the emotional finale of the tale. All too quickly, the
performance was over, bows and curtain calls were taken, and the audience departed.
As they left, we heard a huge number of compliments about the production. The audience
were obviously thrilled by the performance and very glad that they had come. In
that moment we knew we had been right to keep our nerve, and all the work
beforehand seemed worthwhile.
Sheila Conway is the Hon. Secretary of the Guildford branch of the Classical Association. See here for further details of the branch.
See here for further information about The Latin Qvarter and 'The Song of Arms and a Man'.
