Location: Progress Theatre, the Mount, off Christchurch Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 5HL (www.progresstheatre.co.uk)
marketing@progresstheatre.co.uk
Performance dates: September 8th to 13th, 7.30pm (doors at 7pm)
**Please note there will be a gala reception on the final night, where ticket-holders will enjoy a wine and canapé reception, followed by a Conversation with the playwright Juliet Aykroyd, – start time 5.30pm, doors at 5pm. Tickets £20 (limited numbers).**
Info no: 0118 384 2195
Tickets: £10/£8 conc http://www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/62360
Phone booking: 0333 666 3366
(Please note there is a booking fee)
Details
One was the father of evolution; the other the father of meteorology. Both men changed the world – but while one man is revered, the other is forgotten.
Set during the voyage of the Beagle and in later years, Darwin & FitzRoy plots the friendship and tension between Charles Darwin and the Beagle’s captain, Robert FitzRoy. Both men of science and men of faith, Juliet Aykroyd’s witty and poignant play charts the relationship between two giants of modern science on their celebrated voyage around the world, and catalogues the demons besetting both.
Darwin & FitzRoy is a joint production between Progress Theatre and WAM, the Festival of Weather, Arts and Music.
Commissioned by Lord Hunt, ex-director Director General and Chief Executive of the British Meteorological Office, for a one‐off performance on the 150th anniversary of the publication in 1859 of Darwin’s seminal work On the Origin of Species, Progress Theatre is proud to be performing the play as the centrepiece of the week.
Uniquely, every performance of this play will be preceded by an event exploring FitzRoy’s life, life scientific under sail, the music inspired by the Sea and the use of old ship’s logs in modern climate research. Accompanying the play and the events will be an exhibition of weather-inspired art by two Reading artists, Julia Rogers and Roxana Tohaneanu-Shields.
This production of DARWIN & FITZROY is by special arrangement with Stay Thirsty Media, Inc. (staythirsty.com)
WAM events Sept 8-13 at Progress Theatre
Featuring
Monday 8th September: Admiral FitzRoy, Founder of the Met Office
FitzRoy expert Gordon Tripp introduces Robert FitzRoy and examines his role as the Founder of the modern Met Office
Tuesday 9th September: Science at Sea and Under Sail
Prof. Tony Rice brings us as close as we can probably stomach to what it meant to be a scientist aboard a sailing ship
Wednesday 10th September: Sea Fever
Songs of the sea and inspired by the sea, performed by singer Pierrette Thomet and guitarist Gerard Cousins
Thursday 11th September: oldWeather – New Science
Dr Philip Brohan of the Met Office talks about his citizen science project oldWeather, digitising old ships’ logs – such as the Beagle log
Friday 12th September: Faith in Science
Join Prof Brian Golding OBE of the Met Office as he considers the thorny issue of faith and its meaning in science
Saturday 13th September: Sea Fever and Gala Reception
A drinks and nibbles reception featuring Juliet Aykroyd, author of Darwin & FitzRoy.
This will be followed by Sea Fever, songs of the sea and inspired by the sea, performed by singer Pierrette Thomet and guitarist Gerard Cousins, and the play.
A limited number of tickets are available which will include drinks and canapes, “meet the playwright”, Sea Fever and the play.
