Blake in Sussex: VISIONS

Explore the visions in paintings and words of William Blake as Blakefest is held this year in the magnificent surroundings of Petworth House.

Enjoy a glass of prosecco in the North Gallery where a number of Blake’s paintings, including his depictions of Milton’s Paradise Lost and Spencer’s Fairy Queen, can be viewed amongst the treasures of the North Gallery. Then, in the stately splendour of the Marble Hall, sit back and listen to a stimulating mix of words and music, with author and Blake expert Tobias Churton, stage and screen actor Gareth Williams, award-winning poet Karen McCarthy Woolf and classical guitarist Linda Kelsall-Barnett.

William Blake lived in the Sussex seaside village of Felpham near Bognor Regis from 1801-1803, where he saw visions of angels, was inspired to write Jerusalem and was later placed on trial in Chichester for sedition after an altercation with a soldier outside an inn.

Be inspired and entertained as Tobias Churton explores the nature of Blake’s visions, Gareth Williams reads Blake’s poetry and Karen McCarthy Woolf puts the notion of vision into a contemporary context, with musical interludes on guitar played by Linda Kelsall-Barnett Tickets £15 (to include a glass of prosecco or soft drink)

Entrance to Petworth House for this event is via the town entrance at Church Lodge, adjacent to St Mary’s Church, GU28 0AE.

Car parking is available at Pound Street car park, GU28 0DX, a short walk from the House.

Discover More: Blakefest at Petworth House is jointly organised by the South Downs Poetry Festival and Blakefest for Petworth House, NT. Petworth House, London Road, Petworth, GU28 0AE.
Tobias Churton is an author, filmmaker, lecturer, poet and musician. His books include a new revealing study of Blake the spiritual man, Jerusalem: The Real Life of William Blake, and The Spiritual Meaning of the Sixties: The Magic, Myth, and Music of the Decade That Changed the World.

Gareth Williams has performed with the English Shakespeare Company, starred in the West End production of Guys and Dolls, appeared in Mike Leigh’s recent film Peterloo and was also the singer for the chart-topping a cappella group, the Flying Pickets.

Karen McCarthy Woolf is the recipient of the Kate Betts Memorial Prize, her celebrated début An Aviary of Small Birds was shortlisted for the 2015 Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection, as well as being a Guardian Book of the Year and a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. Her latest collection Seasonal Disturbances (2017) is also a PBS Recommendation.