23.05.2018 Views

TIL MAY BANK HOLS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

6<br />

Photos: Crown Copyright.<br />

THE HOUSEHOLD DIVISION BEATING RETREAT<br />

The Household Division Beating Retreat, taking place this<br />

year on 6 & 7 June, is a traditional musical extravaganza<br />

which showcases the very best of British military music,<br />

ceremonial and pageantry in the heart of London.<br />

THE LAST DAYS OF ANNE BOLEYN:<br />

NEW PLAY AT TOWER OF LONDON<br />

The final days of one of the Tower of<br />

London’s most infamous prisoners,<br />

Anne Boleyn, will be brought to life in a<br />

new play, to run throughout the summer<br />

season at the Tower of London.<br />

The performance, written and directed<br />

by Michael Fentiman, will follow the last<br />

17 days of Anne’s life. After one of the<br />

most controversial courtships in history,<br />

during the course of which Henry VIII<br />

famously broke with the Catholic Church<br />

to marry her and conceive an heir, she<br />

spent the night at the Tower of London<br />

before her coronation in 1533. She<br />

returned to the Tower in 1536, accused<br />

of adultery and treason. The Last Days of<br />

Anne Boleyn explores her tragic final<br />

days at the famous fortress, from her<br />

imprisonment and interrogation, through<br />

to her trial and execution.<br />

Set on the historic Horse Guards<br />

Parade, against the magnificent<br />

backdrop of St James’s Park, The<br />

Massed Bands of The Foot Guards will<br />

perform a programme of rousing military<br />

and contemporary music, supported by<br />

The Mounted Band of the Household<br />

Cavalry, The Pipes and Drums of The<br />

Scots Guards, The Drums and Pipes of<br />

the Irish Guards, the Corp of Drums of<br />

the Coldstream and Irish Guards, the<br />

Musical Ride of the Household Cavalry<br />

and the Royal Choral Society.<br />

The Band and Pipes of the United<br />

Arab Emirates and The United States<br />

Army Europe Band and Chorus will join<br />

this annual event as guest performers.<br />

This year’s theme of co-operation is<br />

titled ‘Alliance of the Free’, with over six<br />

hundred musicians taking part.<br />

Military Beating Retreat concerts have<br />

a long tradition dating back to the 1690s.<br />

Originally the beating of the drum was<br />

used to order troops to break off fighting<br />

and withdraw to the safety of camp as<br />

darkness fell, later it signalled the closing<br />

of the camp gates at the end of the day<br />

and called troops back to base for the night.<br />

The Household Division Beating Retreat<br />

showcases the very best of military music,<br />

ceremonial and pageantry in the heart of<br />

London. Stirring music, precision drill,<br />

horsemanship, cannon fire, lights and<br />

fireworks will combine in an unforgettable<br />

evening of music, celebrating British Army<br />

Endeavour. tickets.householddivision.org.uk<br />

Anne Boleyn.<br />

The performance is staged on the site<br />

of the lost Tudor Palace at the Tower,<br />

where Anne spent her last 17 days. It<br />

uses contemporary sources – including<br />

her own words from letters to her<br />

husband, Henry VIII and her final speech<br />

on the scaffold – to paint an intimate<br />

and moving picture of this tragic history,<br />

in the place where it happened. This<br />

theatrical spectacle draws on the music,<br />

ritual and liturgy of Henry VIII’s Tudor<br />

Court for inspiration.<br />

t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g a z i n e • t h i s i s l o n d o n o n l i n e

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!