Bringing letters to life
In an age of declining letter volumes, it’s fantastic to hear of the phenomenal success of Letters Live.
Inspired by Shaun Usher’s international best-selling ‘Letters of Note’ series and Simon Garfield’s ‘To the Letter’, Letters Live is a live ‘celebration of the enduring power of literary correspondence where remarkable letters are read by a diverse array of outstanding performers’.
Letters Live first took place in December 2013 and quickly established itself as a powerful and dynamic event format. Each show features a different set of performers reading letters written over centuries and from around the world.
Audience members are never told in advance who is going to take to the stage or what letters they are going to bring alive. But to date, letters written by people as varied as David Bowie, Marge Simpson, Mohandas Gandhi, Elvis Presley, Charlotte Bronte, and Che Guevara, have been read live by performers such as Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliet Stevenson, Ian McKellen, Kylie Minogue and Stephen Fry.
A recent Guardian article written by Sian Cain, featured Noel Fielding, Thom Yorke and Cumberbatch telling us why they love Letters Live. When Cumberbatch first heard of the idea, he said it didn’t ‘quite sing, but do it once and you are smitten.’. Similarly, Yorke ‘didn’t really understand’ Letters Live when Cumberbatch first asked him to appear, but he’s certainly a fan now. ‘I feel there is a recuperative effect in listening to people’s letters,’ he said. ‘Letters are inherently the most considered, self-aware way for humans to express themselves – you have to measure your emotions in a way you don’t when you use Twitter.’
Speaking about the Letters Live events, Jamie Byng, CEO of publishing firm, Canongate, said: ‘You can’t help be drawn in, even when the letter is never written for you. Every human experience can be found in letters. They can make you feel something you can’t feel yourself, experiences you will never live. Some of us will never lose a child. Some of us will never kill someone. You could sit at home to read them, but, through the alchemy of performance, everyone in that audience becomes the recipient.’
As The Times wrote in October 2017, ‘Of all forms of writing, the letter is the most versatile, encompassing everything from affairs of state to personal intimacies. In the 21st century, the letter can still say things that no other genre can achieve — sincerely, faithfully and truly.’
New Zealand author, Katherine Mansfield, once wrote: ‘This is not a letter but my arms around you for a brief moment’.
Long live the letter.
