Nineteenth Circle

Welcome to new members of our twitter community! Keep an eye out for our pilot programme "(Un)shackled", incl voices from the turn of the 19C (Romantic poets - enslaved people - proto-feminists), commenting on both the French & Haitian Revolutions.

Yet another brilliant day with some extraordinary performers reading #poetry #literature & other text from the long #nineteenthcentury. Watch this space 👀

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Last but most certainly not least, we were delighted to be able to welcome @jenniferballads, despite difficulties imposed by #COVID19. Jennifer is a performer of #19thC Industrial Revolution #broadside ballads and Lancashire dialect work song.

Our penultimate "Sick-room" performer is Nigerian British, poet, playwright, performer, educator & lawyer @ToluAgbelusi. A BBC Slam finalist, she was shortlisted for the #WhiteReview Poetry Prize. In '20 @JacarandaBooks published her debut poetry collection, #LocatingStrongwoman.

We're delighted to introduce another brilliant performer, @malarkeyme. Annie is a previous winner of the @bbcproms Young Poet Award & is an alumni of the #BarbicanYoungPoets & @STWevents's #LondonWritersAward. Can't wait to work together again Annie!

Final entry in our Sick-room collection is a rough one. Read by @ToluAgbelusi, #FrancesBurney describes, in a letter to her sister (1812), a double-mastectomy w/o anaesthetic. It presents a #19thC first-person description by a woman of her own pain. youtu.be/1DfCSVNFGxc

In August 1854 a severe cholera outbreak occurred in London's Soho area 167 years later, during the Covid pandemic, we remember #JohnSnow's "On the Mode of Communication of Cholera", read by @jsamlarose for The Sick-room, commissioned by @thespacearts Thanks to @cockpittheatre

Keyboardist @tomharpsichord is a principal with the @EnglishConcert & regularly performs with the world's leading early-music ensembles. His playing on an 1826 #Graf in our #Schumann recording is well worth checking out.

Oboist @DuarteleoLeo is principal chair of the #AcademyofAncientMusic & member of @theoae. A huge privilege to include his playing amongst our earliest work, here's to next time🍸

During the week of the 165th anniversary of Robert Schumann's death, our Sick-room collection (commissioned by @thespacearts) continues with this blazing recording of his Three Romances by @DuarteleoLeo & @tomharpsichord. With thanks to @finchcockspiano. youtu.be/_EXB55Xm71M

A big thank-you to @BellaCox19 who joined our group of poets with her fantastic reading of #MaryShelley's The Last Man. You can discover more of her work here - bellacox.com/

This week in the "Sick Room", commissioned by @thespacearts, an amusing interlude in the shape of a comic broadside by John Morgan. "The Wonderful Pills" sung by @jenniferballads. For 2 other songs in a similar vein, visit our YT. #c19th #Victorian youtu.be/pV1uvBeYb4c

This week in the "Sick Room", commissioned by @thespacearts, #MaryShelley's haunting study in isolation. An excerpt from "The Last Man" (1826), read by @BellaCox19. #c19th #Victorian youtu.be/7gc9zCPHp4M

Introducing this week's wonderful performer, @rachelnalong. Rachel is the founder of the Octavia Poetry Collective for Womxn of Colour, whose work can be found here - octaviapoetrycollective.com/… #poetry #PoetsTwitter

Today in the "Sick Room", commissioned by @thespacearts, we celebrate the birth-week of American writer & social reformist #CharlottePerkinsGilman. An excerpt from "The Yellow Wallpaper" (1892), read by @rachelnalong. #c19th #Victorian youtu.be/50p5AxzqnWc

Nigerian-British poet & actor @GabrielAkamo is this week's performer, with his reading of #MarySeacole's fascinating autobiography. We're thrilled to have worked with him! You can check out his other work @ gabrielakamo.com/

Today in the "Sick Room", commissioned by @thespacearts, on the 5th Anniversary of the @seacolestatue. Excerpts from "Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands" (1857) by British-Jamaican nurse #MarySeacole, read by @GabrielAkamo. #c19th Link youtu.be/nThGpVp6I00