Presented by Hambletts

Starring Oxford Playhouse favourite, Anton Lesser (Endeavour, Wolf Hall, Andor, Game of Thrones), A Beautiful Thread tells the story of Thomas Hardy’s life – dramatic as any of his books – in his own words, through his sublime poetry, letters, and great novels, including Far From the Madding Crowd, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, and Jude the Obscure.

Anton Lesser and Lucia Bonbright bring a hugely varied cast to dazzling life: from Hardy’s immortal characters, Hardy himself, his mother, Jemima and wives, Emma and Florence, to George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf. The show highlights Hardy’s humour (often overlooked!), his modernity, the astonishing time-span he lived through, and his global reach, from Japan to Hollywood. Adapted by Deirdre Shields, Hardy’s extraordinary writing shines bright as ever.

Thomas Hardy put more music in his novels than any other writer, and Orchestra of the Swan’s Artistic Director, David Le Page has devised a musical programme of shimmering beauty that weaves around the words, from classical music to contemporary folk, performed live by on-stage musicians from Orchestra of the Swan.

From Hambletts, the creative team that brought Red Sky at Sunrise: Laurie Lee in Words and Music to Oxford Playhouse.

I’m delighted to be returning to Oxford! Words and Music is a kind of unique genre, neither pure reading, nor acting, but with an immediacy that comes from the huge emotional impact the music has upon the words, and vice versa, and the interplay we actors enjoy with the musicians on-stage. Quite simply, it’s the most enjoyable thing I’ve ever done!

Anton Lesser (Endeavour, Wolf Hall, Andor, Game of Thrones)