175^TH  Celebration of the Chartist movement 2014 at Newport, Chepstow, Llandogo and Monmouth

It’s about the people. It’s about ordinary people being heard. It’s about being proud of your roots and your community and the continued struggle for civic liberties.

In commemoration of Y Cyfodiad, the Chartist uprising in South Wales (1839), The Forgotten  is being staged at the Riverfront Theatre, Newport, South Wales before embarking on a mini tour of the heritage trail in remembrance and celebration of the bands of men, who with a little bread and cheese in their pockets, left their homes in the valleys and marched towards Newport calling for their Charter. A ragged swathe of humanity fired by the injustices of their age, their journey ended abruptly on a wet November evening in 1839 at the Westgate Hotel, Newport, where their call  was met by government troops and gun fire.

The Forgotten is a timely reminder of the importance of political activism in an age of political apathy and discontent with political parties. A  theatre piece for the community and about the community, The Forgotten gives voice to the silent voices in Chartist history, the forgotten men, women and children who sacrificed their lives to a cause.  Like Erwin Piscator's Living Paper Theatre The Forgotten presents factual events about Newport's Chartist Uprising 1839 in popular story form, music and song,  but draws parallels with injustices of contemporary society today, of homelessness and corruption, in the spirit within which Chartism was born. Featuring at its heart is an animated version of a recently demolished piece of public art, a Chartist mural (designed by Kenneth Budd in 1978)  which gave way to necessary redevelopment in an area blighted by empty shops.

The music by Monmouthshire's award winning television and music theatre composer Justin Nicholls,  blends Celtic folk with the driving rhythms of contemporary protest songs in the musical’s flagship song Use Your Voice For the People, as well as the rousing The Chartists Are Coming, Saturday Night and Rattle Her Bones all conceived as powerful choral pieces in which the region’s singing clubs under the directorship of Karl Daymond will be participating. The libretto is the birth child of South Walian poet, playwright and activist Patrick Jones and theatre director and writer Vanessa Dodd. The Forgotten story is told by a professional and community cast of actors and singers  directed by  Chris Durnall with musical direction by Bethan Morgan and animation by David Lewis.

Tickets cost £10, £8 concessions, £5 students 

at The Riverfront Theatre, Kingsway, Newport NP20 1HG

Wednesday November 19^th at 7.30 pm

Thursday November 20^th 2pm and 7.30pm

Box Office: 01633 656 757

This event is supported by Newport’s Community Arts Development Fund and the Arts Council of Wales and is a Screwpacket Playwrights Production dedicated to delivering plays of social conscience.