Beorhtel's Hill (1988)
(A community play for 125 actors)
 
SYNOPSIS

A play commissioned to celebrate the 40th birthday of the new town of Basildon. Because it is a community play engaging 125 members of the community, it is impossible to be performed by anyone else. But it's an interesting read, recording a fascinating history of London's East Enders who were the first Basildon dwellers. Out of their story is explored the theme of 'the stranger in our midst'.
 
EXCERPT
"Strangers in their midst. Mark that, dearly beloved. I too came as a stranger to this place. Fought for it, schemed for it, dreamed for it, invested my best years in it. But I've a confession make - I'm lonely here. There are no - poets here. Oh yes, one or two. There's always one or two - but - mostly - only makers of money. If I want to feel alive, emotionally charged, inter-bloody-lectually stimulated, I have to escape to the bleedin' metropolis… Makers of money … Lonely."
 
REVIEWS
…Mr Wesker's humanist message is that we must all welcome the stranger in our midst or die; and out of a piece of local history he skilfully weaves a universal theme …
Michael Billington, The Guardian.
 
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