ALL-NIGHT EPIC
8pm 30th April – 6am 1st May, 2023
in the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building, St. Hilda’s College Oxford
Enkidu built him a house for the Dream God
With a windbreak against the storm.
He had Gilgamesh lie in a circle of sacred flour,
While Enkidu slept like a snare in the doorway (Gilgamesh, Tablet 4, translated by Sophus Helle)
You are invited to enter the Dream House to sleep, wake, sing and listen to the story of a man’s search for immortality. Gilgamesh will be narrated by a cast of storytellers, dancers, poets, actors, students, school children, musicians, and your own imagination. The performance will last ten hours and will include refreshments and breakfast. Booking required: £10 (concessions £5). A limited number of seats will be available but there will be plenty of space on the floor – please bring blankets and cushions to make yourself comfortable. Seats will be allocated, please indicate on your booking if you require a seat.
Book online here.
Artists include: Tablet 1: Badia Obaid (actor) and Wafa’ Tarnowska (writer and storyteller); Tablet 2: directed by Tim Supple (actors tbc); Tablet 3: Will Keen (actor); Tablet 4: Thembe Mvula (poet); Tablet 5: Students from Oxford Spires Academy; Tablet 6: Alice Oswald (poet) and Peter Oswald (playwright, poet); Tablet 7: Saju Hari (dancer); Tablet 8: Ella Paul and Dartington School of Arts students; Tablet 9: Jennifer Wong (poet); Tablet 10: Stephe Harrop (storyteller); Tablet 11: Claire Barnes, Marcus Bell, Zoë Jennings, Alva Orr, Amelia Wyckoff, directed by Estel Baudou; Tablet 12: Helen Eastman (director), Alex Silverman (composer). The dancer Saju Hari and musicians Tarik Beshir (oud player) and Sam Brown (lutenist) will perform throughout the night.
Overseen and inspired by Alice Oswald (Oxford Professor of Poetry), with support from Marina Warner (All Souls), Fiona Macintosh (St Hilda’s College), Sue Jones (St Hilda’s ) and Justine McConnell (KCL), the event has been made possible thanks to funding from the St Hilda’s College Research Fund, DANSOX, APGRD and KCL.
Note: this is a fee-paying event run by an organisation which is not affiliated to, or funded by, the Classical Association