Mervyn Peake

A new angle on Gormenghast

2009-07-12T19:01:00.005Z

A new angle on Gormenghast, and one that has resulted in a good response from readers and Twitters alike is the following, written by Mark McGuiness a member of the late Mervyn Peake Society.

Read some of the comments.

Gormenghast stained glass window

2009-07-04T09:59:00.002Z

The New York based stained glass artist, Joseph Cavalieri, has produced a very attractive montage in glass to fulfil a commission from a Peake fan. Aspects of Gormenghast have been incorporated into the work that include the Countess's cats, the outer dwellers houses, and the castle seen in the background as a looming presence.

Warwick University at The Fringe

2009-07-04T09:57:00.000Z

The highly regarded Warwick University graduate student theatre company Curious Directive will be performing Boy in Darkness at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival between 7th and 22nd August. The play can be seen at the Zoo Venue in the city.

For further details please contact The Edinburgh Festival Fringe: 0131 226 0000

Mervyn Peake play performed in Camberwell

2009-07-04T09:56:00.000Z

One of Mervyn Peake's plays was performed at the tiny Blue Elephant Theatre in Camberwell on 21st June, which produced a great response from the full house. Adapted by Brian Sibley, The Cave was performed by Flat Pack Productions who brought this powerful piece to life. The denouement of the play; the whole cast die from gut shots, brought gasps from the rapt audience. A complete triumph, and one which hopefully will repeated in the not too distant future.

Fabian Peake's new website

2009-06-13T11:37:00.003Z

Fabian Peake, Mervyn's younger son, has produced his own website which clearly shows in its wide-ranging display of fine art, that his father's influence in paint, pencil, cloth and word, has certainly been passed on.

At the British Library

2009-06-13T11:25:00.001Z

An exhibition not to miss, although it will be coming down after 28th June, is Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat, which has a wonderfully comprehensive selection of 1st edition children's poetry classics on display. Set out in glass cabinets both the text and the illustrations bring back memories of childhood. Mervyn Peake is represented by two of his most famous and loved interpretations, with a open page showing the crocodile from Alice and another of The Ancient Mariner.

Liz Jensen's choice

2009-06-13T11:22:00.001Z

Good to read in the Arts and Books section of The Independent of 5th June that the well-known writer Liz Jensen has chosen as her Book of a Lifetime the Titus Tilogy.

A Mervyn Peake concert

2009-06-09T08:27:00.001Z

A concert, with music by the financier and composer Nigel Hamway, of twelve nonsense poems by Mervyn Peake, was held in the chapel of Harris Manchester College, Oxford on 29th May. With the soprano Nancy-Jane Rucker alternating with the baritone Benjamin Thompson, and accompanied by Simon Kroll, and the pianist Louise Gullifer, they played and sang to the 150 very appreciative invited guests.

The musical setting of the love poem To Maeve by pianist Eve Barsham, was both poignant and moving and very well received by an enraptured audience. The concert was recorded live by the composer who hopes to make it available in due course.

Maison d'Ailleurs exhibition

2009-05-14T17:16:00.003Z

This additional information, en Francais, regarding the exhibition opening in Switzerland in October this year, might be of interest to our many French visitors.

Treasure Island dinner

2009-05-11T18:48:00.003Z

A special dinner will be held on 18th June at 7.00 pm, at Clifton Hill House, Bristol, the former home of John Addington Symonds, a friend of Robert Louis Stevenson. I have been asked to say a few words about my father's illustrations for Treasure Island which were produced on Sark in the late 1940's, and my memories of posing for the character, Jim, from the novel.

The other speaker at the dinner will be Nicholas Newton, son of Robert, renowned for his role as Long John Silver in the 1950 Walt Disney production of Treasure Island.

A Talk at Warwick University

2009-05-11T07:52:00.003Z

A talk on the Life & Work of Mervyn Peake will take place at the Capital Centre, University of Warwick, at 7pm on Tuesday 23rd June.

Further details of the event can be found here.

A Nigel Hamway concert in Oxford

2009-05-05T11:25:00.004Z

May 29th at Harris Manchester College, Oxford

The Mervyn Peake admirer, composer, Cambridge graduate, and head of the City venture capital firm, Charterhouse Development Capital, Nigel Hamway, will be giving a concert of his music in the chapel of the Oxford college at the end of May. Written especially to accompany some of my father's nonsense verse, the 100 or so members of the invited audience will also each be handed a copy of the recently published, Collected Poems of Mervyn Peake at the end. It is also hoped that the poem To Maeve will be sung as a solo composition by a baritone in the choir.

A talk in Lee

2009-04-17T15:54:00.003Z

With an even larger number of entrants to the 2009 Mervyn Peake Awards, up 23% on the 2008 tally, I am also very pleased to announce that the combined Lee, Lewisham and Bromley branches of the Parkinson's Disease Society have invited me to speak on 28th May at the Lee branch. The talk will begin at 7.00.

The reason for my original suggestion of the awards in 2001 to the then chief executive of the Parkinson's Disease Society, was because my father would continue to produce work even to the end of his life, and I felt that others suffering from the same appalling condition might view his example as one to follow.

Peake in Switzerland

2009-02-25T15:35:00.003Z

A major exhibition displaying many of the original illustrations produced for such classics as Treasure Island, Grimms Household Tales, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass, Swiss Family Robinson and others, will open on 25th September 2009 and run until February 4th 2010.

La Maison d'Ailleurs (The House of Elsewhere) is the only public museum in the world dedicated exclusively to Science Fiction, Utopia and Extraordinary Journeys, and will host this first comprehensive Mervyn Peake show of his illustration.

Address: La Maison d'Ailleurs, Place Pestalozzi 14, 1400 Yverdon-les-Bains, Suisse
Website: www.ailleurs.ch
Telephone: + 41 (0) 425 64 38

World Premiere of a Peake play

2009-02-13T09:42:00.003Z

The Cave or Anima Mundi, a play by Mervyn Peake, will be performed at the Blue Elephant Theatre, 59a Bethwin Road, Camberwell, London SE5 0XT at 7.30pm on 21st June.

From their website: "A play in three acts, The Cave or Anima Mundi was written in 1961 and has never been previously staged. With the co-operation of the playwright's son, Sebastian Peake, The Cave has been adapted as a rehearsed reading by award-winning writer Brian Sibley, as part of the Camberwell Arts Festival, and produced by Flat Pack Productions. It will be accompanied by an introduction setting the play within the context of Mervyn Peake's ‘Gormenghast’ novels and other work and will be followed by a Q&A session."

A Peake talk at Merchant Taylor's School

2009-02-05T17:48:00.002Z

I have been asked to give a talk on 26th February 2009 in the Lecture Theatre of Merchant Taylor's Independent School for Boys, Northwood. The subject will the the life and work of Mervyn Peake.

Poetry-next-the-Sea

2009-01-26T18:46:00.000Z

It's good to hear that the Carcanet publication, Mervyn Peake: Collected Poems was the top selling book in 2008 of this respected imprint. With repeat orders from booksellers like Waterstone's and others coming in on a regular basis the publisher tells me, the future looks bright for this comprehensive poetry collection.

Readings from the book will take place at Poetry-next-the-Sea on Thursday. Details: 01328 855545

Peake in the Guardian list

2009-01-26T18:44:00.002Z

In the Science Fiction and Fantasy section of The Guardian newspaper's 1000 Books One Must Read, Titus Groan joins novels by Rabelais, Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson and others, in the 33 books chosen for this category.

Mervyn Peake: The Man and His Art

2009-01-26T18:39:00.002Z

Having been informed by the publishers last autumn that the hardback edition of the book had sold out, it was good to hear that 20 copies had been found in the warehouse. These very last copies have been signed by the compilers Alison Eldred and myself and thus become collectors items. If you would like to order a copy please contact me at sebastianpeake@aol.com. The price, including postage and packing, is £43.

Morris Kestelman at the Imperial War Museum

2009-01-15T17:47:00.003Z

At the Imperial War Museum currently is a very poignant exhibition called Unspeakable, The Artist as Witness to the Holocaust, which displays paintings and drawings by various artists, some of whom were prisoners at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

The largest painting, entitled Lama Sabachhami (Why have you forsaken me - taken from the opening verse of Psalm 22) is by Morris Kestelman, who worked at the Central School of Art in London for 35 years. It was in his capacity as head of art, that he kept my father employed as a tutor long after the effects of Parkinson's Disease had taken hold. I dedicate this blog therefore both to the memory of a kind employer, and to the victims of the infamous death camp my father visited in June 1945, and which left such a profound and terrible visual and emotional legacy.

A new Mr Pye clip

2009-01-15T17:45:00.001Z

A new addition to the site shows a clip from The Making of Mr Pye which begins with Le Seigneur of Sark's views on the island, the filming and the novel. The currently beleaguered head of the old order speaks about the filming enthusiastically, while standing in front of the impressive Seigneurie where he lives.

Joanne Harris and Gormenghast

2009-01-15T17:37:00.002Z

The writer Joanne Harris will be including extracts from Gormenghast in a BBC Radio 4 programme called With Great Pleasure to be broadcast in March. A great fan of my father's work, it will be interesting to hear which parts of the novel Joanne chooses to have read.

Further details as to the exact time and date when the broadcast will take place, will be announced on the blog as soon as they are known.

Peake at Wells-next-the-Sea

2009-01-15T17:34:00.005Z

I will be speaking at Poetry-next-the-Sea, on Thursday 29th January, at Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, when I will be reading from the recently published Mervyn Peake: Collected Poems. The talk will begin at 7.30 pm and be held at the Granary Theatre, Staithe Street, a lovely site near which there is even free parking.

Read Kiron Pim's article from the Norfolk Daily Press..

Titus Groan - a Hungarian edition

2009-01-12T09:38:00.001Z

Using an adapted version of Eleanor Crowe's elegant design for the current Vintage Books edition of the Titus Trilogy, Alexandra Publishers of Hungary have brought out Titus Groan. Translated by Berta Bakonyi this will be the first time that a Mervyn Peake novel has become available in this language. The other two parts of the trilogy will follow in due course.

Poem of the Week

2009-01-12T09:31:00.005Z

A great fan of Mervyn Peake's poetry, Neil Hampton noticed this in Blackwell's Booskshop in Oxford. In response to the poetry he wrote this:

"Oh love, oh death, oh ecstasy"
A fie upon captivity ...
Oh endless day, oh barren night -
Tortured dreams and return of light.
Oh needless waste of precious time
Suburban life: the death of rhyme.