A Beautiful Thread

Marking 150 years since the first publication of Far From the Madding Crowd, we celebrate Thomas Hardy in his own words, poetry, novels, and the music he loved so much.

Starring Anton Lesser (Game of Thrones, Wolf Hall, Endeavour), A Beautiful Thread weaves Hardy’s life – dramatic as any of his books – with his beautiful poetry and great novels, including Far From the Madding Crowd, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, and Jude the Obscure. Hardy put more music into his work than any other writer, and the Swan’s Artistic Director, David Le Page has devised a musical programme of shimmering beauty – a Mellstock folk band style, that combines West Gallery Music from the village churches of the 1840’s with Holst, Purcell and contemporary folk.

Devised and adapted by Deirdre Shields (Red Sky at Sunrise: Laurie Lee in Words and Music), Hardy’s extraordinary writing shines as bright as ever.