Tony Lidington – Pierrot Heroes
£10.00
DATE: Friday 5th June
TIME: 10:30 – 11.45
LOCATION: Monks Yard
DESCRIPTION
“Send in the Clowns” sang Judy Collins, but way before Sondheim’s lyrics became famous, Pierrot the classic French pantomime character, was treading the boards. For 50 years, from the end of the 19th Century until the second world war, almost no British seaside resort was complete without a Pierrot troupe. Renowned for their flowing white satin costumes, black pom-poms and conical hats and white faces, Pierrots provided songs and sketches in the open air for generations of seaside family audiences. There were more than 2000 troupes, with hundreds of thousands of performers, presenting millions of performances – yet now, there is not one troupe left! Few know their origins, their evolution and, even fewer know the debt we owe them for our contemporary pop music and comedy. Tony Lidington is one of the last Pierrot practitioners, having performed as ‘Uncle Tacko’ with ‘The Pierrotters for 27 years! Based on his book “Pierrot Heroes” Tony will give us a lively, illustrated interactive talk and demonstration, which allows us to appreciate the music, art and unique visual imagery of the genre, coming as it does from a world leading authority (and practitioner) of this British seaside phenomenon.
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