Grand to see that this summer’s annual Petworth Festival, which like others seemed doomed because of the pandemic, is going ahead - albeit in virtual form.
Tickets have gone on sale for a 2020 Petworth Festival Special with a series of performances being streamed between Friday 16th October and Sunday 1st November. Organisers, intent on doing something significant to mark what is the festival’s tenth anniversary, have even invited a small audience of sponsors and friends to help add atmosphere.
The online festival programme includes music, theatre, spoken-word and of course poetry and literature with an appearance on Saturday 24th October by best selling novelist Joanna Trollope - a regular speaker with Clive Conway Productions.Joanna will be talking about her latest book Mum and Dad.
It tells the story of Gus and Monica who abandoned England 25 years ago to build a new life in southern Spain, starting a vineyard and a wine business. Then Gus, in his early 70s, has a sudden stroke, and his and Monica’s three adult children have to ride to the rescue. As these children descend on the parental home, each one has a different view of both the situation and its solution. Age-old resentments surface, aggravated by new and unbearable tensions. Can the family, as a family, ever survive? Compelling stuff and typical Trollope.
There’s much much more on offer at Petworth. Check it out at www.petworthfestival.org.uk Meanwhile Joanna will be back in action with Clive Conway Productions next year in An Audience with Joanna Trollope. Watch this space.