Exploring the relationship between the artists Dora Carrington and Mark Gertler, with musical interludes, the performance will run without an interval and will be followed by a light supper, which is included in the ticket price.

A Beautiful Bondage is a compilation of the letters between Dora Carrington and Mark Gertler, who were on the fringes of the Bloomsbury set and were amazingly prolific letter writers. These letters were originally broadcast on BBC radon 4 in the 1990’s, put together by Jane Beeson. They chart their difficult and emotional relationship with each other, Lytton Strachey, and their Art. The music that will be performed to will be the Fall of the Leaf by Imogen Holst and the ‘cello Suites by Benjamin Britten.

PAUL ANSDELL
Paul has been an actor for nearly thirty years, working in theatre, film and television.He can be heard narrating numerous audio books, including The Woman in Black for Susan Hill, and the whole series of Paul Cleave crime novels. He has collaborated with the pianist Hugh Petter to give recitals of words and music, including Keats’ St Agnes’ Eve. Concert narrations include Vaughan Williams’ An Oxford Elegy, with Robert Secret and the Oxford Harmonic Society; Peter and the Wolf and Alice in Wonderland for the Oxford Chamber Music Festival.

OONA BEESON
Oona has worked in theatre and television, and was a member of the BBC Radio Drama Company. She has performed extensively on BBC Radio 4, 3, and the BBC World Service. She has played various roles in the Sherlock Holmes and Ruth Rendell audio books. She took part in a concert performance of Midsummer Night’s Dream with the London Classical Players in Vienna conducted by Roger Norrington. She very much enjoyed reading excerpts from Rosamund Bartlett’s new translation of Anna Karenina at the OUP book launch in Oxford.

GABRIEL AMHERST
Gabriel grew up in Devon and went to Dartington Hall school where she met Oona. Gabriel subsequently studied music at Somerville College Oxford and the Royal College of Music. As a period instrument specialist she has performed and recorded with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Academy of Ancient Music and the English Baroque Soloists. She is co-founder of Instruments of Time and Truth, which is based in Oxford, and she is a member of the Oxford Bach Soloists.