Late at Tate Britain: December 2012 Dreamers of Dreams

Explore the continuing influence of the Pre-Raphaelites on contemporary art, fashion and music

Expect a vibrant evening of performance, music and much more, including:

• An Etsy craft fair
• Laid back music from Stella Polaris
• Miharayasuhiro’s sensory interactive installation Ophelia Has A Dream
• A literary portrait of Burne-Jones from Ruth Rosen
• Readings from a new play about Holman Hunt called The Scapegoat written by Deborah Freeman and directed by Ariella Eshed
• A response to William Morris's bed from artist David Mabb
• Selected scenes from Hamlet directed by Tony Middleton
• Screening of live action film adaptation of Christina Rossetti's poem Goblin Market written and directed by Anna Blandford

Stella Polaris

18.00–21.30

Kalle B and Nicka Kirstejn, founders of Denmark’s renowned electronica festival, Stella Polaris will be joined by leading Danish electronic music artists Mads Björn (live), Lulu Rouge, August and Løwenstein to provide some dreamy chill-out sounds, inspired by Pre-Raphaelite art.

Etsy market

18.00–21.30

Inspired by the objects of design in the Pre-Raphaelites exhibition, the online art and craft community Etsy invite you to sample of their wares in a Christmas Craft Fair. 

Etsy craft activity

19.00–21.00
South Duveens

Inspired by the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition and the Etsy sellers? Join us to make your own Christmas crackers and gift bows using imagery from the exhibition.

Read our Etsy guest blog post, by potter Luciene Calabria from 42Pots on how the work of the Pre-Raphaelites influences her own craft.

Response to the death of Ophelia: Scenes from Hamlet

19.00–21.30

Over the course of the evening, scenes from Hamlet by William Shakespeare will pop up spontaneously in the gallery. These scenes relate directly to the painting Ophelia by John Everet Millias in the pre-raphelite exhibition. In a brief moment, these performances will transport the audience to the castle of Elisnore in Demark. The five short scenes will be performed by professional actors, whose credits include the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company. Taking Ophelia's suicide as a starting point, director Tony Middleton plots her journey through the warnings, rejection, the death of her father and her decent into madness. 
Cast: Alexandra Agnew, Jacqui Shaw, Bradley Taylor, Chris Jared, Vincenzo Nicoli

Scenes from The Scapegoat

19.00–20.00
Clore Auditorium
*Free but ticketed

Scapegoat is a new play, originally a commission at Manchester Art Gallery, designed around the life and art of William Holman Hunt, set in the Holy Land in the 19th century, Israel of today, and Britain then and now. It touches upon themes of art and love, early political and Christian Zionism, contemporary questions of identity and conflict. Iconic Hunt’s paintings provide the setting for the scenes.  Written by Deborah Freeman and directed by Ariella Eshed

Dreamer of Dreams 

20.00–20.55
Clore Auditorium 
*Free but ticketed 

Ruth Rosen, one of Britain's leading theatre actors and literary performers presents Dreamer of Dreams based on Burne-Jones’s King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid and the poems from Percy's Reliques and Tennyson on which it is based to give an inspiring portrait of the artist and his times and his own sources of inspiration. Through the words of Burne-Jones himself from his letters, diaries, notes and the words of Rossetti, Georgiana Burne-Jones, Percy’s Reliques and Tennyson's poem on which it is based. Devised and presented by Ruth Rosen.

Goblin Market

21.00–21.30
Clore Auditorium
*Free but ticketed

Goblin Market is the first live action film adaptation of Christina Rossetti's poem. Directed by award winning filmmaker, Anna Blandford, the film was part funded by sponsorship from the Telegraph newspaper.

Sister of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Christina was strongly associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement; modelling for her brother and other members of the brotherhood. Dante composed the original illustrations for Goblin Market.

Like the original poem, this film adaptation is a vivid and distinctive coming of age story, whilst woven into the fabric of its narrative is a more complex symbolism and meaning. It is designed to look like a Pre-Raphaelite painting, feel like a dream and capture the imagination like a fantasy fairy tale.

Set in rural Victorian England, Goblin Market focuses on the natural world, in a similar way to the Pre-Raphaelite artists. In contrast to the painters she associated with, Christina Rossetti’s interpretation of nature presents it as a dark and unknowable force. This film adaptation is true to the ambiguous sexual intrigue that enriches the poem and which has fascinated readers for over a century.

Directed by Anna Blandford. 
Written by Anna Blandford, Anna Valdez Hanks. 
Produced by Len Rowles, Anna Blandford, Anna Valdez Hanks
Copyright Fallen Films 2012 

Ophelia Has A Dream

18.00–21.30
Octagon 

Leading fashion designer Mihara Yasuhiro devised a sensory interactive installation, based on Millais’s Ophelia.  Entitled Ophelia Has A Dream, the piece invites visitors to interact with the work to become part of the experience.  With thanks to Paolo Roversi and WOW.

Bed Peace for Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde*

David Mabb
18.00–21.30

In ‘Bed Peace’, footage of John Lennon and Yoko Ono singing Give Peace a Chance from their Bed In protest against the Vietnam War is projected onto the headboard of William Morris's Bed, exploring the relationship between William Morris’ radical Socialism and the comfortable domesticity of his legacy.

John Lennon’s and Yoko Ono’s Bed In (1969) was one of the most significant (public) events that took place in a bed during the last century. John and Yoko spent many days in bed in several cities during their honeymoon as a protest against the Vietnam War. As well as having a constant stream of visitors and conducting many interviews, they performed ‘Give Peace a Chance’ a simple and repetitive song written by Lennon, which became the sing-along ‘chant’ of the peace movement.

In Bed Peace, a video of John and Yoko in bed singing ‘Give Peace a Chance’ is to be projected onto the headboard of the ‘Morris Bed’. It is intended that the video and the sound track will run for just under five minutes. When finished, a silent projection of the two posters which John and Yoko had above their bed in the ‘Bed In’ ‘Hair Peace’ and ‘Bed Peace’, will be projected onto the headboard for five minutes. The video would then start again.

The work is a posthumous collaboration between William Morris, John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

*Exhibition ticket required.