29th August 2024
In 1968 Dennis Potter was already a controversial figure in his native Forest of Dean when for his next play he took as inspiration a notorious local event: 'the killing of the bears'. In 1889 four Frenchmen touring the district with their two dancing bears were attacked by a mob prompted by a false rumour that a local child had been killed by one of their bears. The men were badly beaten and both bears were killed - a source of disgrace for the Forest, and controversy to this day as to which community was responsible. Such was the potency of this dark moment in Forest history that reaction against Potter’s choice of subject prompted a slew of letters to the local newspapers even before filming had started. This correspondence provides a fascinating insight into the Forest community’s relationship with the events of (then) eighty years before, but even more so with Potter himself. Delving into the production and local reception of Dennis Potter’s television play A Beast with Two Backs (1968) as played out through the pages of the local Forest newspapers, this talk by Dr Jason Griffiths will address the relationship at the time between Potter and this particular audience, how he engaged with it through his own correspondence, and will question what impact this had on him and his writing.
News of June 2024 event in the Forest of Dean coming soon...Am I right?
A Beast With Two Backs...is back - part two!
In the summer of 2015 the village of Lydbrook, in the Forest of Dean, remembered its role in Dennis Potter’s landmark play, A Beast with Two Backs, in an exhibition, talks, discussions, and screening of the play.
As well as celebrating the community’s role in this important piece of television history, it was also an opportunity to find new information about the production, reaction to its 1968 broadcast, and how people feel seeing the play today.
Starting on Friday 16th December 2016 (running until 12th March 2017) at the Dean Heritage Centre is another opportunity to see the exhibition - updated to include what was discovered during the 2015 show. Located in the Centre's Gallery 41 this new pop up exhibition is next to the Potter Room permanent exhibition where visitors can find out more about his life and work in the setting of a recreated 1950's Forest of Dean sitting room. The Centre is also the home of a vast collection of his scripts and papers housed in the Dennis Potter Archive. Visitors can also enjoy the Potter audio trail on site, and, in a film with local historian John Belcher, discover the important Forest locations in Potter's life.
This latest exhibition continues the long-standing relationship between the Dean Heritage Centre and the University of Gloucestershire's School of Media.
As well as celebrating the community’s role in this important piece of television history, it was also an opportunity to find new information about the production, reaction to its 1968 broadcast, and how people feel seeing the play today.
Starting on Friday 16th December 2016 (running until 12th March 2017) at the Dean Heritage Centre is another opportunity to see the exhibition - updated to include what was discovered during the 2015 show. Located in the Centre's Gallery 41 this new pop up exhibition is next to the Potter Room permanent exhibition where visitors can find out more about his life and work in the setting of a recreated 1950's Forest of Dean sitting room. The Centre is also the home of a vast collection of his scripts and papers housed in the Dennis Potter Archive. Visitors can also enjoy the Potter audio trail on site, and, in a film with local historian John Belcher, discover the important Forest locations in Potter's life.
This latest exhibition continues the long-standing relationship between the Dean Heritage Centre and the University of Gloucestershire's School of Media.
Schedule for the day
drop in at any point or join us for the whole day... 10.30: Exhibition Opens, Tea and coffee served 11.00: Welcome, preview, and short talk: The importance of the Forest to Dennis Potter 11.20: Open mic: Is Potter important to the Forest of Dean? 11.40: Working with the community on the Remembering Dennis Potter book 12.00: Memories, and the experience of being Interviewed BREAK 12.30-1.30 (buffet of sandwiches and cakes) Tea & Coffee served 1.30: Why a Beast with Two Backs? Controversy and what the critics & the audience said 2.00: Film screening of A Beast with Two Backs (70 minutes) 3.15-3.45: Over to the audience: Your memories, stories or thoughts on A Beast with Two Backs 3.45-4.00: Thank you and feedback forms 
Faith & Redemption season at BFI Southbank
Throughout June - check out our News page for details |
Controversial Wednesday Play returns
Saturday July 18th, 2015 Lydbrook, Forest of Dean In 1968 a Forest village became home to film as actors, directors, cameras, costumes - and a bear! spent a week there making Potter's Wednesday Play, A Beast with Two Backs. Using local school children and adults as as extras, and the local pub as hair & make-up HQ, on-location filming took place in the village and surrounding area. Now nearly 50 years on the play is returning for a day of recollection, talks, exhibition, and the first ever theatrical screening of the play itself. Join us for this free event, with exhibition from 10.30am, and screening at 2pm, at Lydbrook Memorial Hall, Lydbrook, Gloucestershire, GL179PP. This is an event put together by the partnership of University of Gloucestershire and University of Warwick, with the support of the British Film Institute, Forest of Dean Local History Society, and Dean Heritage Museum. |
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Talks at Potter's Home Town
To mark the 80th anniversary of his birth, The Potter Reading Room at Ross-On-Wye Library hosted Jason Griffiths and Hannah Grist of the University of Gloucestershire as they explored the relationship between Potter and his local audience. In the two talks they also looked at the significance of the Dennis Potter Archive as a spring-board for creativity to blossom once again in the area. Dennis Potter and his family moved to Ross-On-Wye in the late 1960's and remained there until his death in 1994. Tuesday 19th May at Ross Library www.rldg.org.uk |
80 Years of Dennis Potter - celebrated via Twitter
On the 17th of May @DPottermatters is marked what would have been Dennis Potter's eightieth birthday with eighty Tweets throughout the day. Starting soon after midnight followers were be able to see key dates in Potter's biography unfold with updates every fifteen minutes. From the more respectable hours of Sunday morning onwards there was a mixture of quotations, lines form his work and his characters, links to useful sites and fascinating online articles. Contributions will be came from distinguished Potter academics and enthusiasts, and the wider 'Potter Community' joined in the celebration simply by using #DP80. Favourite Potter work, line of script, how people personally related to his work, special Potter-related memories were amongst the contributions markinged eighty years of Dennis Potter on screen, in print, and in person. |
