The world premiere of 'Inspired by Holst', a series of three new professionally produced plays augmented by a community cast is coming to the Cheltenham Playhouse 26th - 28th September.

The three plays explore the music and works of Gustav Holst in a series of amusing and entertaining new plays. 

Inspired by Holst is jointly produced by the Everyman Theatre and Cheltenham Playhouse and directed by Kirstie Davis (The Minack Theatre, The Barn, Chipping Norton Theatre and more).

Support new writing in Cheltenham and book your tickets today! 

 This event is part of the wider celebration of the 150th year since Holst's birth. 

Set in a not-too distant and dystopian future during a time of war, "Jupiter" is a short play inspired by Gustav Holst's "Jupiter" from "The Planets" suite. Holst adapted "Jupiter" to accompany a poem by Sir Cecil Spring Rice which became the British patriotic hymn "I Vow to Thee, My Country" composed just after the First World War. The two lines from the song which inspired Cathie Rolinson's play were "We cannot count her armies, We cannot see her King". What follows is a tale of faithful hearts, pride and suffering.

The play Hammersmith is based on a true story. It is a play about a feud between two prominent members of the Arts and Crafts Movement. One of them is Emery Walker who, in later life lived in Gloucestershire, and whose library of books and papers were acquired by Cheltenham Museum in 1990. The play concerns a friendship that was initially forged at the Hammersmith Socialist Society (where Holst was also a member) that leads to a failed business venture and unreconcilable differences. The inspiration came from Emery Walker’s house, in Hammersmith on the banks of the Thames, is open to the public. I was last there about a year ago and it reminded me of the story concerning Doves type and how half a million pieces of lead type were dumped into the Thames. For years, whenever the tide was out, mud-larkers could find letters and punctuation washed up on the exposed foreshore.

The Planets follows a family on a memorial walk, as they grapple with loss, celebrate life and look for a new form and meaning to their family system. The initial idea for the play came out of walking the Gustav Holst Way in memory of Brigite’s Grandma. It is a fictionalised tale that draws on many family experiences.