‘Boudica: A concert of new music for an old tale’

Today (17th January) sees the premiere of ‘Boudica: A concert of new music for an old tale’ at the Headgate Theatre in Colchester. Local musician Julia Usher has composed a new piece of music inspired by Boudica, the Iron Age queen of the Iceni tribe in Norfolk, who led her people in an uprising against the Roman empire in Britain in AD 61. The Iceni burned three Roman towns to the ground and slaughtered their inhabitants; the towns were Londinium (London), Verulamium (St Albans), and Camulodunum (Colchester). The uprising was crushed, the towns were rebuilt, and the Roman empire in Britain continued.

The concert includes songs which will be performed by soprano Corrina Dolso and ensemble, and also images and poetry. You can just be part of the audience or you can be part of the dramatic performance and sing in the Equinox pop-up choir:  download the music in advance at www.cdolso.co.uk ; free workshop, with parts for all singing abilities, from 6.00pm to 7.30pm. The performance begins at 8.00pm.

The Trust has loaned some of our Boudican archaeological material to Julia to display at the performance, and Trust director Philip will be attending the concert (but, fortunately, he has promised not to sing).

Under Colchester’s town centre there is a layer or horizon of dark burned material which we describe as the ‘Boudican destruction layer’. This consists of Boudican destruction material or debris (of the clay walls of buildings), and it provides us with a clear and visible, precisely dated layer. This layer, and associated burnt finds and remains,  also provide a remarkable archaeological snapshot of the town in AD 61, when it was destroyed. During excavations in the town centre, we have found burnt floors, including a wooden board floor; the burnt stumps of walls; burnt and broken pottery from a pottery shop; a burnt wooden bed or couch with a twill mattress; a burnt bag of dates; and finds such as a door key, a kitchen grid-iron and part of a lamp.

The images are: an artist’s impression of Roman Colchester burning in AD 61 (by Peter Froste, from the Trust’s popular book City of Victory), and the statue of Boudica and her daughters on their war chariot (in London).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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