The Remarkable Deliverances of Alice Thornton

Yorkshire, 1668. Mrs Alice Thornton – widow, mother, and daughter of the late Lord Deputy of Ireland – finds herself the subject of a most dreadful scandal which threatens to destroy her reputation. Tonight, she begs your presence at a defence of her life, including twenty miraculous deliverances from death.

Based on the handwritten notebooks of Alice Thornton (1626-1707) – including two recently rediscovered manuscripts – this one-woman theatre/storytelling performance reflects on one woman’s life and experiences across the span of the seventeenth century, against the turbulent backdrop of civil war, plague, the Great Fire of London… and the treacherous world of North Yorkshire society.

Written and performed by Debbie Cannon (Green Knight, winner of the Female Actor Award at Buxton Fringe 2018), directed by Flavia D’Avila of Fronteiras Theatre Lab, and based on the research of Dr Cordelia Beattie, Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Edinburgh.

Both performances will be followed by a Q&A and the performance on 14 November will be livestreamed.

This event is part of the Being Human Festival, the UK’s only festival of the humanities, bringing together universities with creative partners to stage stimulating and engaging activities that make research accessible and relevant.