In July 2000 Charles Lewsen gave a performance at the Redgrave Theatre in Bristol of the solo theatre piece, How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear, first given in 1968 at Hampstead Theatre and the Edinburgh Festival, and subsequently at venues throughout Britain, and festivals in Tel Aviv and Charleston, South Carolina. One such performance also resulted in a difficult-to-find LP.
The Bristol performance was given in aid of the Friends of the Bristol Oncology Centre, who published an illustrated Souvenir Programme with a range of poetic and scholarly insights into aspects of Lear including his epilepsy, and what is probably the only tribute to Foss by a poet other than Lear.
Now Mr. Lewsen informs me that some copies of the “Poems and Essays in Honour of Edward Lear” are still available and can be obtained contacting:
The Friends of the Bristol Oncology Centre
Horfield Road, Bristol BS2 8ED
phone & fax 0117-928 3432
