Sahaja Yoga Meditation Australia

                                                                                                           William William Blake is recognised in Sahaja Yoga as a great realised soul. It is very fitting, then, that a very talented theatre group made up of Sahaja yogis was involved in developing and presenting a play about William Blake, to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of William Blake’s birth.

From November 20 to December 2, 2007, the international theatre company, Theatre of Eternal Values, performed William Blake’s Divine Humanity at the New Players Theatre in London, UK, in the very heart of the country where Blake took his birth – and a stone’s throw away from Fountain Court near the Strand where he spent the last years of his life.

The press wrote:

“With Blake’s beautiful words and the supple and constrained movements of the cast, the Theatre of Eternal Values enact a series of tableaux based on Blake’s etchings, as well as using his work to elaborate on the poet’s life. This piece is a loving and sophisticated work created to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Blake’s birth.”
UK Theatre. Net – December 2007
Sara-Mae Tuson

“It was always going to be a theatrical challenge, as writer Tim Bruce says of attempting to do justice to the complexity of Blake’s works, and the Theatre of Eternal Values rose beautifully to it, presenting a wonderfully lyrical production of William Blake’s Divine Humanity.

“The beautiful voice and narration of The Bard set a quiet, centred, yet dramatic tone to the play, and gave it an unhurried meditative quality, in which Blake’s visionary message was brought alive. The performance drew the audience in from the beginning, and invited reflection on Blake as a mystic poet, and on how relevant his work still is, 250 years later. The fact that this play is being performed in the heart of London, the city in which Blake spent his life, and one that embodies many of the materialistic capitalist values Blake spoke out against through his work, makes it all the more relevant.”
Extra Extra – November 2007
Marion Drew

This is the first time that Blake’s prophetic books have been performed on stage. Here the story of Jerusalem is set against the background of Blake’s masterly engravings from The Book of Job and interspersed with key moments in Blake’s life, incorporating original music and contemporary dance.

The play has evolved over one and a half years in a series of collective workshops in Cabella (Italy), London (UK), Vienna (Austria) and Everbeek (Belgium) and is the culmination of the creative talents of many people from twelve countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, India, Italy, Spain, UK.

It will be possible to see a live performance of William Blake’s Divine Humanity in various countries in 2008 or to purchase a DVD (estimated release date: May 2008).

Log on to the Theatre of Eternal Values website regularly (http://www.theatreofeternalvalues.com), and check the News section to find out more information.

(Photograph: http://www.theatreofeternalvalues.com)