Stile Antico – The Journey of the Mayflower
“One small candle may light a thousand….”
So wrote William Bradford, a Pilgrim on board the Mayflower. In September 1620, the small band of religious puritans sailed to what would become New England, seeking a life free from persecution. They were confident that God’s favour was with them, but their journey was beset with difficulties, and their arrival heralded an era of destruction for the native Wampanoag tribe.
Award winning vocal ensemble Stile Antico seeks to shine a light on the unheard voices of the Mayflower story. Using a script written for the group by dramatist Katharine Armitage, the hour-long performance breathes life into the Pilgrims and the Mayflower crew. The drama is woven around extracts from ‘Of Plimouth Plantation’, the diary of William Bradford, the colony’s first governor, who documented their extraordinary journey.
Interspersed with the spoken text are full-length performances of some of the finest vocal music of the time. Musical gems by William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Tomkins and others, bring this extraordinary story to life with passion and immediacy.
The film will be released on Thursday 16th September, and you can pre-order and watch a trailer here.
The film is available to rent for a three-month period for £15, but if you use the code MAYFLOWER33 you can get it for £10! This code is valid until the end of September.