We are delighted to announce that there will be an exclusive prepared reading presentation of the Kerouac inspired play, Beat Surrender, on the Saturday night of the convention.
As part of the 'Saturday Night Happening' the audience will be treated to a play that captures the spirit of Jack Kerouac.
Here are the details from when the play was originally staged in 2010
A PLAY about Jack Kerouac, the leading chronicler of the Beat generation, is being staged at the Royal Northern College of Music from May 27-29.
In “Beat Surrender”, a drama-fantasy, American Kerouac has arrived in fifties London hoping to escape his fame.
The writer meets bride-to-be Maggie and it becomes an important weekend in Kerouac’s life, full of high drama.
“The night in the play is a pause or a beat of his heart when decisions are to be made,” said Brian M Clarke one of the play’s writers.
The big question people might want to know is whether Kerouac really came to London?
“He disappeared for a while and did some travelling. Our play uses a gap in his diary and builds from there,” said Brian.
The writers Brian M Clarke and Tom Elliot are fascinated with Kerouac to the point Tom reads his books a dozen times.
Although they admit summing up Jack Kerouac is not so easy for someone who was a walking contradiction.
Java Bere, who plays Maggie, said it was good having Kerouac’s books as resources.
Java said: “They helped me access Kerouac’s character and all the qualities that would fascinate and intrigue Maggie.”
Helen Parry, the play’s director, said the biggest challenge is faced by the actor who plays someone of whom the audience has preconceptions.
Yet she has a good feeling about the play.
She said: “We are so looking forward to bringing it to life and re-connecting people to the work of Kerouac and the Beat poets.”
Here are the original cast
