27 Apr 2017
Performance set to tell the story of a ‘Loughborough Legend’
LU Arts presents ‘The Loughborough Legend’, a staged reading by the author, historian and playwright Pamela Roberts which explores the life of James Arthur Harley, an Antiguan scholar with a special link to the region.
Held on 6 May at Loughborough University’s Cope Auditorium, the performance tells a story of ‘Empire, Education, Elitism and the Church of England’ through this true-life account of a young boy who dared to dream big.
James Arthur Harley (1875-1943) left his island home of Antigua in the 1890s to navigate the doubled complexities of oppressive racism in both America and England with grace, style and dignity to achieve an esteemed education and realise his childhood ambitions, but at what price?
A gifted scholar, Harley attended Yale, Harvard and Oxford universities at the turn of the 20th Century, before becoming the 1910 Shepshed curate who reinvigorated the local community. Dubbed the ‘Stormy Petrel’, he was also a Loughborough Councillor and College Governor in the 1920s.
Pamela Roberts, whose research for her book ‘Black Oxford: The Untold Stories of Oxford University’s Black Scholars’ led her to Harley, and to Shepshed, will give a unique insight into a local historical figure and the political backdrop in which he lived.
The Loughborough Legend shows at the Cope Auditorium, Loughborough University on Saturday 6 May at 7pm.
Tickets are £5.00 and can be booked online here, or at the LU Arts Box Office at Loughborough Town Hall on 01509 231914.
For further information on the LU Arts programme, please contact Nick Slater, Director of Arts, on 01509 222960 or visit the website.