Mark Rylance and George Monbiot to host a public forum at Sandy HIll Arts, Corfe
Oscar-winning actor Mark Rylance and campaigning writer George Monbiot are coming together to host a public forum about how local communities like Purbeck can influence national and global progress.
Topics up for open discussion at the event – staged by community group Planet Purbeck at Sandy Hill Arts in Corfe Castle – will include thorny issues such as rewilding, tourist taxes and, in a wider context, efforts to solve the convergent economic and ecological crises.
Rylance, who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance in the Steven Spielberg film Bridge of Spies, and Monbiot, a leading critic of mainstream politics and passionate environmentalist, will conduct a Q&A session with each other and take questions from the audience.
By Chris Hockley, Planet Purbeck
Auction of Mark Rylance portrait prop for Thomas Cromwell series
The actor, who is Patron of Planet Purbeck, will also auction a signed photographic portrait of himself as Henry VIII’s scheming chief minister Thomas Cromwell – a prop used in the acclaimed BBC series Wolf Hall.
And he will help to launch a Friends of Planet Purbeck scheme aimed at expanding the group.
Thinking internationally but acting locally'
He said: “I hope the chat with George will be full of ideas I haven’t imagined and good humour. I will depend on the audience for the really smart questions.
“There is a desire to build up a group of people interested in similar things such as nature conservation and climate change so there is a place they can come with concerns – and make a difference with ideas and action.
“I believe in thinking internationally but acting locally. If you change a small or local thing well enough it will affect the rest, which is true in biology and the environments we live in. We can lift the whole system into a better place of harmony and equilibrium.”
Navigating the great political and ecological crises'
Guardian columnist and author Monbiot said of the event: “I’m greatly looking forward to it. We’ll be navigating the great political and ecological crises in which we find ourselves, and hoping to chart a path through.”
Planet Purbeck presents events
The Mark Rylance and George Monbiot public Forum is on October 11 at Sandy Hill Arts. Tickets are £32.00 per person.
This is the third in a series of Planet Purbeck Presents events scheduled for the autumn.
It follows a “marine ecology evening” co-hosted by Greenpeace in Swanage on September 19 and a theatrical and musical performance of Stravinsky’s short masterpiece The Soldier’s Tale in Langton Matravers on September 26.
Details of all events can be found at www.planetpurbeck.org
