Mike Leigh and Trianon share Peterloo connection

Mike Leigh will start work on his new film Peterloo in 2017.  Hear the Overture Peterloo this April in Ipswich.

On 16 August 1819 a crowd of 60,000 – 80,000 people gathered in St Peter’s Field, Manchester.   The crowd which gathered was demanding a reform to parliamentary representation. Organised by the Manchester Patriotic Union, the rally was to be addressed by orator Henry Hunt, but shortly before the rally began, the cavalry tried to disperse the crowd. In the resulting confusion it was estimated that 18 protestors were killed and a further 700 were injured in what became known as the Battle of Peterloo.

As a native of Manchester and Salford, Film and Theatre Director Mike Leigh was drawn to the story and work will start in 2017 to shoot his new film, Peterloo.  Mike Leigh directed  the film Mr Turner, which told the story of the great painter JMW Turner.

Known for composing the music for the film The Bridge On The River Kwai in 1957, former Trianon president Sir Malcolm Arnold composed his Overture Peterloo for the TUC’s centenary in 1968.

The piece will be performed in Trianon’s Spring concert, entitled The Presidential Suite, which takes place at the Ipswich Corn Exchange on 16 April at 7.30pm. We will also perform our current President John Rutter’s Mass of the Children with the choir of St Albans Catholic High School, as well as music by Tchaikovsky, Dukas and Vaughan Williams.

Full details of the programme are here

Tickets information

Tickets from £9.50, concessions from £8.50, students & U16 from £5.

Available from

Trianon Ticket Line: 01394 283170 or 07876787029

Ipswich Tourist Information Centre St Stephen’s Church, St Stephen’s Lane, Ipswich IP1 1DP

Ipswich Entertainments Box Office

Regent Theatre, 3 St. Helens Street, Ipswich, Suffolk IP4 1HE

Online at www.ipswichregent.com or by telephone on 01473 433100

Tickets purchased from Ipswich Entertainments will be subject to an additional £1 per ticket booking fee.

Link to Ipswich Corn Exchange parking and access information