Benedict Cumberbatch, Bob Geldof and Joanna Lumley to speak at Charleston Festival as full programme revealed

The full programme for this year’s Charleston Festival was revealed today. With over 100 speakers and more than 40 live events staged over 10 days.

Charleston Festival runs from May 19-29, and takes place in the grounds at Charleston.

This year’s festival explores themes around fashion, families, history, scandal, mental health, psychology, science, belonging, travel, the environment and much more.

For the first time, Charleston Festival 2022 also features a programme of inspiring events for children, young teens and their families. As part of our Under 30s supporter scheme, launched on February 16, younger adult audiences can now access £10 tickets for all festival events.

Melissa Perkins, head of Programme and Events at Charleston said: "Charleston Festival is back, as bold and beautiful as ever. From global icons to explosive new talent, the programme brings together the most exciting voices of the day for the conversations that really matter."

Priority booking for Charleston’s supporters (Friend+, Patrons and Benefactors) opens February 24, with tickets on general sale from March 1.

Nathaniel Hepburn, director/CEO at Charleston, said: "Charleston Festival is always a highlight in the region's cultural calendar. This year's programme captures everything about what makes the festival so exciting and distinctive: conversations across different genres and disciplines, the most interesting, challenging and provocative thinkers and creatives, and a host of new commissions and exclusive performances."

Programme highlights

In a world exclusive, actor Benedict Cumberbatch will make his debut appearance at Charleston Festival to narrate T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land in its centenary year.

Anthony Burgess, best known for writing A Clockwork Orange, set the poem to music in 1978. Bringing this score to life is Britten Sinfonia and soprano Anna Dennis.

Host of award-winning comedy podcast The Guilty Feminist, Deborah Frances-White is joined by Avengers star Hayley Atwell, supermodel and activist Lily Cole and actor and writer Susan Wokoma. Inspired by Charleston’s Famous Women Dinner Service they reflect on the women who have pushed back against the culture of sexualisation and stereotyping – from Virginia Woolf to #FreeBritney.

Fashion designer and artistic director of Dior Men, Fendi Womenswear and Fendi Couture, Kim Jones, will be talking to his friend and collaborator, photographer Nikolai von Bismarck, about the role of art in his creative practice and the ongoing influence of the Bloomsbury group on his work. With readings of the Bloomsbury group’s letters and texts featured in his upcoming book The Fendi Set: From Bloomsbury to Borghese.

Fashion and textile designer Zandra Rhodes explores her life on the British fashion scene and looks back at her archive of iconic designs worn by the likes of Princess Diana and Freddie Mercury, and the work of the Fashion and Textile Museum which she founded in 2003.

Touching on African-Arab culture and heritage, Nobel Prize winner in Literature Abdulrazak Gurnah is joined by CNN correspondent Nima Elbagir. Together they explore the art of uncompromisingly yet compassionately narrating the effects of colonialism.

Damon Galgut, the 2021 Booker Prize-winning author of The Promise, reflects on a literary career spanning nearly 40 years and his experiences growing up in the politically toxic environment of his native South Africa.

Bestselling author of Brick Lane and Love Marriage, Monica Ali, and multi award-winning novelist Charlotte Mendelson discuss sexual politics and writing with humour. They will explore who we are as individuals and in a marriage, and how we love in today’s Britain.

Two of the UK’s most high-profile campaigners for social justice – crossbench peer and director of Operation Black Vote, Simon Woolley, and civil rights specialist, the attorney Clive Stafford Smith – come together for a frank conversation about class, race and shaking up the establishment, but also the reality of daily family life.

Looking back on his life, singer-songwriter and political activist Bob Geldof discusses how his beliefs have evolved over the years and the truths he stands by today; with Oscar-nominated screenwriter William Nicholson.

Acclaimed actors Simon Callow and Jonathan Pryce will be giving a live reading of Bloomsbury group writer Lytton Strachey’s candid personal letters. They reveal a playful and uncensored portrait of a queer universe shared in glorious detail with trusted friends.

Actress, activist and national icon Joanna Lumley will be recounting tales from a lifetime of travel that has taken her to the furthest reaches of the globe.

From phone hacking to social media and misinformation, Emily Maitlis, journalist and lead anchor of BBC2’s Newsnight considers the issue of trust in journalism.

In a magical family event the master of storytelling, Michael Morpurgo, will be discussing the role of animals as protagonists, our relationship with the natural world and how we can all live more harmoniously with the planet.

An architect of the rise and reign of New Labour, Peter Mandelson offers an insider’s guide to the mechanics of politics today – he opens up about personalities, power and politics.

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