Fans of Peter Greenaway’s 1982 period drama The Draughtsman’s Contract have boosted funds for this year’s pageant when the movie was screened at the Roxy Cinema.
The High Street picture house was packed on Friday, February 21st, 2020, for a special screening of the murder mystery set in the 17th century. The film had been marked down on the Roxy Cinema’s programme as a fundraiser for the pageant by the outgoing owner of the Lion House (which incorporates the community cinema) by Juliet Maclay.
New owners Sebastian Lloyd, alias the Modern Carpenter (known as Bash) and craftswoman Gemma Trickey welcomed the audience to the cinema and even entertained a party afterwards from Bristol who had travelled down to see the film.
Filmed at Groombridge Place in Kent the drama tells the story of an unusual contract in which the artist Mr Nevill played by Anthony Higgins has a sexual relationship with his patron Virginia Herbert (Janet Suzman) – which inevitably goes wrong and ends in gory murder.
It’s a film noted for its musical score written by Michael Nyman in the style of Henry Purcell which incidentally is one of the favourite pieces of music of the artistic director of this year’s Pageant John Bailey.
Gemma said: “Thank you so much to everyone who came last Friday to see The Draughtsman’s Contract – we had a sell-out crowd who together raised £140 for this year’s Axbridge Pageant. It was a fantastic occasion and we were so glad to contribute to the pageant.
“We even had a group from Bristol down especially to watch it, and stuck around for a few drinks afterwards to enjoy the bar with us and chat about the film.”
John Bailey, the pageant’s director, said it was a wonderful donation which would help to ensure the pageant was a success.
Paul Hughes from the Pageant’s committee said: “The pageant costs thousands of pounds and so every contribution is brilliant – especially this one as it comes from the community cinema.”
For more details of the pageant visit http://axbridgepageant.com/index.html
For details of the Roxy’s programme of films visit: http://www.axbridgeroxy.org.uk/
For more from the journalist Harry Mottram visit www.harrymottram.co.uk
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