Challenging our perceptions of reality

UK broadcaster, teacher and literature and drama aficionado Mary Sharp will be in Narrabri to present ArtsNational Narrabri’s latest arts talk Is this the real life? – Challenging Perceptions of Reality on Monday 13 July.

When Lucy ventures through the wardrobe into the world of Narnia, when Harry Potter opens his acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, and when Neo takes the red pill from Morpheus in The Matrix, they all discover that the worlds they thought they knew are only part of the truth.

Harry Potter’s acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, famously founded in the 10th century and located in the Scottish Highlands.

From Plato onwards, philosophers, writers, artists and filmmakers have been inspired to push beyond the everyday and to create other worlds that inspire our imaginations.

This arts talk explores what these stories tell us about how we view our lives and what it is that we most desire.

Mary Sharp is an experienced broadcaster and teacher with particular expertise in literature and drama.

She worked for many years for UK’s BBC Radio 4 producing some of its most popular programs including Start the Week and Woman’s Hour, before joining the senior management team as commissioning editor.

Lucy Pevensie, in C S Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, is the youngest of the Pevensie children and the first to find the wardrobe entrance to Narnia. Of all the Pevensie children, Lucy became the closest to the lion, Aslan.

Mary has subsequently worked as a teacher and director of sixth form at a leading girls’ grammar school.

Nowadays she runs her own company Opening Up Literature, which offers literature courses for adults including studies of Shakespeare and creative writing. Her most popular course is Telling Tales, which explores how writers and artists have reinvented classical stories.

ArtsNational, a non-profit organisation, connects people with the arts and each other.

Volunteers from the local community run ArtsNational Narrabri.

Lucy Pevensie, in C S Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, is the youngest of the Pevensie children and the first to find the wardrobe entrance to Narnia. Of all the Pevensie children, Lucy became the closest to the lion, Aslan.

The informative and entertaining lecture-style presentations, superbly illustrated in Cinema 1 at The Crossing Theatre, are delivered on diverse arts related subjects by visiting national and international speakers.

The talks last about one hour and will be followed by drinks and canapes.

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