A Beautiful Thread celebrates Thomas Hardy in his own words; poetry, novels, and the music he loved so much.

Starring Anton Lesser (Game of Thrones, Wolf Hall, Endeavour) alongside Lucia Bonbright, A Beautiful Thread weaves Hardy’s life – dramatic as any of his books – with his poetry and great novels, including Tess of the d’Urbervilles, and Jude the Obscure.

The script is written and adapted by Dierdre Sheilds (Red Sky at Sunrise; Laurie Lee in Words and Music, GEORGE Eliot in Words and Music).

Hardy put more music into his work than any other writer, and the Swan’s Artistic Director, David Le Page, has devised a musical programme of shimmering beauty - a Mellstock folk band style, that combines West Gallery Music from the village churches of the 1840’s with Holst, Purcell, and contemporary folk.