A collision of music and theatre by Clare Norburn. This intimate piece of “concert-theatre” takes you back to 12th-century France, combining the plaintive music and poetry of the troubadours, foot-stomping medieval dances and a narrative for actor Leila Mimmack* as the redoubtable Countess Beatriz de Dia – a medieval Amy Winehouse.

The story imagines how Beatriz came to write her impassioned song ‘A Chantar’, the only example of a troubadour song by a woman, where both the poetry and melody have survived. Beatriz’s poetry is grounded in the rules of courtly love. She lives in a world where emotions are sacrificed to the strait-jacket of ritual: her only recourse is to channel her pain, love and desire for revenge into this passionate song.

Performers and Creative Team

*Leila Mimmack as Beatriz de Dia, replacing Anna Demetriou

Clare Norburn, voice & playwright

Giles Lewin, fiddle, bagpipes

Joy Smith, harp, percussion

Nick Renton, director

Natalie Rowland, lighting designer

The Telling’s performance of Unsung Heroine is supported by Scops Arts Trust, The Marchus Trust, The Golsoncott Foundation, Sir John Fisher Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation and Ambache Trust, which is active in raising the profile of women composers.