Withnail And I To Be Screened At The Place It Was Filmed In Cumbria
Monday, 30th July, 2012
By Pam McClounie
The film Withnail and I will be shown in the Cumbrian courtyard where part of it was made later this year. Picnic Cinema, organised by Eden Arts, is showing the film as part of its outdoor screenings.
The film, which was made in 1986 and partly shot in the Eden Valley, will be shown at Uncle Monty’s House or Sleddale Hall, near Shap, on Saturday, September 15.
The event will include camping, live music and a barbecue.
Richard E Grant and Paul McGann play impoverished actors who travel to the Lake District for a holiday. Locations included Shap, Bampton and Haweswater.
Two locations supposedly in Penrith – The King Henry pub and the Penrith Tea Rooms – were actually filmed in StonyStratford, Hertfordshire.
Adrian Lochhead, director of Eden Arts, said: “Given the film’s cult status you will need to be quick to get tickets. People already come from far and wide to see the house, which is a shrine to the film, so I am sure this event will sell out very quickly, and should be a night to remember.”
Due to the limited space and remote location there will also be a very limited amount of tickets available.
Heather Walker, project manager, said: “I am so excited about this one. It’s going to be very special and very unusual to see the cult classic right where it was filmed. I have to say a special thanks to Tim Ellis, the owner of Sleddale Hall, Farmer, Mike Harrison and United Utilities for enabling us to put this on.”
To be first to find out when tickets go on sale you will need to subscribe to the Picnic Cinema e-news at www.picniccinema.co.uk.
Tickets are £35 each and all proceeds go towards REMOTE. This is a scheme to enable villages in Eden – England’s biggest and most sparsely populated district – to stage cinema events in their village halls.
The scheme is designed to help communities to create more activity and, importantly, to allow young people to contribute to those events.
A condition of the scheme is that each village ‘cinema committee’ must have at least 50 per cent of its members under 19.
Other films being shown as part of the Picnic Cinema series are: Friday, August 24 at Greystoke Castle: Some Like It Hot (PG)with music from Hotter than That; Saturday, August 25 at Brockhole: Grease (PG) with music from The Sunbeams; Sunday, August 26 at Acron Bank: Moulin Rouge (12) with music from Baksheesh; Friday, August 31 at Brantwood: Swallows and Amazons (U) with music from Room Full of Mirrors; Friday, September 7 at Hutton-in-the-Forest: Tosca (PG) by Royal Opera House and music from a string quartet in association with Lake District Summer Music; Saturday, September 8 at Grizedale Forest: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (PG) with music from Jude Connelly; Friday, September 14 at Brockhole: Mamma Mia! (PG) with music from DJ Roc Vica; Friday, September 22 at Grizedale Forest: The Blair Witch Project (15) with music from Katus Young.
