Old Abe

Employing excerpts from Lincoln’s thoughtful letters, powerful speeches and his witty anecdotes, two actors relate the story of Abraham Lincoln’s political career from his humble beginnings to becoming arguably the greatest US president the world has ever known. In a pseudo-documentary style, the fictional journalist ‘Scribe’, modelled on Emily Briggs, the first female press correspondent to report from the White House, leads us through the tumultuous years surrounding the American Civil War and the emancipation of slaves. A story made all the more poignant with the election of Barack Obama, 200 years after Lincoln’s birth and sworn into office on Lincoln’s Bible.This performance takes place at Petersfield Museum, 1 St Peter’s Road, Petersfield GU32 3HX