Gloucester makes its mark on the 2012 Cultural Olympiad

By:  Blue Badge Tour Guide - Anne Bartlett


West end of Gloucester Cathedral


Last week's Gloucester city walking tour had an added highlight:  Gloucester Cathedral had became the location for the filming of some of Shakespeare's historical plays - Henry IV parts 1&2 and Henry V.  These plays will be shown on BBC 2 as part of the multi million pound Cultural Olympiad.

The Director chosen for these films is said to be Sir Richard Eyre in conjunction with Sam Mendes and among the actors, many big names, including; Jeremy Irons who will play Henry IV, Tom Hiddleston, Prince Hal, Rory Kinnear as John of Gaunt, Simon Russell Beale, Falstaff, Julie Walters as Mistress Quickly plus many more.

 The Cathedral's policy was not to close to the public during filming, just restrict access, so it was very exciting for our visitors to see the production in progress.  As my group and I walked across to the north side of the Cathedral we noticed a number of generators producing a smoke which was filling the nave.  This created a haze, a special effect to make beams of light show up across the film set. Scenery, looking like great solid stone walls was being moved into place and the costumed actors were preparing for the next take.

We were told that the nave was being adapted to become 

The great Norman columns of the nave

Westminster Hall in London and the choir and high altar was being transformed to become Westminster Abbey.



The cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral

 Our visitors enjoyed watching the preparations.  After a while, we slipped quietly into the cloisters to enjoy some of the Cathedral's finest architecture, the earliest fan vaulted ceilings dating back to 1350's. It was a briefer look at the Cathedral than normal but we look forward to the Shakespeare season later this year on BBC 2 and will try to identify the shots taken in Gloucester.