To mark Earth Day yesterday (22 April), the actor read out a powerful letter of apology from a father to his children for Letters Live.
The video of Benedict Cumberbatch was recorded at Letters Live in March 2024 at London’s Royal Hall and released yesterday to mark Earth Day. The letter, which begins ‘What can I say, now it is too late’, was written in 2021 from Stuart Capstick, deputy director at the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations to his children. In the moving letter he apologises, telling his children that he tried his best, but the hardest thing was living through a time when we could’ve turned things around.
Letters Live celebrates the timeless art of letter writing and its importance as a means of communication and expression. Each show always features a completely different array of great performers, reading remarkable letters written over the centuries and from around the world.
At the end of 2023, Montblanc announced it would be partnering with Letters Live in a year-long global partnership across all platforms, including its live shows, YouTube channel and website.
Letters Live has brought to the stage letters written by people as varied as David Bowie, Marge Simpson, Mohandas Gandhi, Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin, Kurt Vonnegut, Charlotte Bronte, Richard Burton and Che Guevara, and has seen the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliet Stevenson, Ian McKellen, Kylie Minogue, Russell Brand, Caitlin Moran, Matt Berry, Louise Brealey, Tom Sturridge, Ellie Bamber, Tom Hiddleston, Sally Hawkins, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Stephen Fry, Jude Law and Sir Ben Kingsley deliver unique and extraordinary performances.
As well as celebrating the pain, joy, wisdom and humour expressed in letters, Letters Live has from the outset been committed to promoting literacy and to fund-raising for literacy charities.
