Fireworks on Bankside to mark 400 years since Gunpowder Plot
Crowds gathered on Bankside on Saturday night to watch a fireworks display above the Thames staged by Shakespeare's Globe and Southwark Council to mark 400 years since the Gunpowder Plot.
Shakespeare's Globe is hosting a special exhibition called Shakespeare and the Gunpowder Plot, inviting the general public to investigate the plot, to look again at the Crown Prosecution's version of events and decide whether they believe the traditional view. Was this really a well-oiled Jesuit conspiracy to destroy protestant England along with its King and aristocracy?
Or was it simply that a gaggle of dis-enfranchised and poorly-advised young men were allowed to ferment a plot to a particular point by those in power who sought to use their actions to subjugate the wider catholic community?
Meanwhile The Lions part, best known for their Twelfth Night and October Plenty events on Bankside, staged a 15-minute Gunpowder Plot at the foot of the Millennium Bridge.