The Peterloo massacre, one of the most infamous moments in the history of the English working class – and the subject of an epic-length poem by Shelley – will be featured in a performance of the poem by Maxine Peake at Manchester International Festival later this year. Shelley’s poem, The Masque of Anarchy, was written after cavalry charged into a crowd of 60,000 unarmed men, women and children demonstrating for electoral law reform, killing 15 and injuring hundreds more, at St Peter’s Field, Manchester – now St Peter’s Square -  on 16 August 1819.

Peake described Peterloo as being “a bedrock of Manchester's history of radical politics”. The event led to the foundation of the Manchester Guardian newspaper. The performance on 6 July will be preceded by a debate hosted by the economist and BBC presenter Evan Davis, entitled Are We Powerless?.