Poetry Plays…
Produced & Presented by Poetry Plays
.... with theatre. with music. it plays with dance and storytelling. with found objects and film.
poetry plays with painting. poetry plays with poetry. with time. with reality. with your head.
poetry plays with...
Poetry Plays 26. A festival of interdisciplinary performance featuring or inspired by poetry.
DAY 1
9th April 7.30pm
GOETHE IN ALSACE
poetry plays with theatre
Hunting out folk tales and song in 18th century Alsace, a young Goethe cruelly misleads parson’s daughter Friederike Brion. His thoughtless, self-serving actions will have tragic consequences for her and another of her suitors, the troubled, would-be genius Jakob Lenz. A very welcome return to Poetry Plays for queer multidisciplinary arts collective Transit, in this one act historical fragment written by Louis Bera.
DEUX HOMMES
poetry plays with French song and dance
Changing notions of masculinity explored through the lens of French popular song and its intensely poetic lyrics. Contemporary dancers and chorographers Jan & Bertie compete, collaborate, support and undermine in a constantly evolving pas de deux to the likes of Jacques Brel and Stromae. With surtitle translations.
PLACES I NEVER THINK ABOUT
poetry plays with theatre, storytelling and music
Another chance to see Transit’s stunningly inventive queer reclaiming and retelling of mitteleuropean folklore, after successful runs at the Brighton Festival and Omnibus Theatre. Joyous, dark, playful and profoundly moving work that’s bursting with energy. In Places I Never Think About, Transit show how we can draw on and celebrate tradition and still be inclusive and progressive.
DAY 2
10th April 7.30pm
poetry plays with puppetry, mime and music
The first of two shows in this years Poetry Plays that celebrate a centenary. We’ve commissioned poet and dramatist Charlie Kite to suggest endings to The Castle - the novel Franz Kafka abandoned, mid-sentence, one hundred years ago. A dark, witty dive into a world of unquestioned givens and nightmare bureaucracy.
TEN LETTERS
poetry plays with storytelling
When he was nineteen years old, officer cadet Franz Kappus, torn between a career in the army and his dreams of becoming a poet, received ten letters of guidance from Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke. Now in his sixties, Kappus reflects on the passing years, and wonders what he ever truly learned from the insights Rilke shared with him. A collaboration between Louis de Bernieres and storyteller James Peacock, for Rilke's centenary.
DAY 3
11th April 1.00pm (for Living With...) 7.30pm (for all other events)
LIVING WITH...DEATH
poetry plays with science, philosophy and religion
The first in a series, the ‘Living With..’ talks bring professionals from different disciplines together to ask: how can we help each other navigate and connect as fully as possible with the defining experiences of being human? Speakers: Saili Katebe (Writer, Poet and Performer), Joseph Cavalli-Price (Musician), Dr King-Ho Leung (Lecturer in Philosophy, Theology and the Arts, Kings College London), Kate Spencer (Team Lead for the Lewisham Macmillan Palliative Care Team), Catherine Senor (Senior Physiotherapist, Imperial College NHS Trust) and the Reverend Andrew Goodhead (Lead Chaplain, St Christopher’s Hospice). Curated by Natasha Wood (Podiatrist, Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust).
PLEASE NOTE: 'LIVING WITH...' IS A LUNCHTIME EVENT.
THE CONTENT MAY TOUCH ON SENSITIVE ISSUES.
THE CUCKOOS AND THE PEACOCKS
poetry plays with theatre
A beautifully written, subtle piece of poetry theatre, exploring the tensions between a daughter and her more devout mother around the time of Eid. A runner up in our Poetry Plays Prize 26, written by Z.R. Ghani.
CELEBRATED BRITISH ACTRESS BERYL MERCER ENCOUNTERS HER LOST DAUGHTER DURING AN ATLANTIC CROSSING, 1939
poetry plays with theatre
Michelle Bitting's haunting and deeply moving study of grief and denial, drawing on her personal family history. A runner up in our Poetry Plays Prize 26.
THE LABEL AND ITS ARTEFACT
poetry plays with theatre and object manipulation
Deep in the bowels of a museum, nestled in its finds tray, a mysterious, recently discovered artefact struggles to make itself heard. Metaphysics with a lovely light touch from Alice Foxall. The winner of our Poetry Plays Prize 26.
FIRST THOUGHT BEST THOUGHT
poetry plays with improvisation
Multidisciplinary improvisation to close our festival, another of our fast-becoming-legendary mash-ups of jazz, dance, spoken word and visual art. Join us around the long table or watch from the safety of the auditorium as special guests make an instant response to work from an unseen anthology of new poetry and art - putting words to pictures, music to words, dance to music, pictures to dance… above all, playing with poetry. The line up of improvisers for First Thought Best Thought will be confirmed just a few weeks before the festival, so please keep an eye on our Instagram feed for updates.
Follow our journey on Instagram! @poetry.plays
Running time: Each day's evening performances start at 7.30pm. Day 3's lunchtime event starts at 1.00pm. Each set of performances runs for approximately 2 hours, including a 20 minute interval.
Note on ticketing: When booking please ask for tickets by their day number and date rather than individual show titles. Tickets are only available for each day's entire set of shows, not for individual shows within the set.
Image: Light and Shadow, by Fabienne Jenny Jacquet.
Thursday 9 to Saturday 11 April - 7:30pm
Plus a matinee on Saturday 11 April - 1:00pm