Calling all poetry lovers! Don’t miss the opportunity to hear the history of the last century in poems read by actress Cheryl Campbell and the poet and presenter Simon Rae at Sladers Yard on Saturday 29th October. The evening will celebrate publication of Simon Rae’s superb anthology The 20th Century in Poetry compiled with Michael Hulse and published in hardback by Ebury Press.
Cheryl Campbell’s career encompasses stage, film, television and radio and an unusual acting range spanning tragedy through to extreme comedy. The Doll’s House for the RSC, Pennies From Heaven, Chariots of Fire, Testament of Youth and many television performances, theatre and radio plays including the recent Tomorrow and Today. She is a sensitive and highly skilled reader of poetry.
Simon Rae is a poet, playwright and broadcaster. He presented Radio 4’s Poetry Please throughout the nineties. His One Man Macbeth premiered to full houses at Sladers Yard last winter. His new book is the culmination of some ten years of searching and discovering the poems both well loved and little known which best tell the story of the 20th century.
The poems are presented in chronological order showing the poets in a new light. A.E. Houseman, for example, rubs shoulders with T.S. Eliot, showing that traditional forms can hold their own against modernist works. Poets are rescued from oblivion, such as the suffragette who wrote a compelling poem about her mistreatment in Holloway Prison in 1912 or the medical officer who went into Belsen with the British troops producing an eye-witness poem of lasting power. From the moving to the humorous and thought-provoking, this will be a fascinating evening in the hands and voices of two exceptional performers.
Tickets are £10 for the performance only or £20 with supper at Sladers Yard Licensed Café. The performance is on Saturday 29 October at 7.30pm. Numbers are limited so booking is essential. Please phone Sladers Yard on 01308 459511 to book. The 20th Century in Poetry is available from Sladers Yard at £25.