Poetry as drama

[french frank]

And cue for Birtwistle's Gawain? What a Christmas that would be! (I was thinking about Piers Plowman)

Sir GGK is in Fits, so different composers / music directors could be invited to supply either new pieces, or use echt 14th century music?
Locations vary from posh castles to the truly wild, wild places, encounters with giants, knights, servants, ladies. It's a fantastic resource, and could be / should be used to celebrate Christmas. So it could be played over four nights over the appropriate season, and then as a one night repeat of the whole thing. Narrative, dialogue, terrific sfx, crowd scenes and soliloquy / inner reflection, wooing, terror, self-doubt and best of all, fantastic gentle but salutary joke at Gawain's expense at the very end.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

And cue for Birtwistle's Gawain? What a Christmas that would be!

(I was thinking about Piers Plowman)

I remember that that was serialised in the 1970s - regularly after the evening concerts. I listened to a couple and couldn't work out what on earth was going on! A new presentation would be very welcome.

And how about Sweeney Agonistes?

[Guest]

OMG - Birtwistle, yes....I'd forgotten that. Maybe a tiny re-think?

[agingjb]

A useful source might be "Longer Contemporary Poems" (Penguin 1966). The most obviously dramatic of the contents is " Ballad of the Mari Lwyd" by Vernon Watkins.

[Belgrove]

What about the verse dramas themselves? Murder in the Cathedral, The Lady's Not for Burning (and others by Christopher Fry). Steven Berkoff's works too. I saw Decadence when it was first performed and Greek not so long ago.

[agingjb]

Yes, I'm not sure whether plays written in verse are to be excluded. There are many; I could add, at random, Mervyn Peake and Charles Williams to the list of authors.

But it seems that what is wanted is poetry, around 1000 lines, that can be naturally arranged to be done in different voices. I would guess that poems with a single authorial narrative voice are more usual.

[french frank]

Yes, I'm not sure whether plays written in verse are to be excluded.

What about the verse dramas themselves?

I suspect one of the ideas is that, full-length drama being very expensive to produce, a worthwhile alternative is a long poem with a restricted 'cast' &c.

[Guest]

If AD wants help with 14th cent etc music and / or editing with Sir GGK for radio, I'm up for it. As a PLAY with set pieces, narrative inter-leavings, sfx, musical opportunities, it stands alone, IMO.