{"id":9270,"date":"2015-07-28T11:49:42","date_gmt":"2015-07-28T11:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk\/?p=9270"},"modified":"2018-10-29T18:04:22","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T18:04:22","slug":"light-verse-a-multimedia-poetry-show-inspired-by-the-sun-to-hit-theatres-in-2015-to-celebrate-the-international-year-of-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk\/index.php\/2015\/07\/light-verse-a-multimedia-poetry-show-inspired-by-the-sun-to-hit-theatres-in-2015-to-celebrate-the-international-year-of-light\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Light verse’: a multimedia poetry show inspired by the Sun to hit theatres in 2015 to celebrate the International Year of Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is the Sun a god, a man, a woman, or simply a giant ball of hydrogen? Why does it tell fibs about its favourite painters? Is the Sun afraid of dying? Does it get depressed? And what does it really <\/em>think about us?<\/h2>\n

Sunspots<\/em> is a poetic, musical, and visual journey from the birth of the Sun, through its long and eventful life, towards its ultimate death. Simon Barraclough (Poet in Residence at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory) is your guide to the Sun in this exciting new multimedia performance<\/a> that fuses science and art. To celebrate the International Year of Light, Simon is taking the show on the road to theatres and festivals all over England from October.<\/p>\n

Simon spent the last two years researching and thinking about the Sun. He has visited the National Solar Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico, and taken a trip to Troms\u00f8, Norway to experience the polar night. He has spoken with solar scientists, astronomers and astrophysicists in his quest to find out what makes our neighbourhood star tick. The result of his research was a poetry collection<\/a>, also entitled Sunspots<\/em>, launched in April in the Planetarium of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.<\/p>\n

This hour-long show inspired by the book uses words, film and songs that vary in style from the infectiously poppy to the broodingly intense. Simon (words, music, vocals, trumpet), Oliver Barrett (music, instruments and arrangements) and Jack Wake-Walker (film) have created an exciting and moving experience that reinvigorates and reimagines our neighbourhood star.<\/p>\n

Sunspots<\/em> premieres at the Southbank Centre’s London Literature Festival on 2nd<\/sup> October before going on tour across England. Simon will be at Reading’s South Street Arts Centre on National Poetry Day on 8th<\/sup> October (this year’s theme is ‘light’).<\/p>\n

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Watch a music video from Sunspots<\/h3>\n