When an invitation from John Murray to stage my memorial to John Keats on 23rd February 2021 (the bicentenary of his death) at 50 Albemarle Street, London, was cancelled thanks to lockdown, I decided to make a film instead. There was still a big problem to solve – none of the actors were able to perform in the same room. Now we are making another film, this time to commemorate Shelley: Dreamboat.
The Courtauld
In this interview I explore how Van Gogh’s habit of reading poetry helped him to navigate his mental illness and find inspiration; and how Vincent became the leitmotif for my investigation into poetry and the creative mind.
Vincent and the Poets
Vincent and The Poets was commissioned for the RA, but this film records the performance at the Courtauld in February 2022. This piece explores how Vincent’s love of poetry consoled his mental anguish and inspired themes in his painting. The script interweaves the poems he loved with poignant passages from his letters.
‘Lift Me Up I Am Dying’
If not for lockdown, our acclaimed film “Lift Me Up I Am Dying” would not have been born. The planned live performance had been cancelled. However, what seemed a disaster now became an opportunity. For a start, these great actors were only available because they were stuck at home too. Instead of being filmed they could film themselves. The rough cuts arrived via WhatsApp and email, and we edited the film at home and at the desk. With only seconds to spare, our tribute was live streamed on the night of his death exactly 200 years later and almost to the minute.
Talking Keats
In 2018, while Writer in Residence at the British School Rome, I gave a talk about the contemporary relevance of Keats at the Keats-Shelley House in the Italian capital. This house where he died 200 years ago is now a fabulous museum. If you look up you can see the same ceiling and the sketch of him by his friend and carer Joseph Severn.
Lockdown Rodin
This was a trial piece, a film-in-progress. It suggests the profoundly interdisciplinary nature of Rodin’s inspiration. We approach the artist and his collaborators by mixing poetry and ballet. Artists, poets, and authors such as Dante, Rilke, Gwen John, Camille Claudel, Nijinsky all feature. It includes a new poem I commissioned from my friend Suzi Feay about Rodin and performances from Simon Manyonda, Christian Roe, and Desiree Ballantyne.
Afterwards
This is a short reading of my poem Afterwards. It describes a doomed relationship in very few lines. Afterwards will feature in Rachel Kelly’s new anthology of poems You’ll Never Walk Alone: Words to Keep You Company Through the Seasons of Your Mind (Hodder, November 2022).