Bard’s work inspires new anthology
Barry Smith, director of the South Downs Poetry Festival and co-ordinator of the Festival of Chichester, has released his first full poetry publication, Performance Rites.
Barry has worked in education, as a theatre director and as a critic. His poems have appeared in journals and magazines, as well as online.
“In Shakespeare’s bittersweet comedy As You Like It, Jacques delivers a famous speech to the exiled duke and his followers: ‘All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.’ I have taken inspiration from this insight and used the idea as a springboard for Performance Rites. As its title suggests, the collection explores the notion of life as performance.
“As a lover of music in all its forms, there are poems on both classical and popular music inspired by famous composers and legendary popular musicians, from Beethoven to Elvis Presley. Having directed many plays in my life, including shows for Chichester Festival Youth Theatre, the Edinburgh Festival and Chichester Cathedral, theatre plays a big part in the collection.
“Art too figures prominently. In fact the cover illustration was verykindlyprovidedbytheDean and Chapter of the Cathedral. During the pandemic, I was inspired to write a poem by an image in their newsletter showing Graham Sutherland’s masterpiece about the resurrection, Noli Me Tangere, ‘touch me not’.
“But it’s not all arty topics – clowns and soap opera characters find their way into some poems! The scope covers social rituals, political games, medical rites and the theatre of the natural world.
“When I’m out walking, I often take notes of landscapes and wildlife so nature too is very important in my writing. In some of the poems, I write about various historical figures including the composer Bruckner, President John F Kennedy, the artist Paul Klee, Vladimir Putin, the Greek tragic heroine Antigone, the French New Wave philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, Shakespeare and even The Rolling Stones.”
The launch for Performance Rites will be on National Poetry Day – October 7 – at 7.30pm at the Novium Museum in Chichester.
Tickets from the Novium at £7.50 on chichesterbox office.ticketsolve.co-m/ shows/873620405
Performance Rites is available from Waterloo Press pricedat£12.Seewaterloopress. co.uk/books/barry-smith/