Thanks to a grant from the Poetry School’s Lo & Behold Fund, I’ve been able to complete writing for the piece, engage the fantastic Tamar Saphra as a director, and book a venue to try out the show.
(7.30pm, 23rd June 2015 at the Betsey Trotwood in Farringdon, since you asked. Seats for the scratch are very limited, so RSVP to kirsten.irving@gmail.com if you’d like to come.)
Hang on. What is Battle Royale, and what does poetry have to do with it?
Way before The Hunger Games, Japanese author Koushun Takami wrote a novel in which schoolchildren were sent to an island by a totalitarian state, randomly assigned weapons and given three days to kill until only one stood standing.
Almost certainly influenced by Lord of the Flies, Battle Royale was a controversial hit, and spawned a manga comic, as well as an acclaimed 2000 movie, directed by Kinji Fukasaku.
Now the tale has met page, art and celluloid, I want to introduce it to poetry. Run: A Battle Royale Memorial is my attempt to romp across genre and take both the movie and poetry to new audiences, through a fragmented, semi-interactive experience.
Now the tale has met page, art and celluloid, I want to introduce it to poetry. Run: A Battle Royale Memorial is my attempt to romp across genre and take both the movie and poetry to new audiences, through a fragmented, semi-interactive experience.
It will be red, black and dark as a moonless night. Also there will, in the spirit of the game, be party bags. PARTY BAGS.
Also performing new work on the night will be performance artist Rebecca Wigmore. More about her piece here.
More information about the scratch can be found at the dedicated site for the show. To read around the process and the movie itself, visit runbattleroyale.tumblr.com.
