Poetry Against War

Various Poets

Title: Poetry Against War
Format: Video; Duration: 41 minutes
Price: £15.99

On February the 14th 2003 - on the eve of the biggest anti-war demonstration the UK has ever seen – in protest at the imminent invasion of Iraq by British & American troops – a group of poets came together in London to stage an event as part of & in response to rising public opposition. It was a remarkable event, taking place at the Bloomsbury Theatre - organised & sold-out within 3 weeks - with the programme featuring – Tony Harrison, Adrian Mitchell, Sarah Maguire, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Mahmood Jamal, Michael Rosen & Benjamin Zephaniah, among others

The film features the poets listed above performing extraordinary works in an extraordinary context, from Tony Harrison’s Initial Illumination – a poem whose form was forged in the heat of personal & public anger regarding the first Gulf War - to Benjamin Zephaniah’s Rong Radio Station – becoming a virtual anthem of the anti-war movement; from Adrian Mitchell’s new twist on the (sadly) seminal To Whom It May Concern, through Linton Kwesi Johnson’s exposition of ‘the language of dehumanisation & the dehumanisation of language’ in New Word Hawdah - to Michael Rosen’s inspired satirical take on teaching recent history to students of the future

Produced in partnership with Team Video

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