Greenwich Theatre to Host Election Special, 6 May

Poems old and new about voting and democracy will feature in a special lunchtime performance at Greenwich Theatre on Wednesday, May 6, the day before the general election.

Election Special by Live Canon, one of Greenwich Theatre's associate companies, will cover ballot-box poetry, suffragette verse and some brand-new poems written during the build-up to the 2015 election - none of it read but all from memory.

"We've worked with Live Canon before so we asked them to do something a bit different in election year," said James Haddrell, Greenwich Theatre's artistic and executive director. "I'm sure it won't take a political stance but celebrate the election process and generally encourage people to take part by placing their vote the following day.

"People living or working locally can pop in for the hour-long show that starts at 1pm. It will be a great way for us to respond to the election, an ideal build up to the day itself for people caught up in election fever."

Live Canon director Helen Eastman formed the company after a meeting with James in 2007. "It was in a Greenwich pub actually," she said, "and we agreed there and then to produce a series of six performances over two seasons that virtually covered the history of English poetry.

"There had been an amazing aural poetry revival. You could find a poetry gig every night of the week but it was all work that had just been written and performed by the poet. We got together four brilliant actors who were persuaded to learn the back canon of English poetry.

"They worked in a really honest, unpretentious and warm way on stage. We called it Live Canon because that's what it was."

The company grew to an ensemble of 12, covering metaphysical and romantic poets, war poets, Shakespeare and others. "They are all charismatic, funny and charming performers," said Helen. "We went on to work with contemporary poets as well in mixed programmes, and when we mixed it up we always put the titles and names of the poets at the end - sometimes people were really surprised by how fresh a classic poem can feel and how weighty some of the modern work is."

Word spread and Live Canon went on to do similar things at Oxford Playhouse, Exeter Northcott and other theatres. They also started making bespoke shows for particular venues or themes, including for the Victoria & Albert Museum.

"We then found ourselves traveling all over the country to theatres and literary festivals," said Helen. "We also recorded poetry for radio and started our own small publishing arm."

Live Canon's partnership with Greenwich Theatre has also produced a prestigious annual poetry competition for new writers, including a prize for a poet based in Greenwich. "By a lovely coincidence our first collection prize last year was won by local poet N.J. Hynes," said Helen. "She is now poet in residence at Greenwich Station and we launched her first collection - The Department of Emotional Projections - at Greenwich Waterstones, who made it their book of the month.

"Greenwich Theatre has basically allowed us to exist. We try out all our new shows here to a growing local audience. The theatre has great acoustics and the amazing quality of feeling very intimate even with a large audience. It's great for the spoken word because you can see every member of the audience and have a great relationship with them all."

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