Tim Pigott-Smith, Alex Jennings, Hattie Morahan, Meera Syal and Jamie Parker will appear in The Voice And The Echo, a series of poetry evenings staged in Shakespeare’s Globe’s Sam Wanamaker Playhouse from the end of the month.
The candlelit evenings will see the work of some of Britain’s greatest living poets, including Carol Ann Duffy, Simon Armitage, Jackie Kay, Gillian Clarke and Nick Drake, interspersed with the poems of John Donne, George Herbert, William Blake and Gerard Manley Hopkins in a dynamic conversation between poetry both old and new.
Pigott-Smith, whose performance in the Almeida Theatre’s critically acclaimed production of King Charles III earned him an Olivier Award nomination earlier this year, will kick off the season, reading a selection of the poets’ contemporary responses to Donne from 29 August.
The Alice And Wonderland actor will be followed by three-time Olivier Award winner Jennings (Charlie And The Chocolate Factory) and acclaimed actress Morahan (A Doll’s House, Young Vic and West End), who will give voice to the writers’ modern responses to Herbert on 4 September.
Meera Syal, who was last seen on the London stage in Behind The Beautiful Forevers at the National Theatre, will take to the stage on 5 September to read responses to Blake.
Rounding off the series on 9 September, current High Society star Jamie Parker will take charge of reading modern reactions to Manley Hopkins prior to reprising his role in Chichester Festival Theatre hit Guys And Dolls at the Savoy Theatre in the winter.
Alongside the work of the contemporary poets, the readings will feature published work by writers Alice Oswald, Vikram Seth, Helen Dunmore and Craig Raine alongside musical accompaniment.
The Voice And The Echo series will take place in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse prior to the indoor auditorium’s autumn/winter season, which includes productions of Thomas Tallis, Orpheus, Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest.