Our latest title from The Artel Press due 15 March 2023 pushes performance poetry to celestial heights. Or – Sounding – Can Angels Become is a new and remarkable piece of experimental writing for solo voice by the writer and composer Michael John Gerard Higgins.
Over 2,224 words, Or Sounding is a kind of contemporary Proclamation, invoking an imagined and impassioned speech from a mystic wanderer to the people of Corinth – responding to their fears on love, suffering and the loss of innocence.
Higgins uses a meticulous and mind-bending re-composition of translations from a famous passage in 1 Corinthians as a vehicle for the main protagonist Vitalia Freeborn, who unleashes a set of spellbinding monologues that provide a sensory feast for the reader but a wicked test of eloquence for the speaker.
Published in A4 format and 22pt text, the book is designed like a score, or large-format script and is intended for use in live performance.
Its first performance was on the 5th February 2023 in Norwich, UK and featured the composer voicing the script, joined to electrifying effect with expert improvisation by the trio of musicians Ben Miller, Dave Pullin and Simon-Mary Vincent.
Or – Sounding – Can Angels Become
by Michael John Gerard Higgins
ISBN 978-1-7399003-2-8
Publication date: 15.03.23
RRP £8
20pp A4 printed on uncoated paper, in an Edition of 50
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: If you are an actor and interested in tackling this fiendishly difficult work then please get in touch with us and we shall be happy to provide you with an advance proof. Contact us
Header image credit: Odilon Redon. The Lost Angel Then Opened Black Wings, from Night, 1886. The Art Institute of Chicago. (CC01)
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