Scottish Writers' Centre Poetry House – Adapting Poetic Text for the Big Screen

In partnership with the Rimbaud and Verlaine Foundation and GoodDog theatre company, the Scottish Writers’ Center is hosting an event presenting two contemporary and dynamic short films inspired by Europe’s greatest poets, based on original writing, film-making and theatre performance. The screenings will be accompanied by short talks exploring the pleasures and challenges of adapting poetry and theatre texts for cinema.

Poetry House is a 40-minute film presenting 7 short dramatic scenes revolving around the lives of seven European poets and their relationships with the places where they lived. Characters include the Spanish poet, Federico Garcia Lorca, the Icelandic poet, Halldór Laxness, and the French poets, Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine.

Originally commissioned as a theatre show by the Rimbaud and Verlaine Foundation and performed by actors from the GoodDog theatre company, Poetry House was adapted by Robin Boreham for cinema and shot by film makers from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland at the Tron theatre in Glasgow, in May 2017, and features an original score by Glasgow-based violinist Kate Young.

The Last Song of Lucan is a 15-minute short film based on Charles Baudelaire’s collection of prose poems Le Spleen de Paris. An afflicted artist seeks redemption within the contradictions of modern urban life. Shot in forgotten pockets of Paris and London, making sets from abandoned warehouses and empty squares, the film is a surreal piece – at once literary, cinematic and theatrical. Commissioned by and featuring actors from the GoodDog theatre company in November 2015 featuring an original score by percussionist Jamie Misselbrook. Featuring short talks and followed by a Q&A session from the directors, focussed on the practice of writing and adapting for the screen.

Olivia Rose is a physical theatre performer and theatre-maker living in London. Alongside Ryan Kiggell she adapted, directed and edited, The Last Songs of Lucan, as well as being performance director for Poetry House. Olivia is Co-Artistic Director of GoodDog theatre company.

Robin Boreham is a director and screenwriter currently studying film production at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She adapted the original theatrical script and directed the filming of Poetry House in Glasgow. Robin has a background in writing for short film and finished her original script this year. Hosted by the Scottish Writers’ Center in Parnership with the Rimbuad Verlaine Foundation: www.rimbaudverlaine.org and GoodDog theatre company: http://www.gooddogtheatre.com/.