Conversations on a Bench – Manchester
Anna Scott-Brown hears more stories from the people who stop to sit beside her on benches around the country. In this edition, she sits on a bench next to Manchester’s gay village, in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing.
Throughout the programme, a specially commissioned work by poet Andrew McMillan draws on the voices and stories of those passing the time in Sackville Gardens – a man with schizophrenia and a woman drinking to forget, a potter looking for inspiration in the shape of the trees, a man and his ex-boyfriend walking a dog from one of the nearby penthouse flats, the young carer with great compassion, and the woman driven by her past to fulfil her dreams.
Presented by Anna Scott-Brown
Produced by Adam Fowler
Listen to the programme on BBC Radio 4.
Conversations on a Bench – Edinburgh
In this edition, Anna Scott-Brown sits on a bench in Inverleith Park in Edinburgh. Throughout the programme, a specially commissioned work by the Edinburgh-based poet Janette Ayachi draws on the voices of those passing their time in the park.
Janette Ayachi says: “a combination of live art, installation improv and script all driven by the impulse of instantaneous thought and urgency of desire to speak – I’m in! I love the juxtaposition of ‘prearranged conversations’ and ‘chance encounters’ which brings to light the tension between a poet’s obsession with structuring words on a page and the more stream-of-consciousness spill into performance poetry – careful revision and revisiting merged with off the cuff and by chance.”
Presented by Anna Scott-Brown
Produced by Adam Fowler
Listen to the programme on BBC Radio 4.
Conversations on a Bench – London China Town
In this edition, Anna Scott-Brown sits on a bench in London’s Chinatown. Throughout the programme, a specially commissioned work by the poet Sarah Howe draws on the voices of those passing by – and sometimes pausing on – the bench outside a bubble tea shop in Gerrard Street.
Sarah Howe has chosen a bench in China Town, London, reflecting her own Chinese roots, and uses her “rich, imagistic poetry that plays wildly with form” to explore this culture. She wanted to write a poem for Conversations on a Bench because the series “expresses the spirit of a place as well as something more literally human.”
Presented by Anna Scott-Brown
Produced by Adam Fowler
Listen to the programme on BBC Radio 4.
All programmes can be listened to on Overtone Soundcloud channel.
