Physic: an evening of poetry, music and movement curated by Professor Alice Oswald, Oxford Botanic Garden 17th July 2022

Physic is a unique and special evening curated by Alice Oswald, the University of Oxford’s Professor of Poetry, as part of Oxford Botanic Garden‘s 400th anniversary celebrations. In this roving performance of music, poetry and dance, each artist responds to the Garden as a place of healing. The event will commence at 7.00pm, welcominng visitors to enjoy the Garden after hours, and will include a diverse range of performances from renowned artists that will include poetry, music and dance. The settings will be closely matched to the style of the piece, including music in the Conservatory, dance among the Herbaceous Borders, and performances in the Rainforest and Waterlily houses. This rotational experience will culminate in a finale in the Upper Garden. The event is supported by TORCH, the Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities.

Confirmed performers include:

• Alice Oswald will be performing Against Leaves – a protest against deciduousness.
• Stevie Wishart will be performing her extraordinary blackbird transcriptions on violin, accompanied with poems performed by Alice Oswald.
• Saju Hari will offer danced interventions to the performances.
• Peter Oswald will be performing his poem-version of a story, Filo D’Oro and Filomena, collected by Italo Calvino, and several other flower poems written in Bristol.
• Erica McAlpine will be reading from a sequence of short rhyming poems based on the flowers she sees and grows in Oxfordshire.
• A performance of Kiki Katese’s work – more information coming soon.

Date: Sunday 17th July, 7.00-9.00pm

Venue: Oxford Botanic Gardens, Rose Lane, OX1 4 AZ

Booking: Tickets £20, book online here

Find out more about the event and the artists here

 

“Moon Viewing”: A Postal Poetry Performance -Alice Oswald Midnight Monday 30th November 2020

An exciting project initiated by Alice Oswald (Professor of Poetry University of Oxford), with dancers Estela Merlos and Thomasin Gulgec, and composer Joseph Kay, in collaboration with Rocio Chacon (film-maker) and Kevin Mount (designer). TORCH is collaborating with the Oxford University English Faculty, Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama (APGRD) and DANSOX (Dance Scholarship Oxford) as part of the Professor of Poetry Lecture Series, to invite participants to be part of a Poetry Performance, taking place at midnight on Monday 30th November. This event is led by Alice Oswald, current Professor of Poetry as part of the Humanities Cultural Programme. 

This event is an immersive experience, with limited availability now sold out. 500 signed up participants will be mailed a special copy of a poem written by Alice Oswald. At the stroke of midnight, participants are invited to open their poem and step outside to read it. If you signed up to receive one of the limited mailed copies of the poem written by Alice Oswald, you should receive this by 30th November. Full details will be found on your mailed poem.

If you were unable to sign up for the mailed copy, you can still enjoy a slightly different experience of the evening. Two copies of the poem will also be sent to two dancers who will be filmed opening and reading the poem, so there will be an online performance via YouTube happening at the same time. The performance will be released via the TORCH Oxford YouTube channel at midnight. Watch the performance here.  

Date: Monday 30th November 11.59pm​