Listen to this remarkable 1968 poem by Elsa Morante – translated by Cristina Viti
On Good Friday, March 29th, visit Llantwit Major and hear two major dramatic readings from the vitally important European poem ‘The World Saved by Kids’. Venue: St Illtud’s Church, free entry.
Written in 1968, the year of student protests across Europe, the poem is a major dramatic cycle in three parts. This Good Friday we’ll be reading Part 1 and Part 3.
Part 1 is set on the outskirts of modern Rome. Travelling to work one morning a young boy and his father encounter a man carrying a crucifixion cross accompanied by the military. Simone, the young boy, intervenes.
Part 3 is set in 1941. A decree has been issued across Nazi occupied Europe that all Jewish people must wear a yellow star. A girl returns from school thinking about the Jewish children in her class, and comes to a decision to take action.
Part 2. We will not be presenting Part 2 because it takes nearly two hours to read aloud. This part of the poem is a huge dazzling distressing circus portraying the crazy pace, the clamour, the blinding lights, media noise, the demands, the pressures, the urgings and diminishments of modern life. and the recurring figure of a broken person who although marginalised, degraded, imprisoned, sectioned and banished continues to dance and laugh in the city’s central square. In place of Part 2 we invite visitors to contemplate the 15 modern works of art displayed in St Illtud’s on Good Friday painted by the artist Mark Cazalet. They show the trial, torture, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus set in contemporary London. They are important works of art and have been displayed in cafes, pubs and shops across the Vale of Glamorgan over the last month.
It’s hoped these Good Friday The World Saved By Kids readings will provoke interest in the whole poem, and that visitors will connect the poem’s themes to the contemporary Easter paintings of Mark Cazalet. You can buy the astonishing poem here: The World Saved By Kids – Elsa Morante – tr. Cristina Viti
Timetable:
11.30 am – The World Saved by Kids (Part 1) – read by Richard Parry
12.15 pm – St Illtud’s annual Good Friday Liturgy
1.30 pm – The World Saved by Kids (Part 3) – read by Richard Parry
All welcome
What else is happening?
Different things to see, explore and take part in –
See THE WEST LONDON STATIONS OF THE CROSS. In Cowbridge, Penarth and Barry see dramatic modern paintings in pubs, cafes and shops that tell the Easter story set in London street scenes today. 15 individual paintings by Mark Cazalet will be on public display in different venues across the Vale of Glamorgan until 22 March. Then, see the whole collection for free from 24th March in Llantwit Major. Click here to find out more
Explore PERSPECTIVES ON THE PASSION. Curious about the Easter story? Find out how the Christian Church viewed the Easter story for the first thousand years of its history, and how that view that changed for the next thousand years. What should we make of the Easter story today? What does it tell us about everyday life in contemporary culture? Perspectives on the Passion is a deeply sensitive and accessible book written by leading biblical scholar John Rogerson. Find out more here
Take part in EASTER AT ST. ILLTUD’S. There are lots of activities through the weeks leading up to Easter. Services, reflections, talks, community events, open mic nights and cultural activities. Some of them are livestreamed on Facebook. It’s a friendly place to visit, explore and take part in activities. Details here
Join in the explorations this Easter with us. See a painting, take part in the Good Friday events, or muse on the dynamics of goodness in life today.
