Well-known Sheffield figures recite poems to celebrate 30 years of Off The Shelf initiative

A mix of well-known actors, writers, and people from Sheffield have recited poems to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Off the Shelf’s ‘Text in The City’ initiative.
By Kian Rains
Published 26th Aug 2021, 08:00 BST
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Off the Shelf Festival of Words is one of the best-known festivals in the UK and is responsible for the Text in The City initiative – mounting poems in public places.

To celebrate this unique legacy as part of its 30th anniversary year celebrations, Off the Shelf has compiled a series of videos and audio recordings of these poems with a mix of well-known actors and writers and community members from Sheffield, who perform and recite the poems that can be seen in the city today.

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A montage has been drawn from the films and audio versions of the poems selected, and over the coming weeks Off the Shelf will release films of four of the poems being performed and audio of the remaining five in their entirety.

Rob Hastie, Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres performed Andrew Motions’ ‘What If’ poem.Rob Hastie, Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres performed Andrew Motions’ ‘What If’ poem.
Rob Hastie, Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres performed Andrew Motions’ ‘What If’ poem.

Professor Vanessa Toulmin, director of City and Culture, Partnerships and Regional Engagement at the University of Sheffield, said: “Text in the City is unique to Off the Shelf and was introduced in the late 1990s in the first decade of the festival. There are some amazing names that have a permanent place inside and on our buildings from Harold Pinter in the Crucible to two UK poet laureates; Carol Ann Duffy and Andrew Motion, as well as the recent Scottish Makar; Jackie Kay.

“The city’s music heritage is recognised with Jarvis Cocker and of course Roger McGough who brings with him both music and poetry prowess. We are honoured that Roger recorded his own poem ‘Twinned with Mars’ for us, that actor Sam West readily agreed to recite Harold Pinter’s poem ‘Laughter’ and Rob Hastie, Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres performed Andrew Motions’ ‘What If’ poem, and that we were able to call on members of our talented creative community.

“We hope the city will embrace this introduction to the festival ahead of announcing our full programme and enjoy seeing and listening to these fabulous poems through our website over the coming weeks.”

The montage of the films and audio versions of the poems can be watched at www.offtheshelf.org.uk/

Related topics:Sheffield