I didn't know what to expect going into this, but one thing I did expect was to be sat in a (temporary) theatre. When I reached the location I walked around the back of the house into the garden and was immediately awed by the sculptures surrounding me. As I walked through, the sculptures created a path, which led to the top of the garden where a pond surrounded by statues of children lay.
I can't quite explain it, but I felt a sense that these sculptures represented an important event, and upon finding the information about the installation, I discovered that it was provoked by the drowning of the child migrants in the Aegean Sea. The sculptures of the young children around the pond and tied to 'coastal defence tetrapods' were slightly harrowing. There was also a print out of a news report of a shooting in a school which heightened the sense of lives tragically taken away from those too young to die.
The poetry readings were relaxed and simple, with people merely standing around the garden whilst the performance took place. Brian Mander led on to perform some soliloquies as well, which he was equally as proficient in and incredibly knowledgeable about.
Overall, it was an enlightening and interesting experience, full of beautiful sculptures and tragic stories, it's definitely worth a look if you get a chance.
*****
Drowned Voices Rise is open most days for viewing.
For more information and showing times, click here.
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