A Green Art: Irish Poetry, Words, Film and Music
Roam across the poetic landscape of the Emerald Isle in this celebratory afternoon of mesmeric and musical readings and a film screening.
In the first half of the event, Cherry Smyth and Craig Jordan-Baker perform If the River is Hidden, a live version of their book which charts the journey of two writers from the source to the mouth of the Bann, Northern Ireland’s longest river.
Through a dialogue of prose and poetry, the history, landscape and divisions that have come to define the north of Ireland are explored and challenged. Smyth and Jordan-Baker are joined by flautist Eimear McGeown.
Their performance is followed by an extended reading from the mesmeric Irish poet, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin.
The winner of the Patrick Kavanagh Award, the Irish Times Award for Poetry, the O’Shaughnessy Award, the International Griffin Poetry Prize and the 1573 International Poetry Award, she is regarded as one of Ireland’s greatest poets.
In May 2022, in a special ceremony on Ní Chuilleanáin’s 80th birthday, President Michael D Higgins conferred the gold Torc, marking her election to the position of Saoi of Aosdána, the highest honour an artist in Ireland can ever receive.
After a short interval, film director Sé Merry Doyle introduces his feature-length documentary, Patrick Kavanagh – No Man’s Fool. The film is a rich visual journey, exposing the contradiction that existed between Patrick Kavanagh’s public persona and his poetry – and won the award for best documentary at the Boston Irish Film Festival.
Presented in partnership with the Irish Cultural Centre (Hammersmith)
Need to know
For ages 16+
Dates & times
Price
- Standard entryFrom £12*
- Concessions25%**
* Excludes £3.50 booking fee.
Book as early as you can to ensure the best choice of tickets. Ticket prices may be adjusted without notice to reflect demand.
** Limited availability. Read about concessions.
Tickets can only be sold through the Southbank Centre and our authorised agents, and can't be resold. You can return your tickets to the Southbank Centre for a credit voucher up to 48 hours before the event. Tickets resold on any third-party platforms will become invalid.
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Members get the first chance to book our entire programme of events, including go-down-in-history gigs, concerts with world-class orchestras, and talks from cultural icons and political giants.
Multi-buy discount
Book multiple events happening as part of Poetry International and receive a discount. The offer applies to all Poetry International events except Out – Spoken on Thursday 20 July.
Buy tickets for 2 events - get 10% off
Buy tickets for 3 events - get 20% off
Buy tickets for 4 events - get 30% off
Venue
Purcell Room
Our number one priority is the health and wellbeing of our visitors and staff.
Open 90 minutes before an event until the end of the event. Closed at all other times.
Our address is: Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. The nearest tube and train stations within 5-7 minutes walk are Waterloo (Northern, Bakerloo, Jubilee and Waterloo & City lines) and Embankment (District & Circle lines). There are also lots of bus routes with stops 2-5 minutes from our venues. For more information on getting here by road, rail or river.
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More information
Find out all you need to know about tickets, including concessions, group bookings, returns, credit vouchers and more, via the link below.
Get an overview of the seating layout of the Purcell Room by downloading our seating plan.
Toilets
An accessible toilet is located in the foyer.
A Changing Places toilet is located on Level 1 Royal Festival Hall next to the JCB Glass Lift, for the exclusive use of disabled people who need personal assistance to use the toilet.
The facility includes a height-adjustable bench, tracking hoist system, a centrally-placed toilet, a height-adjustable basin and a shower. Please visit the Welcome Desk on Level 2, Royal Festival Hall, where a member of staff can provide you with the key. You can also use the phone next to the Changing Places toilet to speak to a member of staff. The facility is open daily 10am – 11pm.
Cloakroom
The Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room cloakroom is closed. You won’t be able to bring any bags over 40 x 25 x 25cm into the venues, so please leave large bags at home.
We're cash-free
Please note that we're unable to accept cash payments across our site.
Purcell Room is located in Queen Elizabeth Hall. For step-free access please use Royal Festival Hall JCB glass lift to Level 2 and enter via Riverside Terrace.
Talk to a member of staff at the auditorium entrance if you have a disability that means you can’t queue, or you need extra time to take your seat. They can arrange priority entry for you as soon as the doors open.
Please bear with us while we update our access map to reflect the refurbishment of the Royal Festival Hall’s Level 2 foyer spaces. The step-free routes remain the same.