This Poetry Minute is by William Kentridge. This was shared to coincide with the opening of ‘Sibyl’ at the Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg in June 2021, as part of the Red Bridge Project. The performance is for three dancers and a choral ensemble of six, divided in two parts, part one being a twenty-two-minute film with live score entitled ‘The Moment Has Gone’ and part two the forty-two-minute chamber opera ‘Waiting for the Sibyl’. I, together with a number of invited collaborators from The Centre for the Less Good Idea had the opportunity to travel to Luxembourg earlier this month and join William in the showing of existing work and the incubating of new work in Luxembourg’s ‘TalentLAB’ and the ‘Red Bridge Project’.

William took quite a bit of time to put this minute together. I naively thought that this was simply because he was busy with all the other projects and engagements on his plate - only getting to this one in stolen pockets of “free” time. And this may indeed have some truth to this assumption of mine. BUT…! Having had the opportunity to experience William’s work so closely in Luxembourg, I observed the dedication with which he attends to his works, and this is likely to remain with me for a while to come. There is an unparalleled involvement, attention to detail and commitment to his craft. No slapdash jobs. As is the case with “Let Me Live”.

‘The poem is made up of lines culled and collaged from Vladimir Mayakovsky’s poems and plays. The lines sought to make a libretto for a film for a performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 10. Images and texts laid out a table in a random order and then selected and rearranged. These are some fifteen lines of the final text which will be 8 or 9 times longer. A testing of a writing technique’ - William Kentridge.

LET ME LIVE AGAIN
Created by | William Kentridge
Music from | Dmitri Shostakovich - ‘The Nose’
Editing by | Octavia Sontane

A Poetry Minute is curated by Bongile Gorata Lecoge-Zulu