A NEW stage production coming to Helmsley Arts Centre will give a fresh voice to war poetry from the last century.

The Hundred Years’ War will feature poems performed by three actors, chronicling times of war and conflict, with verse from aggressor and victim, soldier and civilian.

The production offers stories of war from all over the world and it is the first time that many of these poems have been heard in the UK.

Produced by Midlands Creative Projects, in association with the Belgrade Theatre Coventry, The Hundred Years’ War is based on the eponymous anthology of poetry, edited by Neil Astley and published by Bloodaxe Books earlier this year.

Jonathan Davidson, executive producer, said: “The intention is to present poetry in a new way, stepping away from the traditional recitation of verse and, instead, performing the poems so that they become rich with life.”

“That old perception of poetry as something that has to be studied stops people from realising just how good it really is. The material we are working with is so visceral, so heart-breaking, that it deserves to be performed to maximum impact.”

Among the poems chosen for The Hundred Years’ War are French and German views of trench warfare in the First World War One, visions of life on the home front in the Second World War, personal accounts of loss and violence in Bosnia, and the words of a Vietnamese fighter who has shot a childhood friend, their old ties severed by war.

Reflecting on a century of warfare, the British-Pakistani poet Imtiaz Dharker writes about Malala Yousafzai and the eternal fight for equality and freedom in the world. Across one hundred years of seemingly endless war, there are glimmers of hope and a wish for peace.

The Hundred Years’ War comes to Helmsley on Friday, November 14, at 7.30pm.

To book, visit helmsleyarts.co.uk