The Poetry & Music Ensemble was founded in the 1980s by nurse-poet Audrey Ardern-Jones, with musicians Michael Cox and
Nigel Clayton. Currently it is formed by Audrey and the Gents, and their programmes combine the aesthetics of Poetry with Music, creating a third type of artistic expression and offering a unique approach to a wide range of subjects.
The Ensemble is currently performing two different and sought-after programmes: 'Women Poetry in WWI', which explores the astonishing and long neglected poetry produced by women during the Great War; and 'The Mystery of Reality', which puts the very definition of reality in check through poetry by some of the most prominent poets of many centuries and nationalities.
Women Poetry in World War I
The sufferings of the Great War have been portrayed in many different occasions in Visual Art, Music, Drama, and Poetry. However, poems written during the war by women are largely neglected, and they show different views on aspects of the conflict that could be easily ignored such as the suffering of mothers who never saw their sons again to working women in bullets factories.
This touching programme includes Poetry by those who were generally left behind, with Music from many styles and periods, creating the right atmosphere to meditate on aspects of a human drama that is always at the door: the War.
'The Mystery of Reality' at Epsom's Playhouse.