Ariel And Winter Trees [Drama On 3]

Marking what would have been SYLVIA PLATH's 90th birthday (Oct 27th, 2022), ARIEL AND WINTER TREES is a vibrant journey through Plath's last collections of poetry. Eschewing academic analysis and autobiographical assumptions, ARIEL AND WINTER TREES offers instead a sonic celebration of Plath's work through readings and testimonies by women artists, joined together by an immersive soundscape that allows the listener to truly experience the power and depth of Plath's words.

Performed by Dame Si n Phillips, INDIRA VARMA, and Eva Feiler with testimonies from authors/poets LUCY CALDWELL, Sarah Corbett, Mich耀le Roberts and Chlo退 Savoie-Bernard, ARIEL AND WINTER TREES includes Plath's unique radio-play THREE WOMEN in its first airing since it was written and broadcast for the BBC in August of 1962.

The poems and radio play that form ARIEL and WINTER TREES were written by Plath at the height of her creative powers, when she began to write for her words to be read out loud. Set within every day and other-earthly landscapes, Plath's poetic persona shatters its sense of self and picks up the pieces to examine who she is as a woman, mother, daughter, wife. But above all else, Plath's poems are an exploration of the range and depths of human emotion, with all its collisions and conflagrations.

Indeed, throughout her anthologies, Plath's persona is pushed and pulled between different emotional forces. Forces which twist and reshape Plath's poetic voice from being that of a tranquil clairvoyant to a vengeful magician.

An Almost Tangible production for BBC Radio 3, ARIEL AND WINTER TREES was conceived and directed by Saskia Black, the sound designer was Jon Nicholls and the producers were Charlotte Mel退n and Eleanor Mein.

A vibrant journey through SYLVIA PLATH's last collections of poetry. With Si\u00e2n Phillips.