A new anthology of war poetry, The Hundred Years’ War, that was published earlier this year, is heading for the stage. The production, which will open at the Belgrade theatre in Coventry, at the start of a UK tour, will feature 40 poems, performed by three actors, about war from across the world - Korea, the Middle East, Vietnam, Ireland, the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan - as well as the first and second world wars, including the Holocaust.

The Hundred Years’ War anthology of poetry was edited by Neil Astley, and published by Bloodaxe. Jonathan Davidson, executive producer of the stage production, said: “Within each poem there is a narrative, a feature film in short. Our job is to find that film and offer it directly to the audience so that it provokes a response. 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 stage is a German view of trench warfare, an account of the atomic bomb by a survivor in Hiroshima, and the words of a Vietnamese fighter who has shot a friend from childhood. In ‘I would call her my girlfriend’, Colin Mackay tells how he discovered the body of his girlfriend and her children in Bosnia. He had volunteered to take food and supplies to that country and while there, fell in love. He briefly left the country to arrange for his new family’s departure to Scotland, only to find them murdered on his return. Mackay later took his own life. 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.

The Hundred Years’ War, produced by Midland Creative Projects, opens at the Belgrade theatre on 31 October.

Background: Review of The Hundred Years' War anthology