Bathtime

Listen to Bathtime at 11am on Sunday 20th May.

In Bathtime, you’ll hear a version of an Anglo-Saxon poem called, ‘The Ruin’, originally written in the very different language of Old English. You'll hear fragments of the original, too, and twelve fifteen-line poems, each representing and quoting someone Jacob Polley and Imogen Cloet interviewed about Roman history, shipbuilding in Wallsend, and the Roman site of Segedunum. These poems are intended as a kind of ‘bearing witness’, just as the Anglo-Saxon poet who wrote ‘The Ruin’ bore witness to the abandoned Roman buildings and baths through which he or she wandered, wondering at great change and at what might have brought it about.

The audio was recorded and mixed by John Alder.

The voices are those of Joe Caffrey, Charlie Hardwick, Helen Embleton and Jacob Polley.

Bathtime was created for an exhibition at Segedunum Roman Fort, Baths and Museum in 2011. It was produced by New Writing North and funded by Nexus via North Tyneside Council.