Where Light Falls Audio Description for Sight Impaired Visitors: Site 5

Transcript

Where Light Falls audio description for sight impaired visitors: site 5

You are standing at site 5, in front of the old cathedral’s spire. The whole length of the spire, stretching high into the sky, and sections of the wall in front, will be transformed by the projections.

In this piece, you will be able to hear the poet Jane Commane narrating the poem. We have used certain lines of the poem to mark when the visuals change.

As the music begins, the spire is shrouded in darkness. Swirls of mist start to appear and tiny specks of light, sparkle. With the sound of each bell, a picture of a different saint appears, covering the entire length of the spire. They are taken from the glass engravings by artist John Hutton that appear on the West Screen of the new cathedral.

As you hear the music swelling, and Jane saying “lay down a blue thread of river” the images change to fragments of medieval stained glass windows that was blown apart in the bombings. The reflection of the ruins of the cathedral can be seen on the surface of the glass fragments. They twist and travel slowly towards in a repeated pattern. This sequence is broken up with lines of the poetry appearing vertically up the length of the spire. The lines “make here a city”, “form and reform”, “reflect back in stained glass”, “lully lullay”, “a beacon to all” and “our intrinsic Coventryness” are all highlighted. As they appear, the words seem to be falling through space, glowing with a bright light. As they fall they leave a trail behind them that slowly fades away.

With the words “lay down your tools” the scene changes. The spire and ruins are dark again, apart from glowing embers that swirl around the building.

This continues until you hear the line “peace work turns to war work” and with the chime of the bell, rectangular and geometrical sections of orange, yellow and stained glass start to cover the length of the spire. They are sections of stained glass windows that appear in the new cathedral baptistery window and were designed by the artist John Piper.  The stained glass is backlit and glows beautifully. The shapes change regularly and form and reform to make different geometric patterns. The colours suggest fire and heat and increase in intensity as the words of the poem describe the destruction of the medieval cathedral.

Throughout, the burning embers have remained and they now swirl against the darkness again as the stained glass disappears with the words “lay down the crossed beams of charred oak in the smoking dawn light.”  Flashes of an orange and yellow glow wash over the entire spire and section of ruin.

As the line “nothing left but the spire and the shell” is heard, black and white archive photographs of the destroyed cathedral appear on the spire. They are only half seen, with blurred edges as if they appear in a cloud of smoke and then disappear again. The swirling embers continue to wash over the images.

As the line “Our cathedral – warm sandstone” is spoken, the scene changes again. We are back to the orange, yellow and red stained glass forming and reforming to make patterns across the whole spire.

The scene changes again as “lay down threads of light” is heard. The spire and ruins are dark again, and out of the darkness thin white lines are drawn across the building. They are Basil Spence’s architectural drawings for the new cathedral. The shapes on these blueprints start to form abstract patterns that rotate and spin. They are as the line of poetry suggests “Spence’s act of faith”.

As the line “Oh Sisters” is read out, and the music becomes higher and more celestial, the scene changes again. This time a brilliant light shines forth from the spire and as it turns and fades out, fragments of John Piper stained glass appear. They gently join together to create patterns then separate again. Each time another burst of light appears and a new pattern is shown. The stained glass is multi coloured and depicts saints.

The line “lay down your shades of blue in stained glass” is heard and the scene changes again. The stained glass by John Piper in tones of blue start to form geometric, abstract patterns again. The pattern covers the entire spire, constantly changing and morphing.

As the poet reads “a tapestry of 900 colours” the tones of the stained glass change to purple, green, red, yellow and white. Forever changing into new combinations of colours and pattern, the stained glass remains on the spire until the final line of poetry ending in “we are one”.

As the spire returns to darkness again, bright words can be seen travelling down the spire. They say:

For Coventry, the spirit of the city and its people

A commission by Historic England, poem by Jane Commane

Visuals by Double Take Projections, score by Barnaby Smith

With thanks to The Poetry Society and everyone who helped create In A New Light

Caludon Castle School

Coventry Central Library

Coventry Older Voices

Coventry Stanza

Fire & Dust

Good Chance

In partnership with: Coventry Cathedral

Supported by: Coventry City Council and UK City of Culture 2021, Coventry

All images courtesy

Historic England Archive

Share your stories.
#WhereLightFalls | @HistoricEngland
HistoricEngland.org.uk

Audio descriptions for other sites at Coventry Cathedral

Also of interest

Audio & Text Alternative
Where Light Falls - Coventry Cathedral
Where Light Falls