Out of the Blue

On the 14 – 16 October, St Paul’s boys performed a highly original and innovative piece of drama: the world’s first stage adaptation of Simon Armitage’s thirteen part poem, Out of the Blue.

Written five years after the 9.11 attacks on America, Armitage’s text reimagines the events from the point of view of a trader working in the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

With special permission from Armitage himself, Mr. Christian Anthony’s adaptation saw a cast of nine Sixth Form boys present a highly physical, truly collaborative, rendering of this harrowing poem: the actors, barefoot on the grey, rubble-strewn stage, created everything from subway carriages to ash clouds with a polish and rapidity of ideas that left the audience stunned; the tone gradually shifted from the playful exuberance of the opening street dance routine to the skilful recreation of Ground Zero in the play’s final image.