Return of The Holborn Cenotaph

I just had confirmation that my next readings of short story-come-protest work ‘The Holborn Cenotaph’ will be in the stunning, Sir George Gilbert Scott-designed Renaissance Revival chapel at King’s College London, on the Strand.

By Diliff – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40925075

This extraordinary space is the venue that the story was originally written for back in October 2014, so I am very excited that after a couple of dozen gigs around the country and incredible feedback from audiences wherever it has gone, ‘The Holborn Cenotaph’ is coming home.

Festival registration is required, but there is no need to book. I will be giving two performances in the chapel—at 14:00 and at 16:30 on Friday 29 April 2016—but please note that latecomers will not be admitted.

(Festival registration also gets you in to the many other fascinating events and panels that are going on through the day, see the Creativeworks London Festival programme for any booking information for these.)

Here is the blurb:

‘The Holborn Cenotaph’ by London author Tony White is a short story in the tradition of Swift’s ‘A Modest Proposal’. White uses the language and performance of contemporary law enforcement and policy to devastating effect, delivering a satirical proposition that the high-rise tower of Holborn Police Station in central London is to be decommissioned and converted into ‘a new Holborn Cenotaph, a 50-metre high, networked memorial’, the purpose of which is not immediately revealed. When the true nature and purpose of this digital memorial becomes apparent, the effect has been described by one audience member as ‘jaw-dropping’.

‘The Holborn Cenotaph’ was first performed in the Renaissance Revival chapel of King’s College London for King’s Arts and Humanities Festival 2014, as part of a collaboration with the artists Stuart Brisley and Maya Balcioglu, and Dr Sanja Perovic of King’s. At the time, White was Creative Entrepreneur-in-Residence in the French Department at King’s, funded by Creativeworks London. Since then White has taken ‘The Holborn Cenotaph’ to audiences around the UK at venues ranging from the British Library to Turner Contemporary, Margate, London Radical Book Fair and many live literature events and programmes. Following each reading, a pamphlet edition of the full text is distributed free.

‘Super dry, dark and funny…Glasnost for UK cops’ Tim Etchells