Rosie Reed Gold

 stage left - letter pressed is a multi-floor, site specific, partially interactive installation created for HART Shoreditch, launched during London Design Festival. See beautiful photos from the launch HERE

Picture yourself, stage left, letter pressed (un-enveloped) in hands - an identity in writing preparing to emerge from behind the curtain.

Then stretch this moment to a ritual; every night, the same opportunity to escape a given narrative, or truly embody the one that feels authentic now.

This site-specific exhibition is inspired by the local area’s connection to Shakespeare. In recent years the remains of The Curtain theatre were discovered nearby; a stage on which Shakespeare himself performed, as well being one of the first playhouses to show some of his earliest works, including Romeo and Juliet. Forced to close in 1597, the theatre was dismantled, and its timbers were shipped across the Thames and used to build what is now the well-known Globe Theatre.

My practice has often incorporated text based media and I drew on this to make a series of works for HART Shoreditch that create a dialogue between the structure of Shakespeare’s writing and the architecture of this beautiful building

The Stage

A temporary stage designed to make space for performances in the HART’s foyer; a real world example of Shakespeare’s line “all the world’s a stage” from ‘As You Like It’.

During London Design Festival this was activated, and I hosted a poetry and music gathering. Photos and more information HERE.

Chess

There is only one reference to chess made by Shakespeare (in the Tempest), yet many of his plays revolve around royalty, strategy and powerful family dynamics. The works on the HART foyer walls explore this theme, each piece representing a different play, and each of the copper tiles is hand engraved with its own chosen quotes for the audience to discover - for those that want to see if their favourites made the cut!

The Balcony

Discovering HART Shoreditch’s infamous spiral staircase, I was reminded of the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet, and was inspired to create a poem descending the stairs. Using re-organised words from the original play I created a poem that tracks the journey from light to shadow, from morning to night, from the lark to the nightingale. Listen to a recording of the poem here:

The Nest

Inspired by the themes of nature and transformation in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, underneath the light of HART’S seven moons lies a nest, with poem eggs ready to hatch - a space for visitors to contemplate what is waiting to emerge from within themselves.

Curtains

What old stories are you telling yourself that could fade into the background? What new narrative could you begin today? These three works are designed to be interactive - by gently pulling the fabric strips down new words appear. They can be lined up however the viewer prefers them to write a new poem.

Poetry Archive

These cabinets were designed to turn us all into poetry apothecaries! Each drawer holds a selection of words - the audience can choose or write their own and add them into the label space to name what might heal them.

Thinking Makes It So 

This short poem was written by Rosie Reed Gold and beautifully brought to life visually by Esme Harvey-Otway.

Taking more than a little inspiration from Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’, this filmpoem draws on the idea that we might choose to re-write the story of our lives at any time, releasing old patterns to create new ones.

“There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.”

- Hamlet (Act 2, Scene 2)