Zoë Martlew

In the Park

From the heart of the global paradigm shift and intense lockdown interiors, people found solace in nature, coming up for air in the public spaces permitted by pandemic regs, seeing that others were going through the same thing, that there was comfort in community outside. In London, that meant parks, those tree-guarded sanctuaries for break-ups, make-ups, playing, resting, dreaming, breathing; a designated space where Earth and sky meet to converse. Springing from this strange time, each song concerns a well-known London park through which the texts romp across time. From the 17th century rollicking and heavily-censored Earl of Rochester’s walk through the pleasure gardens of St James’s Park, a time travel expedition in Greenwich Park, then joining a romantic couple on their magical sunset stroll through Regent’s Park, landing up by the waterfall in the Kyoto gardens, Holland Park, home to the opera festival and one of my all-time favourite London recalibration spots. My enormous thanks to Hannah Sandison, to whom this work is dedicated, for this truly joyful commission, and to the RVW Trust and Victoria Robey CBE for their generous support. Zoë Martlew