Four in the afternoon

James Broughton, a San Francisco poet, combines his twin interests - poetry and film. Selecting four short poems from his book, “MUSICAL CHAIRS”, Broughton arranges them into a form of lyric suite with haunting visuals that expand and comment on the poetic texts. Each movement in the suite has its own style, independent but related to all the others, a variation on the theme of the quest for love. The pieces are: “GAME LITTLE GLADYS” - words for a child’s skipping game are metamorphosed by the camera into a girl’s search for her future partner. “THE GARDENER’S SON” - an adolescent dreams of romantic love, confusing the real with the unreal, the true with the ideal. “PRINCESS PRINTEMPS” - the dance movement depicting, with considerable humour, the conflict between desire and propriety in the heart of a young girl. “THE AGEING BALLETOMANE” - the nostalgic day-dream in slow-motion dance pantomime of a lover whose days for love have passed but are still longed for. In all four, the images suggested in the words have been re-visualised by the camera and the rhythms of the lines recaptured by the editing process, creating a form of cinematic poetry. The music, scored for chamber orchestra, was composed by William O. Smith and the poems are read by Madeline Gleason and James Broughton.