Dan Krikler as Keith Douglas, with John Retallack and Owen Sheers

After successful runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and Bristol Old Vic, Owen Sheers’ play returns to Hay for a one-off show. Unicorns, Almost tells the story of Keith Douglas from his childhood idolising an absent father, through four engagements to marry, his fighting in the Western desert as a tank commander, his accelerated education as a poet to his early death three days after the D-Day landings in Normandy at the age of just 24.

It is the story of Douglas’ Faustian pact with a war that would both gift him his unique poetic voice, and then also take it away. It is also the story of his desperate race to see his poems in the permanence of print before his limited time on earth ran out.
Let an immersive soundscape and an intimate theatrical experience take you into the world of the finest poet of the Second World War. Directed by John Retallack, Dan Krikler gives a ‘luminous’ (Guardian), ‘wonderful’ (Margaret Atwood) performance as Keith Douglas. They will be joined on stage by the playwright after the show for a 20 minute Q&A.

Produced by Emma Balch for The Story of Books