Across a Love Locked Bridge
Edinburgh Fringe, Pleasance Theatre Trust, Pleasance Courtyard,
31 July - 25 August 2024
Across a Love Locked Bridge combines poetry readings and audience engagement. The play reflects on love, loss, resilience and hope.
A debut collection of fresh lyric poetry.
Company
Producer / writer / performer: Paul Sellar
Associate Producer / Director: Katie Garrett
A poetic anthology. Rites of passage and coming of age memoir lead seamlessly into adult reflections on life and loss. Funny, sad and tender. A good-humoured reflection of the magic of everyday experience. And a broken hearted triumph of love over grief. Humane, warm and witty. A balm for the soul.
'A writer we can cherish' Spectator
'His writing has a clear, contemporary pulse of its own' Telegraph
'There is no mistaking the signature of writer Paul Sellar' Stage
Across a Love Locked Bridge reviews
“The poetry of Paul Sellar is delivered by the man himself in an effortless admission of how life has treated him from being 9 in a holiday in Ireland to being a man waiting his partner coming out of an AA meeting. It is delivered on a simple stage and deals with hugely complex matters in a delivery of words that capture your attention because of a simple and highly deft delivery."
Donald Stewart
Fringe Review
"Sellar is a seductive storyteller ... the poetry delights with the melliflous drip of imagery, narrative and rhythm. It is soulful and gorgeous without ever having to work too hard. It feels really nicely poised."
Fringe Review
"A highly enjoyable hour and a warm respite ... Gentle and restrained but with undeniable heart it is good for a poetry lover and simple enough to welcome a newbie."
Entertainment Now
"This central image perfectly encompasses the vision of love and loss Paul Sellar expresses in his poetry show, ‘Across a Love Locked Bridge’. These dual themes run concurrently through the anthology which Sellar calmly recites to his transfixed audience."
Latharna Imlah
Entertainment Now
"I couldn’t help but close my eyes to listen. Painful but poignant. The only disappointment, which is shared with us at the end, is there is no book to buy. I hope a published rectifies this soon and that Radio 4's commissioner snaps it up."
Terri Paddock
"On a darkened stage beneath the Pleasance Courtyard, a small, intimate audience ducked out of the rain, awaiting Paul Sellar, whose debut poetry performance was about to follow passages of his life in an intimate montage of love, loss and living."
"Around me the audience stirs: their laughter twinged with nostalgia. Wry smiles at the universality of having your heart broken ... Across a Love Locked Bridge is an intimate montage of love, loss and living."
"A deeply personal hour of poetry and reminiscences, Across a Love Locked bridge is a beautiful balm for the soul."
Terri Paddock
My Theatre Mates / Stage Faves
AUDIENCE REVIEWS - Click here to read the pdf
Across a Love Locked Bridge interviews and publicity
“Paul Sellar, an acclaimed playwright and poet, brings his new show Across A Love Locked Bridge to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. This unique theatrical journey combines poetry readings with playful audience engagement, reflecting on themes of love, loss, resilience, and hope. The show promises to leave audiences feeling revived, uplifted, and inspired.
Across A Love Locked Bridge blends humour with contemplation and melancholy, inviting the audience to reminisce on their own experiences. Sellar’s work is known for its accessibility, complexity, and depth, making this show a testament to the power of poetry and theatre to connect with people on a personal level."
Greg Stewart
Theatre Weekly
Read the full interview with Paul.
"A celebration of love and how it eventually triumphs over grief, writer Paul Sellar's collection of new poems takes the audience on a theatrical journey based on his experiences of various forms of love and loss, reflecting on how resilience and hope can come from the darkest times. Combining poetry readings with playful audience engagement using direct address and meta-theatrical narration, Across A Love Locked Bridge blends humour with contemplation and melancholy and invites the audience to reminisce on their own experiences, aiming to leave them feeling revived, uplifted and inspired."
Stephi Wild
Broadway World
Read the full interview with Paul.
"Across a Love Locked Bridge is a poetic anthology from the acclaimed playwright working in theatre, film and radio, Paul Sellar. Many of Sellar’s plays have previously performed at the Fringe before going on to enjoy critical and commercial success but this show will be his debut as a poet."
Tom Bailey
Theatre Bubble
Read the full interview with Paul.