Page 29 - We'll Sing Coverage Book

The two are currently working on a documentary film about what many believe has
been the most difficult year in recent British history. With the working title Where Did
The World Go? their film, which is still in production, examines life and loss in lockdown
and binds the whole narrative with a new, overarching poem from Armitage.

“It has become a little bit of a ‘shepherd’s calendar’, marking the passing seasons,” said
Armitage. “We have gone through phases of lockdown.

Simon Armitage said he has gone through a series of emotions with the lockdown. Photograph:

Victoria Jones/PA

“At first, people associated it with the weather and being outside, so although there
were restrictions, there were also compensations. I probably started to feel it most
keenly recently, as it got darker and colder and the days got shorter.”

Among those to feature in the film are a Welsh woman who talks of her bereavement
following the loss of her elderly mother, a care home resident. The camera also focuses
on the experiences of a Nigerian asylum seeker and on the proprietor of a 200-year-old
family-owned shoe shop business in Devon that has closed down.

“He feels devastated that it ended on his watch,” recalls Hill. “We wanted to show the
range of impact on people. We also wanted to get across somehow how Covid-19 has
affected performers and entertainers so badly. We spent an extraordinary time with
Zippo’s Circus in the end, talking to them about how they find a way to open up the big
top again safely.”

Both Hill and Armitage say they had no idea how long the film project would last.
“When we started, we really didn’t know what was going to happen, or how much access
we would have,” said Hill.

“We thought we might finish this summer,” said Armitage, “but then, like anyone else,
we also were aware it might go on into next year. It now it feels like this project will last
a year and a bit. I am feeling more optimistic now, particularly as my parents have been
invited to have a vaccine.”

One section of the film features the challenges faced by members of the prestigious
Huddersfield Choral Society, who were also the subject of a separate project, We’ll Sing,