Laura On The Liverpool Echo Arena
About My Echo Arena Performance Piece: For my performance on the Liverpool Echo Arena in August 2008, for the "Now That's What We Call Culture" event as part of the Liverpool 2008 European Capital of Culture year.
I wrote the piece called,‘I Swear To God I Tried,’ a very powerful performance poetry piece. I wanted to pay tribute to both my brother and the thousands of other service men and women who selflessly put their lives on the line everyday fighting for our country. The poem is very moving and I struggled to control my emotions as I acted and performed the piece.
It is very easy for us to forget about these heroes, as that’s what they are heroes. As they are many thousands of miles away fighting someone else’s war; but how can it be someone else’s war, when the coffins of dead service men and women are being unloaded off planes on to British shores every month. I’m sure that their families now battle their own personal war everyday, with the slow and bitter realisation that it is their loved one who has now made the ultimate heroic sacrifice.
So on 8th August 2008, in front of a stadium audience, just for a few minutes, I’d wanted to honour our troops and show them that we know… it’s ‘our’ war too!