Fiona Shaw recites Batter my heart, three-person'd God | Poems

Our Autumn tour is full of poetry, by the likes of Blake, Burns, Donne, Pushkin and Shakespeare. We've asked friends of ETO to share their favourite poem from the season, and to tell us why it's important to them.
Award-winning actress and director, Fiona Shaw, recites Batter my heart, three-person'd God by John Donne.
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For 40 years, English Touring Opera (ETO) has toured outstanding live productions, with a commitment to rediscovering and reimagining work, and impactful education and community projects to more towns and cities than any other UK opera company. At the heart of our ethos is making exceptional artistic experiences available and accessible to everyone. We reach over 50,000 people per year with five mainstage productions, two specially commissioned operas for children and young people with special educational needs, a series of creative workshops for people with dementia and their carers, and more than 70 workshops for people of all abilities and ages. We produce ambitious programmes of high-quality, innovative opera that introduce, educate and inspire audiences with distinctive new repertoire. In doing so we advance public awareness, engagement and enjoyment of this powerful art form.
A key aspect of ETO’s mission is a dedication to supporting young artists in the early stages of their careers and singers from BAME backgrounds. ETO offers emerging artists wide ranging performance opportunities and provides additional training and guidance. Many distinguished singers had their earliest experiences of professional performance with ETO, including Sarah Connolly, Amanda Echalaz and James Rutherford.
Our mainstage work is completed by a programme of imaginative education and community projects. ETO seeks to inspire children and adults of all backgrounds, dispelling the myth that opera is reserved for the privileged. Our education work is wide ranging and includes commissioning operas for schools and children with profound learning disabilities, delivering projects for people with dementia and their carers, and creating large scale operas to engage whole communities. Each year, our award winning education programme reaches over 15,000 children and adults nationwide, offering the chance to create, participate in and see bespoke performances.