Judi Dench narrates new Quaker film

September 29 sees the release of Go Inside to Greet the Light, a Quaker produced short, narrated by Judi Dench, about the James Turrell's Deershelter Skyspace in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP). The film is an introduction to the experience of the Skyspace and gives a flavour of the Quakerism inherent in its conception. But is not exclusively for Quaker audiences; in fact it has been made with the target release date of Quaker Week as part of that outreach.

The seeds of the idea of the film were sown when Friends met James Turrell at the opening of the Skyspace on 27 April 2006. He said that the best time to view the Skyspace was 20 minutes before and 45 minutes after sunset. Yorkshire Friends arranged a Meeting for Worship at the Skyspace in August 2006 (The Friend 1 September 2006, repeated recently The Friend 31 August 2007). Susan Robson and I wanted to make this experience more widely known and decided to produce the film with Matt Robson (camera and editing) and Fay Schlesinger (script); Anthony Shepherd, a member of the YSP staff, later joined us. Production meetings began in February, the first footage was filmed, co-incidentally a year to the day from the Skyspace opening, on 27 April and the project was completed earlier this month. Judi Dench agreed to take part after being asked by a friend whom she'd known from her York school days at The Mount (and his at Bootham).

The best way to convey a sense of the film is to quote part of Fay's script which Judi Dench narrates:

Inside it’s very basic... the stone floor and smooth stone benches give the whole space a tremendous physicality. You can feel the coldness of the stone and the fresh air from outside coming in. The big grey slabs slope back to help the upward gaze. The room seems cup-shaped; it lifts you up.

People look up, or they look around, happy to observe others in a way they normally wouldn’t be. Sometimes they close their eyes but always they go back to that square, to the impact of looking so intently at the space.

You settle into the silence. Words and wordless thoughts float into the space and are absorbed. There’s a real sense of letting go. It’s a place to just ‘be’ at a very deep level.

The most striking thing is the simplicity – it’s underwhelming at first. But it grows on you, and the light reflected on people’s faces, and in their expressions, shows that it’s growing on them too. Soon it starts to become apparent just what an experiment with light this is.

Like a Quaker meeting house, you look up to look out. Skyspace is not Quaker meeting, though it has the peace, the stillness and simplicity of meeting. You can de-clutter your mind here.

The premiere is at High Flatts Meeting House (which also features in the film) on September 29 at 7pm, as part of High Flatts Quaker Week arts programme on the theme of Light.

Yorkshire Quaker Arts Projects have led this enterprise, with spiritual and financial support from Quaker Outreach in Yorkshire and enthusiastic co-operation from YSP.

The DVD of the film includes two extra tracks, one of a school visit and the other a reading by Simon Armitage from his translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight reflecting the deer shelter setting. It is available at the special introductory price of £7 including p+p (cheques made payable to Yorkshire Quaker Arts Projects) from Susan Robson 9 Garfield Place Marsden Huddersfield HD7 6DA. Later it will be available through YSP and Quaker outlets.

Helen Meads

Pontefract Area Meeting