Story perspectives

One-Man Show Traces Rimbaud’s Paris and Cyprus Exodus

8/18/2026

Summary

Story summary

Patrick Wang curates a three-hour one-man show where Blake Draper portrays Rimbaud with an English-Scouse accent in a continuous monologue.
Back-projection videos ventilate the stage while musical instruments voice characters like Rimbaud’s mother, sister and Paul Verlaine.
The play’s acts trace Rimbaud’s escape from Charleville to Paris, his jail nights and bond with Verlaine, then his abandonment of poetry, haircut and work as an export merchant in Cyprus and Africa.

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Story summary

Patrick Wang curates a three-hour one-man show where Blake Draper portrays Rimbaud with an English-Scouse accent in a continuous monologue.
Back-projection videos ventilate the stage while musical instruments voice characters like Rimbaud’s mother, sister and Paul Verlaine.
The play’s acts trace Rimbaud’s escape from Charleville to Paris, his jail nights and bond with Verlaine, then his abandonment of poetry, haircut and work as an export merchant in Cyprus and Africa.