Bard of Exeter Contest

Has come and gone - hosted with customary brilliance and aplomb by Liv Torc (who really ought to add MC to her list of job descriptions! as performance poet, comedian and Wondermentalist), and with really excellent performances by all the contenders (no kidding - all of them). Performers/contenders included Clive Pig and Jon Freeman (plus ourselves W&D) representing the Storyclub - Jon doing a mixture of serious poetry and Zen-like story, Clive a wacky poem-tale about crazy neighbours and a full-of-energy song with guitar, from Taking the Mic there was Tim King doing his very clever letters-as-sounds piece amongst others with great assurance, Morwenna Griffiths doing the best performance I've seen of her work, having learnt it all and moving well, Jackie Juno from Totnes fresh from the spoken word night which she hosts there doing an amazing turn for the first slot of the evening, and going for audience participation in an A-Z letters-as-words piece, and the Stand Up Philosopher doing a beautiful rendition of Spinoza's Ethics in seven minutes. It was a tough call for the voting audience, and a good result as Clive and Jackie tied! and a resolution was passed that the new Bard could be a double-headed dual entity! Which was a perfect and ideal result. They then both did storming encores to a packed audience, and then much hilarity ensued as they both wore the single blue robe - which it has to be said, was big enough and mysteriously seemed to have holes in the right places for two - so all was well that ended well! All power to Jackie and Clive in their new roles!

Poetry at the Blue Walnut

Last night was Poetry Island night at the Blue Walnut Cafe hosted by storyteller and performance poet Chris Brooks and with Matt Harvey as headline, support from Liv Torc and a host of poets from the Exeter, Torquay and surrounding scenes including Clive Pig, Jon Freeman, James Turner, and Tim King from Taking the Mic. The cafe was packed, and cold as it was outside (it was sleeting at one point), the venue got so hot, that windows had to be opened! Everyone was on flying form, although it was hard not be biased in the view that the Taking the Mic crew were really pulling out the stops (although I'm sure poetry isn't really like having football teams...?!). James' poem about God and the Devil, Clive's singing, Jon's love poem and Tim King's letter based Bob Cobbing style piece were all very memorable. Liv was just before Matt Harvey (there were two intervals as so many were performing), and mastered the space at once with her usual show-womanship, doing poems contrasting lust with love to great effect, before Matt Harvey did his set. - And really, however many times one hears some of his pieces, they just get better. He also broke into a hilarious comic 'true story' about Torquay vs. Totnes 'hooligans' which had the audience rolling in the aisles, and as well as doing many favourites, he did recent ones such as poems written for his residency at Wimbledon Tennis Championships, and as well as being funny, charming and full of a very humane empathy (suited to the creator of 'Empath Man'! his Radio 4 series from which he did a brilliant sketch), they were also clever with language and rhyme/rhythm/assonance and quietly subtle in the deeper points which many of them make.
   All in all it was a really good evening, Chris and his sidekick 'Clipboard' doing the honours, and getting everyone involved with the clapping for his 'The cow is the mother of the milk' opener which most of the audience knew or quickly picked up, and a wacky competition for the Poetry Island advent calendar - which involved everyone writing a preferably rhyming short sentence to fill the empty days, of the festive variety. Incredibly, my rather obvious spur-of-the-moment entry (sitting on the holly is an act of folly) drew the most laughs, and I won a kid's advent calendar from Poundland, plus some Belgian chocolates! I was startled (never having been one to win raffles etc.), but it certainly added some extra laughs and audience participation to the evening.
   It was an excellently put together evening, and I was interested in the contrasts and similarities between it and Taking the Mic...both having committed and energetic hosts, both having an emphasis on performance (rather than just read) poetry, having other acts (eg; comedy, music, etc.) and which are intended to be an evening's entertainment selling itself to people who want a good cheap night out rather than a writer's circle or poetry group/open mike for readers. But the Blue Walnut perhaps has a little more of an emphasis on comedy/comic poetry? Just an impression. It was certainly a big hit with the audience, and while there were poets there who I recognized as previous headliners etc., a lot of the audience seemed to be just that - audience rather than poets. And, just as with Taking the Mic, that's a really good sign of a night that really reaches out to people!
   The Blue Walnut itself as a venue is a charming cafe (if small when coping with larger audiences!) with a tiny nickleodeon cinema at the back with delightful vintage upholstered seating. They serve excellent fairtrade coffee ('Origins') complete with star shaped shortbread biscuits!

   Thanks to Chris for organizing it and putting everything together so well and making things go with such a bang, to Matt Harvey for a great performance, and to Liv and all the supporting poets too, for making up a high quality night of performance poetry. 

Hatherleigh Festival

Another week, yet another festival... this was rather special though, as I was going to support Deor of Widsith and Deor Theatre in his other aspect as Matthew Hammond The Stand Up Philosopher. We had performed at the Tally Ho! pub before, a couple of years ago - a storytelling show called 'North and East and Down the Road' in the gardens, after a willow workshop by other members of the Collective. From that, I knew it was going to be very crowded! As it proved. Arriving early in the beautiful July evening, with an amazing golden light over the moor and shafting into the churchyard, there was a marquee in the square opposite the pub, and the two armchairs by the fireplace were free, so that was where we had the book stall. Liv Torc (slam winning Wondermentalist and host of Taking the Mic) turned up later, and the show began - she braving the packed and rowdy pub crowd to do the first set and introduce the next. Not the easiest of venues and audiences! And she did well despite the obstacles.
Then it was the Stand Up Philosopher's turn, and he started with Kant's 'What is Enlightenment?' - reactionary or revolutionary? It was amazing, and he did actually capture the attention of at least half the pub! with the rest dipping in and out (although as an essay is a narrative, it seemed a pity in the sense that with philosophy, it's good to catch beginning, middle and end! as one rather leads to another!). However, after that, he performed Marx (and one of his trademarks is to perform to some degree AS the philosopher/writer in question). As Kant was stuffy and a trifle cross, but thunderous about how emphatically he meant it, Karl Marx on the other hand was done (as Matthew likes to surprise people) as a young man, full of passion and yelling into the microphone in a way that actually caused moments of silence (in a pub as as packed and full of drinkers and diners as that!). It was hugely impressive, and ended as a call to arms.
After that, came a singer, Nicola Clarke, who did well, (though I reflected, it was an easier environment for music than spoken word). Then after the interval, the three acts in the same order. Again, Liv started the second half, managing against the wall of noise to be heard and to entertain. The second Stand Up Philosopher set comprised Cicero and Aquinas. Cicero was lordly and earnest as he told us of how he had lost his life in Ancient Rome, and of the ideals of the Republic, how it had paved the way for our latter day constitutions, and exhorting us not to turn our backs on our own systems lest anarchy prevail! And Aquinas was done as a duologue - as Tony Blair requested of Aquinas exactly what was involved in the mythical 'just war'? and so showed how it was that Britain ended up invading and occupying Iraq - just what the philosophical and historical 'justification' of that action was - again, parts of this - as well as making folks laugh at the banter between the two characters - made the pub go silent. The show ended with another excellent set of music from Nicola, and all in all, how could a show set in such an environment (the opening of the Festival, hordes of noisy people up for fun and piling in after the Silver Band) have gone better?
The crowd even requested encores! as at the end of the Stand Up Philosophy (and as they do make you think), Matthew (having begun with a couple at the start) asked if anyone wanted more Anglo-Saxon riddles (from the C10th Exeter Book in which are also found the poets Widsith and Deor) and 'YES!' came the roar of reply. So he told two more, and finally - all impromptu - said 'My colleague here does them properly!' (meaning only that I stick to the word order of a single translator generally, rather than improvise on the original) and so I got up sheepishly and performed the celestial Riddle whose answer is thought to be (and almost certainly is) the Sun and Moon. I could see the link - as people had to give thought to what they were listening to with philosophy, and had to listen to the riddles in order to think up what the answer might be, but was surprised and pleased the mixture worked. Hats off to the Stand Up Philosopher!

And all power to Liv Torc who also did a tremendous job in a tough brief having come straight from work in Somerset and like ourselves, hot on the heels of festival work, and in her case one of them hundreds of miles north! It's harder work than it looks, being performers.

Big thanks to Jamie for booking the Stand Up Philosopher, to Daniella and all the Hatherleigh Festival team for their hard work making it happen!

Check out the videos at;
http://www.cartwheels-collective.co.uk/Performance_Philosophy_.html

Street Poetry - Random Acts of Art

Just had a great time at the Street Poetry Workshop at the Spacex Gallery, run by the inimitable Liv Torc, and part of the Random Acts of Art project. It was a beautiful day for it, (the sky a literally cloudless blue) and ideal for checking out the nearby streets in search of words.

Having done five years of degrees all told with writing workshops forming some of one and a great deal of the other, and being a workshop host myself, AND being really busy, I don't often actually get to writing or poetry workshops. Which is a pity, because of course, they give one space in order to create that can be really refreshing and a context break away from the way in which one usually ends up working. And so it was!

The aim of the workshop was to write a collaborative poem about and inspired by the West Quarter, the historic and alternative/independent shops area of the city which is home to the Spacex Gallery.

We started off after an exercise involving commenting on each others shoes etc. (i.e. finding words inspired by them) and all trying to be scrupulously polite! with a drama-like exercise/game, all making up characters for each other, as makebelieve residents of the Quarter - and much hilarity and inventiveness ensued, including with a one-eyed glassblower, Roman re-enactor, Somerset settler, bouncer, dodgy gangster overlord and gangster's moll! Short pieces were written about chosen characters, and following that, haikus, some funny, some serious, inspired by the portraits of residents of the Quarter by Lady Lucy, one of the artists in residence for the whole Random Acts of Art project. We then all dispersed to find inspiration and words out of doors, into the West Quarter itself. And how magical that was - because strangely, as both an admirer and sometime practitioner of found text, concrete poetry, site specific text and art and related forms, and someone who loves the West Quarter, it had always been the kind of thing on my 'must do at some point' list. I.e., something I'd love to do, even mean to do, but would never get around to. So it was a real joy to just wander around places like Fore Street, looking in windows, jotting down words from posters or signs, half-catching sentences by passers-by, adverts and cards in windows, menus and labels...and really looking at some of the shop fronts and interiors, really paying attention to the lovely old architecture like that of Tucker's Hall with its fleur de lys railings, and the hidden stream on the other side, down below...absorbing the lively mixture, and so many details I always rush past and mean to make time for but never do. The luxury of legitimately dawdling and going in and out of all the corners and alleys, of spending time in shops I'd always meant to have a look in but hadn't the time to, and all the looking at little things and the delicious finding of random words and phrases that at any other time would be just playing, and almost as out of bounds as getting involved in an addictive computer game! It was seriously fun. I kept bumping into other participants, and we grinned as we crossed each other. So much so that at one point a man stopped me, and asked quite bluntly 'What are you doing? There's loads of you at it.' I explained it was a poetry workshop, and once I'd finished listing the places one could look for words etc., he just said 'Cool!' and walked off. By then I had so many fragments, it was time to get back to the Spacex and choose and order them! Which I did. It took surprizingly little time to order the found texts - a heard sentence, card in window, poster, signs, ads, and they seemed to make the five required sentences in a way I liked. We then wrote them in large letters on big paper strips, and finally Liv decided on an order - the tough job! and stuck them together in a large train like a huge snaky poster. They looked great, as everyone had different writing of course and had chosen different colours (green in my case). Liv then bravely mounted a ladder to stick it to the wall, and then read it aloud with great aplomb. And it sounded really good! Everyone had come up with some excellent sentences, and while all in different styles, it hung together really well, and even had some rhythm. We all had great fun and came up with a piece all were pleased with, with laughs, and much tea, coffee and biscuits too. All in all a really lovely afternoon. And I even met a delightful subscriber to Spoken/Written! - Anna Trussler of the Devon Guild of Craftsmen's Gallery in Bovey Tracey who was kind enough to keep us all in the tea and coffee. Big thanks to Liv for being such a great workshop host, to Anna and all at the Spacex for having us, and to Chris, Kevin and Marcus for being such good fun to work with!

Random Acts of Art Blog;

http://randomactsofart-residencies.blogspot.com/

CCANW Fundraiser

At last it was the day for the Fundraiser we were hosting/organizing for the Centre for Contemporary Art & the Natural World in Haldon Forest Park. It didn't rain, although the perennial battle with wind vs. sticky tape for posters had it's first skirmish of the outdoor gig season...! I got there first to set up the body masks, sculptural figures etc. to draw attention to the performance - so the stage was flanked with the moon, a dragon's head, little green goblins etc., while fellow storyteller Deor went to collect three of the performers...and the sky looked grey and slightly threatening...I then began to arrange the book and CD stall, and was glad to be practiced at weighing things down...all the same, I thought - why is it that I seem to hold so many stalls on windy days when I'm convinced there are lots of perfectly still, calm ones?!?

And then Jon arrived, the PA was set up, and not long after more reinforcements came until we were nearly quorate. Then the benches were laid, Chris from the Centre kindly offered us coffee, and we began! Despite the somewhat overcast sky and chilly wind, it went with a bang - Clive Adams introduced the event, speaking of the Centre's past and funding issues, the Hub as it was (shacks in muddy glade!) and how far it had come...then we introduced our first act, and Liv Torc, Wondermentalist, performance poet, comedian and host of Taking the Mic, wowed the crowd with her customary energy, skill, verve and vitality, every inch the professional, and dealing well with the all ages audience! (not least as a lot of her material is of the adult variety). Catch her as poet-in-residence at Exeter Poetry Festival later in the year. We had Clive Pig the Storyfella - see him at this year's Westcountry Storytelling Festival - who tells stories like a one man movie (his sound effects as ever had to be heard to be believed!) stopping folks in their tracks. He was the one who showed that storytelling could be a total theatre experience, and hence inspired Widsith & Deor! Jon Freeman (of Tyburn Jig - catch them at this year's Festival at the Edge, English Heritage properties and at Storyclub) doing his fine performance poetry, and Jade Moon (former Green Woman act at many festivals on the circuit including being a Glastonbury regular and also fire dancer) with passion and movement and appropriately enough, her themes echoing some of Liv's. James Turner, popular poet and author of the 'Forgeries' collection published by Original Plus, proving beautifully that there need be no divide between 'page and stage' poetry, with wonderfully lyrical and intellectual (I mean that in its absolutely positive sense of thought-provoking) yet accessible, pieces and delivered with his trademark mixture of humanity, wit and emphatic-not-dogmatic wisdom. Music was from Gabriel Collins, prolific songwriter (some three hundred original songs in his repertoire), a pianist who kindly brought his guitar instead as of course the piano wouldn't fit on the train! - And we were lucky enough to have David Sawyer (well known sculptor of sound sculptures and artist as well as musician) and Annie Quicke (also of The Surf Messengers), musicians who often play with/in the fabulous improvisational group Children of the Drone (more festival favourites!). David with one of his handmade original and haunting instruments an 'electrochord' and Annie with flute and saxophone filled the Forest with hauntingly lovely yet experimental ambience, as they made unusual and delicious improvised music. Towards the end, James (who is also often part of the Children of the Drone) did poetry while they played, and the effect was simply hypnotic. Finally - having introduced the acts with a short tale or poem, and done one of our spooky forest stories, the event was coming to a close...when Annie and David offered to round off the day by improvising music to a story! It was an offer we couldn't refuse, so we told one of our trademark tales, 'Lady Mary' (also partly set in a forest) and it was fantastic to perform with the music changing mood to the tempo all around - a wonderful experience to end the day on, and a real high! It was hard to express one's thanks - we love the performing with other artists and the each art flowing into the other experience.

Then it was time for more cake (which we'd brought along for all to share), packing up instruments, books, props and all the rest, congratulating everyone on how well it had gone, talking with Clive Adams and Chris Lewis of the Centre about the afternoon and funding wait, (and of course looking in the collections bucket and wishing it had been warmer!) and them thanking us for putting together such a good show (aww shucks). It was all in all a wonderful afternoon, with a marvellously contrasting array of talents. Huge thanks must go to Clive, Liv, Jon, James, Jade, Annie, David, and Gabriel for being so brilliant and coming along to make it happen, and of course to Clive, Chris and Johanna of CCANW for having us and keeping us in tea and coffee! Fingers crossed for their funding re-application...(I know the feeling)...