Theatre of Sound

In the car: Resin

On the page: the Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman ( thanks for the loan, Margaret)

Where I'm at: All sorts of events

Onscreen: New series of Vera

In the ether: http://Www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org

 At the weekend I performed at two very different events.

The first of these was at the Stafford Arts Festival, in the Gatehouse Theatre. 

The theatre was the venue for all of the poetry. 

The second event was in the gallery at Jasmine Cottage, on the outskirts of Derby, which was hosted by Richard Heley and Seema Gill.

Each event had its attractions.

In Stafford there were around twenty five poets, all sitting on the stage at the same time. The atmosphere was very supportive, but there was no real opportunity to stand around and chat. The candidates for Young Laureate also had little opportunity to speak to the local "scene" poets, which is a shame, because young poets have less idea of what is out there, and can often feel quite isolated.

It was, however, a great chance to see several poets perform that I had previously managed to miss. Standout performances were by Phil Binding, Surjit Dharmi and Tony Keeton, Tom Wyre also made an impression, having found ways to breathe new life into several pieces. Jack Edwards managed to bring the whole event together wonderfully.

In Derby the atmosphere was much more intimate and relaxed. A group of ten poets and musicians read, played and improvised, often finding themes in the work of the other participants. Richard MC'd on the night, Seema produced figs from the garden and another of her wonderful crumbles for the fairly extended break for chat and food. Both were on good poetic form. Chris White improvised percussion using one small drum and several found objects, including a spanner. Dennis Derby, Stevie Lonestar and Richard all played guitar and read poetry. Phil Binding, Jayne Stanton and Tom Wyre had all made the trip from Stafford, with work that sounded very different in these surroundings.

        

Which of these has the best future for poetry?

I'll consider that in my next post.