For Writers

By Writers

I am a 34-year-old black performance poet living in Preston, Lancashire. I originated from the experimental performance circuit in London in 1992. I also come from a strong anarchist background and I am interested in work that is of a high standard not mediocre. Most recently having completed an MA in Performance I have developed an interest in physical theatre and devised work. Due to restrictions placed on me by the change in location there are no performance venues in Preston, Lancashire I have been concentrating on writing although recently I organised a small performance event in Preston with Pink Sly as the main act.

Ques 2) where did you first start out?

I first started out at the Writer's Forum Workshop based at the Victoria pub in Mornington Crescent. It was a mixture of older experienced performers and writers with diverse interests ranging from music, Concrete poetry and prose. My first paid gig was at the Hard Edge Club in May 1993.

Ques 3) What made you interested in poetry ?

Because of the freedom of expression and the use of language which I felt wasn't in other creative mediums. The poem I read that inspired me was written by a West Indian writer whose name I can't remember but it was called The Magnificent She Bird. It was a beautiful poem, which on first reading appeared to be about a bird but on the second reading one realised it, was about a woman's body and making love to her.

Ques 4) what made you interested in performance?

One-day, the artist, teacher and publisher Bob Cobbin asked me to read out for the first time and I enjoyed it. He then made some suggestions on how to improve it and the delivery of the performance then I developed into a performance poet. To me, good performance is about using the whole body, the space, the voice the inclination, doing the unexpected and pushing you both physically and mentally to the extreme. I would say I only started to come close to that around October 1995 when I began to notice I was not doing the same as other performance poets, particularly women.

Ques 5) What are your favourite performance poets?

`Bob Cobbin' - He is the one performer I truly admire. He is generous and the only person I trust to publish my books. ` Stacy Matuci ` - An amazing performer who uses her body and the whole space one of the only performance poets I would pay to see.' Patience Agabe' - Has a lyrical voice, is not afraid to be political and is a good performer. Pink Sly - An accomplished all rounder who is an individual talent and he does not have an egotistical attitude.

Ques 6) Do you enjoy reading poetry?

I prefer seeing poetry performed unless it is something original, vivid or complex in its use of language. Though I do enjoy reading the sort of poetry found in small presses as I would rather lend support to up and coming talent.

Ques 7) What do you think is the strength of small presses?

You get a more diverse type of poetry and prose.

Ques 8) Who are your favourite theatre companies ?

`DV8' They are unique in breaking stereotypes and they make ground breaking work. Desperate Optimists' ; for a young theatre company they have cleverly combined politics with irony and humour something not a lot of theatre companies do.

Ques 9) Why do you want to break away from performance poetry?

Because I have become aware of the limitation that the written word imposes on the performer and now I do what I call `throwaway society', which is poetry that is spontaneous. I make it live on stage and then forget it ! This symbolises " the consumer throwaway society " where both products and people have become one.

I also felt that in July 1994 I had developed so far as I could as a performance poet unless I took a step back and learnt how to do it properly. I was a black woman not talking about love or race but feminism, body facism, animals, relationships, rape, murder etc. Therefore I did not fit in a box so I was limited in the number of performance venues. I eventually did less and went back to college twice culminating in an MA in Performance.

Reset