Last Updated: 04/12/2010 18:15:04
Larkin25 - Write to Speak presents: They f*** you up... at Hull Truck - Monday 22nd November 2010
By Michelle Dee. Photographs courtesy Cilla Wykes
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In this current climate of Arts funding cuts and uncertain futures the only thing to do is go out there and make things happen. Tonight's Write To Speak performances were the result of such an approach.
All the writers tonight have taken advantage of the poetry writing and performance workshops hosted by Joe Hakim and Mike Watts from Write To Speak in conjunction with thisisUll.com
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During the Larkin25 season of events, vox pops were collected from members of the public, in order to discover what Hull folk knew about the celebrated poet Philip Larkin .
The responses were varied and illuminating. The show opened with one of these clips; a local bobby telling us that although he's aware of Larkin, he much prefers the work of John Cooper Clarke.
The first of the debut performers was Ashley Fisher (takes a lot of courage to open a show) I was impressed with his confident delivery and a poem that described a loved one's bereavement place in the local press and one about cheap flights.
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Always on the lookout for new ways to write and perform poetry that subvert the form and genre, I was rewarded with a found poem made up of just twelve words, the two hander worked around computer commands, and the stream of conscious with rhythmic voicing, almost sung by the writer that does most of his thinking in his garden shed.
Talking of garden sheds - the one about ageing - I was particularly struck by the line 'die drunk and dishevelled in my garden shed.'
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This writer's work came alive, as she crafted different characters into the verse.
Some of the poems being read tonight looked to the past. They recreated images of a Hull slowly fading and perhaps, in the very vivid recollections of Holderness Road being bombed, of having been completely erased from the landscape: but not the memory.
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At this moment I must also mention the tale of the reluctant evacuee, who walks the many miles along the tracks back to war torn Hull three times, before being allowed to stay amongst the comfort and security of familiar streets and houses - wonderful story-like quality in the delivery from this particular writer.
There were happier moments of recalling halcyon days; descriptions of boarding the ferry across the Humber; senses awakened for a special trip out to Cleethorpes beach.
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Tributes to Larkin came in the form of poems written with him and his work in mind. |
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There was the lovely one about the channel hopping toad; another where the writer shares well-worn images of the city streets then confronts Larkin and his dour musings of Hull.
There was teenage musing in sparkly shoes with Eros and Thanatos knocking at the door; suicides in straight-jackets; visiting men from mars; the unwelcome return of student neighbours theatrically played out
among the many café bars and pubs, and then finally to shades of grey and the uncertain yet compelling air of Pyjama Man.
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To be fair to all the writers there were hardly any nerves on show or misplaced words.
It was hard to believe that they were not a tried and tested, experienced writers collective.
I'll put this down to sheer hard work and steely determination to succeed, and maybe a little help from their mentors and supporters.
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Many of the poems tonight can be seen on thisisUll.com or by way of the new iPhone and iPad apps
developed by thisisull; iPoetry and Larkin25.
We the audience - which probably numbered to fifty or so - were reminded that the workshops and tonight's performance were just the beginning of something.
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Some of the poets on show tonight are going on to get their work published in anthologies; going out and organising their own poetry nights, going through life with a real sense of achievement and a new outlook.
Perhaps it is that final thought that is the most important and rewarding thing, about what can transpire when, you just get out there and make things happen.
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| What's Happening? |
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| Chill Out |
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