So here, as promised, is my second blog post of the week, to make up for my block-plagued absence of the last month.
On tuesday I started my new fortnightly writing/performance feedback group at Commonword, hastily titled Perform vs Content. The idea of the group is for writers who perform their work, or who want to, to come and get constructive criticism from a group of peers on their content and delivery. If there is time at the end of the sessions (which there wasn't this time, and there were only four of us!) I will lead a writing/performing exercise, or just set it as a challenge for the next meeting.Â
The evening was attended by myself (obviously), Martin Stannage, Billy Sarfraz and Gift Shala, whose blog you can also read on this site. We started with a conversation about what makes us write, what makes us want to perform that writing, and the things that stop us from feeling able to do either. I discussed the fact that whilst in public I have more confidence than ever performing to an audience, in private I've been having less and less confidence in writing any new material of late. Martin suggested that these two things are probably linked, a fact that seems obvious once stated but up until then had not been apparent to me. Receiving praise for your live performances, whilst inspiring in itself, can lead to the feeling that there is more pressure of expectation on your next piece of work, and questions arising about whether you deserve the plaudits you've been given when it isn't going well. This, coupled with an overbearing perfectionism manifest in not wanting to write anything that isn't right first time, and the resulting procrastination, has been a big factor in my inability to produce any new work recently. I hope the realisation of that will start to free me up a bit in the coming weeks, especially as I have quite a few gigs coming up, at which I'd really like to not be performing the same old sh*t!Â
Martin shared a new, as yet unfinished, poem about an anthropomorphised plastic bottle which was characteristically funny, thoughtful and riddled with rhyme. I got some useful notes about the shape (literally) and content of my bullets poem, which I published in a previous post, and Gift chipped in with some insightful contributions and a promise to read something next time. Billy read his excellent Three Part List, which he kindly agreed to let me publish in this post. Billy's quite new to writing poetry, and I'm sure you'll agree shows a massive amount of promise. He's also a natural performer and is a member of Contact's Young Actors Company, which is evident in his inclusion of stage directions in his performance poems, another idea I think is really interesting, and again, obvious only once someone else has pointed it out!Â
I was going to write a bit more about writer's block but I think I'll save it for my comment on Segun's blog. The next Perform vs Content is at Commonword on 21st Oct, 7-9pm. Get in touch if you'd like to come down. Here's Billy's poem, I'm sure he'd welcome your comments too:
Breath for yourself
Live for yourself
And
Think for yourself
Let's see if you can remember that at the end of the poem.
The
Circulatory system guides every one of our gasps for life, it allows us
to speak the way we want to live our life. For everytime we respire it
is ammunition for words that are loaded with a purpose. *Pause*
Now, once again. With intent. *Stand neutrally* Steady yourself. *Take breath* Take a deep breath*. And shoot.
Moving. Talking ...
We
all move in a free motion, guiding along, trying to clear every blur
that we encounter. Now these encounters can cause your free motion to
get caught in a whirlwind. This situation requires a strong system.
Your Skeletal System. It is strong, supportive and rigid. Now you have
two hundred, and six, reasons not to let yourself get blown away.
But let's talk talking. Do this so you can be heard. And be to heard you have shoot sense.
So think.
Just like a chameleon in a strange place, you can adapt thinking to every single sense imaginable.
So think about a time, to a place and a different sense.
Allow me to simplify this simile.
It
can take time to adapt. While waiting, upload the Central Nervous
System. You will now be collecting, processing and transferring
information. Pass the time by observing, confronting but avoiding when
you can.
*Deep breath* And to counclude the part list.
To live, you must breath, all the while processing what you're about to say.
Before I leave you to cast your judgement upon this poem let me cast my shadow upon you, by asking ...
*Pause*
Â
Do you remember what you were you told at the start of this poem?
Because you might need it for the rest of your life.