Gig reports: The Word House / We Are Poets and Grand Verse ...

February 18, 2012 by Dan Simpson

I comp?red two seemingly disparate but equally delightful gigs this week.

On Wednesday it was a privilege to host the after-screening party for a preview of We Are Poets at Curzon Cinema Soho. If you haven?t seen it, We Are Poets is a documentary about five Leeds Young Authors? poets writing and working to go to Brave New Voices, the biggest slam in the USA. I love the film; not just because it relates to my artform and because I?m lucky enough to work with young people now and then, but because it?s an inspiring story and a beautifully-made piece of work. The Word House put on the live spoken word element of the evening, and we packed out the Curzon bar for some passionate, political and powerful performances from the poets.

Emma Jones opened the show with her trademark impersonations and well-observed humour; Anthony Anaxagorou brought a fierce but controlled intensity to proceedings; Dean Atta captured the mood of the moment with his well-constructed set. The open mic was a mixture of established names and newcomers who all went down well with a warm Word House crowd, but the real treat was the presence of Kadish Morris and Saju Ahmed. These two poets were part of the Leeds Young Authors cohort that featured in We Are Poets, and their poems demonstrated why they were the subject of the film.

Huge thanks to the makers of We Are Poets for the gig, the Curzon Cinema Soho for hosting an excitingly cross-artform event and of course all the people who saw the film and stayed for the Word House. The next Word House is in April ? like us on Facebook for more!

On Thursday I was in Margate for Grand Verse Quarto. Game Expo East Kent (GEEK) included a performing arts fringe, and I decided that an evening of videogame inspired poetry was in order. Apples and Snakes and the Tom Thumb Theatre thought so too, so Ross Sutherland, Jacob Sam-La Rose, Christian Watson and I formed a quartet to bring some spoken word to the gamers.

GEEK itself was great fun as I got to have a go on retro versions of Street Fighter and lose to far-too-quick teenagers on Halo 2. The best bit though was listening to a panel discussion featuring indie game developers. It turns out that some of the things that affect poets, writers ? and, I suspect, anyone working as an artistic practitioner ? similarly trouble games makers. Topics raised that struck a chord with me included issues surrounding sourcing funding and making a living from the medium you love; the difficulties and challenges of competition; and a classic one: spending time on promotion and marketing when you want to be making.

After the discussion and Q&A I had a chat to the developers and asked them along to Grand Verse Quarto ? and they all turned up, forming part of an intimate audience for the gig. ?In many ways a lighthearted look at gaming culture, the gig also featured some thought-provoking and poignant pieces about videogames. Like poetry, gaming is a similarly oft-maligned artistic / entertainment medium. Videogames have a similar problem to that of poetry: one of image. Some people have preconceived ideas of what these mediums are and reject them out of hand: poetry is inaccessible and elitist; videogames are pointless and childish. More exposure to positive, high quality and diverse forms of these broad art / entertainment forms is the way forward I think!

Byron Atkinson-Jones, who runs indie game developer?Xiotex Studios, took some brilliant photos of the event, which can be found below. He also left some lovely feedback about the gig:

?I had always thought that such things were the domain of stuffy intellectual types but I had an amazing time and am now craving more. The skill behind the words and the delivery with emotion was stunning.?

So, both of these gigs this week did one of the things that motivates me as a poetry practitioner and project event organiser type: exposing new audiences to high quality spoken word, demonstrating the strength and flexibility of the medium. Two very different evenings, many interesting parallels, one wonderful artform that unites them.

- Dan

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Posted in Gig, Report | Tagged Anthony Anaxagorou, Byron Atkinson-Jones, Christian Watson, Curzon Cinemas, Dean Atta, Emma Jones, Game Expo East Kent, GEEK2012, Grand Verse Quarto, Jacob Sam-la Rose, Kadish Morris, Leeds Young Authors, Ross Sutherland, Saju Ahmed, The Word House, Tom Thumb Theatre, We Are Poets, Xiotex Studios | Leave a Comment

Source: http://dansimpsonpoet.wordpress.com/2012/02/18/gig-reports-the-word-house-we-are-poets-and-grand-verse-quarto/

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