Don’t throw in the towel

On Saturday I performed a new piece as part of a new event run by the ArtsBarge called Round One.

CONTEXT ALERT

ArtsBarge are a group in York trying to set up a boat as an arts venue full on York’s river, the Ouse.  They’ve been gifted a space which, by weekday, is a boxing ring, and by weekend, well, whatever they want.

Programmed by Tom Bellerby, compered by Phil Grainger, the night was 12 acts performing in the boxing ring, 10 minutes each, the focus on new snappy and sharp work, but also the spirit of collaboration.

I’m not going to go into the ins-and-outs of why, but suffice to say what was expected as a friendly, arts event turned into a battle.  Acts tried desperately to make the audience at the back of the space stop chatting and listen.

For me, I’ve done those gigs where some of the audience are chatting, and some are listening, and for my money it’s a battle you’ll mostly lose, but worth fighting.  Sometimes you can get them to listen, if briefly, but if they’re in the mindset to ignore you, they will.  Some performers on the night changed the game, went off stage/mic , some went all-out. 

It became like throwing ourselves at a wall to see if it’ll buckle, bend or break.  We ran headfirst at the audience, we seduced them, threatened them, waved out hands wildly for their attention.  At the time, I felt overwhelmed by it, but in retrospect it was kind of useful.

I saw Red City Radio on Friday, a brutally blunt, awesome punk back from Oaklamhoma, who’s opening intro was the singer screaming into the mic “We’re Red City Radio, who the fuck are you?”

Audiences need to be given parameters, they know what to expect in theatre venues and music venues, and at poetry events.  But this fusion with a focus on the live, boozy bar element meant they couldn’t really focus on the quieter, subtle dancing, theatre, stand-up or poetry in-between music.

That doesn’t mean to say that the audiences were unruly, disruptive or wrong, only as a side-project of them enjoying the night did it mean us acts struggled.

But sometimes we have to fight to be heard, or prove we deserve to be heard.  It was a challenge, certainly afterwards I felt pretty naff, and most acts felt exhausted like they’d gone 12 rounds with a boxing champ.  But it’s worth these experiments as theatres and even fringe theatres are cut, we must find these audiences and spaces beyond the confines of black box theatres, smug pub function rooms for poetry or regulated arts events and rock the boat.

Don’t throw in the towel

York, Coxwold & Selby... Dinos on tour

This week has been a quick succession of gigs, so wanted to quickly day thanks to everyone putting me on.

Thursday I led my first youth theatre group with the LBT Young Company, so dashed back to York to support Richard Tyrone Jones and his show Big Heart.  I was amazed Richard’s heart didn’t implode after doing the show at double-quick time due to an earlier curfew on the venue.  My head was in a 9-11s mode, so I did my Toby The Tyrannosaurs Rex poem.  Thanks to Rose & Alan for having me.

Then it was off to Coxwold on Friday night to perform Practise Patience with Travels By Telephone, as well as doing a quick set.  This was part of the regular Little Festival Of Everything that Flanagan Collective runs with the Fauconberg Arms.  Thanks, as always, to the pub, Paul and Alex for having me.

The space we did PP in, The View, is perfect for the type of show, intimate, friendly and overlooking the rolling hills of nature.  And no phone signal, an integral part of the plot! 

Then I did some poems in the front bar.  I worry sometimes poetry sets can intrude on people enjoying their meals/drinks.  Music can be enjoyed as a background feature, but poetry and spoken word requires a reverential silence, so it was key to keep it snappy.  Again, I did Toby.

The next day, Saturday, I performed to a few children some of my children’s poems.  Toby reappeared once again.

Finally on the Saturday night in Selby I opened for Slackjaw, The Vexed and Nu,Progodi.  I was a bit worried, even though I knew a few of the crowd, the Riverside is an odd shape and people expected grindcore, not poetrycore.  However they crowd were attentive and really responsive, I couldn’t have expected better from a bunch of well-behaved punx.  Thanks to Sam for the gig opportunity (and Nick for driving me).  I guess the nature of punk is to try and accept the slightly out-of-place or odd, and the nature of Selby and small towns is to give anything a listen, because not much music/art comes through.

That’s seems to be a recurring theme with the Little Fests and punk gigs is people are willing to give things a go, and provided they aren’t saturated (I kept sets short) they appreciate the passion, energy and commitment I hope to bring.  I think as performers we can never get complacent and never take our audience for granted, and never get ego-tistic assuming that we ‘deserve’ people’s attention.

In the context of spaces not associated with poetry/spoken word, if unfamiliar audiences give us a modicum of their attention then its then up to us to prove we can deliver, but not intrude.

That way spaces can be gradually transformed, or audiences encouraged into gigs, spaces and venues where poetry/spoken word thrive.

And, yes, I did Toby again for the punk rockers and grindcore fans of Selby.  Maybe it’s because the engaging theme of friendship and mischief appeals to elderly residents of tiny villages, eager under 10s and drunk punks.  Or maybe it’s because everyone loves dinosaurs.

Cages & Wages: Thoughts on May Day

It’s May 1^st, May Day, also known as International Worker’s Day across the world.  This Saturday will see marches and actions to celebrate this day in the left-wing calendar.

What are the origins of May Day?  Many fought in the 1800s fought for many rights we now take for granted, and one such battle for the fight for the 8 hour day (8 hours for work, 8 for recreation and 8 for rest).

May Day has come to represent those battles, for better pay, working conditions, pensions, the weekend, sick leave & pay, material leave & pay etc etc.

But we need to be careful not to ‘romanticise’ elements of the working class movement.  Trade Unions are still hierarchical organisations with power structures.  I believe in the power of a Union, but we have to be careful when we sing “The Union keeps us strong” because sometimes the Union bureaucrats sell us out in negotiations.

I am also aware of the language of the socialist working class movement is, obviously, about working.  It’s very macho, male-orientated and has a focus on ‘pride’.  Sometimes uses this word ‘hard-working’. 

But let’s not forget, work steals from us.  Work steals our time, energy, resources, dignity.  It puts us into boxes, categories, makes us competitive, gives us a reason to mistrust immigrants, women and be at the mercy of the managers and economy. 

We are wage slaves, our cages & chains built with the things we want and need.

Be wary that ‘hard-working’ and ‘pride’ are also the language of the Conservatives and the Right-wing.  They tell us to be proud of something which steals from us.  Be proud of earn a living.  Be proud of earn a wage.  Proud to climb the ladder.  Be proud of these chains and cages. 

This is their trap.

And this focus on ‘working’ as a sense of identity in your class means those who don’t or cannot work don’t always fit into this working class struggle.

I want to quote from the preamble to the Industrial Workers Of The World Constitution:

Instead of the conservative motto, "A fair day's wage for a fair day's work," we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, "Abolition of the wage system." http://www.iww.org/culture/official/preamble.shtml

A laugh can be a very powerful thing. R.I.P. Bob Hoskins

After hearing the sad news about actor Bob Hoskins, I popped on my DVD of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and here are some initial thoughts

WFRR is one of my favourite films.  It came out the year I was born, and I’ve seen it a tonne of times over the many years.  What makes is great is a bizarre concept (it’s based on the novella Who Censored Roger Rabbit) of film noir with cartoons.  Maybe this is because Disney had yet to explode with its 1990s boom, and cartoons in general had become more action-orientated (He-Man, Thundercats, Ninja Turtles, Transformers, BraveStarr etc) so there is a whiff of nostalgia tied to the 1947 setting.  This strange combination works so well.

The plot is quite complicated for a young person, but breezes along so you’d tied into the action and suspense.  It’s a PG, despite being full of cartoons the film features sexual references, alcoholism and plenty of murder.

And finally, every time you watch it, you notice another little tiny piece of trivia, another little Easter egg.  The fact Goofy was accused of spying in a newspaper headline, that according to a plaque on the box, Yousemite Sam gave Valiant the Toon gun, the little grumbles that Benny The Cab makes, the little details of the Weasel Gang…it’s a full, colourful film with a straight simple plot that doesn’t make it overcrowded, except the final celebratory scene of cartoonary.

But it’s Bob Hoskins who pins it all together, crafting a bitter, lemon-faced old drunkard spitting and griping, before a charged and keen detective who evolves into a fun, hopeful and heroic clown.  All the time, Hoskins plays off puppeteers, inanimate objects and thin air.  He has chemistry with cartoons in a way modern actors struggle with CGI creations.  Hoskins commits to the role, treats it with all the seriousness of any crime thriller, and it’s that commitment to the drama and suspense alongside the zaniness which makes the whole thing work!

I love him in other films, his little daft cameo in Brazil and his working class mentor-character in Made In Dagenham.  But he’ll always be, to me, Eddie Valiant.  Flawed, grumbling, a serious miserable man in a world of madcap cartoons.

We’ve got to find humour to combat the Judges and freeway-buildings.

“A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have.”- Roger Rabbit

UP THE NERD PUNX

UP THE NERD PUNX

This is my new work-in-progress poem.  NERDS!  PUNKS!  I want your feedback and thoughts!

I love punk rock, I know you feel it

From the age of 16 I was bouncing to the ceiling

But from the age of 11, I was a master Trainer

And from the age of 8, I mastered Age of Empires

And since I was born I wanted to sail on a pirate ship

This is a tribute to the Nerds who don stud jackets

The gamers who also have Mohawks

And the hardcore readers into hardcore

The only time the fist stops pumping in the air is when it rolls the D&D dice:

We’re skanking with a skeksies

And moshing with Yoshi & the Mario brothers

Clash City Nerfherders

Cross-gender cosplayers make better lovers

We feel the same fury hearing

Hey-Ho- Let’s Go

As we do from a battlecry from Liono

Radio radio radio CB Radio

When I got the chiptune, I got a place to go

Beano comics and Punk fanzines sit on my shelf

I made myself a Horcrux, I’m going straight to hell

We’re Henry Rollins the D12

You come at us, you’re gonna hurt yourself

Punk rock is for Orcs, prog rock is for Elves

You racists better know the rules well

You’re playing with half a Magic The Gathering deck

I learnt about equality

From The Specials and watching Shrek

We embrace all cultures

Vulcan, Minbari and even Dalek

Rest assured, we meet a fascist in the street

We’re gonna do more than just a Jedi mind trick

Like The Ramones sang:  I don’t wanna grow up.  But I don’t want to stay a child, I want to stay savage & cause a fuss.  Don’t grow up, evolve, level up.

Singing Colour Me Wednesday in parseltounge whilst chewing out a rhythm on my bubblegum getting drunk at lunch with the Goonies and Chunk

Keep your steampunk and crustpunk Up The Nerd PUNX!

What gigs do Nerd Punx attend?

Last week I had a good mosh

This Riot Grrrl band had vocals from Laura Croft

Alongside Selena Kyle on guitar

Bass featuring Tank Girl

Girls To The Front!

There was Taranga Leela whacking those drums

“Shut up and take my money”

We shouted as we dropped coins into the bucket for donations

Touring bands gotta eat and buy action figures (all limited edition)

But when I got home and went online

An advert read:  Male Gamers Only next to a chained-up half-naked She-Goblin

I saw a meme which said:  Sexy Cosplayers:  If she doesn’t expect you to stare a bit, her naivety isn’t your problem

I’m sick of the male hero saving the day when the female characters have no agency

Seriously, Thou Shalt Never The Read The Comments if you want to keep faith in humanity.

Why are aliens always an allegory of non-white peoples

And as much as Groot is cool, I’m still waiting for a super-hero film with a female lead

Rather than a film featuring a talking tree

Now I’d love to fight in the Thunderdome or join the crew of The Smokers

(I’ve almost got the wardrobe already)

But the way we live, this planet might not have much longer

So let’s be green like the Hulk, and smash pollution

Call up the Ents, get planting those trees!

Captain Planet was the biggest eco-terrorist of the 1990s

The only thing that can stop us…are nosebleeds

(not the short-lived 70s punk band)

No War But The Secret Wars

Winter Is Coming, so probably not a good idea to tour

ACAB:  All Cyborgs Are Bugged

No Gods (except Khorne)

No Masters (expect Admiral Thrawn)

We are not a corner of the market to target

We are targeting you and we’re coming harder

Our bodies, our scenes, our identity, our dreams

A love for the complex, and love for the bizarre

We are not the same, we celebrate the difference

And did you think I could get through a nerdy poem without a Pokemon reference?

Either bolt to the door or take my Thunderbolt, you’re in for an electric shock, these Geodude’s are more rock than you, you’re like a Diglet beneath my shoe, if you were my last Pokémon I still wouldn’t choose you

I’ll send you to the grave, coast with the Ghost-types, We’re harder than a bulked-up Chansey, look into my eyes, like Articuno it’s icy, you think Porygon is pricey?  You couldn’t afford a potion, stop causing a commotion like a beached Dewgong I’m ten times tougher than the toughest Rhydon and here come the Egg Bomb:  I’m a master of all 718 Pokemon!

Ok…it’s time to be serious now:

Neo-liberalism has gone too far!

Time for an anti-capitalist revolution

Tear down REKAL Incorporated & the Umbrella Corporation!

Bring down Omni Consumer Products & the Soylent Corporation!

If you wanna don a V mask, fine by me

So long as it’s not made in a sweat shop factory 

We’ll reclaim the past starting with November 5^th 1955!

Anarchy mode!  Start9! 

So raise your fist, or hold your palm with three fingers in the air

For every nerd who spent hours alone

Pouring ideas in unseen tidal waves

For every punk who placed faith in rage and three chords

For every nerd who placed hope in stars and space

For every punk who customised their lives

For every nerd who refused to run their race

For everyone who didn’t quite fit in.

Don’t let them copyright the galaxy

Or give dreams a price structure

As Strummer sang:  “Turning rebellion into money”

(And this time I’m not talking about the Rebel Alliance)

It’s my job to keep Nerd Punk Elite 4

I say that feeling guilty

Nerd punk isn’t arguing about who shot first or which translation is worse, it’s about building a safe space for debating.

A place where the outsider kids and awkward adults can escape, if only briefly, the clutch of the mainstream, we will not be assimilated!

Let’s not forget if the sewers were good enough for the Turtles, they’re good enough for us

So let’s celebrate an underground whist infecting the world above.

Up The Nerd Punx!

Come at me bro, we’re coming out fighting

Make yourself as tall as the Colossus Titan

Be like Wolverine but twice as vicious

Make yourself as brave as Tommy Pickles

We’re looking for alternative worlds because the mechanics in this one are broken

We’re earth-shattering and world-builders, nerds and punk rockers

Roll the dice, we’re fighting.  Up The Nerd Punx!

I Love Youth Theatre (2014)

For those who follow my career, you might come to the conclusion I have an affinity for youth theatre.  You would be wrong.

I love youth theatre.

The fact is, I owe a lot to youth theatre and I don’t want to blither on about why youth theatre matters.  Just check out my poem.  See you in 7 minutes 17 seconds.

Watched it?  Back?  Cool.

This year, I have made it a personal challenge to see as much Youth Theatre as I possibly can.  I work for the National Association of Youth Theatres, as well as being a freelance workshop facilitator and play-wright.

I work with the Lawrence Batley Youth Theatre in Huddersfield each week, the older group are brilliantly sparky when it comes to unpacking texts and creating brilliant comedy moments from the 1960s absurd plays we’re exploring.  The younger group are looking at Shakespeare and they work so well as an ensemble, at times I assume they’re all psychic.  That must be it.

I saw loads of great shows at the Regional Youth Theatre Festival, but Nottingham Playhouse’s Frankenstein really stood not just as a piece of ensemble work tighter than steel bolts building images like a grand canvas, but it was also hauntingly atmospheric which left me gripped for the full edited 20ish mins of the dark tale.  I led a workshop at RYTF in the East Midlands, and it is an amazing event, sheer beauty of young people coming together to share work, take part in workshops.  Here is a video of them charging onto stage this year to dance!

Check out other RYTFs across the country here:  http://www.nayt.org.uk/events

Wakefield’s Yew Tree Youth Theatre delivered a well-paced version of the NT Connections script The Wardrobe which forces the young casts to throw everything into miniature snippet scenes.  But they rose to that challenge, and the production was cunningly set in the round for the voyeuristic audience to peer into the history of this wardrobe steeped in memories.

I caught both The West Yorkshire Playhouse Youth Theatre & Stephen Joseph Theatre Youth Theatre’s productions of Pronoun, a fantastic script by Evan Placey about a transgender teenager.  Their main character of Dean is making the transition from female to male.  Scarborough’s Dean was a right lad, the sort of bloke you’d love to share some tinnies armed with sharp swagger and sarcasm, making his speeches bold and resolute.  Leeds’ Dean was pained and scrawny, unsure what to do with his hands and looking like life keeps handing him blow after blow.  Proof of the diversity of youth theatre scripts and performances.

I went on a demo against the Lib Dem conference in York.  It was the most inoffensive, ineffective protest I’ve ever been on.  Thankfully, afterwards, I went to York Theatre Royal to see their 5-8s perform two plays about the plight of the dying bees through fun ensemble, great costumes, gags, puns and wicked dancing.  They were deliciously more relevant to modern issues than a load of Unions silently marching A to B.  “Hey cuz/what’s the buzz?”

I also spent the weekend seeing York Theatre Royal’s 14-16s adaptations of Macbeth, The Tempest and Julius Caesar.  Macbeth was everything the Scottish play should be: intense, visceral and gloriously gory, but with added scenes by the inventive Porter(s) and the creepiest witches EVER.  The Tempest is my fav Shakespeare play and the cast created a magical island full of sounds and a breezy charm only an Ariel ensemble can provide.  Finally, Julius Caesar’s cast managed to untangle their path through plot and intrigue, playing with their own take on power struggles and powerful struggle.

And finally, I went to see Harrogate Theatre’s Youth Theatre perform Hang On Just A Minute.  You see dear reader…I wrote it!  The show was a commission for their 15-17s, and was about 4 characters celebrating and acting out the strange wishes of their sadly deceased friend.  A collection of four short plays which all interconnect where characters, events and locations are referenced to encourage audiences to sit through and see the whole picture of a world of workplaces, authority figures and friendship all played out with traditional theatre farce.  The cast threw themselves into the characters and sold themselves to the overarching theme of friendship.

When I wrote Hang On Just A Minute, I wrote inspired by workshops with the cast, and chatting with them too.  I wanted it to be a play about friendship, either old firm bonds or making new acquaintances.  Moments when you help a stranger, or reignite old relationships.  Because it’s safe, special places like Youth Theatre sessions that we must always strive towards in the world of arts, as well as outside in our hospitals, homes workplaces and parks.

So, yeah.  My year of seeing As Much Youth Theatre As Possible is still ongoing and I hope to catch Stage65’s Bedlam at Salisbury Playhouse in May and hopefully Derby Theatre’s Chrysalides and Bolton Octagon’s Youth Theatre Twelfth Night if the dates work out for me.

My next challenge is to adapt A Midsummer Night’s Dream for 7-11s, again for Harrogate Youth Theatre.  Watch out for some blogs about that experience!

To see more of my work with youth theatres, check out my website here

A CONVERSATION WITH MY FATHER

A CONVERSATION WITH MY FATHER

Pay-what-you-decide play-in-a-pub

I’m putting on this wicked show at the Black Swan 4^th April 2004 in York.

HANNAH NICKLIN presents a solo theatre/spoken word show about activism, protest and family.

This is a story about them. This is a story about us. This is a story about Hannah’s Dad - a retired policeman - and her, a protestor. It’s about fear, bravery, what it feels like to be kettled, Super Ted, the Lone Ranger, policing the people in front of you and being sent out of class. It's about working out what matters and standing up to protect it.

Mostly, an earnest one person show that also includes the odd joke or two (because all serious things are worth laughing at).

Directed by Alex Kelly (Third Angel)

"Simple, effective and unexpectedly very moving." Andrew Haydon 

"“[…] as topical in these days of police ‘kettling’ and undercover provocateurs as it might be timeless in its questioning of the basis of a functioning civic society.” Wayne Burrows 

“The personal and the political sit side by side in Nicklin’s remarkably compelling performance, a show to stir forgotten memories and spark new debates.” A Younger Theatre

Featuring support from

AL BAKER – Intelligent and relevant folk-punk troubadour writing about love, politics & philosophy, for fans of Bruce Springsteen and Bertrand Russell.www.albaker.co.uk

JAIME BOLZERN - 20-yr old student with an ukelele, a few songs, and a mercurial attitude to the Oxford Comma. Her university course, Medicine, renders her simultaneously pleased to have sick rhymes and filled with a conflicting desire to alleviate their illness.

ABBY COOK – debuting her own unique brand of spoken word/poetry

Compared by York’s own Punk Poet HENRY RABY

Black Swan, doors 7.00pm, first act on 7.30pm, A Conversation With My Father 8.45-9.45pm

"Pay What You Decide” means you will pay AFTER the show.