Directors / Soho Theatre

Jay Bernard
Sunday, July 12th, 2009

Before my gig at the Soho Theatre on June 24th I worked with director Thierry Lawson at the Albany in London. Now. My ’style’, which is another way of saying ‘comfort zone’, is to stand in front of the microphone and read from the page. I haven’t learned one of my own poems since 2005. When I first started out I believed I had to write something new for every gig and learn it by heart. Needless to say I was a disaster – disorganised, under-rehearsed and lacking confidence – because I did not (and still do not) understand how to achieve things PRIOR to the night before they’re due. So I turned up and read my poems one after the other in front of Thierry who shook his head and proceeded to show me how I might make my reading more engaging. He was careful to point out that if I depended on the page then I couldn’t fill the space with my body and would have to do it using my voice. So I read things loudly, in monotone, to get used to spitting words as far across the room as possible; wandered around sighing to get used to making noises freer than the ones I make with words; I pretended to be submerged in a tank; I stood and read on a chair; jumped down… And whilst none of the physical exercises were transferable to the Soho Theatre, two things happened.

First, I remembered a conversation I had with Alan Buckley of Barracks Lane and a top Tall Lighthouse poet in his own right, about performance versus performative poetry. Performance is very easy to spot. It manifests itself in poets who have the enviable ability to learn their work, to enact it on stage, to run around and jump about and generally be engaging. The latter term refers to poems whose life is in devices that work on the page. How do you imply odd capitalisation or right-margin lineation on stage? You can’t. But when a poem is very good – very well structured and precisely written on the page – this is obvious in the voice of someone like Michael Donaghy, who was a master of giving his very intricate poetry life on the stage. I saw him during Apples and Snake’s Twenty-first birthday, during which he achieved the kind of silence that means everyone – even those who hate you – are listening.

Second, working with Thierry reminded me that the stage is a site in itself. I was reading about Oxford and London, potatoes and convolus, but the poems were very different in the Soho Theatre compared to the night before when I read them in the well-lit gallery at Foyles bookshop. Most stages are the same: microphone at the centre, a chair or lectern, lights and a banner showing the name / organiser of the event. They’re barren places. And – arguably worse – they look out at an audience, mostly inscrutable, either or because they are sitting in darkness or because of your blinding fear, or both. And your time on stage is coloured by how the audience looks and feels from it.

What impresses me about readers like Michael Donaghy is that they seem unphased by the fact that an audience who is intrigued feels just as heavy as an audience who is bored to death. Observe:

You see? The silence of a bored audience is on the same continuum as an audience who is actually listening. I have stood there and prayed with every fibre of my being for (Insert deity here) to strike me dead, only to be surprised by the warmth of the applause or people who approach me after. Equally, I have read my poems thinking ‘Hm. This is going well…’ only to look up and spot the long, exasperated face of an audience member. I have sat watching poets leap about stage, scream and cut out their own hearts and remained unmoved, so I don’t believe performance trumps a reading. I don’t believe having a sheet of paper is worse than not having one. But I realise there is far more to be done with the voice than I have previously explored, mostly because I DON’T LIKE BEING LOUD. I have been accused of mumbling. Once a guy told me that I read as if I didn’t really care whether the audience heard. Someone else told me that he hated my readings and couldn’t see why people liked me. And all because I do not spit my words like ping-pong balls towards the far wall, to use Thierry’s simile. Maybe in the future I will make as drastic a leap from static reader to actor, as Inua Ellams did when he performed The Fourteenth Tale under the tutelage of Mr. Lawson. In the mean time, I am interested in making my voice do The Donaghy…

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ABOUT THIS AUTHOR


Jay Bernard
London writer, based on allotment in Hampstead; gently led by gardener Scarlett Cannon and Mentee of Katherine Stanton.

  1. Charlie
    July 12th, 2009

    Great post Jay, and I love the drawings as usual. You’re spot on about the silence of an intrigued audience being so close to that of a bored one, it’s hard to determine when mid poetic flow:)
    I think it’s similar to finding your own writing style – good to explore how other people do it, and evolve your own personal voice, but never copying anyone else. Good to try some new tricks and see what works for you – sounds like the director helped you experiment.
    For me the main benefit of no paper is eye contact and freer body language that engages with an audience…. mingled with the terror of forgetting your words especially when it’s a new piece!
    I’m also guessing the rude negative comments from people have been words from the mouths off those who themselves have never risked stepping on a stage to perform poetry….. fellow poets are normally more constructive and encouraging. Or at least in the Midlands they are:)
    The videos I’ve seen of you performing have been great, and perhaps as your visual creativity is so strong as well you could bring that into your performance…. with cartoons or photos on a screen to complement your words. Especially the picture of you with your head in purple sage…. x

    Reply

    Jay Bernard Reply:
    July 14th, 2009 at 9:54 pm

    Re: bringing in visual element – I intend to. The question is when… I have a gig about books that have influenced me later this year which will feature a strip to go with it. I’m also working on how I might combine poetry / comics… It turns out that Daniel Craig of Red Dwarf published a book of poems accompanied by comic strips way back in ‘98.

    Reply

    Jay Bernard Reply:
    July 14th, 2009 at 9:54 pm

    Craig Charles, not Daniel Craig. Bond on the brain.

    Reply


  2. Bernardine Evaristo
    July 13th, 2009

    Fascinating to read this, Jay.

    About ten years ago I remember seeing one new novelist at his first public reading mumbling throughout and not once looking at the audience. A few years later I saw him read and he was a fantastic reader. It was just a matter of time, experience and confidence.

    For some people, like myself, the issue is never resolved. I have a love-hate relationship with reading my work in public. For me it’s a means to an end, a way to generate interest in my books. And most of the time I think I’m pretty crap at it. I can easily murder the humour in my writing and I speak far too quickly.

    I might appear confident when reading but most of the time I’m not and if I sense that the audience is hostile or bored (which, I have to admit, is what I expect) then I just want to leave the stage. If, on the other hand, I feel the audience is totally with me (laughing, usually, otherwise how can you tell?) then I have a great time too. Yet I can never predict the outcome.

    I initially trained to be an actress but I fell out of love with performing at drama school although I worked as an actress for many years afterwards. For me there is a huge distinction between theatre and performance poetry which is why I am very clear that performance poetry or spoken word is a genre unto itself and should be assessed thus. I don’t expect to hear great works of poetry coming out of the mouth of performance poets although I sometimes see great performances of poetry that works on the stage, and occasionally on the page too

    I am tickled these days to see that most ‘former’ performance poets are now saying they hate being labeled. Yet for many years in some cases they wore the label with pride and in some cases have made very successful careers out of it. I guess that after a while there is a craving for ‘establishment’ approval, to publish books that get critical recognition and then the hard work begins of making poems that have the requisite depth, texture and complexity – if they don’t have that already.

    I don’t expect the writers I love to be able to deliver great performances of their writing. Indeed, I don’t give a toss whether they do or not, poets or novelists. When I go to hear a writer it’s because I want to to see them in the flesh and hopefully hear them in-conversation. Whether they are brilliant presenters of their prose or poetry has absolutely no effect on whether I enjoy their work in print or buy their books. For me it’s all about the quality of the work on the page.

    But yes, it’s good to develop skills and confidence in reading your work, or choosing to learn it off by heart and employ more performative skills, because as a poet you cannot avoid being on stage, even though you might write for the page.

    Reply


  3. Jay Bernard
    July 14th, 2009

    Yes, precisely. I agree with your last point. I think the waters are often muddied, and people who read a lot are automatically labelled performance poets and judged accordingly. But if they fail to ‘progress’, they’re dismissed as harshly as someone who aspires to be a performance poet, but hasn’t put the work in.
    Zadie Smith, in her second interview with Charlie Rose, talked about the disappointment the public frequently feels when they meet a writer in the flesh. I felt that with two people I admire in my bedroom – Toni Morrison and Ani Di Franco – but was underwhelmed by in person. Again, it comes down to context. How often do we talk about small intimate gigs suiting some bands, and arenas suiting others? But the point Smith makes is that the work is ‘her best self’, the side she would like people to see that doesn’t depend on her presence. I’m inclined to agree.

    Reply


  4. Charlie
    July 14th, 2009

    Now if Daniel Craig were indeed a poet/comic artist wouldn’t that be divine…. Like Zadie Smith’s ‘best self’ comment…. maybe she’s been reading Oprah, as that’s a running phrase and theme in her magazine.
    The worst 2 performances I’ve seen included one by a well known poet, whose work I enjoyed on the page – but who made it quite clear she would rather have barbequed her eyeballs than be on stage infront of us fans who’d paid for the privilege…. she had the manner of a grumpy headmistress telling us all off with each word of each poem. Urgh….flashback. Then there was a warm up poet for another gig who lost the audience by coldly reciting some obscure literary classical references as ‘As we all know well’, when most of us had never heard of them… then she proceeded to tell us she’d be reading 8 poems, and hated applause so we weren’t to interrupt her flow by clapping….. which as she was so dull there was no danger of…. but each of us were counting off the list of 8 poems till we could relax on the home stretch of the last one! So as long as you have a hint of natural warmth and humanity and don’t number the list of your intended poems, you’ll have engaged a sense of grace. I think you can tell when someone’s putting on an act – so being authentic helps. Bernardine’s right, there is a distinction between acting and poetry performance, hard to define, but you know when it feels instinctively right. If Simon Cowell and ‘Britains Got Talent’ spring to mind, then it’s gone horribly wrong somewhere….
    Book gig sounds interesting, and you’re so talented with the comic strips I’ll look forward to seeing how they mate together:)
    x

    Reply


  5. Bernardine Evaristo
    July 19th, 2009

    I felt the same way about Toni Morisson, Jay! And Derek Walcott. And I bet I know what ‘headmistressy’ poet you’re talking about, Charlie.

    With hindsight my encounters with those writers was no bad thing. The writing IS what it’s all about, not the cult of the personality – euck – CELEBRITY!

    Reply


  6. Jo Bell
    July 30th, 2009

    Couldn’t agree more with what Jay says about reading in a way that frees the body – which doesn’t mean that you have to leap about athletically. Michael Donaghy exemplified perfectly how to perform good poetry well, and I learned from him that for many people the book is a barrier. The book is often just there for you to say LOOK, I’VE GOT A BOOK OUT YOU KNOW – which does need saying sometimes – but also it acts as a barrier between audience and reader. Most performers think it’s all about them. In fact it should be much more about the audience – entertaining them, holding their attention and doing them the courtesy of treating them like intelligent readers who nonetheless need a little life in their literature. Looking forward to meeting you and to hearing your work some time soon.

    Reply


  7. Tony Walsh
    July 30th, 2009

    Hi all

    I’ve just been tor-mentoring Byron on the phone and we’ll be posting about how that’s going soon. I’m also planning for my guest blogging period which starts at the weekend and really looking forward to The Big Chill now too.

    During the conversation with Byron we spoke about the pros and cons of “reading” versus “performing” on stage and the halfway house of giving an engaging, animated presentation of your work but with your book/papers there for the occasional prompt only. (Incidentally, I’ve seen a couple of poets reading off gizmotronic gadgets recently and I s’pose that’s the way it will end up going.)

    Our conversation reminded me of this discussion thread and the fact that I was recently asked by the good people at http://www.writeoutloud.net//public/index.php to write a piece for those aiming to step up from open-mic and/or poets thinking of taking the leap to performing from memory. So, for what it’s worth, and for anyone who’s thinking about taking that plunge, I’ve pasted it below in the hope that a few readers will find it to be of use.

    Take a good look around the WOL site, by the way – recommended. Get yourself a profile on there, blog, post news items, use the second-to-none gig guide, post pics, audio, etc. They’re a friendly bunch, tell ‘em I sent you!

    Where was I? Oh yeah, performing from memory!

    Don’t worry about performing from memory if it’s going to stress you or if you don’t feel the need. If you’re presenting your work at open mics and read-arounds then that’s great. Good for you for getting up there in the first place.

    Is a good poem read well better than a bad poem performed? Yes!
    Are there some performance poets operating at a pro level who always read from the page? Yes!
    Do pro poets sometimes forget their lines? Oh yes!

    So if you plan to continue reading your poems rather then memorising them, then work on doing so in the most engaging way you can with the maximum eye contact and the minimum need to look at the page. Adjust your volume, tone, timings etc. The spaces between the words are as important as the words themselves.

    But take a look at the various styles, techniques and skill levels on display at the next poetry night, look at the many readers looking down at their papers and decide where you’d like to get to.

    If then you find that you’re questioning what is meant by “performance poetry” and have begun to see how performing and looking the audience in the eye can strengthen how your message comes across then take a staged approach to it as outlined below.

    It’s reputed that what you actually say is only a small percentage of total communication. Again, for me, if you’re denying yourself – and your audience – those other forms of communication then you’re really limiting what I think we look for as writers and performers which is….. connection.

    For me therefore, I’m much happier performing from memory than reading. I find it liberating and it allows me to engage with the audience much more and put more into getting my message across in other ways – facial expression, gesture, etc. That said, I still read new pieces or older pieces and, if I’ve had little time to prepare for a gig, it can sometimes feel like a relief to have papers to rely on! I’ve a long list of pieces that I must find the time to memorise at some point.

    So assuming that you want to begin performing from memory, then what’s the big secret, Tony? Well, sorry to disappoint, but other than a few specific tips below, the main tip is to work hard at it! Then work at it some more.

    The first thing I’d say is to begin learning it as soon as the writing’s finished. If you’ve spent long enough crafting the piece then that should make things easier. I say “finished writing it” – you may find that the writing evolves as you work it up for performance.

    I find that pieces that rhyme are easier to memorise, as remembering the first line of a passage gives you a massive clue to the next 2/3/4 lines depending on your rhyme scheme.

    Look for any mental hooks to help you memorise. I have a poem that’s a numbered list of things – number two in my mind links to the word “through” in the following line, number four with “more” etc.

    Break it down into sections if that helps. Memorise a verse or passage at a time, build it up as you go along.

    Practice as you’re washing up, in the shower, walking along, on your lunch hour, at the traffic lights, etc. Practice every day! If you see me doing a new poem from memory then I’ll have done it maybe fifty times already, twenty times that day, twice in the car on the way there and once round the back just before I went on. Is it nerve-wracking? Yes? Do I drink alcohol before performing from memory? No!

    These days it’s within the reach of most people to record your poem as audio – play it back to yourself on your computer or on a cd, perhaps in the car, on an ipod. Hearing audio or seeing video of yourself actually performing on stage is also very enlightening. That long pause? Should have been twice as long! And what the hell are you doing with your hands!!?? Etc.

    The typical progression of presenting a new piece on stage for for me is to read it at a few small gigs, read it but just glancing down for prompts, perform it with a note in my hand but don’t need to look at it, bring it along but leave it in my pocket, don’t bring it at all. It’s interesting sometimes to go back to a piece that you’ve been performing for a long time to see how you’ve changed it – or mis-remembered it – over time.

    Once you’ve memorised it, actors talk about going beyond memory to “internalising” the piece – when it becomes second nature to you. Once the piece is well remembered then you can work on it’s presentation, experimenting with volume, pauses, etc until it’s finely tuned.

    On stage, you’ll find that your brain works on two levels. The one that is making your mouth move, the other which is looking round the room, clocking reactions, thinking two lines ahead etc.

    If you’re struggling for a line, you learn not to panic – it’s there somewhere and usually comes.

    If it doesn’t then don’t panic, make a joke of it, compose yourself and carry on. If you deal with it with good grace then the audience usually will do to. Audiences love bloopers and they can actually endear you to them!

    When you’ve done it and got away with then there’s a tremendous buzz and sense of satisfaction. You’ll be hooked! Good luck. Go for it!

    Reply


  8. Thomas Williams
    May 18th, 2010

    I would have to say that Daniel Craig is the best James Bond of all times.”-’

    Reply


  9. Evie Roberts
    August 30th, 2010

    i think that Daniel Craig is second to Sean Connery when playing James Bond’*`

    Reply


  10. Ethan Thompson
    October 7th, 2010

    i think that Daniel Craig is only second to Pierce Brosnan when playing the role of James Bond~-”

    Reply


  11. Water Filter :
    October 22nd, 2010

    Daniel Craig is bigger and better than Sean Connery. i like him as the new james bond,-’

    Reply


  12. Disco Lights %0B
    December 12th, 2010

    actually, i like the body of Daniel Craig. wish i could have a body like that :`.

    Reply

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