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.

There are some good tips here from Simon Armitage on what to look for when reading poetry.

http://www.poetrybooks.co.uk/PBS/pbs_new_to_poetry.asp

Geraldine