INTIMATES FRIDAY 2ND NOVEMBER 2012
INTIMATES is always a fun night, full of word games and laughter before the show even starts. The Poetry Cafe is a tiny space and in fact is where my other night WORD4WORD started 9 years ago, after a year it moved to the Theatre Royal Stratford East - the 9th birthday celebration is on 18th November, so make sure you're there cause it is going to be big, poets Zena Edwards, Tshaka Campbell and singers Soneni and the Soul and Kevin Mark Trail will all be featuring as will a group of young poets who are members of a poetry theatre group I direct called POETS PLATFORM. http://stratfordeast.com/word-4-word
Back to INTIMATES, last night featured Anthony Fairweather and Poetcurious. The night kicked off with breaking the audience into groups and playing anagram games, which went down well, although some people complained they were too hard, I won't mention any names. I will just say I played the same game earlier in the day with a group of young mums aged 16 and there was no complaining from them!
Sometimes running a night can put pressure on you, well life gets busy, crazy even, but every time I get to the Poetry Cafe and Intimates takes place I just have a hell of a lot of fun. There is something about interacting with the audience in such a small space, playing games and getting to know each other on a first name basis by the end of the night that makes the whole thing, well special.
The word games, which also included a quiz, had no high scorers last night, but the winning team included Hugh the Poet and a student called Emily studying drama who was given extra points for performing the Gangham dance, go Emily.
Hugh The Poet
Open mic threw up a few surprises, the two that stick in my mind are Hugh the Poet who performed a piece about his daughter who was lost to him for a year, when she was taken to Canada by his wife. It charted his fight with the courts and authorities to get his daughter back. It was one of those poems, where most of the audience have the sheen of tears in their eyes by the end, raw and eye opening. I liked it because I like untold stories, stories which give us an insight into the lives of those we do not usually hear from, and dad stories are not always told. Thanks to Hugh the Poet for sharing.
Alain English
Now the second piece that sticks in my mind is not necessarily for positive reasons but is also a piece I will never, ever forget! Alain English, a much loved friend of mine, someone who always supports both of my nights and who is always greatly welcomed on the open mic. His first piece was great, then he asked to performed a second piece... I was like sure no prob, and that's when the horror began... a poem about POOING. I have a dog poo phobia so poo is not one of my fav subjects. He's a great writer so it was a very graphic and descriptive piece... all I can say is I was traumatised, but the audience seemed to like it, so who am I to comment on where a poet obtains their inspiration! Love you Alain even if at times you do traumatize me.
Anthony Fairweather
Anthony Fairweather, performed a great set, dealing with office life including filing, irate bosses, and politics. He's a great rhymer, and satirical poet. What is also very poignant about Anthony is that he has a stammer. At the end of his set one of the questions asked, was why singing or poetry seemed to make a stammer better. The answer was that science hadn't manage to figure out why the rhyme and rhythm seems to stop stammers which is why singers don't stammer, and which is why his poems have a specific pattern of rhyme and rhyming. I have nothing but respect for Anthony. It's hard enough to be a performer let alone perform with a speech impediment, but that sounds condescending and that is not the only thing that makes him a special performer. His work is of a great quality and his honesty and humour always shine through.
Poet Curious
The second feature, Poetcurious, is only someone I met earlier this year when he came onto my radio show, (The Kat Francois Kulture Show on www.guessradio.co.uk every Thursday 9-11pm, plug, plug, plug.) He is a very humorous and engaging performer, with great audience interaction and his chat in between his poems was amusing and charming and belly tickling.
His pieces all had a strong Hip Hop edge to them and even he bought up the fact that at 37 was it appropriate for him to be performing Hip Hop... well I for one am glad he is. His flow and word play are great, and he has great stage presence and energy. The stick out piece for me was directed at the police entitled Search Yourself, loved it.
I performed a newer piece of mine called Rise Dark Girls, Rise. There is a chorus which is sung... I am no singer, but I have promised to push myself as a performer and that means doing things that scare the hell out of me... and singing in public scares the hell out of me. I could hear I was not quite hitting the mark a few times, but practise makes perfect so excuse me if I mash up your ears whilst trying to sing, I promise it will get better!
The night finished with everyone hanging around and chatting and again that is why I love INTIMATES and continue to keep it going. Audiences do not always get a chance to connect with poets, but at INTIMATES you get a chance to partner up with them in a quiz, ask them questions during the Q and A and get cosy with them after the show... what more could an audience ask for.
That's it for now. Please put WORD4WORD's 9th Birthday on Sunday 18th November in your diary and please note the earlier start time of 7pm in your diary. Next INTIMATES takes place on Friday 7th December. The Kat Francois Kulture radio show takes place every Thursday 9-11pm on GuessRadio... next week I have special guests Soneni and the Soul, so make sure you tune in.
See you all soon.
Kat Francois Poet, Host, comedienne, director, nutter, runner, playwright.
More info go to www.katfrancois.com for upto date information on my shows and other activities.
Info on poetcurious
https://twitter.com/poetcurious
http://artofcurious.blogspot.co.uk/
Info on Anthony Fairweather
http://www.scottservante.co.uk/ComedyVerse/comedyverseindex.html
http://www.rrrants.com/PerformersPages/Anthony%20Fairweather.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFky3SD-hFg
http://soundcloud.com/insight-studios/olympic-poem-by-anthony
All photos (c) Sloetry
INTIMATES is always a fun night, full of word games and laughter before the show even starts. The Poetry Cafe is a tiny space and in fact is where my other night WORD4WORD started 9 years ago, after a year it moved to the Theatre Royal Stratford East - the 9th birthday celebration is on 18th November, so make sure you're there cause it is going to be big, poets Zena Edwards, Tshaka Campbell and singers Soneni and the Soul and Kevin Mark Trail will all be featuring as will a group of young poets who are members of a poetry theatre group I direct called POETS PLATFORM. http://stratfordeast.com/word-4-word
Back to INTIMATES, last night featured Anthony Fairweather and Poetcurious. The night kicked off with breaking the audience into groups and playing anagram games, which went down well, although some people complained they were too hard, I won't mention any names. I will just say I played the same game earlier in the day with a group of young mums aged 16 and there was no complaining from them!
Sometimes running a night can put pressure on you, well life gets busy, crazy even, but every time I get to the Poetry Cafe and Intimates takes place I just have a hell of a lot of fun. There is something about interacting with the audience in such a small space, playing games and getting to know each other on a first name basis by the end of the night that makes the whole thing, well special.
The word games, which also included a quiz, had no high scorers last night, but the winning team included Hugh the Poet and a student called Emily studying drama who was given extra points for performing the Gangham dance, go Emily.
Hugh The Poet
Open mic threw up a few surprises, the two that stick in my mind are Hugh the Poet who performed a piece about his daughter who was lost to him for a year, when she was taken to Canada by his wife. It charted his fight with the courts and authorities to get his daughter back. It was one of those poems, where most of the audience have the sheen of tears in their eyes by the end, raw and eye opening. I liked it because I like untold stories, stories which give us an insight into the lives of those we do not usually hear from, and dad stories are not always told. Thanks to Hugh the Poet for sharing.
Alain English
Now the second piece that sticks in my mind is not necessarily for positive reasons but is also a piece I will never, ever forget! Alain English, a much loved friend of mine, someone who always supports both of my nights and who is always greatly welcomed on the open mic. His first piece was great, then he asked to performed a second piece... I was like sure no prob, and that's when the horror began... a poem about POOING. I have a dog poo phobia so poo is not one of my fav subjects. He's a great writer so it was a very graphic and descriptive piece... all I can say is I was traumatised, but the audience seemed to like it, so who am I to comment on where a poet obtains their inspiration! Love you Alain even if at times you do traumatize me.
Anthony Fairweather
Anthony Fairweather, performed a great set, dealing with office life including filing, irate bosses, and politics. He's a great rhymer, and satirical poet. What is also very poignant about Anthony is that he has a stammer. At the end of his set one of the questions asked, was why singing or poetry seemed to make a stammer better. The answer was that science hadn't manage to figure out why the rhyme and rhythm seems to stop stammers which is why singers don't stammer, and which is why his poems have a specific pattern of rhyme and rhyming. I have nothing but respect for Anthony. It's hard enough to be a performer let alone perform with a speech impediment, but that sounds condescending and that is not the only thing that makes him a special performer. His work is of a great quality and his honesty and humour always shine through.
Poet Curious
The second feature, Poetcurious, is only someone I met earlier this year when he came onto my radio show, (The Kat Francois Kulture Show on www.guessradio.co.uk every Thursday 9-11pm, plug, plug, plug.) He is a very humorous and engaging performer, with great audience interaction and his chat in between his poems was amusing and charming and belly tickling.
His pieces all had a strong Hip Hop edge to them and even he bought up the fact that at 37 was it appropriate for him to be performing Hip Hop... well I for one am glad he is. His flow and word play are great, and he has great stage presence and energy. The stick out piece for me was directed at the police entitled Search Yourself, loved it.
I performed a newer piece of mine called Rise Dark Girls, Rise. There is a chorus which is sung... I am no singer, but I have promised to push myself as a performer and that means doing things that scare the hell out of me... and singing in public scares the hell out of me. I could hear I was not quite hitting the mark a few times, but practise makes perfect so excuse me if I mash up your ears whilst trying to sing, I promise it will get better!
The night finished with everyone hanging around and chatting and again that is why I love INTIMATES and continue to keep it going. Audiences do not always get a chance to connect with poets, but at INTIMATES you get a chance to partner up with them in a quiz, ask them questions during the Q and A and get cosy with them after the show... what more could an audience ask for.
That's it for now. Please put WORD4WORD's 9th Birthday on Sunday 18th November in your diary and please note the earlier start time of 7pm in your diary. Next INTIMATES takes place on Friday 7th December. The Kat Francois Kulture radio show takes place every Thursday 9-11pm on GuessRadio... next week I have special guests Soneni and the Soul, so make sure you tune in.
See you all soon.
Kat Francois Poet, Host, comedienne, director, nutter, runner, playwright.
More info go to www.katfrancois.com for upto date information on my shows and other activities.
Info on poetcurious
https://twitter.com/poetcurious
http://artofcurious.blogspot.co.uk/
Info on Anthony Fairweather
http://www.scottservante.co.uk/ComedyVerse/comedyverseindex.html
http://www.rrrants.com/PerformersPages/Anthony%20Fairweather.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFky3SD-hFg
http://soundcloud.com/insight-studios/olympic-poem-by-anthony
All photos (c) Sloetry
A very enjoyable evening all round. Really looking forward to Word 4 Word on the 18th November. It's going to be a great night.
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ReplyDeleteHey Anthony it was a pleasure to having you feature at INTIMATES, that was a great performance you threw down, thanks for your continued support of what I do, and Good Luck in all you do, see you at Word4WORD on the 18th November
ReplyDeleteHey Kat! Nice to hear from you :) I just saw that you had this other blog and I just have to tell you that my eldest son is a poet! He actually is co-owner of a publishing house here in Montreal that publishes only up and coming poets (all in French)! He also does spoken-word and poetry shows. How cool and interesting that you are also a poet! :) Just had to share this with you.
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