Q&A With Steve Larkin on N.O.N.C.E (A One Man Spoken Word play on Criminality, Rape Culture & Poets In Prisons)

One of my worst gigs was at Warwick University, many years ago, it was my first time performing as part of the dub-step/poetry project I was working on at the time, 'Speed Camera Shy' with Jim Whelan.

The stage was in the middle of a bright echoey midday corridor, students were walking idly by and me and Jim had to follow a belly dancing act, nothing could be more awkward, during my performance I remember thinking, no one asked for this, what am I doing? 

After our completely un-atmospheric set, Oxford based poet Steve Larkin took stage and brought the show back, his poems were humours and insightful, the students who had given me stone faces gave him warmth.

I knew Steve to be a prolific Spoken Word poet and this week, I was pleased to catch his latest one man show, N.O.N.C.E (Not On Normal Court Yard Exercise).

I dragged my girlfriend out to N.O.N.C.E, she came because I said that she can kick me in the balls if she doesn't have a good night, after the show, me and my girlfriend were all smiles, so I caught up with Steve backstage to thank him for a brilliant performance that literally saved my balls.

Some very heavy themes run through N.O.N.C.E, sexuality, rape and criminality. Yet, I came out of your show feeling uplifted, stimulated and challenged. Were you conscious of not wanting to make such a daunting show exploring these topics?

I guess, as is my usual tendency, I wanted to present a truthful account ('warts 'n' all') of my experiences, and the main things that I hope I illuminate are: the humanising effect of art and therapy, and the dehumanising effect of prison/isolation. The back drop is dark but wherever there's darkness there will be the potential for the stark contrast of light. I had some very happy times visiting that prison, some of those evenings flew by in the right side of the brain surrounded by the warmth of other people's open honest creative offerings, some of which were the best responses to my workshop exercises that I've ever had. So it wasn't really a case of consciously attempting to avoid being daunting, I think I present the truth of my experiences.

Did you have any political agendas writing N.O.N.C.E?

One little white stray from axiomatic facts of the matter in the plot is the central character's (i.e. my) motivation for going into the 'prison poet-in-residence' position in the first place. I understood completely that many people coming to see the show would have the attitude "Why are you helping these people? They don't deserve any help" - this is the sort of thing that people said when I told them about the work. Thus I presented my motivation as being purely financial so as to sidestep the prejudice and open people up to be challenged, hopefully, more subtly. In actual fact I have always had a strong belief in rehabilitation and considered that the penal system largely stigmatises and actually manufactures criminals. I wanted to celebrate and expose people to the Grendon therapy approach which is vital in helping create the necessary change in those that are brave enough to take part in it, before they eventually rejoin society. I strongly believe in the legacy left from Christian culture of guilt, atonement and redemption and see that this is the only way that society can function when it comes to wrong-doing. The wider examinations that ensued of attitudes towards sex, sex offence, and sexuality generally blatantly illuminate much needed political enquiry from my audiences, as you know though, I don't preach, I don't provide the answers but ask important questions.

You were poet in residence at a prison, N.O.N.C.E explores the life of inmates, how did that experience challenge your sense of freedom as a poet and a person?

Hearing people's stories and getting to know them on a personal level is illuminating and challenging. You realise that anybody could end up there, you come to understand that the life which you have led which you may have thought was navigated by your freewill has come about largely or perhaps even entirely because of factors beyond your control, so much is down to circumstance. There was a guy in there who had no memory of his crime, none at all, he completely accepted culpability, but cannot remember anything about it, he was so out of his mind on drugs. Now we have all observed people reacting to trauma, for many people drug or alcohol dependency is the only way to cope, so if you have trauma in your life, be it brought in by yourself or others or random factors, maybe you could one day find yourself waking up next to the dead body of someone you don't remember killing. That sort of realisation is chilling.

You're a seasoned Spoken Word poet, curator of one of UK's most established and respected nationwide Slam events, Hammer and Tongue, what has the format of slam poetry taught you and what is the journey of going from slam poet, writing three minute poems to hour-long shows?

I've started doing workshops on the subject actually "From Open Mic to Headline Sets and Theatre Shows" which participants have found really useful - Danny Chivers, Tina Sederholm and Lucy Ayrton all had good experiences doing shows in Edinburgh this year after doing a couple of workshops with me.  A poetry slam is an excellent training ground to "cut your teeth" performing "live literature" in front of an audience and you get immediate numerical feedback from randomly selected judges which can be good training for any artist working in this or a similar discipline, my performance career was already up and running before slams came along so I don't know how much that particular format has been an influence on me.  Since gaining a bit of a reputation through slams I suppose I've started doing shows at fringe festivals and the experience of doing them year after year and getting feedback from audiences and critics has all been good training as has the exposure to a diverse set of artists that have included clowns, buffons, actors, musicians, puppeteers, dancers, and comedians.  You come to realise when you take part in such festivals that the years of fine tuning your intuition towards an audience's reception or absorption of your art on make-shift poetry stages, in upstairs rooms of pub and clubs, and at noisy festivals has put you in a great position to offer something a bit more effervescent than the norm.

Apparently, you're big in canada?

Yes I'm worshipped like a god!  Not really, but more people will know of me in Vancouver or Edmonton than they will in Margate or Reading, I've spent most summers touring Canada since I first went out and won an international poetry slam in 2004 so I've built up a following.  I'm trying to remind people of my existence on this rainy little island I call home now.  It'd be nice to get similar recognition especially as my work is applied particularly towards British culture.

What's next for Hammer and Tongue and Steve Larkin?

Hammer & Tongue is looking for a solid funding base from which to formalise it's operation and expand to being the organising body behind a national touring and slam network.  

I have a new show called TES which was launched in the summer - a 21st Century Tess of the D'Urbervilles, I'm particularly excited about that, it needs to be seen soon, there are so many contemporary issues brought to the fore.  I am also attempting to get to Christmas Number One with a charity single called "Oi Codger - Be a Better Coffin Dodger!" which encourages older people to take up exercise in times of fuel poverty.  After that I'm looking at taking shows further afield, maybe Australia and New Zealand, then I fancy directing, and I'm working on an idea for a feature film.  

I'd better get on with it!

NEXT SHOWING OF N.O.N.C.E IS 11th November at ETCETERA THEATRE in Camden.

http://etceteratheatre.com/index.php?id=2&wod=11%2F11%2F2013

follow Steve on twitter - @steve_larkin

Q&A With Poet & Playwright Sabrina Mahfouz

World meet Sabrina Mahfoz, Sabrina meet the world… oh’ you’ve already met? Yes that’s right Sabrina is critically acclaimed in theatre and poetry having won numerous awards for her performances such as the Old Vic New Voices TS Eliot New York Award.

Sabrina rocked the Chill Pill stage last year with her gobby, energetic, poetical monologues from a greasy, grimy world of nightclubs… no one does it quite like Mahfouz.

Hello Sabrina, first off, congratulations on all your recent success, how you finding stardom?

I am enjoying wearing sunglasses at all times, thanks. 

The trend of the poet doing one man/woman theatre shows is back, how does a poet know when he/she is ready to make that leap? – I mean, is there such a thing as doing it too soon?

There are some things in life you can never do too soon, like reading and writing and music. Some things should probably wait at least a while but also not too too long - like sex and drugs and solo shows. I think if someone feels like a solo show is the best way for them to say what they have to say then cool, they should do it. but it shouldn't be forced out of a feeling of 'poetry career trajectory' or whatever. If you can say what you want to say in a 2 minute poem, then just do that, a solo show isn't an essential, it's just one option. 

Aesthetically what’s the difference between a Spoken Word Poet performing a poem and an actor performing a monologue?

Yeh I never really was able to articulate this when people kept asking where I'd trained as an actor and I was like, no I'm just a poet performing my words, not an actor and they would raise eyebrows and nod sadly like I was delusional. There's plenty of crossover, as there is in all performance. I guess an actor performing a monologue is delivering a complete character to the audience, a snippet of that character's life they are sharing with you in that moment and if they are good, then you are there with them completely. Whilst spoken word poets also often become characters, I think that they are usually more concerned with storytelling, narrating, delivering rhythm and beauty of language and words rather than wholly embodying a character. But that is a massive generalisation and would be very interested to hear more articulate thoughts from others on this! 

You and Hollie Mcnish have recently used your poetry to campaign against The Sun’s page 3, how effective would you say poetry mixes with activism?

Poetry has the ability to access the most basic parts of us and also the most noble, the people we are but also the ones we want to be. That sounds wanky, but I think that's it is the only art form that can do this in such a short time and with such hard-hitting results. For one line of words to impact so much more than the sum of them should is something that can of course be used successfully for activism and has been in different ways since it existed. All of the Arab 'awakenings' over the past couple of years, really do have a poem or rap lyrics quite central to the momentum of protest which led to change. Qatar has recently jailed a poet, Mohammed al-Ajami, for writing a poem criticising the Emir  (jailed for life initially, just changed to 15 years). Even at a time when Qatar are strategically trying to be seen as contributors to culture in the world, this poetry and poet was thought to be too dangerous and provocative for people to have access to. All poetry has a bit of activism in it I reckon anyway and activism is often poetical, trying to get somewhere, find something better, reach understandings. 

Poetry is now being showcased on bigger stages, Deanna Rodger and myself spoke poems with Chris Redmond and the Tongue Fu band at The Royal Albert Hall last week, Edinburgh Fringe now has a Spoken Word section, Bang Said The Gun showcase poets on channel 4, Kate Tempest and George The Poet have been all over the BBC. Are these the kinds of platforms that are “validating” Spoken Word as an art form?

These platforms are of course creating a wider audience which means that the art form is known by more and more people all the time which creates a growing demand and an awareness that it is possible to think of poetry and not think of school or dead people. So that is a great thing and I really hope we can keep up the momentum which inspires a whole new generation to start writing and performing, I'm excited to be discovering new spoken word artists all the time - often through the platforms you mention. It is getting harder and harder for people to dismiss spoken word and that makes me happy. 

As a poet who’s been written about by newspapers, magazines, blogs across the board, (not all praise) I’d like to ask you how you respond to criticism? 

After a particularly annoying article from a particularly twatty and annoying magazine I tweeted the writer and said if I saw her in Shoreditch I would bust her nose. But that was an exception and I don't endorse violence of any kind, obviously. But it was funny. Generally though I just read it and spend a little time thinking on what was said and if something is highlighted that I recognise as honest - whether good or bad - then I will try and take that on board for future. If there's been a huge misunderstanding - like I'm saying prostitution is empowering or something, which has happened, then I might punch a few cushions and then scour through the script to see if there's any big fault or if the person just probably heard what they wanted to hear, which you can't do much about. 

I ask all the women I interview this but… wanna dance?

Only if it's UK garage. Then, all night mate. 

What’s next for Sabrina Mahfouz?

I'm writing and rewriting and writing and rewriting a novel. A play for young people for The National Theatre about free speech and revolution in Egypt. New poems. A show about a chef. Doing a Channel 4 Drama thing. Anger management. You know.


Follow Sabrina Mahfouz on twitter - @SabrinaMahfouz

Keep updated on her site - http://www.sabrinamahfouz.com

What Poets Teach - Q&A With Mark Grist

Mark Grist and Mixy of Dead Poets

Q1. Mr.Grist! First off congratulations to you and Mixy on all your success. How’s it all going?

Hey, Ray. It's going pretty well, I think. We had a rough first year when we went full time, but things are starting to pick up steam. At the moment we seem to be spending a lot of time in meetings with TV and Film companies – we’re currently finalizing the development of a feature film with Film 4. It’s based on my journey from English teacher to rap battler. It’s taken ages to sort out the rights, and it’ll take a year and a half to get the script together, but it should be a fun project. Otherwise, we’re doing a lot of work in schools and we've been commissioned to create a new Dead Poets Live Lit show - hopefully it'll be all done and ready for Edinburgh in 2014.

Q2. There are a few heads from the poetry scene battling on Don’t Flop, namely Chill Pill’s Adam Kammerling and Simon Mole. As you’ve become popular battling emcees what can a poet teach the average battle rapper?

Probably as much as a battle rapper can teach us, really. I think that, in general, a poet’s focus on the content of the lines is tighter - some battlers tend to hang their content on the end of their lines, whereas poets flesh their writing out a little more. Poets also are used to thinking up alternative angles, which can help them frame their rounds more effectively. That being said, I’ve learnt so much about delivery and showmanship from rap battlers and their use of multi-syllabic rhyme really interests me. When the project comes to an end (in the next year, most likely) I’m pretty sure that I’ll owe a lot to the battling community.

Q3. Some people say the role of the poet is to uplift, where as the role of the battle rapper is to put down, what would you say to this?

I'd say that those people probably don't know either art form particularly well. On the surface that could be seen to be the case. Rap battles are transparent in their competitive nature and put-downs are inherent to the sport (although that’s not the only thing going on in a performance). Poetry appears to lack this sense of competition (at least on the surface) and so the material has more range to it. Whilst I agree that poetry can certainly ‘lift you up’ the problem with this statement would be that you don’t cease being a poet once your performance is over.

My real issue with poetry in the UK is the negativity and back biting that has dominated ‘the scene’ for as long as I’ve been a part of it. In the last year and a half we’ve had The Oxford Professor of Poetry calling Carol Anne Duffy ‘The Mills and Boon of poetry’ a London poet plagiarizing Helen Mort’s work (along with the work of others) to win a National competition, Senior members of The Poetry Society trying to oust the magazine’s editor, involving (in her words) ‘bullying’ and ‘death threats’, and an article in a National paper claiming that ‘Poetry Slams do nothing to keep the art form alive’ from a guy who makes a living from selling slam poetry workshops to schools. Added to that, we also get frenzied responses to these actions that take a bad situation and often make it even worse. If poets just got on and wrote poetry it might not be so bad. Don’t get me wrong; rap battlers can be shitty too. But there’s no great moral distinction in my mind.

Q4. You did a tour recently with Mixy where you agreed to perform anywhere in the country, from living rooms to local pubs. What was the most bizarre gig on the tour?

There were a few - Mixy performed in a taxi cab for some middle-aged women in exchange for his cab fare was pretty funny. We also performed in a couple of sitting rooms in exchange for cups of tea. The weirdest gig was three nights in to the tour at a heavy metal night in Andover. They cancelled the normal band and we went on to a pretty rowdy crowd, announcing that we were going to give them an hour of poetry instead of the thrash metal they normally had.

We got ripped so badly by hecklers for the first ten to fifteen minutes, but we just shot back as best we could, got a few laughs and by the end it was probably the best gig we'd ever had. The vast majority of the audience had never experienced poetry before and they just seemed really grateful, as though they’d never expected to be allowed to enjoy it.

Q5. I’ve found some Hip-Hop crowds tend to disapprove any words that are said on stage that don’t flow, you’re a poet but you rhyme and have flow, what exactly is the difference between a Spoken Word poet and a rapper?

I think most of the rappers I know would contest that my flow is pretty weak. The delivery of your material is so, so important - something I learnt in a recent battle against Deffinition where my delivery was all over the place. I could offer an answer on this, but I think I’d just be paraphrasing George the Poet’s response to a similar question on your blog. He’s got it spot on, I think.

Q6. You’re still teaching right? How have your students responded to seeing their teacher in rap battles?

I don't teach any more, although I tend to do 2/3 school gigs a week. Mixy and I both quit our jobs nearly three years ago to continue the Dead Poets experiment, but we like to work with teenagers - as we felt that, as kids, nobody from outside our classrooms told us that our interest in creating rhymes was a worthwhile pursuit.

Q7. What can the average teacher learn from the poet in education?

Loads, I think. But it works both ways. Just as with Spoken Word artists and rappers. Education is a two way street. It's a communication – one of the reasons I wanted to try battling was to enable a discussion to take place between teachers and students about both rap battling and lyricism in general. Dead Poets is all about trying to find ways to bridge that gap in communication.

Q8. Man, need to get you in for a show at Chill Pill, would be great to share a stage again… You going to come down if you’re not too busy?

I'd love to come down. You guys are doing some great stuff! I'd also like to see Simon Mole battling again - his performance at Latitude was one of my favourites of the year.

See Mark in his latest Don't Flop battle below...

o
Follow Mark on Twitter - @MontyGristo

watch out for the next Chill Pill at The Roundhouse on 13th February.
http://www.roundhouse.org.uk/whats-on/productions/chill-pill-connects

Chill Pill on 28th February at The Albany featuring David J, Kristiana Rae Colóne, Ross Sutherland
http://www.thealbany.org.uk/event_detail/916/Spoken-Word/Chill-Pill