Category: General, Academic, Speakers
Listen to interview with Lemn Sissay
Awash with a boyish enthusiasm, Lemn Sissay bounded on to the stage in the Ellis Theatre, introducing himself in a booming tone, tinged with a Northern accent. Before long, he had vaulted the stairs and began 'hi-fiving' the audience, breaking down the 'fourth wall'. Over supper he later informed us, that this was an entirely spontaneous decision, he just wanted to 'freshen things up'. Well, if that was his aim he certainly achieved it; from this moment on he held the audience in the palm of his hand, making them laugh and, indeed, making them cry.
Whilst his performance was interspersed with comic outbursts and audience participation, his reading contained sufficient gravitas to ensure that the audience, forgetting the previous comedy, were drawn in and made to feel a whole range of emotions, from sadness to relief.
His poems often centered on his early life, growing up in children's homes in the North of England. His readings were infused with passion, spittle often flying across the auditorium. As an audience member, you could see how much these words meant to him, they were his only solace in times of darkness, and often the poems were undoubtedly dark, especially when referring to his previous carers.
The performance seemed almost schizophrenic: when not reading his poetry, Sissay seemed almost a stand-up comedian, often distracting himself from his poetry. However, when reading the poetry he became a more serious man. His enthusiasm had not been dampened, but you could see the hurt in his eyes. It was a fantastic, passion filled, comedy riddled master class.
Hugo Hayes (BH L6)
Thunderous applause shook the theatre, each defined noise bouncing back to the man bowing low in the middle of the stage, absorbing these waves with practised ease. This enthusiastic clamour a sure sign of appreciation for a performance well done.
Thunderous applause shook the theatre, each defined noise bouncing back to the man standing tall in the middle of the stage, absorbing these waves with practised ease. This enthusiastic clamour a sure sign of anticipation. And with arms spread wide the performance began.
Words tormented the space around us, harsh sounds slicing through the heavy gas, soft lyrical words caressing us, lulling us into their slippery grasp.
Laughter ricocheted from our lips, high energy balls of joy bouncing, hopping, skipping and jumping.
It was these aspects of this poetry reading that turned the work of one ingenuous with written words into an artful orator of spoken words. Ideas were flung out into the open for us to grab or leave as was our will.
For:
Words want to live
Paper want to speak
Ink want to dance
Lips want to jump!
Tamsin Bracher (MO Re)