Freya is a third year student studying BA(Hons) English here at the University of Cumbria, and as head of the English Society, she reviews the first major event for the society this year. For more information on the English society see the Facebook page for updates, news and events.
“They have seen where you sit
each day,
They have even seen where you
buy those cigarettes,
despite you saying just the
other day you’d quit,
They have seen your meetings,
both the ones people know
about
and the others you’d hope to
keep secret” - Extract from London Pigeons by Jake Tinsley
Like the disapproval of those
London Pigeons, performing your own work in front of a large group of people
can more often than not feel like the beady eye of judgement waiting to peck at
the foundations of your art. And while the daunting prospect of the proverbial
pigeon of criticism is what often drives many creative types to avoid publicly
performing their work, it really needn’t.
For many of the performers at The University of Cumbria English Society
'Open Mic Night', found nothing but a warm, witty atmosphere, laden with
pre-empted Christmas themed coffee and an audience of open minds.
The event took place from 6-8 on Wednesday the 30th of
October, and was held on the second floor of Market Street Starbucks,
Lancaster; which was kindly lent out to the society, for free, after hours!
Students from the University of Cumbria and locals alike came to the
first major event since their re-establishment last year. The event was arranged
by the society's newly appointed Long Term Events Organiser, Jake Tinsley, and
my what a mighty job did he do too. Around 40 people packed into the cosy
coffee shop to watch around 16 diverse performances.
The intent of the event was to
offer a free, friendly public forum, in which people could perform. The range
of performances varied between poetry, prose, improv, and dramatic monologues,
however, basically any art form that required a relatively low amount of
technical savvy was warmly welcomed.
Many people chose to read out their own work, though we did have a
dynamic reading from Livvy Stringer of a favourite poem; Carol Ann Duffy's Dementer
. There was a fantastic range of genres and styles on offer; from Roz
Stimpson's intertextual children's story
Buttons, Geraint Straker's beautifully crafted Sonnet sequence, Sonnets
of the Seasons’, Rachel Strachan's short story Death Row, and John Sharpe's dark and satirical
epistolary reaction to Bram Stoker's Dracular titled The Crumb
Correspondence. Athena Draper read her darkly comic and jovial short story
One Girl and Her Satan. Sam Williams' performed an extremely witty and
ironic piece Non-Sensical, his dry, humorous delivery leaving the
audience rollicking in their seats. The hauntingly apt love poem Tonight was
performed by Roxy Emery, who's performance had my attention locked throughout.
Arguably, the most entertaining performance of the evening was Connor
Simkins' gut-bustlingly, hilarious rendition of "The
Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe" from
Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. He
narrated the story and requested 5 willing volunteers to come to the stage and
act as the characters. But, as with any improv performance, the script itself
was a mere backdrop to unplanned interactions between the actors, and provided
a thoroughly entertaining piece.
All in all, the event was an incredibly relaxed evening, and a
brilliant opening to a new tradition of Open Mic Night's from the English
Society. I was certainly proud as punch to see the society do so well. The
second one is set to be around the end of November so keep a look out!
