Poets and Players

Hello! Just a quick post this evening, to do with an event I went to earlier today. It was called "Poets and Players" and took place in the historic reading room in the John Rylands library in Deansgate, Manchester. Let's go!

Poets and Players

The idea of Poets and Players is very simple, some people read their poetry and some people perform some music. The poets and the players change at each event, ensuring a difference blend of talents each time. 

The Poets!

The first poet, Jo Bell, was an archaeologist for 18 years and lives on a narrow boat (she’s the Canal Laureate). As a result, her readings were of poems based around those two subjects. However, do not be mistaken, her work was not entirely quaint and rosy. For every piece which was calm and content, there was another which used language probably not suitable for a public event at 3 in the afternoon. But it certainly went down well. One poem with fire in its belly was that of “Ducks and Gang Rape”. I’ll leave that for you to ponder. An overall humorous person, she showed that poetry really could be about anything you wanted. Even ducks.

Not really related, just a picture
I took in the library which I like.

Grevel Lindopp was the second poet and had the appearance of a more traditional poet, with more “traditional” language. His work was incredibly descriptive and at times very serious, none more than when he was describing the feeling of being alone at night. He relaxed towards the end of his time on stage, even though he used his last poem to exorcise and banish a supposed ghost from the reading room itself. You could tell he really put his soul into his poetry, painting vivid mental pictures which let you into his work.

The Players!

You can see what I mean by "cathedral of literature".

The players were Chris Davies and Beth Allen. They performed music which was based around the theme of “breaths”. An abstract concept, but one which nonetheless achieved in a remarkable fashion. This was through the use of several instruments, but none as effective as the simple act of breathing itself. These works reminded me of carols, which worked incredibly well in our Gothic location, an effective “cathedral of literature”.

Where and When?

The location and dates can vary, this time was in the John Rylands library. The full schedule can be found here. It's a free event, so if you feel like you want to get some top-quality literature in a brilliant location, then you now know where to go!