A teacher, a science communicator and a marketing manager walk into a bar . . . and what you have is possibly a rather convoluted joke, or WordPLAY, a spoken-word night with more emphasis on the “play” than the “word”. I met them to find out why in hell three rational people would want to read out their precious words to a mob of tipsy Londoners on a schoolnight.
Founder Rebecca Fenton says: A lot of poetry nights can be quite cliquey but this is meant to be supportive, it’s quite a social event. One of the objectives was for it not be so exclusive. At least 10 people have said to me ‘I never thought I would like this’.
Sarah Day: I write prose, which is very unusual for a spoken word night. Here I’m not the odd one out. It’s nice to have that opportunity. It can be quite isolating to spend a long time sitting there writing.
And it’s good to have people listening to you. I used to do a lot of acting so I kind of love it. It’s a different way of doing that. It’s pretending to someone slightly different.
Do you remember the first time?
Rebecca: I was terrified!
Sarah: I was still writing it in the toilet beforehand! The only time I’ve read before was for a creative writing class. At WordPLAY they don’t have to listen! I have more confidence now.
Nancy Clarik: The more you do the better you get. As soon as you are on stage you do what you need to do.
Sarah: It’s a sort of power over the audience.
Rebecca: It’s empowering. I set the night up in reaction to most poetry nights, which are male-dominated. They’re often shouty- about sex and masturbation. There’s an attitude that women aren’t very funny, and not as good as writers as men. WordPLAY bucks that trend.
At the last event, there was one male headliner and six women. A lot of the women had not been confident enough to get up before.
Nancy – Now I want to write about women masturbating!
Sarah – Those who put themselves forward are the bolshy ones. That’s why WordPLAY is so good, because it’s people who would never have thought of having a go. And that’s why it’s so exciting. Such a mixture of styles.
Which writers do you admire?
Nancy – I love Laura Dockrill and Tim Key. And I love David Shrigley.
Sarah – All the writers I like are dead! Virginia Woolf, Thomas Hardy, the Romantic poets.
Rebecca – Benjamin Zephaniah. Carol Ann Duffy. Simon Armitage. The Beat poets. Speech Debelle, she’s like a poet who speaks over music. Roots Manuva.
What advice would you give to potential WordPLAYers?
Rebecca – Speak right into the fucking microphone!
Nancy – Don’t rush through!
Sarah – If you want to give a good performance, really read it through a lot beforehand . . .
Rebecca - . . . and don’t write it in the toilets!!
Sarah – Don’t choose a topic just because you think will be crowd-pleasing.
Rebecca – or controversial! If people use the c-word for the sake of it, I think, ‘why are you saying it? Just to be cool?’
Sarah – Just read something personal that you care about. And don’t be afraid to be too serious! Have confidence in what you do.
Rebecca – Have confidence to go against the grain. That’s what the night is about.
Nancy will compere the next wordPLAY which is on 1st December at The Good Ship, Kilburn, London, with all proceeds going to children’s charity Plan International. There will be performances from Mab Jones, Pia Hansen, Steven Thomas, Jack Stannard and Alexander Thanni with music from singer-songwriter Susannah Pearse.
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