Performance poet and comedian Rob Gee takes a look back at the 20 year history of performance poetry in Leicester.

Performance Poetry in Leicester can be traced back to 1990 and a gent called Jim Harwood, who ran the modestly titled “Jim Harwood’s Poetry Night” in the backroom bar of a pub called the Magazine. I started performing poetry there in 1993 at the age of twenty.

The Magazine was a unique anti-fascist pub, which had free condoms in jars at the bar, its own fanzine, live bands and comedy. It served as a rallying point for lefties, anarchists, anti-fascists, hardened piss artists, musicians and, yes, poets. It was demolished long ago to make way for yuppie flats. That’s progress.

Jim’s poetry night stopped in 1994 after Jim was stabbed coming out of a particularly rowdy gig. I took it over and cunningly re-branded it as “The Poetry Night”. This ran successfully for the next year or two.

By then I was getting bored of running an open mic event, and I’d had chance to see what other poetry promoters were doing around the country. The Hard Edge Club in Soho was particularly inspiring. Run by ex-National Front thug turned enlightened poet Joe Cairo, it took the comedy club format (3-4 booked acts, compere, limited or no open mic) and used it as a template for a poetry gig. This was poetry as entertainment. We weren’t competing with other poetry nights; we were competing with bands, comedy clubs, cinemas and the telly. We were offering something that they couldn’t: something with all the entertainment of comedy, but without the restrictions of going for a laugh every 5-10 seconds. I decided Leicester needed this, so I scrapped The Poetry Night and The Brightside was born.

To date, The Brightside has been the East Midlands’ most successful and longest running poetry show. Between 1996 and 2003, we ran monthly gigs in Leicester, Derby and Nottingham, showcasing Stand Up Poetry from all over the world. In Leicester we ran seasons at Bar Gaudi, The Charlotte, The Y (complete with house band), and regularly achieved audiences of over 100, which no one had thought was possible for poetry in Leicester. We never asked anyone for funding, because we wanted to put what we liked on our posters, and stay in control of our own gig. We showcased local talent without a “pay to play” policy, because we believed that no one should have to pay money for the privilege of doing their thing.

The open mic sensation we now know as Word began life as an offshoot of Brightside in 2001. We decided to run a rough-as-old-boots gig for open mic-ers at The Musician, called The Killing Floor. The first couple of nights were okay, but then it started failing (I think with hindsight, perhaps we could have made it more supportive!), so Steve Carroll, who ran Brightside in Nottingham, took it on himself to start a much more supportive open mic at Costa Coffee. He called it Word.

Word is the now healthiest open mic night Leicester has ever had. Sometimes when I see the diversity of talent, use of multimedia, and constant influx of new performers, I think back to Jim’s nights at the backroom bar of the Mag, and it’s impossible not to smile.

Originally published in From Dusk 2 Dawn magazine.

http://www.robgee.co.uk

Selina Locke of Factor Fiction press reviews the ‘Know Theyself’ writing and meditation retreat.

On Saturday 24th April I attended a one day ‘Know Thyself’ Writing and Meditation Retreat in Leicester, organised by Catherine Digman with the help of members of The Western Buddhist Order.

The day started very civially at 9am with breakfast and introductions. Nothing gets a good writing retreat going like a cuppa and croissant. It was an interesting mix of people, with some of us coming from the writing side and others from the meditation side, but everyone was very friendly which helped the day go with a swing.

Read more on the Factor Fiction website.

Our mini round-up of writer bloggers from around the East Midlands continues with:

• Rod Duncan writes about the process of scripting new movie 43 Pounds
• Should review editors offer reviewers a choice? Wonders Emma Lee
• The Phantom Staircase. A ghost story by Harry Riley
• Sally Quilford goes Swedish
• Bianca Winter finds Booker prize winner The Sea sparkly but unfulfilling