May 2022

We have been working our way through the rest of the performance and have had several full run throughs. Bozo has been given another 'head', like a malignant Worzel Gummidge, he is now also Donald Trump!

We have been working with music - since we have the luxury of being covered by University permissions - Bozo and Doris sing and dance to a number of unlikely tracks! Partygate, some of the more outre moments of comedy punk and general clowning have occupied our time along with ways of...
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April 2022

We have been experimenting with the text on two scenes. The Prelude and Poem One (of the six). These are two very different scenes and by focussing in closely on them we are getting a better understanding of the dynamics of the text and its possibilities. 

The first poem presents a Covid briefing in lyric and has turned into a clowning exercise. Partly set in a Covid government briefing, it is delivered by Bozo the Clown and his partner in crime Mad Doris. When we performed a scratch...
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10th March

Today I met Julia Bird, boss of JayBird Productions, in a pub in Battersea to discuss her approach to making poetry shows. She set up JayBird as a way of making poetry readings more of an event. Her performances have largely involved poets (the first show featured a novelist and two poets) and have each had a theme. The first show was around the idea of 'love', and subsequent themes have included power, light and social interaction - being set in a party! 

The themes work loosely - J...
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February/March 2022

Scripting this from the poem's manuscript was a revelation. I was already very familiar with the poem but the world weary tone of sarcasm that runs through it, quickly became wicked satire when put in the mouths of the politicians themselves. During this process, I realised that a background of loving certain cartoonists' work; Vicky, Tim, and Steve Bell in particular and Spitting Image, was going to be useful. At this stage also, my love of punk and satirical song was ente...
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