Edinburgh fringe preview- Spoken word

Spoken Word, The everyday tool

26th July- Norwich Arts Centre

As an artist and a student I am always looking for things to attend or get involved with that aren't to expensive and are equally enjoyable. Therefore, when I saw an ‘Edinburgh fringe’ preview show locally I was excited to attend. The ‘pay what you can’ notion allows a range of people to be involved and is a fair way to open access to the arts, especially in a student area. A number of acts were lined up to be part of this spoken word night.

Spoken word, or poetry, is a very accessible tool to allow the audience to interact with the thoughts of the performer. The majority of the performers were also very politically driven and the thematic of the work echoed this. This form of art is seemingly more likely to impact the viewer/audience than a still piece of more classical art in a gallery. Therefore, in some senses, spoken word art is a very progressive medium.

One of the artists in the line up was Michelle Fisher. She is a Glaswegian writer and also a finalist for ‘Words First’; a national collaborative project between BBc radio 1xtra and the roundhouse. Her work was self admittedly politically driven and had a melancholy truth regarding what our generation are implementing  for the future generations. How our decisions regarding environment and governing will forever have consequence to the quality of life to come. The repetitive line ‘nothing grows here anymore’ was reminiscent of T.S Eliot’s The WasteLand. Although not all her poetry was focused to the same theme, all was accessible and tackled both personal and wider issues. This encourages an open conversation about a number of topics. That is possibly part of the beauty of spoken word art. The emotions and feeling linger long after the performance.

The longest performance of the night came from Matt Abbott and was entitled ‘two little ducks’. This tackled a few themes, all which inadvertently link to not only show a exposure of the artist himself but to encourage and grow an open mind. One of the main themes was post Brexit Britain with a specific focus on the ‘leave’ vote. Challenging preconceived ideas of why people chose to vote leave and how this could be more than a ‘two’s up’ to the establishment. He focused upon a generation difference and reminded the audience of all the heritage Britain holds, and why the older generation nostalgia may blur a clear sight. Although overly idolised in parts, the past was brought to the forefront to remind of mistakes and victories that lie there. The vote that then took place may be more a stance on that past than a discriminative future.

The second main theme of the night was the refugee crisis in which Matt worked first hand volunteering. The Calais border boasting western civilisation yet being home to so little sympathy. White liberal guilt engulfed the room as we are so swiftly reminded of the inhumanity still taking shape at the hands of our (and others) governments. As an individualistic society, it is taught from a young age that the collective group does not span further than who you choose to associate with. This is something that needs to change in order to grow a new generation of international citizens. A story told by Matt stuck hard, CS gas being used on children as they swarmed to a new van pulling up offering fruit and vegetables. The justification came in the form of a rigid rule that if more than half a dozen people more collectively at speed that may become a riot. There is very little humanity there. At this point, the spoken word becomes much more. A pang of guilt for being part of a society so blind that children are injured while running for food. Poetry holds many keys in hand, although some unlock tradition and rhyme, the modern wave of poetry is tackling real issues that so many ignore. ‘The union flag in flames’;A final line from Matt that drove me to encourage all to give spoken word art a chance. It may just hold enough power to rise up with other socially engaged work and question; Why is our generation selfishly moving on, only our own future in mind?.