poetry with punch

2011-04-07T07:28:00.000-07:00

April 5th

Today while travelling on the 33 bus from Kingstanding to Birmingham City Centre I passed an establishment which bore a massive sign reading...

The Hand of God – unisex hairdressing salon.

And Lo,
here is our Lord
giving short backs and sides
to the populace
making up new commandments
to do with frizz ease
and misuse of shampoo;
cutting, crimping, chipping in
with spiritual guidance,
allowing himself
occasional whispers
into ears as he’s clipping.
“My son died for your sins.”
is known to encourage
generous tipping.

2011-04-06T15:03:00.000-07:00

April 4th

On being reincarnated as a ringlet

Eric emerged to find he was small
uniformly brown almost black
destined to live in damp woodland rides
inflicted with a slow and feeble flight.
He warmed his wings – paused for thought
by-passed the brambles
headed straight for St John’s Wort.

NB A ringlet is a butterfly. I'm not suggesting that Eric came back as a curl of hair!

2011-04-06T11:21:00.000-07:00

April 3rd

I think today's effort is a song...

The song of the live-a-board boater

I’ve grown a three foot beard
And mi missus has too
I’ve got accidental dreadlocks
And mi freckles are blue
(Splash back from the Elsan)
But what can we do?

CHORUS
I’m a live-a-board boater
And I certainly ain’t posh
I never change mi clothes
And I hardly ever wash

I’ve not had a bath
Since 83
If you see something jump
Well it could be a flea
Probably off mi dog
But it might be off me

CHORUS
I’m a live-a-board boater
And I certainly ain’t posh
I never change mi clothes
And I hardly ever wash

The wife’s inside
Ragging a rug
Wanna by a mushroom
I made it out of wood….To be continued! Maybe.

To be sung to the tune of 'Mind my lurcher; he won't hurtcher' (trad)

PS I can say all these stereotypical things because I am a live-a-board boater. I scrub up OK for gigs though (usually with a yardbrush) should anyone wish to book me.

PPS Would you trade soap and water for a view like this?

2011-04-03T10:10:00.000-07:00

April 2nd

"Don’t just write
For the literate few –
Write for babies
And animals too"

says Adrian Mitchell

Well, that seems like good advice...so here's my attempt...

Poetry - Doing it Doggy Style (plus translation)

Woof Woof
Arf Arf
(Pedigree Chum)

Arf Arf
Woof Woof

(smell my bum)

2011-04-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

April 1st

A poem a day throughout April is the challenge. I must say I've been working as a visiting poet in schools and I think I may still be in kiddy mode!

Ms Onomatopoeia Conducts the Rhyme School Band

Ms Onomatopoeia
waves her baton.
Ms Onomatopoeia
has a sound proof hat on.
“Girls and boys
Let’s make some noise!”

ring a ring ring
screech screech screech
ting a ting ting
boom boom boom
ching a ching ching
crash crash crash
bang a bang bang
bash bash bash
hoot toot hoot
clash clash clash

ring a ding screech ting
boom a boom toot ching
bang a bang bash
hoot clash CRASH!

Ms Onomatopoeia
waves her baton.
Ms Onomatopoeia
has a sound proof hat on.
“Girls and boys
Let’s make some noise!”

2011-03-04T07:24:00.000-08:00

Professor Vyle was out of the cupboard again for a trip to Chester. I had a fabulous night with the Chester Group WI. An audience of about 55 women so a cracking turn out. They were a warm and friendly audience. I judged the puppet competition! And they gave me cake and chutney to bring home (and damn fine the chutney tastes let me tell you). It's all made me think I ought to get out there and actively search out some gigs. I still would like to do a run of Professor Vyle shows and let it develop further. I did have a lead for a gig at the Giffard in Wolverhampton but nobody got back to me about it. I've also got another gig in the pipeline in Bilston.

Anyway that leaves 1447 people to perform to after last night. If the turn outs were all as big as last night then that would mean another 27 gigs to do LOL.

2010-08-21T11:57:00.000-07:00

Did Professor Vyle as part of Audlem festival at the end of May. What a great little music festival it is too. I really enjoyed the whole weekend. There were about thirty people in the audience so that is 1,502 people left to perform too! The best bit of the show was when the door at the back of the hall opened and the village bobby came in just as I was about to deliver the line..."police brutality and a very near fatality!". Laugh. I didn't know were to put myself. The timing was superb though. He took it all in good humour; very nice chap and a mean photographer. His work was on display in the Audlem Mill Shop.

2010-02-27T06:11:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been busy writing a new show which was put on at the Arena Theatre in Wolverhampton just before Christmas. It seemed to go off OK. Professor Vyle made two outings in January, one at Sneyd School and the other at Newhampton Arts Centre. A total of 140 people watching the show so the running total now comes down to...big drum roll...1,532 people left to perform to in order to hit my original target number of 2,000!

2009-10-01T07:20:00.000-07:00

2009-09-10T09:13:00.000-07:00

Howdy (:

Ok, it was my last day of Work Experience today, it was all good, except i was about 10 minutes late...again 0_O everything else went well. I did The emails again this morning. we also had a meeting, for the armchair thing, i like doing things like that, brainstorming ideas and stuff (: also timed Emma doing her strip poetry which i liked :) Filled in my 'Log Book' that my school gave me still need to finish that off tonight tho...Over all i have enjoyed the work experience with Emma and it has made me think a bit more about my future :)

Nicole :)

2009-09-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

Today was a very busy day, we had a lot of things to do. as usual we checked the emails, and made another to-do list (: i think the to-do lists are quite helpful, especially when it comes to doing these blogs :D i did some research on Debut Design finding out who they are and what they do, because later on, i was going to meet marie who is in Debut Design (: i thought about some questions to ask her, that might come useful to me somehow :) she was very friendly and it was quite easy to talk and understand her (: while emma was in a meeting with her, i went round town to try and find biro pens, envolopes and a starfish 0_o strange i know :D it was for a project emma is doing lol. Today, i also did ANOTHER phone call o_0 its so scary haha :S. we also had to deliver posters for a slam to the library in town. we have done some more things but im not going to put them ALL on here. yes, there is that many o_O haha :D although its been a busy day, its still been a good day, so its all good :)
so yeah that was my day (:

Nicole

2009-09-09T08:43:00.000-07:00

Hey its Nicole again (:
my second day of work experience was, again alright, except the late start as my alarm didnt go off o_O that wasn't very good :/ my hours were slightly different today, instead of 9-5 i did 1-9:30pm but because of the late start it ended up being 2:30-9:30 :/ oops. one thing i've learnt, make sure your alarm is working the night before...or just set two haha. we checked the emails again and made another to-do list. i made two phone calls, which nearly killed me because im scared of talking on phones O_O haha and we did some 'promotional work' aswel. at about 5ish we set off to town and had something to eat in the 'City Bar' later on there was a few performances and i had a question sheet to fill out. that lasted up untill 9:30. So today was a bit different to yesterday, but again, its what i expected and thought it was alright :)

2009-09-07T09:02:00.000-07:00

I haven't made any entries for a while. I'm now starting to organise a tour of 'The Professor Vyle Show' along the canal network between Stourport and Middlewich so I'll keep updating this blog with information about that as stuff happens. This week I have Nicole working with me. She is doing work experience and getting an insight into what it is like to work as a free-lancer in arts related jobs.

I'm handing this blog over to Nicole for the week so that she can record her thoughts and experiences...

Hi I'm Nicole (:

My First day doing work experience with Emma has been alright :) its the kind of thing i was expecting, i realise that doing an art kind of job isnt all creative stuff, as the most creative things i've done today is adding bright colours to a script on Microsoft Word haha, but i dont mind :) i did some emails and stuff like invoices and research about a few things. this morning we talked about how you get money being self employed and how its not always guarenteed good money, or even money at all o.O Overall today has been quite alright (:

2009-05-21T06:41:00.000-07:00

I performed at Bantock House as part of the 'Night of Museums'. I was booked as there was a touring Punch and Judy exhibition on at the park at the same time (very interesting exhibition and very well put together with some fantastic puppets to look at). I had some really good press coverage in the Express and Star which included a video piece on their website. The show was also recommended in the Apples and Snakes regional email release 'Snake Basket' which was great.

The show itself seemed to go well. I fluffed a couple of lines but managed to carry on without making it obvious (I think). The best thing for me was that I managed to sort out a piece of the show which never seems to register with the audience; Punch faints into the driver's seat and it should become apparent that he is actually driving a stolen car but it never seems to. I've played around with a couple of things to try and make it register but I've finally got it and all it takes is to mime the holding of the steering wheel and slow it down a little.

I also experimented with taking a bribe from Punch in the shape of an oversized £50 note. This seemed to alter the voting which takes place at the end of the show, it was 98% in favour of Judy, usually it is a bit more even than that.

There were 52 people in attendance which I was really pleased with and the feedback seemed positive.

That means there are 1,672 people left to perform to. I did get two possible offers of other places to do the show one of which I need to chase up today.

2009-03-18T11:45:00.000-07:00

I did a performance of The Professor Vyle Show at The City of Wolverhampton college today for the art and design students followed by a session of posing while they drew. It seemed to go OK. I was a bit clumsy and managed to drop a mic and trip over my blow-up doll! After the show I was approached with the possiblity of doing another show which would be great. There were about 30 in the audience.

I've just realised that I didn't blog the fact that I did a show at Coppice High School in Wolverhampton just before Christmas and that there was an audience of 50 young people there. They received the show really well and asked some great questions afterwards.

I've got a booking at Bantock Park for May which is for their 'Night of Museums' event. It is to tie in with a Punch and Judy exhibition that will be on. The exhibition is going to be at a number of other venues across the region so I've approached the curator, Professor Glyn Edwards, and asked if he had any objections to me contacting the venues and offering the show. He didn't so I've just got to get my finger out and send some letters off.

So that's 1,724 people left to perform too!!!

2008-10-23T06:11:00.000-07:00

1,804 people still to perform too!!!!!

2008-10-23T06:04:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I haven't made any entries for that long. Well, I've been busy working on a play which took place in July in a limestone mine in Dudley; it took up the majority of my time but it was worth it in the end.

I did one Professor Vyle gig during that time which was to college students at Stourbridge College. They seemed to enjoy it and there were about twenty in the audience.

Last night I performed in Wolverhampton at the Alan Garner Centre. Smashing audience who were very appreciative. I was delighted to see some younger people there (as was the literature development officer for Wolves libraries). The youngest was about nine (parent was warned about the content!).

The highlight for me was when a younger member of the audience told me that his friend, who didn't like poetry, had even enjoyed it!

I'm entering a world record attempt at performing comic verse this evening in Manchester so I had better dash.

There were 26 in the audience last night so the running total now is...

2008-03-05T11:25:00.000-08:00

Oh by the way I thought you might like to see the piece of Art Work that I selected from the student work that was done using 'The Professor Vyle Show' as its subject. The standard was soooo high. I had real difficulty making my mind up. In the end I settled on this piece by Jennene Flavell which I felt captured the mix of the modern Professor Vyle show and the traditonal Punch and Judy elements perfectly. I also liked the way she had represented so many aspects of the performance and the energy of her illustration. I will be using this for my programme covers.

2008-03-05T10:59:00.000-08:00

On the 23rd February I took part in a Punch and Judy study day. It was organised by the WEA and the idea was that a Punch and Judy 'Professor' lectured on the history of the show during the morning and I performed 'The Professor Vyle Show in the afternoon'. There was also to be a Q and A session with Professor Peaseley and myself after the show. I was so excited about taking part (although a little worried about what a real Punch and Judy Professor might make of my take on things).

The event was great; although the audience numbers were quite low. Twenty five people turned up (the majority of who were over 60 many of them well over; I was quite nervous about facing another type of audience). I thoroughly enjoyed the morning session and learned more about the fascinating history of P and J.

The performance went well and the feedback I got was positive (although there was one lady who didn't look happy; I hope she wasn't offended. I wasn't sure what was going through her head but she looked like she was in a state of shock!). I was particularly pleased when before I performed I over heard one woman say, with a twinkle in her eye, "I do hope Punch is going to be vicious!" So I gave her vicious and played to her as much as I could and she lapped it up. I must say I have never had an audience get so into the booing, cheering and voting as this one did.

I was delighted that during the course of my performance many of the things the Professor had covered during the morning got nods of recognition when I referenced them as part of my show.

One interesting coincidence was that Professor Peasley's mother, Rosa, was the same woman that I saw very early on in my research at a P and J performance at Northicote Farm. She is in her late seventies and one of the very few women Professor's in the country.

Right, now where does that leave the running total in relations to my aim of taking the show to an audience of 2,000? That's 25 off 1,875 which leaves 1,850. Better get a few more gigs sorted then.

2007-11-26T06:55:00.000-08:00

Black Country Touring have just confirmed that they will be adding the show into their spring and summer listings for 2008, which is really good news.

I haven't entered a blog posting for a while as I have been very busy with a commissioned poem for The New Vic Theatre in Stoke. Once this poem is done I've really got to sort out the updating of my website and it is my intention to start approaching literature festivals with a view to getting either Professor Vyle, Strip Poetry or Image Text Image Exhibitions accepted as part of their programming. I don't know if it will be effective but I'm going to give it a go between now and January.

2007-10-25T03:16:00.000-07:00

Since I last blogged, I've performed 'The Professor Vyle Show' at Wolverhampton College in front of an audience of nine. I was keen to do this performance as the age range of the group was not an age range that I had invited to my private view so it was very useful for feed back purposes to see what an audience of 18 year olds would make of it. The comments were really positive. My favourite quotes from the evaluations were, "quite the strangest show I've ever seen!" and "I'd consider watching it again!". The group were art students who are using the show as part of a project to design a programme cover etc for a theatre event. They drew and photographed the booth, the puppets and me in costume. I was very impressed by the drawings they were doing as I peeked over their shoulders.

I also went to Cardigan to do Word Up at the cellar bar. What a fantastic welcome. There were about 40 people in the audience. I did strip poetry followed by a cut down version of 'The Professor Vyle Show' as the booth wouldn't fit. I used the scarecrows that I'd made to hang the costumes on. The show seemed to work although I wish I could have used all of the props. I was knackered afterwards. I got a fantastic reveiw too! Have a look at it www.wordupcardigan.blogspot.com.

Sue Hamblen was a wonderful host and it was good to see some of the people I'd met last time I was there and meet new ones.

Last night I did my gig at the City Bar. I promoted it via the Wolverhampton Libraries events flyer and by leafleting City Voices. There were 35 people in the audience and the response was very positive. It does seem that 40 is an average audience for spoken word events. I also got another couple of vague gig offers that might or might not come off. I was particularly pleased that in ran through at 55 minutes which means that I've got the adrenalin a bit more under control than I had initially, perhaps.

For me the best thing about the evening was that I was able to do the performance for free but by passing a bottle round I could still cover my expenses and then some. I do like the idea of basing a show on Punch and Judy and then using the traditional way of putting it on for anybody and everybody regardless of their income. I know that wouldn't be possible to do everywhere but where I can I'd like to keep doing this.

I think I need to chase gig offers up; I don't like doing that because it feels like I'm being pushy and for all I know the people might have been drunk when them made the offer LOL. At the preview I had three gig offers and one workshop offer. Only one of these has actually been booked.

Any road up, that brings my total audience to ... 125!!! Target left 1,875.

2007-09-22T07:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I did it! Just over a year from the first word to the first performance but I did it! I had a preview show at Bantock Park last night. 41 people turned up and their reaction was really positive. I was just happy to get through without freaking out/passing out/blanking out. Rehearsals before the event had not gone well; I had a panic attack in the middle of one! But last night it all came together and I managed to do the whole show with very few mistakes which probably only myself or Dave noticed.

It was really lovely to see so many folks who had helped me, such as Mike Luckins (who had mentored me), Alison (maker of Punch's hat and puppet Judy's hat) and my cousin Ste (puppet maker) all in one room to see 'The Professor Vyle Show'.

I forgot to hand out my evaluation forms in my excitement but I've been getting emails and texts about the performance which have all been very kind. I was over the moon with Simon Fletcher's appraisal. Simon is the Literature Development Officer for Wolverhampton Libraries and a poet and novelist. He said, "The Professor Vyle Show is a whizz-bang take on the horrors of daytime tv framed by the changing concepts of Punch & Judy theatre. Infused with the language of the street this is particularly appropriate for older teenagers and young people. It deals with issues of domestic violence, drugs, the legal system and the heartless slapstick of trial by tv. Emma Purshouse has got talent and a rare sympathy for those on the edge." I will of course be using this wonderful quote to try and sell my show! A lot of people suggested I try and take the show to Edinburgh and Brighton.

In my pitch to the Arts Council I said I aimed to reach audiences of 2000 with this show! I better get on with promoting it then. Only another 1,959 audience members to go!

2007-09-06T06:44:00.000-07:00

I've booked a space for the preview of the show and I've gone and invited 50 people. Why didn't somebody stop me! Now I've put the pressure on.

Rehearsals are going OK again now but I had a cold and it really effected my breathing. A couple of times I couldn't get through the whole set and I was panicing like billio. I'm managing to run through it all again now but I got myself in a right pickle over it.

The biggest problems that I'm having at the moment are getting it so that you can't see the joins. The links between poems have to be timed perfectly with costume changes and use of props. It's a case of carefully blocking each change and then running through it again and again so that they become second nature. To give you an example of just how planned these now are this is the way I've had to script it...

Second Change

A wife who says, “lose the bad boy image or we’re through.”
A husband who claims, “she’s to blame!” So who’s telling it true?
Let’s give a big warm howdy doody
Please welcome our first guest…Judy.

The Professor looks towards the booth as though waiting for Judy to appear. He realises that he is needed to work the puppet and then disappears into the booth putting microphone in the holder on the side and dicky bow in trouser pocket. From inside the booth he delivers lines Please welcome my first guest Judy. He puts on Judy’s T-shirt, head and arms. Get out there woman. He puts on Judy’s hat.

Judy: I can’t I’m scared. The Judy puppet appears slowly to take a peek at the audience. She is wearing a Burberry cap, hoped earrings and her hair scraped back into a pony tail.
Judy: My Life; have you seen how many of them are out there. I ain’t doing it. Judy puppet disappears to floor position. Pick up slapstick.

Professor Vyle: OK, sweet, get out there and tell your story.
Pull Judy’s hair into postition
You better make it sexy, you better give us gory!

The sound of a slap is heard.

Judy: Ow! slapstick to floor postion.

Pulling T Shirt down Judy goes out to the front of the booth holding her face.

Judy: Alright, I’ll tell you about me and Punch.

Judy's Poem follows...

And that's only the second change! I've got another fourteen to block yet. How many days to the private view? What was that somebody shouted 15. Did I mention I'm working nearly all of the week after next and I've got a performance on the 15th that I've got to write some new material for.

Better get on with it.

2007-08-20T08:31:00.000-07:00

I now have the feedback from Mike Luckins. I was really pleased by his general comments. "Congratulations on a splendid mixture of social comment, comedy and the fascinating history of an - often overlooked - important area of theatrical history."

He made the following suggestions which I am going to attempt to address between now and the private view which looks like it might be set for 28th September. Just while I think about it I should also mention that I have booked my first performance space proper which will be at the City Bar in Wolverhampton on 24th October 2007. This is a good venue with an upstairs performance space with stage and lighting. The bar serves excellent food and the staff or very friendly. The owner, Lawson, is a real patron of the arts and the venue hosts Wolverhampton's City Voices, acoustic nights and comedy nights. He is happy for me to try out my idea of not charging for tickets but to send round a bottler which is in keeping with the true Punch and Judy tradition. This might of course go horribly wrong and I might come out of the evening with a load of buttons and bottle tops but it is a good chance to experiment. The bar are happy with the revenue that will be brought in from beer and food sales.

I digress! The points I need to address before these performances are as follows
1. To use the stages width and depth more effectively and vary my use of stage left and right.
2. Make use of a colourful oversized mic for Professor Vyle (I have managed to find three gold microphones in Hootys! I'm going to put holders on the left of the booth, the right of the booth and inside the booth).
3. Sort out the pace of the piece. It runs through at 46 minutes but Mike suggested that it should be closer to an hour. His point that the audience does need time to 'breathe' is a good one. I am going to slow some of the characters down.
4. Mick suggested some preparation exercises to help with breathing control and warming up the voice. He recommended 'Your Voice and How to Use it Successfully' by Cicely Berry which I have got off Amazon and intend to devour shortly.
5. Over emphasie my words so that things aren't missed which is particularly problematic when speaking from behind or within the Punch and Judy booth.
6. Giving weight to words which are specifically linked to P and J.
7. Work on differentiating the characters more by voice.
8. Develop programme notes that explain both Punch and Judy and the nature of daytime TV programmes.

I think that with intensive rehearsals (I've now given up my two day a week temping safety net to focus fully on 'The Professor Vyle Show - Poetry with Punch'!) I should be able to address these points, at least to the best of my ability.

2007-07-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

The run through of Punch and Judy went OK. Mike Luckins, who used to be my drama tutor when I did theatre studies at A level, came along to watch and give me feedback. I really value Mike's opinions and was delighted that he agreed to help me.

He thought the poetry was excellent and that the performance was between a seven or eight out of ten, which considering I had only performed it in the lounge before was pleasing! He said the piece was, in his opinion, suitable for Edinburgh festival or Brighton festival (because of the Punch and Judy link). Mike is going to send his comments via email this week so I will update the blog as soon as I get them.

I have also started work on a cut down version of P and J which I can use in venues which aren't big enough for the full show i.e. Cardigan - Word Up. I checked with the organiser and the booth won't fit in there which is what I had feared. I believe that my performance piece will work minus the more theatrical beginning and end and can be done using only hats and wigs to indicate a change of character. This means I can then sit on a chair to perform and make use of stand microphones which they use at this venue to overcome the background noise from the bar and the drinkers that don't watch the show.

2007-07-24T03:38:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been ages hasn't it. I've been busy doing this and that. I've had some work in schools for the Birmingham Write On Project, which I thoroughly enjoyed once I'd settled in to it. I was working with six - eight year olds doing all sorts of poetry type things. I've also completed my residency with Wolverhampton Libraries and had to do a performance for that. We've had an Image Text Image Exhibition and performance in Shrewsbury. I was a runner up in the Ledbury Slam and of course I've been rehearsing Punch and Judy.

I've also sent my Arts Council Evaluation form back. It took me a couple of days to complete and I was really glad that I'd kept my records up to date and that I had this blog to refer back to. They have released the final bit of money so they were obviously happy that I'd done what I said I was going to. I requested that I was able to use the money that Arvon sent back to get some mentoring for Punch and Judy and the first bit takes place tomorrow. I'm very nervous about performing it infront of real people (even though it's only three of them).

August is a quiet month in terms of Performance Poetry so I've decided to have a bit of a rest but I've got bookings coming in for September onwards.

2007-06-04T07:33:00.001-07:00

Well. Can you bloody believe it? The Arvon course got cancelled! Again! They gave me five days notice! I lost a week's money from my temping job; I lost money from not being able to take any bookings for workshops or performances for that week; I lost money because I had already bought my train ticket! I was gutted. I was really looking forward to getting some feedback and developing my performance piece. I was also cross because I had held off returning my Art Council evaluation as I wanted to include my experiences at Arvon and talk about how it had helped me etc. I sulked for a whole week and the weather helped my miserable mood considerably as it rained and rained.

Last week was Whit Week and the centre where I temp was closed anyway so I decided to work on my Punch and Judy in the way I had planned to at Arvon. I worked really hard on rehearsing words and also on blocking through all of the moves. It now flows! There are some clunks here and there but there is certainly a flow. I'm going to get an actor/director that I know to look over it for me and offer some pointers/suggestions; I'm hoping it is just fine tuning that is required.

I also finished the booth off. I put a false front on for when it is a traditional P and J booth and turned the toilet tent into a TV complete with a glittery sign saying 'The Professor Vyle Show'. Any similarity between the lettering I have used and the lettering that appears on 'The Jeremy Kyle Show' is purely coincidental!

I'm going to finalise the booking for the private view of the performance and the follow up performance at Bantock Park! Brave or stupid - you decide! I am also going to complete the Arts Council evaluation at this point (not least because they are with holding £450 until the paperwork is sent in)! I feel the piece is now fully developed and without the help of the Arvon course I have taken it as far as I can without some kind of objective criticism from others. I just need to keep rehearsing until performances occur.

Let's think what else have I been up to? Oh yes. I went on another pod cast. Check it out it's at www.davespodpoems.com. It's a great show. Dave Finchett is the host and he reads some of his own poems (which are fantastic). He has a guest for every show and also plays a couple of music tracks. It's worth tuning in just to hear Phil Barlow (who might or might not be Dave's alter ego.

I've also been preparing for an imagetextimage exhibition and The Gateway in Shrewsbury. That's on Friday.

2007-05-01T03:37:00.000-07:00

Well, it's the 1st of May; where did that month go? I have learned all of the script (nearly, just finishing off learning the final Punch poem, which I've more or less got down now). I've got my train tickets for the ARVON course just need to to try and save a bit of cash for taxis to and from the place (no bus service - damn it).

I'm currently part way through my series of gigs with The Alternative Black Country Revue. I did a number of performances at Walsall Art Gallery over two successive Saturdays to rapt audiences which varied in number between seven, four, three and none! The four were on the desk manning reception and the pa (captive audiences we love 'em). And the final performance at Walsall was to a group of seven which included a set of very bemused looking children who were probably wondering why the mad women was removing items of clothing and spouting fourth stuff that only adults would understand (note to self always carry children's poetry with one just in case).

I also performed at the Newhampton Arts Centre which was a great venue but again very low audience numbers. It was an entertaining evening including Paul MacDonald reading from one of his novels and Brendan Hawthorn doing a great set of poetry. I really like both of these writers.

There is no pay or expenses for any of these performances which is a bit disappointing as I'm having real financial issues again (cheques in the post scenarios). Actually one of the cheques was really in the post and it came Friday. I'd spent it by Saturday and I still didn't have enough money to buy marmite (marmite is a luxury food these days LOL); I sacraficed the marmite in favour of a hair cut. I can see again! Woohoo! But, on the up side, the guy who runs the Newhampton Arts Centre asked me if I'd do a performance at an event he runs there and I was delighted because of course I need small theatre venues to put on Punch and Judy so I'm hoping this will be a relevant contact. Sometimes non-paid stuff can lead elsewhere (like financial ruin for example).

I've got another gig with the Alternative Black Country Revue on Thursday and again on Friday, both in small theatres. I've also got a gig in Birmingham at Starbucks, again unpaid, but I'm in Birmingham anyway for a meeting so it seemed daft not to do it. I'm going to try out a couple of P and J poems to promote interest in the play, gauge reaction etc.

Oh, I forgot to say that the Punch and Judy workshop with the kids went well. There was some really good work produced across the board which I was particularly pleased with because it is quite an age range to deal with in one group 6-14.

2007-04-17T06:28:00.000-07:00

I threw a bit of a wobbly over Easter (it was lucky that it was just a wobbly and not a puppet or a booth to be honest). I'd had a gut full of the stupid thing and it made matters worse when I tried to run through and it felt clumsy and awkward (shit was the term I actually used to anyone who would listen). I reached breaking point and shoved the whole damn thing in the loft where it has remained since.

However, having set myself the month of April to learn the script for P and J I did continue to do so and much to my surprise I have done quite well. I know all of it except the final two Punch poems. It is no great surprise that I don't know them as I only wrote them last week! They don't feel quite right yet so no point committing them to memory if they are going to be altered.

In the learning of the poems I have recognised that just knowing them will help the flow (which is what I worried about) but not enough. I think that I will perform Judy rather than use a puppet - this will be better in terms of flow but also in terms of the facial expressions that I use when I'm rehearsing which I feel add to the comedy (Jane Seabourne and Dave Finchett made comments of this nature when I ran the poem by them and I think they were right). I feel that I can use the Judy puppet as a presence during the show to signify that she is still there watching in the same way that I am going to use Punch's coat and hat draped over a chair when he is not performing.

The blocking can begin once the script is learnt and then hopefully things will knit together better. I have decided that I am going to contact a drama tutor that I used to study with and see if he will watch a run through (for a fee) and give me feedback. I admire his knowledge of plays and trust his judgement.

I phoned the Arts Council again and left a message but nobody has called me back. I feel a bit worried and would be happier if I could speak to someone but I realise that people are busy and staff were probably off over Easter. I'm hoping the chap on reception was right about there not being a deadline for sending the evaluation forms back (should've got a name so I can blame him if he wasn't LOL).

I've got a mini-tour with The Alternative Black Country Revue which starts this Saturday. I'm doing my old 'strip poetry' routine (see events blog). It will be nice to have something new to do once I crack this Punch and Judy thing (note the optimism there).

Nearly forgot. I performed the Judy poem to an audience of about thirty at City Voices just to get some feedback and it went really well (laughs in all the right places, particularly from younger members of the audience which again makes me think it might be a performance piece that could be done for young adults in schools or youth club environments. I've done the Punch poem three times to different audiences and with the Judy poem that probably totals an audience of 120 which all adds up. I know I specified a target number of people to reach with P and J as a project. I better check how many I put down.

I have also produced a kids writing workshop based upon the characters in Punch and Judy. I used it with a group of young adults as part of the Write On project and Jonathan Davidson said that the feedback had been OK. I have adapted it slightly and I am going to use it with the young writer's group that I run in Wednesfield (as part of my residency with Wolverhampton Libraries). I will ask them to do an evaluation of the workshop which I am hoping to do with them this evening. It will be useful if I do the performance in schools to have a workshop I can offer with it.

2007-04-02T07:35:00.000-07:00

I have now got my Punch and Judy booth (aka a modified toilet tent)! It looks fine and with some minor alterations it is now much more stable. I need to paint a logo on the booth:- 'The Professor Vyle Show' and get some stripey material and some hardboard to make the false front which is to make it look like a P & J booth for the beginning of the show.

Getting the booth has made me feel a bit more positive again. I had begun to feel like nothing was moving forward with the show because I had been taken off in another direction by the new project that I am involved with. I had a go at working the puppets inside the booth. It is really hard to do. I'm going to have to rehearse for hours using a mirror so that the puppets movements become second nature.

I must also get in touch with the fancy dress shop who are making some of the costumes I need. They should have contacted me by now.

I phoned the Arts Council and was assured that there are no deadlines with regard to returning the post project evaluation but they did say that I needed to speak to someone because of the change of the course dates to which I responded with, "I emailed twice and nobody got back to me"! They suggested I speak to Adrian Johnson when he gets back of annual leave after Easter.

Yesterday I painted skirting boards and learned my Judy poem. I keep running through it now which must look like I'm talking to myself as I walk along. Freak! I'm going to attempt to learn the first Professor Vyle poem now but this is going to be quite hard as it's a villanelle with lots of repeated lines and it will be difficult to remember which one goes where.

2007-03-19T09:28:00.000-07:00

Well the first of March came and went and my script wasn't completly finished! Slapped wrists! The difficulty was down to the start of a new project which is to follow on from Punch and Judy; I've been having to do work towards this to make sure that it is up and running and going to be bringing in money shortly. I estimate that I really need to spend two more days on Punch and Judy to finish the script completely, I have booked these days into my dairy for next week.

I need to phone the Arts Council and clarify how long I have to return the evaluation of the project to them. I can't fully evaluate as yet because some things are still on order, the business card design is not finished yet and the course that I was supposed to go on fell through and was re-booked for May (the point of the course was to help me develop my performance so in some ways for me it is better to go with a completed script) and I would like to comment on how/if this helps me. I would also like to include a reveiw of the first performance in my evaluation. As I said before I have been offered a venue to do the first performance in but I don't want to commit to a date until I have all the props and get a feel for how quickly I am managing to learn the piece (I've set myself the month of April to try and learn it all!!!).

On the plus side I have both of my puppets and my Punch hat all of which look fantastic.

2007-02-25T08:27:00.000-08:00

2007-02-25T07:43:00.000-08:00

I have been running around trying to buy props and write poems. It has been rather hectic to say the least. From my massive list of props to purchase, which initially ranged from a hip flask to a blow-up doll, I have nearly bought everything. I've been scavenging around in junk shops and charity shops (I would like to add at this point that the blow-up doll was new! There I drew the line with regard to second hand!) Although what the Arts Council or the tax man will make of a receipt from Ann Summers for the purchase of Philipa Hole Female Doll £15.00 I really do not know.

One of my biggest problems seemed to be the location of Burberry type material for Punch's hat. Alison had let me know that she was having trouble sourcing a suitable textile. I was on the lookout everywhere I went. Eventually I found a Burberryesque sleeping bag in a camping shop, which I purchased and rushed around to Alison's house so that she could start working on it.

I have £250 left of Arts Council money which is to cover the props I still need to get and the decoration of the Punch and Judy booth. The booth has proved to be a nightmare to construct. Plastic tubing was out of the question as the joins weren't right. Tried to buy a battered, bent, ripped tubular wardrobe which was on display in Homebase Wolverhampton but they wouldn't sell, claiming that they couldn't possibly sell their display items. I did point out that they probably wouldn't make any sales with the offending display article standing their as an advert to how completely flimsy and badly made the product was but I don't think they cared (bad wardrobe - good Punch and Judy booth). I tried to track down the company that makes toy ball displays for chains like Early Years and Poundstretcher (the staff of both shops in Wolverhampton were really helpful and attempted to find out when asked but to no avail). The display stands would have been an ideal framework for the booth but when I finally found out who did sell them, Mookie I think the company was called, they wouldn't sell me one without me purchasing four hundred balls to go in it! Eventually, a lovely man at the Wergs Garden Centre who had shown me around a double toilet tent which I decided it was too wide for my Punch and Judy booth, directed me to Pearl. Pearl strikes me as a no-nonsense woman who is not phased easily and when an idiot in a baseball cap asks for a custom made toilet tent with a window she didn't even look surprised! So my Punch and Judy booth (aka a bespoke toilet tent from Leisure Care Tent Services, Stallings Lane, Kingswinford) is on order. Please don't ask about the construction of a mock-up both out of old Express and Stars so that I could ascertain measurements. How my partner Dave laughed when he came back from the shop to find I'd stuck it to his dadoo rail with drawing pins.

I should really have got going with my props sooner as it has eaten into writing time but it's difficult to know what to buy without knowing the characters.

The website is done! Hooray! It looks great in my opinion. Clean, clear, simple. Thank you, Ken. I even have sound; there are three of my poems on there. But I guess if you're reading this you might already have heard them. If not go back and listen - I insist.

The puppets are also coming along nicely. One is complete; it looks wicked. It is the Nosey Neighbour one. I am posting a picture so that you can have a look. The one on the right is the puppet the one on the left is the puppet maker (my cousin Ste - aka Womble. Don't ask, he will tell you!).

You may have noticed I've avoided mentioning writing. I bet you think I haven't done any. Well actually I have. I've completed another poem for the doctor character (the take on this is that the doctor is a Psycho Therapist and the poem details all of the 'therapies' that she may be able to help Punch with). Having said this I am still painfully aware that the first of March in on Thursday and there are still poems missing.

I have written a lot in this entry; I'm beginning to think it might be a diversion tactic. I better go and get on with it.

2007-02-02T08:23:00.000-08:00

It is now February; I've got one month to spend all the Arts Council money and finish the script. The writing is coming on Ok at the moment. I have about nineteen minutes of tightish poetry and probably another fifteen of loose poetry! There is about five minutes of poetry that should be there that isn't but at least I am starting to see the finished piece.

The website is under construction and I've seen some proofs of the pages which have been done so far (very pleased with the way that they look). I have booked another spoken word
Arvon course and paid for it; this one is in May in Devon and John Hegley is the guest poet. The puppets are being mocked up by my cousin at the moment. I have commissioned a Punch hat for me to wear (Alison Westall-Jones is a local textile designer and she has taking on the challenge; she's done work for Hugh Fernley-Wittingstall and Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen in the past. Do you think they are all members of the same double-barrelled club?). I have to start buying props this month and the materials to make the fit-up (I am making this myself, probably out of plastic plumbing pipes and canvass - I used to be a sign-writer and have done scenery construction and painting in the past so I should be able to do it).

I'm making tentative enquiries for possible venues for putting the production 0n at. I can't see it being ready to perform much before summer because I still have to learn everything once it is written but if I have a complete script to send to the Arts Council just after the 1st March then that should be OK.

2007-01-10T07:54:00.000-08:00

Right, I've contacted the chap who is doing my website. He is no longer on line! Should I be worried by this? Anyway he asked me to send him the text for my website which I have done today. I've sent a CD with the words saved as plain text and a hard copy. He also told me to get a domain name and a host. I have done this! I have paid for it over the internet! I hate doing this! I hoping it's right! Oh well; it's in the post now.

Tonight I am hoping to research puppet designs and how to make them tonight! I am going to give two designs to my cousin. I'd forgotten about my cousin when I was thinking earlier about puppets (not that he is a puppet you understand). He makes fantastic models out of scrap and what not. I phoned him and asked him if he'd be up for making two puppets. He said yes. He wasn't even phased by the fact that one of them needs to have an extending neck!

No sign of the Arvon booklet yet so no movement on getting a replacement course for the one that was cancelled.

I'm also researching rates of pay for writers! I'm in negociation! It's embarrasing charging for your time when your writing; I feel uncomfortable with it. I think I need to draw up a table of rates of pay for different types of writing or workshops so that I can send it to people when they ask such awkward questions.

2007-01-04T05:45:00.000-08:00

Well that's Christmas and New Year out of the way. Back to work. I've spent the last couple of day's housekeeping. I've written all of my gigs that I've got booked so far into my diary. I've got five so far (four of which involve some kind of payment - whoo hooo). I've also got a new writing project in the bag; its paid and due to start in April which fits in quite nicely with the finish of the writing time for P and J.

I've nearly (hopefully) managed to write the Judy poem! How long has it took me?

I must get on to the chap who is doing my website. I've also emailed Dave Finchett (photographer and former puppet person) about trying to contact a puppet maker as I know that I want two puppets making for the show (the Judy character and the Scaramouche character). The other thing is, that I've sent for a listing of the ARVON courses for 2007 and I'm thinking about emailing Adrian Mealing who is agent for Roger McGough, John Hegley and Ian MacMillan; I want to check out the option of having a mentor or attending courses run by one or other of his performance poets (a long shot but it just might work).

2006-12-07T05:15:00.000-08:00

Right, I've decided to pull my finger out a bit! I've done a couple of serious writing days and pulled together a script for the performance that I hope to do. This has given me a little more confidence as now I have a framework into which I am starting to fit the poems.

I wasted a lot of time on the Ballad of Judy which I have now abandoned as the character didn't feel right. Since abandoning this and feeling more than a little worried, I went to a writing workshop with the writer of 'Bad Mother's Hand Book'. It was an excellent workshop about character but it was delivered for people writing a novel; however, I applied all of the exercises over the day to Judy and I learned so much about her. She isn't an asylum seeker at all! So unfortunately I'm starting from scratch with Judy's poems but now I have all of the background for the character I feel a bit more like it's going to work. Judy is not a ballad either! She is a series of sonnets because she is expressing her feelings (lyric) on daytime television. I'm intending one of the sonnets to be in basic language that Judy might use when cornered but the other two are to be slow and meaningful to counter balance the other poems in the performance. I don't want the piece to be completely hyper.

The script as it stands runs through at seventeen minutes. It currenly only includes three completed poems the rest are either part written or not in place at all. This may mean that the show might end up an hour long with all the props/character changes. If this is the case it will have implications as to where and how I put it on! It would perhaps be better to approach veneues and just do the piece as a one woman show rather than as part of open mic or live lit events where a twenty minute slot would be the maximum.

I watched a one man show at Bantock House in Wolverhampton on Saturday night by Jonathan Collins. He did a Christmas Carol in which he played all of the characters. It was a solid performance and the audience really enjoyed it. His adaptation included masks and a board of woodden characters to represent the Cratchit family. His change of characters worked really well and was handled in the same way I had envisaged for P and J i.e. something distinctive to represent each character. I have, since watching Jonathan Collins, thought that I might not play all of the characters but use a puppet for Mrs Scaramouche and a blow up doll for Pretty Polly! I may have to pay to get Mrs Scaramouche made so need to think about costs.

Away from the P and J front, I've done quite a few gigs recently but not of the usual sort. I did a war poetry event where I was asked to select poems and read them. I really enjoyed this. I also did the compereing for the 5th annual Solihull Slam, which was so hard to do. Marcus Moore and Sara-Jane Arbury make it look easy; they are so good at their jobs. I stood in for Sara-Jane who wasn't well. I nearly messed up the reading of the final scores!!! I got out of it by claiming that I was deliberately building the tension; nobody believed me but they laughed. I also went to a story telling event at the Newhampton Pub in Whitmore Reans (great pub if you get the chance to visit). Taffy Thomas was on (I didn't get chance to see him as I had to leave early and the event was running on too long because of the first part being an open mic. I did a couple of poems which were well recevied. I also did a gig at the lamp tavern which was podcast again and I had somebody recognise me at a workshop and quote my own poems at me! Which was a big buzz. And I've done some workshops with kids as part of my writer in residence work with Wolverhampton libraries.

If this blog entry sounds a little rushed it is because I'm keen to carry on writing Judy! So I'm off now to carry on with it.

2006-11-07T06:19:00.000-08:00

Writing days have been going OK but I'm not getting as much done as I would like. I am working on the ballad of Judy now. This is proving particularly difficult because I've chosen a traditional ballad form and I am struggling with the stresses and beats that it entails. The research is interesting though. I have decided that Judy is a refugee (in keeping with the idea that Punch and Judy as a performance has crossed continents to get to Britain in the form that it now appears in) and I am reading lots of refugee/asylum seeker testimonies.

I had to sacrafice Thursday's writing day (2nd November 2006) as I had a gig in Cardigan. Dave (my partner) and I drove down during the day and met up with Sue Hamblen (poet and organiser of the evening) at about four o'clock ; it was great to hear some of her poems during the night, particularly the 'big woman in PVC poem' which is excellent). She very kindly put us up for the night.

When we got to the venue my name was up in chalk! There was a poster of me in the venue window (I was excited because it was using one of the photographs that Dave Finchett had taken; it looked really good).

I did two twenty minute sets and was paid £100. The gig went well although I was a little nervous at first. I did my Punch poem again and fluffed it a little by missing out a couple of lines. The next day Sue gave me very positive feedback about this poem. Strip poety went well (this is the performance piece that I do regularly); I even did a bit of ad libbing and audience participation! They've invited me back so that might be somewhere to take P and J when (and if) it gets finished.

I also met a local artist who is part of a collective based in the Cardigan area. This may be a useful contact for imagetextimage the group of Wolverhampton artists and poets that I am part of. An exhibition in Wales maybe?

Something I did think about as a result of this gig was that I might be better producing business postcards rather than business cards. Two people asked for copies of some of the poems that I had done as part of my set; this is not the first time that this has happened. I thought that I might produce postcards with poems on and contact details, using the money set aside for business cards. I could then give them to people that asked for poems and/or contact details. Or sell them perhaps.

On the way home I saw some red kites; this wasn't planned but an interesting diversion.

I've typed up the text for my website which I need to send to Ken ASAP. I've run it by a couple of people who have suggested alterations and changes in tone which I will think through and act upon before sending.

I've also emailed the Arts Council to ask if they know of any good spoken word courses or possible mentors as I still have the £475 that was meant for ARVON.

2006-10-23T09:04:00.000-07:00

It's been a little hectic! Hence, no entries for a while. I've had a lot of gigs in a short space of time and I've been finding it a bit difficult to do my writing days (slapped wrists). I did the Cinammon cafe on the 3rd October 2006, that's in Bridgnorth. It's a small, friendly venue and a lovely one to do. I tried out my three minute Punch Poem. It got a big clap, which is quite unusual in mid-set so I'm guessing they must have liked something about it.

On the same bill were Kaliedoscope Theatre (who were brilliant; the actors all have down syndrome and the performance is mime based); I had some interesting thoughts as a result of watching them about how to handle some of my character changes in Poetry with Punch).

On October the 6th I did the Warwick Words Slam. I came joint first with Danni Carberry; a very welcome fifty quid. I didn't get back home until about 1.30 in the morning and I had to be up to catch the train to Cheltenham at ten o'clock. The train, incidentally turned out to be a bus from Birmingham (are we surprised?) .

I did the Cheltenham Festival UK All Stars Slam on the Saturday night. I watched Ronnie Corbett being interviewed first, about his new book. Laugh! No, not really. He clearly hadn't written it himself and didn't know the 'answers' to the questions he was asked about his life. He kind of saved it when he answered general audience questions, which weren't based on the book.
I came second in the Slam! There were about 500 people in the audience. It was well scary. The prize was a gig with Roger McGough the following week. I would have loved that, but never mind I got a hundred quids worth of poetry books and a very nice bottle of wine; very happy with that.

Watched Stella Rimmington the next day, ex head of MI5. It was very interesting and I got an idea for a poem (unfortunately not one related to Punch and Judy).

I was knackered on Monday and nearly fell asleep temping on reception at the Bingley Centre. I went to Ros Godard's book launch on Tuesday (am enjoying reading 'How to Dismantle a Hotel Room). Then Thursday another gig in a pub in Birmingham. I quite enjoyed it even thought it was a tough audience because it wasn't a pub that was used to poetry. Saw John Hegley on Friday, very entertaining (I learned that mixing it up keeps people interested - some poems, some anecdotes, some songs, some audience interaction - see previous notes on Steve Tsane who also mixes it up). I was supposed to go to the Electric Cinema after the Hegley gig, to perform but no transport back to Wolves after 11.40, how crap is that?

I also managed to squeeze in a rejection for my novel during this period and a course run by the tax office on being self-employed (it was free and I'd like to recommend it). Grants and busaries are taxable but prize money isn't. Wonder if Danni Carberry knows!

2006-09-29T06:40:00.000-07:00

2006-09-29T06:27:00.000-07:00

29th September 2006

Dave Finchett (photographer) is back of his hols and has sent me all of the photos as promised. They are fantastic; I'm really pleased. Very lively shots with a contemporary feel. I'm also pleased with the way that I look different when I am being the various personas I use on stage.

Dave has charged me less than I budgeted for because I decided against having a set of prints; it seemed like a waste because most people just seem to ask you to email photos to them. I need to check out what happens when you don't spend as much as you'd said on something. For example: Does this money have to go back to the Arts Council or could I put it towards props (which I'm thinking I may have under-budgeted on) or could I buy another couple of writing days if necessary or could I pay for my train travel to the ARVON course (I didn't allow for that in my budget which I think was a mistake I could have done with that because I bet it's going to be expensive) ? I will keep you posted on the outcome of this.

Having the photographs means that I can now set the ball rolling with Ken Hurd on the website design. I have a meeting with him at 11.30 on Monday.

Better get on and do some writing now.

2006-09-29T06:08:00.000-07:00

27th September 2006

I wrote. I worked on my Punch poem. It now has a title. The title is 'Punch Gets His Story Straight For The Jeremy Kyle Show'. It's a long title I admit.

I have retold Punch's story as if he is justifying himself on daytime tv. Punch is a youngish chav type character. I'm using devices from Rap (i.e punctuating my words with sound effects and silences) and I can feel the influence of Polar Bear (brilliant performance poet) in the piece, particularly in the rhythm and delivery of the poem - I want to experiment with the speeding up and slowing down of the pace to show how Punch becomes angry and then calms himself again. I think this gives an underlying menace to the performance.

I showed it to Dave (my partner) and to Stu (my friend), which of course is ridiculous because you shouldn't show your writing to friends and family because they will just say "that's nice, dear"; except these two wouldn't. They booth gave positive feedback and said that the poem was funny but also held the attention because you felt like you wanted to know what happens next. The comment was also made that the poem read/sounded like 'The Streets' - which pleased me immensely. I'm not sending it to my writing buddy (Jane Seabourne) yet. I will be interested to here her comments; she is a very different sort of poet to me and therefore gives a different and envaluable prespective on the things that I write.

'Punch gets his..." is just over three minutes long which means I could cut it back slightly and use it as a stand alone poem for Slam Competitions. I might try it out at Cheltenham All Stars Slam, which is not this weekend but the weekend after.

There are still some clunky bits in the poem but on the whole I feel quite pleased with it. The narration only goes as far as the baby being thrown out of the window so I'm thinking that there are two more poems of about the same length too be had using Punch as a narrator in this way. I'm going to try and develop them next. This way I will feel like I've filled some substantial chunks of time poetry wise and hopefully feel that the thirty minutes I've set myself is doable.

2006-09-29T05:48:00.000-07:00

22nd September 2006

Enjoyed my writing day today. I scrapped the 'mixed media' poem for the time being and began writing as punch. I imagined Punch was talking to his lawyer after a day when all the events one sees in a P & J show had happened to him. I got a voice going which I was pleased with.

24th September 2006

Got to see a real life P & J show at Northicote Farm, Wolverhampton. It was a 'harvest festival day' and Wendy (she's the mother of my partner's kids - that sounds a bit P & J in itself) tipped me off that there was going to be a show.

I got there and there was this very spritely elderly woman, a stripy fit-up and no audience. She went off to drum up trade with one arm up a toy monkey's bottom. The woman had an outfit on that was rather like the one Judy wears (Hey, if it works, don't knock it and it sort of did). Ten minutes late with an audience of about fifteen, ranging from two years to about one hundred and two, the show kicked off.

It started with the P & J lady making a ladder out of newspaper (it was better than it sounds, trust me!), then the Scaramouche character appears. This character is traditional and has a long extending neck that is not imediately apparent; he got some laughs with it too. Punch appeared scaring infants. Judy and the baby followed. There was a police officer, a ghost, Joey the clown, some sausages and I do remember a crocodile which lay flat on the playboard for a while looking a bit lifeless, well she has only got two hands. The story also involved the appearance of a spider (which I've not come across in any of the reading I've done).

All the character's voices were the same (male or female) except the voice of punch which was the traditional swazzle voice. It didn't matter that all the character's voices were the same because they only ever spoke to punch so there was never any problem identifying who was talking. The swapping of voices was handled really deftly; that must take a lot of practice. I would love to tray out a swazzle but I would be scared of swallowing it! That type of thing happens to me!

The audience reaction was a treat - I watched faces. Kids were bemused, enthralled, amused and adults seemed to be just as held by the entertainment. Strangely, the older kids of about ten and eleven seemed to be the most taken with it.

BUT. And it's a big but; there was no violence. No slapping! I was disappointed and there was no hangman or devil! The best bits removed!

It was great to see it though. I'd like to see some more shows and compare them to this one.

2006-09-18T08:58:00.000-07:00

13th September 2006

Last night I performed at Wolverhampton City Voices. I did a set of newish poems and included one that I had finished about an hour before. It is about neighbourhood watch and I may be using it for one of the character's in Poetry with Punch. It went down well.

Today was my studio session!!! Photographic shoot!!! Kate Moss, pah. I was a true professional. Well, in truth the photographer was a true professional. Dave Finchett was excellent, he made it really easy. I did some shots of me performing Strip Poetry (which is a performance piece that I do regularly) , some shots of my stand-up comedy character, some shots which would be suitable for literature festival brochures (which I have been asked for a couple of times this year) and some shots of the props I use for kid's poetry. The only bit I found difficult was when he needed to take pictures of me as me! I wonder what that says about me? Answers on a postcard please.

Anyway, Dave will let me have the pictures when he comes back off his holidays and then I can contact the website man to begin building that.

I feel that things have moved forward a little (I also got confirmation that I have a place on the Arvon Course). The only thing I need to do now is write some bloody stuff. 'Mixed Media' the poem is pooh!

2006-09-07T05:59:00.000-07:00

1st September 2006 - the day I could start accessing the money from the Arts Council...I sat and thought about what I would do and have decided that for the time being I will have my writing days on Wednesday's and Friday's leaving the rest of the week to temp. I have been working on reception for a place called the Bingley Centre; it's in Wolverhampton and they are happy for me to work three days in this way.

I also sent off a booking form for a 'spoken word' course run by the Arvon Foundation. I have heard really good things about their courses but I haven't been able to afford one before. Although, now I've re-read their literature you can apply for a grant to attend their courses if you're a bit hard up (good to know).

Next, I checked into public liability insurance because you need this to work in schools. It's about £75. It only takes about a week for it to come through so I'll hang fire and wait to see if work in schools looks at all likely.

After that, I went round to my Mum and Dad's to blag some tea! Little things like this will make the grant stretch further.

4th September 2006
I went to visit Laurence ? (Lozz) and recorded some poems for a podcast! Ehh! Aren't you impressed (what's a podcast?) Anyway it went OKish, although I didn't prepare links between the poems which mean't that I waffled inanely and sounded like a bit of a dick. I always prepare links between poems when I'm performing to avoid this type of embarrassment so why I didn't think to do it for this I don't know. I'm not looking forward to listening to it.

At least I managed to mention the Arts Council had funded me! You have to use a certain phrase if intereviewed about what you are doing and you have to use the Arts Council logo on everything you produce to do with the project (they detail the correct way to do this in a booklet that they send to you). It could be quite easy to forget or overlook this specification, especailly if you didn't read the guidelines until after the project was finished (not that anybody would do that- ho hum!)

The website address for downloading the podcasts is www.blackcountrypodcasting.com. I promised to point any suitable poets or musicians from the Black Country in Lozz's direction; he's interested in people who write and perform their own stuff. Networking seems to be vital to get work or generate interest in what you are doing. I've made a note to self to ask Lozz for another go at podcasting when I have written my new material; he said that most people used the sessions for blantant self-publicity, which is a great opportunity and not to be missed out on.

5th September 2006

First writing day...I have decided to write a poem which is three minutes long and therefore useable in slam competitions. I am going to write about the way the media is in this country and hopefully clarify some of the themes that are going to be underlying my Punch and Judy performance piece. Having seen some excellent performance poetry in the shape of 'Exposed' which is and Apples and Snakes/Arts Council production I am fired up to attempt a fast motor mouth type of poem.

I've been listening to Eminem and reading his lyrics; I like the speed of his tracks and I like the various sounds and other voices that appear in his work; these seem to counterpoint the main thrust of the rap.

I went to 'Six of the Best' last night, in Birmingham. This is a live literature event which is run by the poet laureatte of Birmingham, Richard Grant (also know as Dreadlockalien). Elvis McGoneegal was on. He is the UK and now World Slam champion. Fantastic! Political and fast moving poetry. He uses highly adept accents and impressions of Bush and Blair to bring his work to life. Lots of soundbites. This is the type of thing I am aiming for in my poem Mixed Media (working title). Incidentally, I got soundly beaten by Elvis in the Cheltenham Science Festival Slam.

2006-07-19T06:45:00.000-07:00

I've re- read my Arts Council Funding application and it goes something like this:-

* research/writing time to develop a piece of performance
poetry around Punch and Judy.
* production of publicity materials including a website; for promotion of my
performance poetry pieces.
* participation in a course which would help me develop my performance skills
e.g. Arvon

Actually it goes exactly like this because I just copied it out of the application and pasted in to this. The above was what I put on the application form to describe the activity I was proposing to do.

The next bit (below) is the 'Proposal' that I put together. You have to write a bit about what you are going to do and relate it to each one of the six given headings.

You and your work

I want to develop a thirty-minute piece of performance poetry that is based upon Punch and Judy. It would be my aim to produce contemporary performance poetry using the characters from Punch and Judy as narrators. I want to produce work that draws on the nature of the Punch and Judy tradition.

I would like to produce ‘props’, for use in the act, which can be easily transportable by one person using a rucksack; this would mean that the show can be performed anywhere it might be requested.

I would like to amuse and provoke thought amongst my audiences. I wish to write accessible poetry that might interest non-traditional poetry audiences.

I already have a fifteen/thirty minute performance piece, which I regularly perform at spoken word/live literature events. This performance element of my work is beginning to take off and I feel that I now need to develop another piece. I need to be able to perform new work at the places that I have previously visited and be able to do longer sets as I’m now being requested to do.

I would like to produce a website which has sound bites and examples of my poetry, in order to promote my work.

Making it happen

I need to buy writing time to make this happen. I would envisage writing one poem every two weeks and developing my ‘props’ in tandem with the poetry as it is completed. This would enable me to produce the piece in six months. I have produced a previous performance piece in this way and know that I am capable of hitting a self-imposed deadline.

The budget

I have estimated that I would need £5,000 to complete this work; £500 will be provided from my own funds. I would like to buy writing time and intend to pay for publicity material as detailed on the budget form. I would want the website to be a tool for promoting my performance work thus generating future income for myself therefore having a positive effect on my long-term financial position.

I intend to keep records of my income and expenditure for tax purposes and to prove that I have spent any grant money, which may be awarded, in an appropriate way.

Benefit to you and the public

Any new material produced should enable me to continue to perform
at spoken word/live literature events across the country and therefore reach larger audiences, hopefully fostering a wider interest in poetry.

I have a teaching background and an MA in creative writing; I would be able to offer creative writing workshops in conjunction with performances, encouraging people to begin writing or develop their writing skills. I have worked with a wide range of groups in the past including children, homeless men, probation, young adults, third age, people with disabilities and/or learning difficulties and would hope to be able to use a new performance piece as a way of continuing to do so. Benefits for participants might include improvements in basic skills, personal well-being, confidence etc. I would advertise workshops via the website and possibly also suggest creative writing activities that could be used by teachers (so that the website is, in part, a teaching resource).

Meeting our ambitions for the arts

This grant would support me as an individual artist long enough to write a new performance poetry piece. It would also enable me to set up promotional tools, which would generate more work for me via both the performance elements and workshop elements. This in turn would enable me to continue to develop a growth of interest in poetry amongst audiences and workshop participants.

Evaluation

I would evaluate this activity by producing an online blog detailing the development of the piece from inception up until the point of its first performance (and maybe beyond).

From this diary, I would produce a list of the things I have learned/would do differently next time etc.

I would keep a record of the number of audiences reached via performance and website hits/feedback. I would keep reviews of performances and/or workshop evaluation sheets as evidence of success (or failure!).

That seems straightforward enough doesn't it?!? Just got to think of something to write and start organising the bits and pieces I've promised to do. Oh, is that all.

2006-07-14T06:51:00.000-07:00

Why Punch and Judy? I dunno. I don't even like Punch and Judy shows. At least I don't think I do. To tell the truth I'm not even sure I've watched one all the way through.

Hmm. I think this idea has something to do with standing in a Punch and Judy booth in a museum in Brighton last summer and putting a Punch Puppet on my hand. Something felt horribly right about it. What is it about Punch, as a character at any rate, that's so appealing and why, oh why, did I think I could work with the evil old goat? What is it that makes Punch universal and endlessly fascinating for generation after generation.

Hold on! Is Punch and Judy actually still poplular? Are children and adults fascinated by it? Am I assuming too much here? For all I know it may no longer be popular. When did you last see a Punch and Judy show?

I need help!!! I need to see a show!!! I need to watch the audience reaction, assuming that there is an audience and not just a couple of ragged donkeys staring on through rheumy eyes as a doddery old bloke with a mangy dog and wood wormy puppets hits himself over the head with a slap-stick in a patched, sun bleached booth.

I want to know if my assumptions are correct. If there is an audience I want to see there reactions, hear their comments.

Perhaps a trip to the seaside is in order.

Did you know Samuel Pepys recorded the fact that he went to a Punch and Judy show in his diary?

2006-07-12T11:35:00.000-07:00

Well, I've got this Arts Council Funding; it's for an idea I've got to write a performance poetry piece that's somehow linked to Punch and Judy. That's the trouble, it is just an idea. I am to start writing on the first of September but I thought I'd set up this blog today because the money has gone in to my bank account and the project sort of seems real now. I said that one of my ways of evaluating this project would be to set up a Blog so here it is. See, I'm keen; I'm as good as my word!

I intend to research Punch and Judy for the next month or so. I intend to read, look at, talk about anything Punch and Judy related. I intend to get Punch drunk, go into puppet overload. That's the way to do it. I'm sure it is.

Incidentally did you know that a Punch and Judy person is called a professor and the booth is called a 'fit-up'. I have to put my hand up (puppet joke, lol), neither did I.

At some point soon I'm also going to re-read what I said I'd do with the funding money! I think that would be helpful.