Pam Ayres is alive & well & spoken word performance isn't all about teeth
By BusyMrFizzy
I am off to the dentist this week to have a tooth out. Not much fun at all, and something that I probably could have avoided. If only I’d looked after my teeth. And there it is, the only line of poetry that most of the baby boomers will know off by heart, whilst also knowing the name of the writer & performer. Pam Ayres, MBE, became the poster girl of poetic performance in the late 1970s when she became a household name, after appearing on the talent show, ‘Opportunity Knocks’.
Her most remembered piece, “I wish I’d looked after me teeth” was performed at the Royal Variety Performance for Elizabeth II. She became synonymous with the reading aloud of a poem & I am not sure that was such a good thing.
Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s a brilliantly clever & funny piece, and in some ways she represents all us poets. The slightly shy, timid, ‘How did I get here?’ housewife from Wales, suddenly standing in the spotlight, exposing her inner thoughts to the world. But as a spoken word performer & poet myself, she is also somewhat a chain around my ankle, as I try desperately to show that performance poetry, can be all manner of things other than clean, wholesome, and cute.
As part of Rugby Literary Festival, I am hosting a new event which hopes to change your view on public poetic performances. ‘A Poetic Interruption’ will take over Rugby’s Aviary Bar for the evening, and ask those present to see a totally different side of performance. As the evening is interrupted by various performers from poets, writers, artists, storytellers and actors, you will be challenged and confronted by break-out performances. No longer do we all stand still and read a poem, whilst wearing a cardigan (although we can if we want to and may well do!).
Think of this as a ‘wordy’ version of the recent craze for flashmob’s. Those dancers who simultaneously break out into a routine in the middle of a shopping centre, then fade away as quickly as they arrived. Now, I don’t want to spoil the fun, or give away the ending, but perhaps a few hints and tips as to what you might see would help explain my mission?
As you sit, enjoying your drinks and chatting to your friends, the lights in the room change to red, a hush descends, and two voices in the room become gradually louder. You are aware you are overhearing an argument take place. Is it real? Is it a performance? A married couple perhaps, arguing over a bill? As the performance builds up and the entire room listens in, you get a sense of being witness to a private discussion, a clever piece of writing, and two great performers playing out a scene that could be commonplace in most homes. You laugh and get carried away for a moment, following a story unfold.
Later, another performance is about to interrupt your night. A poet this time, playing two parts at the same time, one a performing poet reading aloud his work, the other, a perfectly timed and scripted ‘heckler’. Both are working together and against each other to create a performance that brings laughter and joy.
This is the power of performance poetry & spoken word art. It isn’t all poems, and rarely are they about teeth. It can be a sonnet, a song lyric, or a passage from a book. A ghost story, a metaphoric tale about a grasshopper named Benjamin, and it can even be done whilst hula- hooping. It is the performance, the staging and the passion I want you to see. Look passed the person, the room and the words, and see the entire ethos of the work shine instead.
I challenge you to change the way we see performance poetry, come sample ‘A Poetic Interruption’ at The Aviary Bar. (N.B. Pam Ayres is alive and well at 78 years old, and now looks after her teeth.)
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