Jonathan Dodd‘s latest column. Guest opinion articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the publication. Ed
This week I did two new things, and both of them were excellent. I do like to do new things, partly because they’re almost invariably fun, and they have the advantage of not being old and therefore familiar. I’ve always felt that one of the secrets of good health and long life is a diet of change.
Due to a series of circumstances, this week I discovered myself volunteering to host an Open Mic Poetry evening at Ryde Library. I had never been to one of these events before, so I had no idea what was going to happen or how, and whether there were any protocol holes that I might inevitably fall into. So perhaps I was ideally suited to the job.
Dedicated craftspeople
The most unknown thing about the evening was that I did dabble in a bit of poetry myself a few years ago, but had never read any of it out loud in front of actual people. I was delighted to find out that I was really nervous about the idea of standing up and reading my own work.
As it turned out, the evening seemed to be a success. Poets of all kinds turned up from all over the Island and read a great variety of different and excellent work, and everybody listened politely and thoughtfully, and applauded each poet as they came to the end of each work. It was truly civilised, and I was amazed to see how much talent there is out there.
I did stand up and read what I thought were my finest poems, and received exactly the same treatment as everyone else, which allowed me to feel for a moment or two a fellowship with these dedicated craftspeople who labour in the shadows without much realistic hope of being published or becoming richer or more famous.
Possible madness and ruin
My own brush with poetry was at a Creative Writing evening class I attended several years ago. It was run by a bona fide genuine poet, who had a slim volume of published work, and I enjoyed seeing if I could do it myself. I found myself in danger of becoming obsessional, spending weeks worrying over the order of words and trying to tease out precise meanings from phrases that simply wouldn’t co-operate.
That way, I thought, lies possible madness and ruin, so I stopped. But on Tuesday night, listening to all those Island poets, I began to wonder if I should try to write some poetry again. Besides, we’ll be running another Open Mic session next year, and I’ll have to have some new material to read.
The second new thing I did this week was to go to see Stephen Fry et al. Perform Twelfth Night live at the Globe Theatre. It was a wonderful experience, especially since I was able to see it at Cineworld in Newport.
I’ve not been to any of these cinema broadcasts before, although my wife has. It’s not that I’m snobbish and would only see it at the real theatre in London with all the expense that would entail, and it’s not because I thought it might not be very good. I just haven’t been at the right place at the right time before.
It makes great sense
I’m amazed that nobody thought of it before. All these great plays that receive glowing reviews, and opera performances and great ballet used to be unavailable to most people unless they lived in London. They’re certainly not possible to go and see from the Island without a night at a hotel or a sleepless night waiting for ferries.
Perhaps people thought it would never catch on, or the technology wasn’t available before, but now that it has been done, more and more events are being made available in cinemas all over the country. It makes great sense.
An interval in the middle
I know that this particular performance wasn’t live as in being performed and viewed simultaneously, partly because there was an invitation to buy the DVD onscreen before the performance. But it was presented as if it was live, in real time, with an interval in the middle. The cameras were able to show the whole stage from all angles, even behind, so you could see the audience enjoying it too, and they were able to go close-up for important speeches, so you could see it all in a way you couldn’t if you were in the back seats of the stalls.
The screen was packed, even though the tickets cost slightly more than cinema tickets, so there’s obviously a market out there. I was a little disappointed to note that most of the audience were of a mature age, but there’s no reason why those entrepreneurial people out there shouldn’t keep extending this idea to include rock concerts and even festivals. I think it might catch on.
Doing something new
Everyone in the audience enjoyed it, and they all behaved impeccably throughout, paying attention and not making food noise or talking. And nobody’s phone went off. It was great.
My best moment came afterwards, while using the facilities. There was one man in there, older than me I believe. After washing his hands, he noticed that there were two hand-blowers on the wall next to each other, so he switched them both on and waved one hand under each machine, as if conducting an orchestra, with a beautiful smile on his face.
I think that must have been someone else doing something new.
If you have been, thank you for reading this.
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