Radikal Words at Newcastle’s Northern Stage
2nd
April 2014
If your patter was watter than we’d all drown
Musician
Ditte Elly and her band opened the bi-annual eclectic feast with her delicate
melodramatic songs. She skilfully flies around the fretboard of her guitar
whilst gently describing the moods of winter. The host
Jeff Price then treats us to one his own canny poems before Rowan McCabe
springs onto the stage. The Hebburn lad had a musicality to his ditties about
being the bookish lad who is brought up and not accepted as a true Geordie. He
announced that he has a play coming in the Autumn which will be worth seeing
based upon tonight’s lively performance.
Charming Arabella Arnot covered a number of topics from predatory males,
adolescence, old age and life in the West end of Newcastle.
David Lee Morgan returned to the region he studied in to put the
performance into performance poetry with a provocative take on love, Santa and
revolution. His energetic delivery was
highly stimulating. Mandy Maxwell brought amusement to the stage with her suggestions
on how to get rid of problem people and her flatulence tales. At the core of
Mandy’s act are tales about the young
people that she has got to know in her work. Such anecdotes are a mixture of
hope and despair.
The evening concluded with a solo performance
from Bristol’s
Dizraeli who can normally be found fronting the hiphop band ‘Dizraeli and the
Small Gods’. He mixed music and poetry seamlessly. He was absolutely correct to
point out that the evening was full of talented acts who would be given greater
exposure if there was justice and yet our radios are full of bland diversion.
Dizraeli exposed a strong folk influence in his material.
The evening was a treat in an intimate
venue. Radikal Words returns to Northern Stage in November.
This review was written by
Stephen Oliver
for Jowheretogo PR (www.jowheretogo.com).
Follow Jo on twitter @jowheretogo, Stephen @panic_c_button or like Jowheretogo
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