Ben Macpherson Does Poems at Adults opens Tuesday 6th October at Vaulty Towers, preparing audiences for a range of poetry. Learn more about what you can expect:
1: What sparked the idea for the production?
Ben Macpherson Does Poems at Adults came from the fact I could never pick a set list when I was gigging so I wanted to put that power under audience control. Poetry is often something we receive, particularly at school or traditional poetry nights. The poet reads, the audience responds. I wanted to make that more of a conversation.
2: How do poems help to express feeling?
Poems are all about play, in the developmental sense of the word, we are going to pretend, imagine, and try to understand the world in miniature. That doesn’t mean they are all silly or joyful, though plenty of them are, some are trying to play a game of empathy, disgust, nostalgia. We learn best from play
3: How can audiences influence the production?
This show is all about the audience – Thirty numbers sit around the stage each with 2 different vibes on them. The audience call out the numbers they want to see, be that silly, sexy, sad or sweet and that’s what we do!
4: What is your favourite poem ever written?
My favourite poem?! That a very tough question – a poet I keep coming back to again and again is Caroline Bird, a beautiful writer who blends the witty and profound, Pick up any collection of her’s and you are going to have good read. I also have a love of Hillaire Belloc who wrote very funny cautionary tales for kids – Check out Matilda who Told Lies and Burned to Death.
5: What will audiences take away from the production?
BMDPAA is a one man poetry variety show, so I hope the audience leave having laughed, maybe had a little think about a more emotional piece. If I could convert some cynics to the poetry cause I would be pretty happy too!
6: What has been the most enjoyable part about creating the production?
The most enjoyable thing about making the production is curating what poems could go in the show. No hour show can do all of the poems, we usually do about 13 of the 30, so taking my back catalogue of about 200 poems and picking a top 30 with enough variety to make any given show feel special is fun. It also means that every year or so I freshen the line up with new works and old favourites. It means audiences can come again and they will get a different show no matter what.
Ben Macpherson Does Poems at Adults opens Tuesday 6th October at Vaulty Towers. Many thanks to Ben Macpherson for answering our questions. Book your tickets here!
Leave a Reply