The Night Words Festival - Preview
Sydney Opera House Studio, March 6-8
The Night Words Festival is a three day celebration of spoken word, performance poetry and word artistry at the Sydney Opera House Studio. Curated by spoken word artist Miles Merrill, the show gathers more than 20 performers from around Australia. “It’s a way of celebrating Australian stories instead of rehashing American and European clichés,” he says. “It’s about respecting the stories that are experienced and told here.”
The March 6 opening night is a party with the theme of poetry. “We’ll have people delivering poems on trays and in fortune cookies, taking groups from the audience into back rooms for private poems, and live music by Entropic. When the lights drop, the room focuses on the feature performances such as a freestyle battle between Bravo Child and Morganics, or Linda Jaivin performing to music.” Guests include Ozi Batla (The Herd), Emily Zoe Baker, Ghost Boy and Alana Hicks.
The second night is a loose chronology of spoken word in Sydney, going back to the Ern Malley hoax. “It follows the movement in the 70s and 80s to the poetry slams of today.” Featuring ‘Legends of the Word’ Tug Dumbly, Wednesday Kennedy, Phil Norton, Miles Merrill and Edwina Blush, and special guests Kev Carmody, Steve Kilbey (The Church) and Amanda Stewart.
In the March 8 Slamarama, three teams battle it out to the sounds of Waiting for Guinness. Four ‘Legends of the Word’ take on hip-hip poets ‘Make it Dance’ and ‘The Upstarts’, the winners of last year’s National Poetry Slam. The audience will judge the winners.
Merrill believes strongly in poetry as a live art and a force for change. Last year he organised the National Poetry Slam, and he tours schools, festivals and theatres spreading the word and encouraging people to write their own stories.
“I think it’s amazing what just one person on stage can stimulate with just a mic and their words. In this day and age I don’t think anybody can be silent. There’s just too much apathy and too much to be horrified about for people to not get up and speak out.” (Lachlan Jobbins)
The Night Words Festival
The Studio - Sydney Opera House
Thursday 6th to Saturday 8th March, 7:30pm
All tickets $25 or concession $20.
Bookings: (02) 9250 7777 or online at www.sydneyoperahouse.com
Published March 1st, 2008 in City News and Bondi View from Alternative Media Group.
