Inspired by Whoopi Goldberg - On Broadway, I wanted to write a show that would take me out from behind the mic stand as a performance poet on to the theatre stage as a poet who enlivens the poetic word for the stage.
Image by Kofi Allen
'Security' was inspired by Sarah Jones' one woman show, 'Bridge & Tunnel', Hip Hop movement artist and creator of the photography genre choreo-photolism, Benji Reid,
and lyricist and theatre maker, Will Power's Seven Story Tellers.
I have a lot to thank these artists for, as they opened my eyes to the possibility of where the written poetic word could go in a performance space. That space could be a theatre venue. However, the joy in discovering the power of words echoing in the bod by studying the
performance practices of these artists - whose work is rooted in Hip Hop culture - meant that I could deliver my poetry and spoken word humbly and powerfully in any space.
It must be remembered that first and foremost Hip Hop is a culture of healing for people of African and Latinx American descent, who evolved their inner cities identities in East coast America. Shout out to Kool Herc. The original Hip Hop mantra is Peace, Love, Unity and having fun! All I which I experience throughout the making of this emotionally complex, yet liberating show.
"In his award-winning 2005 book, Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, the journalist and academic Jeff Chang locates the foundations of hip-hop in the social policies of "urban renewal". - Source Article - www.bbc.com/culture/article
Also, I found the work of the afore mentioned artists, who are all American, except for Manchester born and bred Benji Reid, spoke to the American part of my parentage. My father is from St, Louis Missouri, one of the most disenfranchised areas in America, yet, politically active in the civil rights movement.
My mother is of Caribbean heritage from the Windrush generation, although the cruise vessel she arrived on, without her mother and an elder she never saw again after the day she arrived, was call 'May.' I, myself, identify as Afri-Carib-British. I will quantify this: I am of African descent with a Caribbean heritage and a British migrant settler experience.
As an Afri-Carib-British American working class woman, I am  socially politicised as Black. 'Security' enabled me to explore some of the most difficult themes I have grappled with in my socially conscious mind - that of youth violence, youth sexual health, what is happening in Gaza, and grief.
Images: Kofi Allen circa 2009
I was mentored by Guy Dartnell who advanced my performance practice exponentially. With Dartnell's Voic(e)motion practice, I was able to make a complete connection between my voice and my body, exploring 'energetic space-taking' on stage. With improvisational movement and vocalised breath, I was able to answer questions about how the body and voice can change the energy in a designated performance space. The goal is to guide the audience towards empathetic connection and understanding within a story or poem.
There is no Self realisation without embodiment, no growth without the attempt to give the Invisible a visible form.
– Thomas Prattki
The principles of an embodied creative practice became evidently more important in my time spent at LISPA - London School of International of Performing Arts, now ARTHAUS Berlin.
Thomas Prattki's embodiment work became a foundational cornerstone to my evolution as a poet who wanted to move from behind the microphone to the theatre stage.
The added layer of using words as imaginative sparks to compel movement, gave me a clear purpose and direction for my writing as a wrote the show that became, 'Security.' 'Security' toured nationally and played for 3 weeks at the Battersea Arts centre. With the support of the director, Anthony Shrubsall, the final show made it to the Shizuoka Spring Festival in Japan in 2010. This was definitely I highlight in my poetry life. More on how I came to find the director for this show in a later blog post! You can see more about the ethos and reason for its being at https://zenaedwards.wordpress.com/
Security was presented by Apples and Snakes Poetry and produced by Talita Moffatt.
~ Zena ~
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