My character for the three Phoenix Pub episodes of Roll For Intelligence was Dwarven Heavy Metal Battle Mage, Mack the Truck
During 2017 I was involved with the Dungeons and
Dragons performance group Roll For Intelligence. Our first two shows were part
of the 2017 You Are Here and held upstairs in the Civic Pub. Our group performed
to capacity crowds both nights, which was an excellent start. We went on to do
three shows in the Phoenix Pub, and our grand finale for the year was a
Christmas special at Smiths Alternative. The group is made up of our producer,
Morgan Little, our Dungeon Master Josh Bell, as well as players, Euan Bowen,
Helen Luan, Joel Barcham, Sharona Lin, and me. We also have a bard, Jack Collins, who plays
all our environmental and mood music, and we were joined by
artist Arran McKenna for some of the nights.
The podcast of the Christmas Special is in two parts.
Once someone said to Andrew they wanted to go to an event, ‘because a
bespoke poem had been written for a pop-up venue’ and Andrew wanted to punch
that person in the face. Instead he wrote a poem about carpets. He questions,
is there a need to fight poetry, how violent do we need to be with poetry, does
poetry afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted or is it the reverse,
and is it just too easy to go with aggression? Fighting poetry isn’t a lifelong
commitment, it is bloody victory and whimpering defeat.
Synopsis
Fighting
Poetry is a symbolic narrative of three rounds of poetry combat. The
performance tracks Andrew as he swings against the clichés, tropes and
characters of poetry writing and performance. In the second act he is unable to
escape these same concepts that drive him to poetry violence as blow after blow
rains on him. A framed snapshot of his first ten years of writing, publishing
and performing poetry, this is a show that delves into the perspectives, tools
and objectives of poets writing and performing their work. It is both
Canberra-centric in its examinations but wider-ranging in its exploration of and
experiments with poetry.
The play
uses two key facets of satire: 1) it allows you to say almost anything and 2) it
can go places that serious discussion may not. As satirical theatre founded in
poetry and polemic, Fighting Poetry tackles some problems faced by satire,
including preaching to the choir rather than confronting the target, that art
doesn’t change other minds as much as it changes the creator’s life, that satire
doesn’t work if you are obviously trying to be funny, and that satire should be
full of teeth.
Background
Fighting
Poetry was developed by Andrew Galan for You Are Here 2017. Its development was
assisted by funding from the festival. The text and performance of Fighting
Poetry received invaluable dramaturgy from Canberra theatre practitioner Nick
Delatovic. The play was staged on 6 April 2017 as part of the festival.
The play
makes use of Andrew’s poetry previously published in Australian and
international poetry journals as well as his first two books, That Place of Infested Roads (Knives
Forks and Spoons Press) and For All The
Veronicas (Bareknuckle Books). New poems written for the play during the
development of the work over six months were also included.
The key
objectives of the work was to create theatre that makes people think about the
use of poetry and that prompts them to buy poetry books.
Key development processes
Movement
and positioning during the play was devised while working with Nick Delatovic
to strengthen and extend the performers range of action, as well as to ensure
that these actions were deliberate and symbolic. This was done over four months
and facilitated the exploration of positioning to show key concepts and assist
the audience in absorbing the play.
The composition
of the text was designed to integrate the scripted monologues with already
written and new poems in a way that formed a coherent theatre piece. The intent
was to use the poetry seamlessly. This process involved re-scripting with
advice from Nick, as well feedback from two rehearsal reads with invited
audiences.
Scripting
and staging the play involved careful consideration to ensure that the satire
targeted the tropes of poetry and that the invective served the key polemics of
the work rather than engaging in needless ad‑hominem attacks.
Audience reactions
‘Andrew
Galan’s one man poet(ry) assault unit in action’ – Aaron Kirby, public servant
and performance artist
‘Stoic
isn’t the right word.’ – Cameron Thomas, theatre practitioner and bottle-shop
manager
‘This
feels like a book launch.’ – Ryan Schipper, poet and computer engineer
‘A show
that made me stop and think more about why we love poetry why we write, what we
write and how.’ – Akka Bellengen, photographer, poet and parent
‘You’re
an arsehole’ – Scott Sneddon, physical performer and Co-Director of Ruckus Slam
‘You’ve
made me think about what I write and perform.’ – Scott Batum, poet and BMA
reviewer
‘Having a
fashion crisis over which suit of armour to wear to this.’ – Dr Adele
Chynoweth, academic and theatre practitioner
‘Where
can I buy a book?’ – Andrew Yallop, writer and student
About Once
someone said to Andrew they wanted to go to an event, ‘because a bespoke poem
had been written for a pop-up venue’ and Andrew wanted to punch that person in
the face. Instead he wrote a poem about carpets. He questions, is there a need
to fight poetry, how violent do we need to be with poetry, does poetry afflict
the comfortable and comfort the afflicted or is it the reverse, and is it just
too easy to go with aggression? Fighting poetry isn’t a lifelong commitment, it
is bloody victory and whimpering defeat.
Watch
Andrew fight poetry as part of You Are Here.
Artist
Andrew
Galan is an internationally published poet and co-producer of renowned poetry
event BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT!. Described by reviewers as ‘riddled with satire’,
his poetry is gut, direct, and imagination and reality meeting to eat and
fight. Showcased at events including the Woodford, National Folk and Queensland
Poetry festivals, and Chicago’s Uptown Poetry Slam, his verse appears in
journals such as the Best Australian Poems, Otoliths, Verity La and Cordite.
That Place of Infested Roads (Life During Wartime) – KF&S Press, 2013 – is
his first book. His latest is For All The Veronicas (The Dog Who Staid) –
Bareknuckle Books, 2016.
This
event is presented as part of the You Are Here Festival 2017. For the full
YAH17 program, please visit: www.youareherecanberra.com.au
On
Wednesday 16 March, 8:00pm in the Phoenix Pub, BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! launches
the Australian Capital Territory’s definitive national anthem, THE
BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! CANBERRA NATIONAL ANTHEM.
THE
BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! CANBERRA NATIONAL ANTHEM
To fix
Canberra’s Centenary Celebration’s failure, BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! commissioned
Canberra’s renaissance person of fitness and music, Nick Delatovic, to compose
THE BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! CANBERRA NATIONAL ANTHEM.
The
inaugural singing is at BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! in the Phoenix Pub, before forever
being free online under creative commons.
Find the
lyrics in Bill Poetries (as part of the Noted Festival) and in your very own
songbook available at the Phoenix Pub on the night.
Be part
of history as BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! gives Civic, the inner north, the Australian
Capital Territory, Australia, the World what they’ve always needed- THE
BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! CANBERRA NATIONAL ANTHEM.
Since
2009, BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! has fought for poetry in the Australian Capital
Territory! It’ll fight anyone for poetry, even when no one wants poetry fought
for. Which is frequently. To that end, with the support of the Phoenix Pub, it
runs BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! as the World’s first and last poetry slam in The
Phoenix, and with the support of the Ainslie and Gorman Arts Centres it runs
the Salt Room in the Gorman Arts Centre. The Salt Room is the poetry night
Canberra deserves. The longest-running team behind BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT!
contains Andrew Galan, Joel Barcham and Amanda Coghlan, with regular assistance
from Canberra’s documentator of Canberra’s Arts Scene, Adam Thomas.
Thanks to
Merloc where the recording is taking place, and thanks to Ryan Schipper for his
support as one of the producers.
Thanks
also to long-time sponsors Impact Comics and The Games Capital.
Ashley Thompson and I talked all things Noted festival with ABC radio on
Wednesday 11 March. You can read an article that came from our discussions
with Adam Shirley on the ABC website.
BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT!
versus FEMINARTSY versus THE FESTIVALS!
IT IS THE
TIME WHEN BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! FIGHTS THE YOU ARE HERE AND THIS YEAR YOU ARE
HERE BRINGS THE NOTED FESTIVAL!
AND
BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT! HAS INVITED FEMINARTSY!
And
Feminartsy said yes!
IT’LL BE
A BLOODBATH.
You no
doubt have many questions, here are answers.
FIRST!
BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT!
is the poetry slam, your poetry slam, the poetry slam that gives you a stage,
two microphones, many audience, poets, The Master of Conflict, a surprising
amount of MCs, sound, scores, with score adding, by The Score Adder, plus a
sacrificial poet.
ALL FOR
PRIZES AND GLORY AND A CURRICULUM VITAE ENTRY AND DRINKING.
ALL FOR
YOUR 2 MINUTES OF POETRY!
Second
BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT!
has teamed up with Feminartsy, Noted and YouAreHere in a grand battle of poetry
conflict and word showcasing with bonus mystery act!
Third
PRIZES!
Fourth
BRING
YOUR WORDS AND YOU TO BAD!SLAM!NO!BISCUIT!
Five!
FEATURE
ACTS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER
Representing
You Are Here as part of I Hate You for Sentimental Reasons is:
Nicola
Lambert!
Bare-knuckle
boxing's illegal. Corporal punishment's out of fashion. Project Mayhem came to
nothing. What recourse is left to a city in need of improvement but to invite
its brightest minds to verbally excoriate its flaws? Throughout You Are Here
experts are delivering short, bloody, insight-laden calls to arms.
In this
episode first Nicola Lambert, artist and arts facilitator, questions
the cultural inclusiveness of the ACT's arts programs!
Don't
miss this pointed brutalisation of your beloved capital's shortcomings!
Beige
Brown is Australia’s foremost feminist performance poet. Her permutative sound
poetry ingests uncertainty into the phallogentric project of mainstream
literary culture, exploding the big edifice to spurt many smaller openings. A
past honoured guest at Crack & Griffringe, she is highly regarded by
discerning members of Australia’s literary cognoscenti.
And there
will be an additional surprise guest!
WE WILL
TELL YOU NOTHING OF THEM.
So
remember, your original material, no props, no music, 2 minutes, judges,
judging, yelling, prizes, glory, all in a pub! In the Phoenix Pub, East Row,
Civic, the poetry slam.
Want to
know more about You Are Here, Noted and/or Feminartsy? Then visit them on the
world wide web:
One of
the projects I managed as a You Are Here co-producer this year was Letters to a
Suburb.
Image credit: Pascalle Burton and Sarah Kaur
The project
involved commissioning writers and artists with a connection to Canberra to
write to a suburb within the Australian Capital Territory. I generally kept the
terms of reference as vague as that for each of the people I asked to be involved,
though sometimes I called specifically for a poem, or wanted a writer and
artist to work together.
The
project got a great response at the independent publishing fair on Sunday 23
March. We set up a letterbox from which people could collect a letter and
90 copies were taken by visitors to the fair.
A small portion of the
independent publishing fair.
Image credit: Adam Thomas and You Are Here
The
festival also posted one-hundred copies to random addresses within the suburbs
to which the letters were addressed. I hope the recipients enjoyed the work
they received.
You can
check out all the work online on the You Are Here website by following the link above.
The
letters commissioned come from David “Ghostboy” Stavanger, Pascalle Burton,
Adam Hadley, Good Ghost Bill with Paul Summerfield, Duncan Felton, Matt
Hetherington, Tessa Rose, Fiona McLeod with Aaron Kirby, and Zoe Anderson with
Raphael Kabo.
YouAreHere started with Mall Stories on 8 March, download your copy here then traverse the Canberra Centre while writers such as Josh Inmania, Pete Huet, me and Julian Fleetwood take you on a guided tour.
Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit! is this year a sanctioned YouAreHere event, whatever sanction means, I presume the organisers are less fearful of what we do than last year. But 14 March is the night for Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit! hosted by JACINTA, Andrew Galan (that’s me), the Score Adder and The Master of Conflict.
From 13 to 16 March The Tragic Troubadours will be taking poetry to Canberra’s bus interchange, we offer you words in the sun, rain and/or wind as you wait for your bus between 8am to 9am and 530pm to 630pm.
On 15 March there will be debate within Smiths Alternative Book[store/shop/front organisation]. You should be there for that, rebuttal should include arse-blocks from at least one Roller Derbyist but likely won’t, I get to debate, I never did this at school, I expect those on the other team did, they seem to know what they are doing and all reports are they seriously want to win, they probably went to good schools and had supportive parents who never said no.
I really want to check out Applespiel’s Morning Commercial Breakfast Radio Show in Tonic, Harvest and at Lonsdale Roasters so I will be going to their shows after completing mornings of The Tragic Troubadours in the bus interchange.
