REVIEW: FORKED AT PLYMOUTH B BAR (20/05/10)
It was another busy night for the performance poetry bi-monthly at the B Bar, situated downstairs from the Barbican Theatre. The event’s organisers, Apples & Snakes know their audience, and they always provide a varied selection of poets with different styles. Tonight’s line-up was no exception, and as always, it included the Forked resident compere, Plymouth’s own Queen of Showbiz, Mama Tokus. First up was Callum Mitchell from Penzance, who described his style to me as “rambling observations”. His pieces covered pretentious arty types, the summertime hell of his hometown and an amusing anecdote about accidentally witnessing a live set by boyband of yesteryear, Five.
London poet, Sabrina Mahfouz took to the stage next, and for her opening piece she played characters from a talent show, showing off her impressive talent for mimicking accents. Her quickfire storytelling technique was put to further good use in a dark but amusing poem called Little Red Ravinghood. After Sabrina came John Osborne from Norwich, who read amusing poems from his book, What If Men Burst In Wearing Balaclavas? He gets a gold star from me for name-checking Super Furry Animals in one of his poems- twice!
The headliner was Malaysian-born, London-raised artist, Francesca Beard. Her cool and calm presence was complimented by occasional bursts of laughter, and just when you think things are getting a bit serious, she’ll gladly poke fun at herself. Like the other artists tonight, Francesca has many trophies in her cabinet, including writing for BBC Radio 4, national tours and many residencies as a writer.
It was hardly surprising that every seat was taken: Forked is an event you want to come back to time and time again- you can feel that by the audience’s reactions. A thoroughly enjoyable night, featuring some fantastically talented young poets.
Words: Arash Torabi
