Mercuries #4: The book reincarnate

The material of literature is language and the material of performance is liveness. These improvised, talking performances explore the various tropes of public speaking, such as recitation, reading and introductions. They tend to grow from small gestures into weirder things.

As the child of a salesperson, I can speak more quickly than I think. This unfortunate ability makes me distrustful of rapid articulation, of bombarding others with words. These performances attempt to scrutinise the nature of persuasive speech, especially its fraught relationship with truth and belief. They identify with a live poetry tradition that includes the 14th century Italian Improvisatori as well as 20th century poet-artists such as David Antin.

My own talking performances often use props or situational setups, such as powerpoint presentations, eating, dancing, masks and puppets.

They have been commissioned by Tate Modern, Marsden Woo Gallery, Airwaves Festival Iceland, Bucharest International Poetry Festival and are currently archived in the National Poetry Library.