Poetry Swaps January 2020 takes place in the Cellar Bar at the Stamford Arts Centre from 8pm on Wednesday 15th. The free event features Carina Beatrix and Scott Coe, along with a 30 minute open mic session.
Carina Beatrix is a poet and playwright inspired by dark comedic values. Her poetry often influenced by ‘personal experiences and people watching’
She has a general interest in poetry, inspired by ‘words that rhyme’ whereas her scriptwriting, she prefers to ‘write things that don’t give everything away’ citing influences such as Mark Ravenhill, writer of “The Cut” – such plays which are often ‘hard to analyse’
Describing her own writing process, she adds ‘the poetry that I do is more dark,whereas the plays have a clear process and structure to them. They’re all cause, reaction, outcome with characters that go through issues’. She is hoping to bring her plays to the stage during 2020, as well as to continue writing poetry. She is also looking forward to carry on meeting new people on the poetry scene, especially fresh new talent ‘cos I think some of the best people I’ve met, are those who have just started out’.
Asked what advice she would offer anybody starting out as a performance poet – ‘don’t do the poetry voice… don’t be such a stereotype when it comes to performing. Just read it as yourself, or think of the sort of person you want to be on stage and stick to a character that you want to present yourself as. If it’s personal, then be yourself’
Scott Coe is a performance poet and artist currently based in Peterborough. This is his second headliner, and offers these thoughts about his poetry ‘Always write from the heart. Poetry is all about feeling and is always at it’s best when written in the moment, when the thoughts run straight from your soul to the pen’
He began writing, not as a poet, but as a lyricist, citing the likes of Noel Gallagher, Guy Chambers, Lennon and McCartney, and Bob Dylan as primary influences. In terms of Poetry he recalls being influenced by Wordsworth and Shakespeare’s sonnets. Recently he’s been spending more time discovering works by other more established poets. In particular he’s been drawn to the likes of Byron and R.S Thomas.
He spent about 18 months rehearsing and performing in a range of local plays and theatre projects. He believes this time helped him push the performance side further. ‘I enjoy being able to deliver my pieces with the same feeling and emotions that they were written with, but it’s still always the poem rather than the performance which is the most important part’
He’s looking forward to 2020, with the continued momentum he experienced during 2019 and is working on his first Poetry collection (Working title ‘Decade’), as well as committing time to further performances. He is also in the early stages of involvement with new Art and Theatre projects.
We’re also really excited to welcome Scott to the Disposable Media team as an Arts and Literature correspondent. He has already contributed a few articles and we look forward to what else he’ll be sharing from the East Anglian and UK arts and literature scene.
Poetry Swaps January 2020 takes place in the Cellar Bar at the Stamford Arts Centre, and entry is free. To find out more about this and other events taking place, visit stamfordartscentre.com.