Gig 47: Magical Animals @ Sandbar, Manchester – 9th April 2012

This was my eighth appearance at Magical Animals; my first being back in July (Gig 6) and I’ve done every one that there has been since.  I’ve enjoyed every one that I’ve been to; it’s undoubtedly Manchester’s oddest\most eccentric spoken word night.  You never know quite what you’re going to get at M.A.  Acts are given 4 minutes to whatever they want to do, be it poetry, fiction, stand up or just whatever.  Given the free-wheeling nature of the night, you can see some really weird and wonderful stuff.  You also see some things that are dreadful, but, you know, it’s dreadful in that thrilling way of people just trying whatever idea it is they’ve felt they’ve had to express (I’ve definitely fallen into this category!).

So, as I say, I’m something of a M.A. veteran these days, but this month’s event was different.  This month, I was the winner.  Yes, I was the Magical Animal (although nobody actually uses that as a term other than me).  Hopefully this will explain why there’s a photo of me sporting a rather magnificent tiara.

I decided to perform a couple of short stories that I’d had picked prior to the previous M.A. (Gig 40):  Billy’s Club and The One Second Flip Flop.  Now, if you take it at face value – I read a couple of short stories original from my blog off a piece of paper – you might not think there was much to learn from the experience.  What’s really interesting, as a performer, is how you can make the fixed words of a story come to life – in the way that you want it to – through tone of voice, performance and by throwing in asides around the story.   It’s more than just reading the story in an engaging way.  I like to subvert and change the text by throwing in asides at the audience, hopefully taking them by surprise.  Surprise is an amazing when when you’re trying to make someone laugh.

Anyway, that’s enough pontificating for one blog post.  I’m off to wear my tiara whilst parading around my kitchen.  Adios.