A blog post from Peter John Cooper, who'll be performing at union in speech's first event In Words.
I am a playwright and theatre director but poetry goes hand in hand with that. I started young (first poem at the age of three) and, as I lived deep in the Hampshire countryside, that became the backbone of my work. During my time in theatre, I have travelled about the world a bit, and I like to pick the quirks of the people and places that I’ve seen. Currently, I write about the craziness that is Bournemouth (CroBoPo?). Sometimes I get a bit political but it tends to be political with a small p. Most of my work tends to be in that weird landscape between plays and poetry. Truth is, I just love words and the shapes and textures they make.
My CD, Flexigesis. Is the story of my early life told in a continuous 40 minute tumble of words with an amazing soundscape created by the very talented Si Waters.
I am now busy with something even bigger called “Life and Death and Everything in Between” which started as a theatre piece with the audience lying on the floor being bombarded with words from a bunch of actors and musicians. I’m mixing it in the studio and hoping to get that finished by next year.
If you’d like to see my theatre work, come and see “Eve of War” at the Shelley Theatre in Boscombe on September 8th. It’s my usual crossover between poetry and theatre and veers between intense emotion and slapstick. It’s performed by the very wonderful and talented Trisha Lewis.
Bournemouth is a great place to be a poet. This town has been called the poetry capital of the South Coast. And quite right too. The Winchester kicked it all off back in the day but it’s actually not very difficult to be a poet here.
Good luck to Nawar and union in speech for giving a platform to even more poets. Keep the flame burning!