Spoken Word Review: John Hegley and Clive Pig at Barnstaple Library
John Hegley & Clive Pig - Review by Colin Shaddick
John Hegley and I first met in London many years ago. We were performing our poetry at the Marquee Club. The occasion was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of Jack Kerouac's book, On The Road. He was brilliantly funny. I immediately loved his work.
We became friends and have kept in contact over the intervening years. He invited me to his performance at the Barnstaple Library on Saturday 24th March. He was supported by Clive Pig, a performance poet who lives on the edge of Dartmoor. My wife, Linda, and I strolled down the road to see them. Well, how often do you get a respected poet, like John Hegley on your front doorstep!?
He performed to an audience of children and adults. His material has the ability to touch all age ranges. He soon had us rolling about with laughter. He was in top form even though there was not a huge audience. He read some of his classic works: Breakfast Poem, Armadillo, Eddie don't like furniture, Fast potato poem and Guillemot. He also sang his well known song, Luton Bungalow. He read other poems too and there were so many of his classic throw-away lines bouncing around the room. Far too many to mention. It was a performance I was glad not to have missed.
I hope the Barnstaple Library invites him back again and if he does come, I would recommend that those who thought about going this time and didn't, should not miss his next performance. Clive Pig entertained us with his very amusing poems and songs. He is a multi instrumentalist and the two poets complimented each other perfectly. John and Clive came back to our house after the event and we talked about performance poetry over a nice cup of tea and some naughty biscuits. They both enjoyed performing in Barnstaple and would be very happy to return. Thank you John and Clive. And a big thank you to the Barnstaple Library for organizing this event.
Colin Shaddick 25/3/2012
John Hegley and I first met in London many years ago. We were performing our poetry at the Marquee Club. The occasion was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of Jack Kerouac's book, On The Road. He was brilliantly funny. I immediately loved his work.
We became friends and have kept in contact over the intervening years. He invited me to his performance at the Barnstaple Library on Saturday 24th March. He was supported by Clive Pig, a performance poet who lives on the edge of Dartmoor. My wife, Linda, and I strolled down the road to see them. Well, how often do you get a respected poet, like John Hegley on your front doorstep!?
He performed to an audience of children and adults. His material has the ability to touch all age ranges. He soon had us rolling about with laughter. He was in top form even though there was not a huge audience. He read some of his classic works: Breakfast Poem, Armadillo, Eddie don't like furniture, Fast potato poem and Guillemot. He also sang his well known song, Luton Bungalow. He read other poems too and there were so many of his classic throw-away lines bouncing around the room. Far too many to mention. It was a performance I was glad not to have missed.
I hope the Barnstaple Library invites him back again and if he does come, I would recommend that those who thought about going this time and didn't, should not miss his next performance. Clive Pig entertained us with his very amusing poems and songs. He is a multi instrumentalist and the two poets complimented each other perfectly. John and Clive came back to our house after the event and we talked about performance poetry over a nice cup of tea and some naughty biscuits. They both enjoyed performing in Barnstaple and would be very happy to return. Thank you John and Clive. And a big thank you to the Barnstaple Library for organizing this event.
Colin Shaddick 25/3/2012
