‘Poetry Club’ review
‘a beautiful contribution not only to student theatre, but the local community of Durham itself.’
St Oswald’s Institute is the perfect space for watching Ruby Huynh’s Poetry Club, the award-winning DDF play produced by Eve Fidler that has returned for two performances around County Durham. Being a community hall itself, the Institute is studded with pinboards and charmingly peeled walls, a kitchen and even a cupboard full of cups labelled ‘For Brownies.’ In a way then, the venue itself is a testament to the sense of community that Poetry Club studies and cherishes. Staging the play here is a constant reminder of the whole-hearted reality that stands behind every word of Huynh’s writing.
Enough about peeled walls - onto the play itself. Full disclosure, I was lucky enough to have caught Poetry Club’s original run as part of Durham Drama Festival but, like a good poem, it has only gotten better on second time round.
I shall start with the writing. It is not an overstatement to say that Huynh’s dialogue finds beauty in the everyday exchanges we have with family, friends, and strangers. It is a script that seamlessly blends humour and deep feeling into one, and behind it all is reality. Each character that Huynh has carefully drawn is instantly recognisable. We have the turtle-neck-wearing faux intellectual, alongside the well-to-do mother and the kindly older woman. Yet, what is truly remarkable, is that, although they may be recognisable, Huynh is careful to ensure that none of her poetry clubbers are caricature. Each one is impressively complex given the limited run-time of the play.
Let’s take Harry Robinson’s James. Certainly, his ramblings about Larkin cement him as a frequent butt of jokes, but by the end of the play, he is revealed to be fully self-aware. His declaration that he knows he is insufferable earns laughter from the audience, but also tacitly draws the curtain back on a young man seeking an outlet for his own creative endeavours and ultimately, for approval.
Speaking to Huynh after the play, she jokingly remarked that this version of Poetry Club was the “directors’ cut”, given the re-insertion of dialogue that had to be removed in the context of Durham Drama Festival. Indeed, the new dialogue greatly helps to flesh out certain characters that I had left wanting to know more about following the run in the Collingwood Arts Centre. This is no more true than in the case of Nefertari Williams’ Diane, where we are now treated to a monologue that focuses on her own knowledge of grief. This new dialogue provides a fuller and more realised version of the character, and helps to inform our understanding of how she makes sense of the play’s central poem. Each new addition joyously adds to the Poetry Club whole.
The script is complemented by detailed and careful direction of Maia Harris Lindop alongside Huynh herself that provides a colour and depth to every inch of Poetry Club’s world. It is clear the directing team have worked tirelessly with the performers to bring their characters to life. Even when not speaking, each member of our poetry club is engaged in an activity that charts their evolution over the course of the play’s run-time.
This exceptionally detailed quality to the directing is exemplified by Nia Keogh-Peters’ Tracey-Mae. At the beginning of the play, even when not strictly the focus of the play’s dialogue, Tracey-Mae is distracted by her phone or the Diet Coke at the bottom of the bag. She is jittery and looking for an out; she is scrambling for any possibility of exiting the hall. But, by the end, we have watched her become interested through Martin. Although not completely transformed, the phone is gone. Her posture has improved. Harris Lindop and Huynh should be incredibly proud of this subtle and complex direction.
Finally, onto the performances themselves. Perhaps more so than any other play I have seen in Durham, this is truly an ensemble piece. Each member of this wonderfully talented cast is a standout in their own regard. Gabe Cardy-Brown’s Aaron is truly endearing, awkward, and adorable in equal measure. Meanwhile, Nefertari Williams’ Diane is stunning, with Williams able to imbue the character with age far beyond her own years.
Posy Portwood’s Christine is undeniably subtle. Christine is a character that could so easily bubble over into “yummy mummy” caricature, but Portwood ensures it never does. We are left with the portrait of a hardworking mother searching for fulfilment, whether that be at parents’ meetings or the poetry club itself. Meanwhile, Nia Keogh-Peters’ Tracey-Mae is incredibly nuanced, showing perhaps the greatest level of development over the course of the play’s run time. Above all, Keogh-Peters’ performance ensures that the audience loves Tracey-Mae, deftly portraying both frustration and compassion. Similarly, Harry Robinson as James is effortlessly funny but also, in spite of it all, extremely likeable.
Although Poetry Club is an ensemble piece, Noah Lazarides’ Martin is the emotional anchor that holds it all together. It is an incredibly accomplished performance that balances a great proportion of the total lines in the script, but ensures that each one finds its own precise meaning. There is no poetry club without Martin, and Lazarides embodies the character with a warmth and a joy you cannot but help find infectious.
Before and after watching the play, I spoke to a local Durham resident who had come to watch the play on the off-chance as a frequent attendee of the Institute. She told me she had recently loved a performance by Van Mildert Big Band in the hall, and was looking forward to her first time watching some Durham Student Theatre. I promised her that Poetry Club would be good, and in her words, I was “absolutely right.”
Speaking to her, it is clear that the big push to restage the play in local venues around County Durham has paid off. In much the same way as Martin and his club, the Poetry Club team have managed to make a beautiful contribution not only to student theatre, but the local community of Durham itself.
By Jude Battersby.
Poetry Club will be showing at Bishop Aukland Town Hall on Wednesday 10th June at 5pm.