Say Owt’s first-ever gig in October 2014 was a cause for celebration once again on 18 October when they hosted their ‘Big Say Owt 10th Birthday Bash’. The event was set to be an evening of performance poets, local York band Everything After Midnight, and their signature poetry slam to close the evening. Say Owt has been a community for poets and poetry lovers in York for a decade now, and from the audience's endless enthusiasm you could see the shared love for Say Owt.
ACT I
The event started with readings from several performance poets. The first guest poet on stage was Chloe Hanks, who runs an open mic poetry night called The Howlers at local pub Blue Boar. Chloe read ‘Why the Girls Stay Pretty’ from her debut collection Work in Progress. The poem explores societal beauty standards placed on women, Hanks states in the poem: “I’m pretty like a poet not pretty like a wife”.
Next on stage is self-proclaimed anarchist punk poet and leader of Sad Poets Doorstep Club, Crow Rudd. They opened their set by asking the audience: “Do you like DND? Do you like sex puns?”. The big cheers they received meant they had chosen the right poem: ‘D and Dating’. Their humour and wit were a delight to listen to.
Elizabeth Chadwick Pile, co-host of Rise Up at Bluebird bakery, followed with her poem about ‘Life Lessons from Just 17’. Elizabeth mentioned that “Just 17 was her shitty magazine of choice” as a teenager. The incredibly relatable poem about the useless and often contradictory advice given to young women from magazines sent ripples of laughter throughout the crowd.
Sophie Sheppard, former Say Owt slam champion, performed ‘Weston can only answer to what we call it’. Sophie explained the poem as the feeling of defending your town from whoever dares to attack and you can “put any town in Weston’s place”.
Ruth Awolola had the longest set of this section, spanning ten minutes of the evening. Her poetry featured motifs of nature and identity. Ruth stated that as a Nigerian-Jamaican poet, her identity is “a handful of Scotch bonnets”, but she sometimes feels like her identity is a contradiction and she spoke movingly about this. The current learning officer for Manchester Poetry Library deemed Owt’s membership to be the “first people to ever believe” in her, reminding the audience of the true value of groups like this one for the poetry community. Poems like ‘On Forgetting That I Am a Tree’ and ‘Thank God the Garden is Still Here’ were moving and beautiful, reminding the audience of the endless branches of her identity.
ACT II
Everything After Midnight is a five-piece band that has played in York since 2014. However, tonight they are reduced to just two members: Stephanie Ornithari Roberts and Jacob Cooper.
The band treated us to an unreleased track as their opener, and was introduced to detail the feeling of those around you growing up traditionally, and feeling displaced from these customs. Accompanied by the repetition of “Can you do up my laces, I’ve got places to be” and a bridge inspired by artist Sting, the catchy and meaningful melody opened their set perfectly. Songs that followed included a witty yet sincere ode to a landlord from the perspective of a disgruntled tenant and a longing break-up track.
World-record-breaking and critically acclaimed artist Testament was the second musical performance of the act. With acclaims ranging from playwright to composer to beatboxing, we were in for a treat.
His play Orpheus in The Record Shop debuted at the Leeds Playhouse in 2020, taking its inspiration from the Greek myth and combining it with contemporary issues based in Leeds; a 21st Century Orpheus. We were lucky to receive the opening musical monologue from the play live, flaunting an impressive blend of musical influences.
The crowd was allowed a vote to decide the remainder of Testament’s act: a climactic excerpt from Orpheus in The Record Shop or a freestyle rap encasing words from members of the crowd. It was a tough decision, but the rap won our choice and certainly did not disappoint- somehow managing to include the words epiphany, caesar salad, chemistry, trousers, and nemesis while inviting nodding heads and tapping feet from all angles.
Throughout his set, Testament’s use of a loop station and live sound sampling was impressive and added depth to his beatboxing and poetry. The audience’s interaction with Testament, through singing along to the lyrics and shouting out words for him to rhyme with, really captured the shared and electric atmosphere of the evening and the Say Owt community as a whole.
ACT III
Moving into the third and final act, it was time for the night’s ‘mini slam’. Before the mini slam got started though, Say Owt hosted a raffle with some incredible prizes on offer, including books written by some of the poets (and some cheese from The Cheese Trader we were absolutely gutted to miss out on). Sophie Sheppard charismatically held the role of MC for the event, coordinating with the five judges within the crowd.
First up was Hannah Davies, who entered the stage with her ukulele and a song introducing her fellow members. Her song gave light-hearted introductions to her fellow members and this evening: competitors. The phrase “poetry begins with a tightness in your chest”, particularly spoke to me in its forthright presentation of what provided ammunition for the performances of the night.
Next up was Henry Raby who performed a poem about ‘Top tips for slam poetry’, which gave the audience an insight into what it is like to perform poetry. His recorded voice interrupting him on stage in the background provided a comedic touch.
Bram Jaaman won the hearts of the judges with his ‘Top Ten Top Tens’, encasing a blend of relatable comedy with political edge. It was a personal poem with some of the ‘Top Tens’ providing an insight into Bram’s personal life in a raw and honest way, but it was also encased in clever wit which captivated the audience.
Stu Freestone adapted his well-known poem entitled ‘Condiments Anonymous’ to ‘Compliments Anonymous’, an entry bursting with intelligent wordplay in an effort to express absolute love and appreciation for his fellow competitors and members of Say Owt.
The five judges in the audience held up their scoreboards at the end of each poet’s performance, and as the totals were totted up, the winner of the slam was Bram Jaaman. The prize was a big one: being the head of Say Owt.
Muse had a brilliant evening attending Say Owt’s 10th birthday bash, and you can find upcoming Say Owt events by following this link to their website.
