As the summer sun of 2015 peeks its head shyly over the Liverpool horizon, The new Everyman Theatre in Liverpool has been open for just over a year. Beyond the innovative and imaginative entrance, within its all-welcoming interior which has housed wave after wave of enticing, ground breaking and original plays, the hosting of a former poet laureate and an evening with one of Britain’s most 21st Century poetic icons and even past the home of the Young Everyman Playhouse theatre group which is making history by having one of its members stand in the 2015 General Election, a decision so revolutionary, so bold and much of Liverpool in its heart; one of the great ideas is the emergence of the poetry nights entitled A Lovely Word.
Liverpool is famed for its music, its sport, its willingness to go up against idealism in political thought thrust upon the country by the Westminster Empire but its voice is not just contained within these distinctive realms. All walks of life, many ideas and so many way to express them, but perhaps arguably the best of all, the one that brings a group together is in its poetry.
After celebrating its first birthday as a night where poetry is bandied about like delicate butterflies dancing on the stodge-filled nature offered in the outside world in size ten hobnailed boots and cracking up the volume of nearest P.A. in which to deafen into obscurity outmoded and politically obscene motivations, A Lovely word was able to invite the multi-talented musician, song writer, playwright, political enthusiast and incredibly decent woman of Liverpool, Lizzie Nunnery, to be guest poet at its April event.
Hosted as always by the man who makes the evening tick, Mr. Pad Hughes, this month’s A Lovely Word was one in which many ideas seemed to be exposed to the world, not least the idea of age and aging and disconcerting misogyny masking as political history. With some of Liverpool’s great exponents of the literary poetic word in attendance, including Mr. Christopher Coey, Ms. Janet Ormrod, young film maker and University of Liverpool graduate Bethany Slinn and the always amusing Mr. Jamie Carragher, Lizzie Nunnery gave a beautiful performance of her poetry to a cheerful and playful crowd.
Despite the dangers of doing live poetry inside a venue with a P.A. urging people to take their seats for the latest and it has to be said, truly inspiring production, going on two floors above the bistro, Lizzie Nunnery regaled the crowd with the poems Dandelions, (The Ballad of) Harry Nilsson’s Voice, White White White, Of Bill and Rita (So Long) and He Built a Guitar to the point where, even despite the interruption, she was enjoyed with great affection.
A Lovely Word is not the only voice on the street in terms of poetry made by the ordinary man and women of Liverpool, with the likes of evenings at The Brink, The Liver Bards own performances and The Dead Good Poet’s Society being just a few but deep in the surroundings of the award-winning Everyman Theatre, the vibe of the expressed word is loud, clear and demanding, and in Lizzie Nunnery, a woman who is not afraid to express what is on her mind and the best way forward for the city of Liverpool, a women of the Mersey realm was presented with great heart.
A Lovely Word returns to the Everyman Theatre’s Bistro on May 11th.
Ian D. Hall