'Students put in first class performance to sink Staff team' by Kelcie-Gene Schaffer
Posted by sregan | Filed under opinion
Students put in first class performance to sink Staff team
On Friday 13th March Bath Spa University's world-class School of English and Creative Studies hosted its annual Students Versus Staff Poetry Slam in association with Ambidextrous: this year raising over three hundred pounds for charity. Kelcie-Gene Schaffer was on the ground for SCOURGE Magazine.
Bath Spa University's Creative Writing department came up trumps on Friday night, with twelve riveting performances in the 'Students Versus Staff' poetry slam. Ambidextrous organised the event, raising £343.11 for Comic Relief.
With the bar open and a cake stall at the ready, poets and poetry fans alike flocked to the Michael Tippett Centre to show support for the two teams of contenders. From first-year media students to creative writing lecturers, the audience was artistically charged and busily discussing the talents of both teams before the slam had even begun!
The format of the slam consisted of two rounds: the first being the round where students got to choose their staff opponent, the second being vice-versa; although two members of staff short, the faculty team managed to persuade third-year Creative Writing students Agatha Knowles and Jason Curley to compete along with them.
The student team boasted the talent of six performance poets, all of whom are undergraduates in the Creative Writing BA. These included Jack Dean, a fiery first-year and a promising talent, skilful newcomer Jennifer Walter and Molly Case, a clever worker of words and fabulous teller of stories.
Vice-Chancellor Frank Morgan, the official vote-counter, brought some welcome comic relief - no pun intended - to what proved to be a fairly tense event. Equipped with green cards to vote for the staff and red cards for students, the audience had their means of voting. The lights dimmed, and the charming comperes took to the floor to kick off a memorable evening.
Molly claimed a quick first-round victory for the students, but Agatha secured the staff's position by triumphing with a truly inspiring performance of an exceptional poem in the second round.
First-year creative writer Jack Dean delivered a brilliant parody of the well-known video piracy advertisements. Although the performance was well received by the audience, it wasn't tough enough to break the soft but sturdy stanzas of Lucy English's poem - written in the voice of Ted Hughes.
Anna stepped up to level the score for the students, but Dr. Colin Edwards then swiftly won the next round to put the staff in the lead. His story of 'old boy Tippett,' an epic Wild West tale of Newton St. Loe, literally brought him to his knees.
In the final battle of the first round, Jennifer Walter equalised the score with an articulate and clever performance. 'Word Case Manifesto' was a humorous and expressive poem and a definite hit with the audience.
After twenty minutes of cake-eating, cigarette-smoking and wine-gulping, the poets and poetry enthusiasts gathered back into the slam space, ready for the final round.
Molly made it two wins out of two with her tale of nearly-but-not-quite losing your virginity whilst watching Matthew Kelly on TV. Lucas gave the students a two-nil lead with his terrific age recognition poem, 'Boyman.' A pristine performance from Agatha then pulled one back for the staff, winning the audience over with a profound account of personal empathy.
Anna and Lucy English won their respective rounds to leave Jack Dean against Dr. Colin Edwards, presenting the students with an opportunity to win the slam.
Colin Edward's piece was well-researched and elegantly performed, but Jack 'Mighty Morphin' Poet Power Ranger' Dean caused an unexpected upset over his tremendously more experienced opponent. His performance was full of energy and captivated every member of the audience, giving the students a hard-fought victory.
- Kelcie-Gene Schaffer
Results of the Students Versus Staff Poetry Slam 2009
|
First Round |
Second Round |
||
|
Students |
Staff |
Staff |
Students |
|
Molly Case |
Andrew Turner |
Gerard Woodward |
Molly Case |
|
Lucas Hadley |
Agatha Knowles |
Jason Curley |
Lucas Hadley |
|
Anna Freeman |
Gerard Woodward |
Agatha Knowles |
Jennifer Walter |
|
Jack Dean |
Lucy English |
Andrew Turner |
Anna Freeman |
|
Jake Tupman |
Colin Edwards |
Lucy English |
Jake Tupman |
|
Jennifer Walter |
Jason Curley |
Colin Edwards |
Jack Dean |
|
3-3 |
2-4 |
||
