Second City Poets – Verve Press
The Scottish Poetry Library is just 15 minutes walk from Cowgate.
Head in the opposite direction to Grassmarket. Keep walking until the
overly loud sound systems, raucous antics and general chaos subside.
As you near the venue calm envelopes you. A cleansing experience
amongst the general malaise of the fringe. The walk is beautiful,
putting you in the perfect headspace to enjoy a performance of
Playground.
The premise:
Four poets share
monologues and interact with each other in a more theatrical sense to
deliver their experiences. We are taken on a delicately woven path,
with each story unravelling as we go. The threads take us from the
Playground to early adulthood with childlike honesty and hard-hitting
truths.
From the off, it is apparent that this is a
carefully thought out piece. Clever use of the performance space and
a very well selected opening musical motif will immediately take you
back to the Playground. Despite its title, Playground is not a
lightweight exercise in wordplay. The four poets commence with
seemingly innocuous memories and reflections. From the backdrop of
these euphoric recall moments, you find yourself winded with regular
sucker punches. Very quickly, I found myself thinking about how my
adult self had forgotten the pains and trials of being a child. One
of the most endearing things about this piece is the subtle swing
between innocence and real pain. Around the room, all were having
their moments. The resonance of the difficulties portrayed was
palpable.
And then there is love.
The whole
room united as the poets shared their experiences of a first crush,
the confusion of understanding what it all means. There are some
beautifully constructed rhetorical devices in this section. Clever
use of language is in abundance, as you would expect from four
talented wordsmiths. There are also some hilarious lines. Playground
is perfectly balanced in its emotional tone. I enjoyed time
travelling back to my own experiences of first crushes and the
fragile nature of love.
The show is pacey. Only the
playground games felt slightly overextended, although, that
particular section contained some of the most emotive and powerful
reveals. Engaged with the performance throughout, I was still
surprised when one of the performers delivered a line that tipped me.
There was no point in trying to hide the tears.
In
Edinburgh, having a show that has a limited run of performances is
tough. It can be challenging to cut through the noise. Playground is
one of those hidden gems of the fringe, and it deserves to be
amplified by anyone who loves spoken word, theatre or verse plays.
Get along to one of the performances and shout it out on your
channels. It is a show that deserves to be seen.
For this
incarnation of Playground, The Second City Poets were:
Hannah,
Anne, Sean and Kieran.
Playground is on at the Scottish
Poetry Library 6th to 9th August Inclusive