They Shoot Poets Don’t They? La Mama, Feb 22, 2007

They Shoot Poets Don’t They? by James Pratt

La Mama, Feb 22 to March 4, 2007

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on Feb 22, 2007

Hoorah! They Shoot Poets Don’t They? is a really funny solo show with language and character.

It features a supercilious performance poet, Sebastian Flange, the invention of performer, James Pratt.

Flange (best pronounced “Flaaaaange” with a smirk) is alone on stage, dressed in a blue shirt and black jacket, with a startling overbite and a spittle-soaked lisp. He prances and postures, reciting or reading classics from the poetic lexicon in an affected accent.

He opens with a sexy interpretation of Walt Whitman, moves on to an indulgent analysis of Wordsworth on the beauty of Nature, then to Shakespeare and a personal view of Hamlet’s speech, “To be or not to be”. His reading of Marvell’s To His Coy Mistress uses the classical poem as a personal and contemporary seduction.

Flange is smug and conceited. He moves languidly around the space, posing for our benefit and imitating the gestures and dance that Shakespeare supposedly employed while seeking inspiration. He perches on a stool, gazing seductively at members of the audience, challenging us with his poetic vision.

Flange’s own writings include a comically banal poem about a cup of tea that we read while he sips a cuppa from a thermos flask. Pratt, as Flange, accurately and hilariously portrays a familiar type of overblown, arrogant pseudo-artist.

Nestled between his poetic ramblings and capering is a story about Flange’s mother’s weird life and death. A rampaging cow mauled her, grabbing her by the throat, crushing her larynx and rendering her mute. Nuns nursed her back to health while the teenage Sebastian read Shakespeare to her.

Flange’s father left his roofing iron sales job and became a pirate. Years later, Flange himself became a seaman and befriended the ironically named Tom Sawyerson.

This grinning, patronising character is a delight to behold. Pratt, as Flange, is confrontational, intimate, engaging and very, very funny. He creates a contemporary clown that challenges us with language and comedy.

By Kate Herbert