What people have said about ...
May Days
Comments from audience members
Derek Paice, organiser of Downham Songwriters and Poets
It was a splendid and moving performance. Congratulations everyone.
Shabbir Lakha
Powerful performance of William Alderson’s poem May Days
Elaine Graham-Leigh
This was seriously good - don't miss the video!"
Comments from performers
Roger Gartland
Lynx did a great thing in putting the event together. You made a beacon for the truth about Grenfell.
Shane Chester
Thank you for allowing me to be involved in a great piece of work.
Reviews
Mike Took, Write Out Loud
May Days was fully appreciated by the audience and the performance was a glowing testimony to the writers and actors concerned, all of whom donated their time to the project.
He also quoted Julia Clark, who said that "it was very skilfully crafted poem which was carefully constructed and captured the mood and feeling of Masque of Anarchy in a way which was relevant to today." She added that "The acting was good and brought the poem to life and helped represent the different voices"; and that "The grime section was brilliantly executed and was potentially the most powerful piece of the poem because it connected more directly with the anger surrounding the fire."
Cameron Panting, Counterfire
Describing the poem as an "impressive elegy for our times", he said that it "gave form to the continuing anger against a callous and disregarding establishment, and a voice to those deliberately marginalised."
"The searing verse", he said, "brings forth a number of characters, struggling, fighting, caring", and "lent itself to a dynamic staging where the actors, performing in traverse, placed at different levels, took on the diverse range of characters, interacting at opportune moments (including a blistering Grime-inspired rap, referencing the union between that scene and the movements for change)."
He ended by saying that "We need more of these shows, which deal directly with the issues of the day and look them straight in the eye", and "the significance of pieces like this, is that they are not just about, but a part of the movements for change."
An accolade, indeed, and a tribute to the director and performers who realised the poem so powerfully on the stage!
