The Poetry School presents a workshop run by Wyllie Longmore (pictured) at The Village Hall, 163 Palatine Road, Manchester M20 2GH - Saturday 7 March 2009, 10.00am - 4.00pm - £56 / £37 concs (lunch included). Telephone the poetry school 0207 582 167.

The workshop is aimed at poets who speak their own poetry in public. The day will be divided into three parts: parts one and two will form the morning session and part three the afternoon session.

Part One: General introduction to the subject: Wyllie's philosophy and what inspires him in the speaking of verse; the demands on the speaker of poetry in public, technically, emotionally and imaginatively; the writer as speaker ?" content vs presentation; is the speaking of poetry an art in itself; how does Wyllie interpret a poem; some examples from his own experience of speaking different kinds of verse.

Part Two: The voice as an instrument of communication: simple exercises for liberating the voice, including posture, relaxation, converting breath into voice, presentation of self.

Part Three: Participants in the workshop will be asked to bring material of their own choosing and the afternoon session will be devoted to working with individuals on the speaking of that material, with reference to the work done in the morning session.

Wyllie Longmore trained as an actor and teacher at the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama and his working life has largely been devoted to these two disciplines. As an actor he has worked in repertory across the country and at the Royal National Theatre, as well as in radio, film and television. His teaching has been in schools, with youth and community groups and in the Department of Drama at Manchester University. For eleven and a half years he was Head of Acting at the Arden School of Theatre and he continues to work with actors in training, most recently at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. He is also a director and dramaturg, working with young playwrights in the development of their scripts. He does not write poetry himself, but has been an advocate of the public speaking of verse since a student, where he was greatly influenced and mentored by Rose Bruford herself. He continues to give public readings of verse, usually material that has inspired or influenced his own life.