The visual performance aids are just 10 cardboard boxes, with one poet guiding the audience through the show, putting on a posh accent, as if it was an exhibition. The Theatre Royal Stratford East’s Young Spoken Word Company, mentored and directed by playwright and performance poet/artist Kat Francois, are working on Grey Matters, a production that relays their own experiences of mental health but also the experiences of others.  

I had the privilege of sitting in on one of their rehearsal sessions at an upstairs room at the famous Theatre Royal during Mental Health Awareness Week, and was bowled over by their energy, enthusiasm, and drive. Through focus groups and interviews they listened to people of different ages, genders and walks of life, gathering personal stories of mental health which they have transmuted into often electrifying pieces of poetry.

There was an impassioned piece from Wendy Tuffour about a mother deserted by her husband, and now feeling that her daughter, heading for university, is walking out on her, too: “He planted the most precious seed, and we created you … when your dad left, my self-esteem was the size of a mustard seed.”

Kat Francois, pictured right, describes Grey Matters as “physical theatre … part-theatre, part spoken word”. She was keen to emphasise to all the poets that “we have to draw out that story so it’s clear, we know what journey we’re on … at the end of the day we’re telling stories, no matter how beautiful the poetry is … everyone, look at your pieces, and make sure they’re got that strong story. Who comes to our shows? They’re not academics, they’re people who look like you, they might not read much poetry.” The poets were reading out their pieces for the show, making changes as they went along. Kat’s advice to one was not to over-edit: “Don’t rework it too much … don’t throw stuff away. Keep your drafts!”

There was an intense piece about encounters on trains and “Xerox eyes”; another about self-harm (“Stop thinking self-harm is a way of freedom”); and other unsettling lines like “You … mistook your blackness for dirt … They said depression was a lazy man’s disease … You want to hide from the blackness leaking from you.” 

I asked the poets around the table, working with paper, tablets and laptops, about themselves. Jacqui Adeniji-Williams has been a member of the Theatre Royal group for several years, and is Kat’s assistant director and musical director. She is also a facilitator and performer, a music creator, and works for Channel 4 News.

Wendy described this as her “new life”, and herself as also a cake artist. Marvellous Fayose is a poet and actor, hoping to go to university, and also a member of the Spit the Atom group, a London-based poetry collective. Gabriel Akamo is a poet, writer, creative producer, actor and philosophy graduate, and a member of Barbican Young Poets. Gareth Batenga, who is doing a show like this for the first time, is otherwise on what he described as “a gap year”. Sugar J is also a member of Spit the Atom, and of Barbican Young Poets. A graduate in politics and international relations, he was also one of the first poets to be featured in the Nationwide TV ads, alongside Hollie McNish and Matt Abbott – an admission that drew some good-natured ribbing from around the table.

It was a great thrill to visit the Theatre Royal for the first time, and to see the statue of Joan Littlewood outside. I’m not able to see Grey Matters performed at the Last Word festival at the Roundhouse next month, because I’m appearing on stage myself at the same time, making my am-dram debut at the age of 64. Both Kat and her young poets were generous in their advice and practical tips for me.

Kat’s advice to her performers was good, to remember to keep the story strong, “no matter how beautiful the poetry is”. But with images like that of Odysseus at Camden Town station, and lines like “depression … singing static in your head, edging you closer to the sea”, the poetry kept fighting its way through. After the performance of the hour-long Grey Matters next month, it’s hoped that the production, or a shortened version of it, may tour schools, too.   

Greg Freeman

 

Grey Matters is at the Dorfman Hub at the Last Word festival, at the Roundhouse, Camden on Friday 9 June at 5pm

 

Kat Francois has recently returned from Anne Frank House, Amsterdam, where she held workshops on identity, equality and discrimination through drama and spoken word to students and teachers from around the world. On her return, she was commissioned to write a piece to commemorate the centenary of the Imperial War Museum, which was filmed on HMS Belfast and performed at the London museum. She recently appeared at the Brighton Festival’s opening night with Kate Tempest, and also performed her play Raising Lazarus for two nights at the festival. She is currently working on a new solo spoken word/theatre piece to be premiered in the autumn.

 

PHOTOGRAPH (TOP): ROBERT COVELL

 

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