Chichester is getting its “first-ever” poetry slam, kicking off in the city on March 26. Called Tongue Tied, it will run from 7-10pm at the Chichester Inn.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Lovely to
00:06meet Charlie Ross today. And Charlie, you are launching something very new for Chichester,
00:11completely new for Chichester, through the name Tongue Tied. It's Chichester's first
00:16Poetry Slam. What's it all about? And it's compositive, isn't it? Which is interesting.
00:24That's the point.
00:26So excited to be kicking this off at the end of March, on March 26th. We have got three
00:33heats coming up in March, April and May. And then we're going, all those winners from each
00:39of those heats are going to perform in a final in June, which is very, very exciting.
00:44And how does a Poetry Slam work then?
00:47Yeah, so it's essentially an open mic night with scoring. So it's not too, it's very open
00:55hearted. Everyone loves everyone else's work. It's great. You bring three minutes of poetry.
01:01So normally people just bring the one poem, but you can bring two if you've got two shorter
01:06poems. You've got three minutes to perform however you like, whatever theme, whatever
01:12style you like. And then at the end, you'll be given a score out of 10. And then those
01:17two winners from the eight competitors will then move forward to the final in June.
01:22And the chances are you'll have three judges in the audience, plus you, plus someone else
01:27from the organising team.
01:28That's right.
01:29What will impress judges then? What would your advice be to anyone competing?
01:34Ah, that's a really good question, because often you can't know it until you see it.
01:40But I would say authenticity is key. Something you really care about and you really need
01:46to say, you're bursting to say, that's what people respond to. It's passion and authenticity
01:52if we really get to know you.
01:54And what would you do that would really wreck your chances, do you think? What would you
01:57not want to see, unless that's an unfair thing to ask?
02:01I don't think there's anything I don't want to see. I just want people to be themselves
02:07and to say what they need to say. Yeah, just don't try to be anything you're not. Don't
02:12try and please anyone. Just say what you're bursting to say. It's your space to do what
02:18you want to do.
02:19And you're uninterrupted. People won't shout you down and say, no, you're off. You get
02:23your chance.
02:24No, exactly. Exactly that. No, no hustling whatsoever. It's very kind, very warm hearted,
02:30a very safe space as well. So it's whatever you need, we've got your back.
02:35And you're saying poetry slam's huge in London. You can't move for them. But this is the first
02:40in Chichester then, something you've been pondering for a while.
02:43It's the first in Chichester. Yeah, I've been thinking about it for a little minute. I put
02:47on a showcase of poetry last year at CFT, which was really great. And so this year,
02:53I wanted a new challenge to just bring together all the creators in Chichester, bring together
02:59you know, the university as well, maybe bring together, you know, Portsmouth and Worthing
03:04and Petersburg, bring all the towns together, all the creatives into this one space where
03:09we can all meet each other and do something new together.
03:12You're already thinking how it's going to pan out. You've got the three heats in March,
03:17April, May, the final in June, start some open mic nights in the autumn and then run
03:23through in the spring again with another competition. So it's an annual thing you're looking at.
03:31It's an annual thing you're looking at, isn't it?
03:34We are. Yeah, obviously, this year is the first year it's happened. So we're kind of
03:38like hoping that people love the idea as much as we do. But yeah, we're hoping it will just
03:44roll into an annual thing by having that off season as well, where people can try out poetry
03:50in the autumn where it won't be judged. You can just bring it along, try it out in front
03:55of an audience and see how you get on. And then maybe you could compete with that in
03:58the spring if you're feeling confident. That's our idea.
04:02Fantastic. Sounds a wonderful thing. Well done you for launching it. I hope it goes
04:06brilliantly. It sounds like it should too. Great to speak to you. Thank you.