Spoken Word Poetry is a entertainment genre that is more likely to bring on a cringe of despair than a yelp of excitement but Scott-Patrick Mitchell’s ‘The Night Jar’ defies the stereotype. The local poet delivers a hugely entertaining performance.
‘The Night Jar’ is many different things. It’s an incredibly physical performance with Mitchell leaping over and under chairs and tables, menacingly circling the room and ricocheting off the walls.
Mitchell is provocative, joyfully embracing an enfant terrible persona to deliver poems filled with a carefully balanced mix of shock and obscenity that is tempered with unique insight and tender beauty.
Over an hour the show tackles a wide range of topics including romance, noisy neighbours, depression, death and depravity. While the show feels slightly over-length, there were few dead spots obviously calling out for an editors cut.
Mitchell engages with the audience, he’s cheeky and outgoing, at one stage he creates a poem on the spot based on words thrown out from the crowd. Mitchell’s performance style comes with a lot of ego, but you need that much bravado to open your soul and share your deepest and most personal thoughts.
Mitchell performs to a background soundtrack that ranges from techno to ambient and while in the first few minutes of the show it seemed that the soundtrack may drown out the performer the right balance was quickly found. If your idea of poetry is Banjo Patterson and T.S. Elliot, throw them out for more appropriate touch stones like the Beastie Boys and The Prodigy. This show is captivating.
‘The Night Jar’ is playing at Chrissie Parrott Arts, 4 Sussex Street Maylands at 8:30pm until Sunday February 23.
Graeme Watson
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Declaration: Scott-Patrick Mitchell is a contributor to OUTinPerth magazine.
