The evening was upon us once again, but... upon entering the creative den of our familiar Wheatsheaf shed something new was in the air. The sounds of a Speakeasy revolution rang out over the empty tables as The Interludes Rock Respectably respectably rocked their rehearsal before the evening’s commencement. The melding of music into the traditions of the Speakeasy event saw front man, Tom Drahos, lead his motley crew – Tim, Meredith and James – through the intervals towards resounding applause. Tom may be a post-grad now, but we’ll be hard pressed to keep him from the Speakeasy stage.
Of course the band were not the only show to be had, with nine undergraduates and two guest readers also lapping up the spotlight over the course of the evening. To kick it all off, Dennis Wild introduced us to Uncle Ronny and taught us that seven is the lucky number. Comedic but serious, it was anything but ‘mindless prattle’. Next up, Melanie Pryor tempted us with a delightful picnic of poetry, carrying us through eloquently fantastic language, which was shortly followed by Luke Bartholomew’s dancing facial expressions, and poetry jig, wrapped up by the very convincing rasp of an old man.
As the readings progressed, the audience was well and truly enthralled by Piri Eddy’s satirically brilliant rendition of growing up with divorce, tie-dye skirts, head lice, sandwiches and Antiques Roadshow; and both startled and suspended by Miranda Richardson’s morally-entrenched speculative prose. Following the interval – a feast of pizza and alcoholic beverages, harmonised by a fantastic cover of Elton John’s “Rocket Man” – Alicia Carter graced the stage. Having ironed out the mispronunciation of her name (which for MC Mario’s sake is Alee-see-a), she lucratively mirrored the campfire ambience of her prose in her ocker-Australian recital of superstitious night-mares and brumbies.
Next up was Mel Manson who brought back the comedy in her ironic narration of small town behaviour, with a cleverly twisted conclusion. She successfully raised the dead and the atmosphere with her jest at stereotypes. This was followed well by Delana Carbone’s cleverly crafted poetry, which delved into, climbed up, and circled around the surreal nature of reality and relationships. Then, to wrap up the undergraduate speakers, Peter Beaglehole, maintaining the theme of relationships, explored a series of painful experiences, including that of having a nail through one’s foot, in order to penetrate the human condition both farcically and pertinently with resonating success.
Whether it was the wine, the exceptional talent, or as I suspect a combination of both, the room buzzed in eagerness for the two final speakers, and first up was the lovely Gay Lynch. Rightfully coined the mum of undergrad creative writing, we edged in anticipation, closer, eager to access the credentials of our mentor. Luckily for her, she held fast to her integrity and both shocked and delighted us all with her witty and charismatic expression. Finally the headliner, Lisa Hannett, closed the evening, with a reading from her newly published Bluegrass Symphony – and really what better way to end the readings than with mermaids and a poignant examination of society and beauty?
But there was one more important announcement to be had before we retired to our otherwise hermitic, writerly lives: the announcement of the first ever Speakeasy Zine publication! For those that have followed the Speakeasy journey, and welcomed the addition of microphones, speakers, prizes beyond canned soup, and this very blog, you may like me be speculating about the future of Speakeasy. You may, like me, be envisioning worldwide broadcasting and Nobel prizes, billion-dollar book deals and gold-rimmed toilets... or you may not. Regardless, this is exciting, this is huge, and as so many reviewers gone before me have stated, ‘we look forward to seeing where this journey takes us!’
Reviewer:
Tamara Milne is a second-year Flinders University, B. Media student, majoring in creative writing. She writes. She reads. She dreams that one day she will change the world. But... she’ll settle for a book deal.
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