Speakeasy at the Wheaty

Picture your ideal night out. Does it involve short stories, possibly being performed through a microphone out the back of a pub? Are you imagining pizza, cider, wine—the chance to both own a handcrafted zine and win some sweet books in a raffle? Are you, by any chance, picturing yourself at the Wheatsheaf?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, there’s a good chance you attended Speakeasy Flinders’ first public readings night for 2015. If you didn’t, I regret to inform you that you missed out—big time.

We boasted a number of Wheatsheaf newbies this year, all stars at our campus event back in April, as well as many of our star-studded regulars and three marvellous postgrads taking time out from their busy schedules. The night began with Speakeasy stalwart Sean Stockham, who juxtaposed light-hearted and serious in two beautifully written pieces on bees, love and mythology. Next up was rising star Taeghan Buggy—whose poetry is just as fabulous as her performance skills—followed by postgrad Houman Zandi-zadeh in the first interactive performance Speakeasy’s had in a long time. Houman’s piece exploring the treatment of women in Iran (performed along with our Speakeasy presidents Lauren and Alicia) was a wonderful, though-provoking way to cap off the first set.

The interim brought pizza and the chance to purchase a copy of our Speakeasy zine! Bursting with contributions from our lovely Speakeasy participants, from prose to poetry to review to comic, this collection of hand-decorated pages has it all. Do you get the feeling we’re proud of it? Because we really, truly are.

The second set brought a quirky, magical realist mix of pigeons and French literary theory from Jess Miller, whilst Callum McLean’s anecdotal memoir of his experience in China was both expressively written and painstakingly honest. Lise Van Konkelenberg gave a stunning, original performance about the Book of Creation, which was followed by our second postgrad reading: a hilarious rumination on life, death and bees, expertly performed by Piri Eddy.

Our third and final set consisted of a first-year, an Honours student and a postgrad—a wonderful example of the talent existing across the Flinders Creative Arts year levels, which began with Richard Faulkner’s haunting tale of his Uncle at Gallipoli. Justina Ashman’s excerpt from her short story ‘The Last Living Girl in Paris’ made us all desperate for more, whilst Mel Pryor, as our very last and esteemed postgrad speaker, wound together an intimate tale of her relationship with her father amidst a rural Australian landscape.

A very special and enormous thank you must of course go to our Speakeasy presidents, Lauren Butterworth and Alicia Carter, and to our fantastic MC Callum McLean. More thanks still goes to our Speakeasy zine team: Justina Ashman, Sean Stockham, Callum McLean, Jess Miller, Riana Kinlough and Simone Corletto. This event was made possible through their huge enthusiasm and hard work.

We roamed from Paris to China to Turkey to Iran; we laughed and drank and talked and we were merry. Most of all—and this, if nothing else, is why Speakeasy is so wonderfully important—we got to celebrate our undergrad writers. On a personal note, as Assistant Director of Speakeasy it is immensely exciting to see these fresh faces amongst the veterans. Speakeasy depends, after all, not only on the work of its leaders but also (and perhaps much more importantly) on the support of its speakers, contributors and audience.

After this event, I’d say the future is as bright as it has ever been.

words by Jess Miller