What do you get when you put
writers and lovers of stories in a room with snacks and wine?
You get an explosion of talking
and creativity known as Speakeasy; an event where writers perform creative
readings to an audience hungry for stories.
Taeghan
Buggy opened the first set by giving us poetry with some skin crawling bodily
descriptions. Caitlin Westphal continued the poetry tour with an entertaining
piece criticising materialism. Lisandra Linde
then brought us into the world of her novel by reading a segment; Ceri Glenie proved herself a dazzling
first-time reader with a hilarious story
about a girl being a ghost. Aidan Peckham brought us back to the world of
poetry with some lines about a separated family. Cameron Lowe closed the first
set with a tale set in post-apocalyptic outback Australia.
After a brief break, Amelia
Hughes opened the second set by bringing us into her novella world; Marina Deller-Evans
followed next with an emotional autobiographical piece about her mother, whilst Stuart Jefferies took us on a masterfully-crafted literary ride with references to The Smiths. Jasmine Koop delivered us a tale of chaos and people being slaughtered like
animals. Richard Falkner closed the second set with an entertaining mix of
reading and singing, an homage to Shane McGowan and The Pogues.
Sean Stockham began the third set
with ‘I Love the Smell of my Quilt’; a piece he’d written in second year. Caitlin Lang gave us a tale about
relationships and a man who used to carry a picture of Johnny Cash in his
wallet. Ebony Leverington followed up with a light-hearted flash fiction story
that featured dogs from the perspective of a statue. Nicole Sleep sang us a
song about life at Flinders; a first for Speakeasy to feature music as a way of
telling a story. Kayla Gaskell completed our final set with a pro-vegetarian piece inspired by a conversation she once had.
Although the April Speakeasy is
over, and the Multimedia Lounge is now quiet, the conversations and new
friendships formed will continue on. However, Speakeasy will return again at
the end of the semester for its public event at the Wheatsheaf. If you want fun
intellectual talks, or wish to travel to other worlds but are sick of waiting
until NASA perfects human travel to Mars, then this next event is for you.
words by Cameron Lowe
