From Page to Stage: Comedy in Performance

Page to Stage is a series of 5 workshops designed to help writers or aspiring writers take their poetry off the page and onto the stage using a variety of performance skills and confidence-boosting activities. Each session will be run by a different trained performer who will focus on the key elements you’ll need to take your performance to the next level.

Sessions will take place at The Community Works (21 Park End St, Oxford, OX1 1HU), at 1pm-3.30pm on the last Saturday of the month from April – August. Participants must book each session individually and are invited to book for all five sessions, or just the one or ones which are of interest to them.

After the workshop series has ended, all participants will have the chance to show off their finely honed performance skills and perform alongside the workshop leaders in our September showcase event! Further details and dates to follow.

Registration is required and tickets can be booked here. Tickets are sold on three tiers, based on means: £10 is the general admission price, with a £15 tickets for those wishing to pay a bit more, but there are a limited numbers of tickets sold for £5 for those on a lower income. We emphasize that there are a limited number of these lower-cost tickets, so please only register for this lower-cost option if you need it. There is also one free ticket per session available for anyone who would benefit from these sessions, but for whom the ticket price is prohibitive. Please email us at oxfordpoetrylibrary@gmail.com if you would like to request this free ticket.

The building is accessible, but if you have any specific access needs, please drop us an email at oxfordpoetrylibrary@gmail.com beforehand.

The theme of this session is:

Comedy in Performance with Tina Sederholm

You might not believe it but, everyone is funny and funny stuff is happening all around us all the time that we can utilize. Humour is a serious business, because finding the humour in a situation is how we survive even the worst set of circumstances.

In this workshop, you will find your own particular brand of ‘funny’, and how you can use it either your own poetry, or in links or as an improvisation technique on stage. We will touch on various different ways to trigger each participant’s ability to find humour, including improvisation exercises (to build confidence on stage), how to connect to self, and therefore engender audience connection, and a short exploration of physical comedy and satire. Ideally, poets will bring pieces they have already written, but I will also include a short writing time, to come up with an 8-12 line poem which can then be used as a practice piece for each of the different comedic elements.

By the end of the session, each participant will leave with a greater sense of their particular way ofbeing funny and with tools to increase their ability to use that humour on stage.

Tina Sederholm is a performance poet and theatre maker. Veteran of seven Edinburgh Fringes, and creator of five solo shows, including Till Debt Us Do Part and Everything Wrong With You Is Beautiful, she has performed everywhere from the Royal Albert Hall to an aquarium. Her latest show is called Everything’s Working Out Poetically and will debut at Fringe Theatrefest this summer.