Adrian Clarke gave an excellent performance at Torriano last night.
Publicly self-deprecating as usual, he announced that he was going to give
_a kind of readers digest condensed version_ of the ghost trio, read from
it at some length with assurance and skill and then went on to sample from
_just deserts_ and millenial shades_
he experimented with voices as in *changing* his voice to characterise,
rather successfully; and he judged his pace and volume well throughout
As when he read at V.I., a while back, the reading was a retrospective, but
everything he read sounded good, illuminated by the recent work... The line
of development and steady improvement - though he has been extremely good
for a long time - is very clear in Clarke. I believe I had heard all of it
before but I have not heard it done so well yet without false polish - the
texts still have their sharp edges, multiple self- and world-reflecting
meanings pouring out and somehow still managing to ask at the same time
_what do you think_, poems with specific references as a poem being built
has a scaffolding which go far beyond the specific references
you know what you got, Ade, you got wit
if you are not up on Mr Clarke's work, I commend him to you - WF publish
him as does RWV and SVP
Torriano is not an easy place to get to unless you live anywhere beyond
Chalk Farm, a sort of door in the wall area the existence of wch I did not
guess at until recently; and London underground did it's very best to
impede my progress. Perhaps because of its location, there was a small
audience but that may improve as the series goes on. Robert Sheppard
broadcast some of the list here a few days ago. Difficult as it is to get
to, especially on a Sunday night, I shall be going again.
Lawrence Upton
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