Welcome back to our Offbeat Spotlight series. Over the next few days we're highlighting all the strange and wonderful things that the Offbeat Festival has to offer. The Offbeat Festival runs from the 9th-15th of September, and is a collaboration between The Old Fire Station, Oxford Playhouse, New Theatre and Gloucester Green Market. In addition to a multitude of shows, there are also workshops, and exhibition, late night events including illustrated storytelling, a comedy scratch night, a listening party, and more.
Here, we're highlighting the fourth of the Late Night Offbeat series, six free events that all start at 9pm, from Tuesday - Sunday. Tina Sederholm, a local poet and performer will be hosting Wednesday's late event: a good old fashioned poetry slam. Read on to find out more of what the event has in store.
Daily Information: Hi Tina, thanks for talking with us today! Tell us a little about the format and structure of the event.
Tina Sederholm: The Offbeat Festival Poetry Slam is a classic slam format; a live democratic poetry competition where poets have three minutes on the mic to perform their piece before being scored by five judges chosen randomly from the audience. The two top scoring poets go forward to a head to head and the winner will be crowned Offbeat Festival Slam Champion. I’ll be hosting, trying to keep some sort of order as the competition hots up.
DI: In your opinion, what makes a poetry slam great?
TS: A great host (!), who keeps the energy flowing, sets the atmosphere up so the poets can perform their best, and an enthusiastic audience who are not afraid to shout for their favourites! Also the poets realising that while it’s a competition, winning is not the be all and end all. As the old slam saying goes, ‘The point is not the points. The point is the poetry.'
DI: Earlier this year, you hosted the poetry show Everything’s Working Out…Poetically! At the Old Fire Station. Any plans to bring it back?
TS: Yes, Everything’s Working Out Poetically will be back at the Old Fire Station on Sunday October 13th, this time in the theatre, with brilliant local poets showcasing both their best and their worst poetry, and our headliner, the iconic Vera Chok, star of the National Theatre, Hollyoaks and a certain baked bean commercial. Find out more here.
DI:You’ve won over 20 poetry slams. Any advice for Friday night’s competitors?
TS: Take time to get yourself in the zone before you go on, and then once you are on stage, enjoy your moment. Even if yours is a serious piece, play with the words, listen to the audience’s reaction and make it a conversation between them and you, rather than you just ‘doing’ a poem at them.
DI: After Offbeat, what's next for you?
TS: Obviously Everything’s Working Out Poetically in October, but I am also cooking up some new things for 2025, which I can’t tell you about yet!
DI: Finally, please describe the Late-night Offbeat Poetry Slam in three words.
TS: Raucous, Uplifting, Fun
The Late-night Offbeat: Poetry Slam is on at the Old Fire Station cafe, on Fri 13th Sep, 9pm. For more info and to book tickets, click here.