Poetry Should Be For Everyone

My first book of poetry - A Poem for all Seasons takes a journey through the months of the year with poems about the weather, nature, the location where I live and memories and feelings of joy as well as loss.

My poetry, especially in this anthology, is what I would term as popular poetry it is not the abstract complexity of ideas and textures you get from much of the "literary" poetry that wins awards. This. I believe. is more for the ordinary people who like a rhyme or two, like something familiar they can understand and relate to, without having to think after reading it - what did it mean?

So much poetry I feel is to "clever" for its own good but of course, like art or theatre it is in the eye of the beholder. We all have different likes and dislikes and different ways of appreciating a walk along the river.

These poems, I hope, just create pictures and stories that are recognisable in an instance. As the reader scans the words they are there in the moment and it helps them make an emotional connection with the time and place.

Poetry is probably the most subjective of all the art forms and everyone can find something that appeals to their our sensibilities. Words take us to beautiful evocative places - they can make us feel every emotion under the sun.

The poems in this little book are just my ways of recording the world around me and I hope others will enjoy them for that.

I begin with a dedication to Holly - Holly Green was the young Wirral Poet Laureate in 2007-2008 and as a school-girl her grasp of language and imagery was more superior than many three times her age. I doubt I shall every be as good but her being part of my first community pageant All Along The River was a honour. Although I wrote most of the poetry, prose and music for this extravaganza for Liverpool's Capital of Culture, I could not have done it without the input of the other writers, poets and musicians who contributed to it and so it is in memory of that project my dedication is to her.

Some of the poems are just capturing the seasonal flavour as in "Winter Childhood" when an old man in a nursing home is looking at old black and white photos and remembering the fun of his childhood playing in the snow.  Other poems are more cynical like "Another New Year's Day"

There are poems about famous landscapes "Another Place" - the iron men standing in the Mersey sculptured by Antony Gormley - in this poem I imagine what the iron men may be thinking and how we define freedom.  "London Tripping" is a fast rhythmical poem about a trip to London and the train journey home to Liverpool. £" "River Sunday" paints a busy picture of all the sights one can see in just one morning along the River Mersey. Alternatively, "River Morning" shows a different side to the river through nature.

Liscard Cemetery has also been the source of much inspirations and "In loving Memory" is in this book but other poems and stories are also waiting to be published.  Vale Park , set on the promenade in New Brighton has also been a source as in the poem "Benches".

Poetry is all around us and in each one of us. so I hope if people consider buying this as a Christmas or birthday gift for someone they will appreciate the love I have for my surroundings.

The book is available from https://www.amazon.co.uk/Poem-All-Seasons-Collection-Poetry/dp/153996423X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481107716&sr=1-1&keywords=bev+clark

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Haunting tale for Winter Nights

Now it's cold outside  why not try a ghostly supernatural drama for a dark Winter evening? This one act drama has a cast of six characters - three male three female and would make an ideal festival play or as part of an evenings drama. If your technical department are ambitious and like a challenge there is plenty for them to get their technical teeth into as sound lighting and effects will really enhance this creepy tale. Available on Amazon.https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1539518833/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479315357&sr=8-1&keywords=the+ghost+crib+by+bev+clark

When farmer Hornby and his wife keep a secret they could not imagine what the consequences would be. Their young daughter is haunted by nightmares but are they visited by a ghost from the past ?
This is my six play on Amazon or you can find out more by visiting wwwwww.script4stage.com.scripts4stage.com  or like our facebook https://www.facebook.com/1092254910846022/photos/1100389356699244/s/ or follow us on twitter@scripts4stage.

Writing is more creative than housework any day

Cold mornings and blocked noses are good excuses to stay in bed but if you are like me and feel guilty about the washing up still in the sink or the pile of clothes in the dirty laundry basket,then creeping back under the covers and forgetting the world is hard to do...so I grab my iPad and tap out some notes....it makes me feel - well at least I am doing something. what's more important ? Washing up or creating a possible masterpiece ? Perhaps, not a masterpiece but I have two new plays, a couple of half written poems and a short story that is getting longer each day. Ideas are not the problem. Starting is not the problem. Finishing them - is !  O I know how they'll finish, well most of the time but I just don't have time to finish!! O for a day that has thirty hours or more. O for a P.A who could type as quick as I think . O to make just enough money so I can give up work and finally have time to write and do the housework... or better still afford a cleaner !  I have finished some plays of course they are now on my website.www.scripts4stage.com. And now four of them available on Amazon. just search one act plays by Bev Clark but I have so much more to write ....so for now the dishes can wait!
What do I write ? Drama comedy horror romance I think I can tackle most genres although supernatural and twist in the tale are my favourite.... and that reminds me my new ghostly one act drama The Ghost Crib should be out next week on Amazon . A haunting period drama about a girl possessed.  I have also just finished putting together a book of poetry. Perhaps I shouldn't be so hard on myself I am finishing some stuff. Now should I get up and go to Tesco or should I write another chapter of my fantasy novel ? ... decisions ...decisions.  Follow me on twitter @hihtheatre or @scripts4stage.com

New Play shows how emotional baggage can weigh you down.

My new play BAGGAGE- is about two women and their very different emotional baggage which they carry around with them. Sandra, a fifty something mother of three and wife to Pete is weighed down with real baggage - Christmas shopping but also the constant worry and needs of this demanding but "normal" family with its tears, tantrums and fussiness.

She meets Annie, a stereotypical bag lady weighed down with trolley and plastic bags in which she carries her life but her emotional baggage is far heavier than anything  Sandra can imagine.

These two different women forge an unlikely friendship.

This one act drama touches on many issues, death and grieving, mental health, homelessness as well as the place of women seen still as wives and mothers. Women of a certain generation still being somewhat trapped between ideas of their modern role and that of past generations.

This drama has moments of humour and comic banter and moments of tragedy and despair requiring two mature actresses to give both emotion and empathy to the roles as well as possessing good timing and delivery.

An excellent festival play running under fifty minutes and a minimal set.

 Previous plays of mine have been successful at both All England and National drama festivals. Remembrance Day and Bentley: road to Justice both northern winners 2009 and 2011 and recently R.I.P MR Shakespeare was also Northern Winner 2016. Remembrance Day and R.I.P both NDFA All Winners finalist as well. The Black Eyes best youth play and semi finalist for central region AETF 2016.

 For details of all my plays check out www.cripts4stage.com.
Baggage is now available on Amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/Baggage-One-Act-play-two-females/dp/1537570498/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478556468&sr=8-1&keywords=baggage+by+bev+clark as are R.I.P , Make Me Invisible and When The Dark Sea Cries. New titles being added all the time. Please follow me on twitter @@scripts4stage

Period drama for large female cast

As dramas such as Poldark hit record viewing numbers it is clear period dramas which offer adventure, romance and wild landscapes could be as popular on stage as they are on screen.

Bev Clark’s new drama When the Dark Sea Cries, takes us to fishing village on the coast of North Somerset circa 1850s, where a tempest is raging in the Bristol Channel and the men of the fishing village are all out at sea. The women folk remain waiting…. and this play is about eight women in particular.

The main protagonist is Kate Martyn a woman in her mid-thirties who has three young sons, one who is deaf and out in the storm with his father. Kate, though poor and illiterate is strong-minded and sharp-witted. Her older sister Marianne who has been married twenty years has no children and now shares a secret with her sister.

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Their mother Ma Bess has already been widowed by the sea and fears this storm will bring more tragedy. Emily Tavener is wife to Jack, one of the skippers and mother to some of the crew. She is a woman nursing her own grief already. Bryony, Tilly and Lizzie are the younger girls who each have family on the boats and as the matriarch - Old Susan with her philosophy and experience watches over all the women of the village, a story unfolds in the space of one long night.

Into this storm-battered dwelling comes Dr Richard Trelawney an Irishman travelling from Bristol who has lost his way. Susan believes his arrival is providence for indeed he is able to give some help to the group of women but for Kate it heralds the beginning of a new chapter in her life.

A violent storm brings them a miracle but also a tragedy… yet hope for new beginnings. Originally inspired by a quote from the poet Ted Hughes 

“The sea cries with its meaningless voice treating alike its dead and its living…”

This one-act drama offers a cast of eight female characters, one male and one teenage boy. Ideal for a festival play it is now available on Amazon.com Licence available from www.scripts4stage.com 

NEW PLAY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

New for 2016, MAKE ME INVISIBLE by Bev Clark - a play for young people which explores the world of an adolescent boy who feels he is alone, isolated, bullied and not understood by his peers.  Through his older self as the narrator and his younger self as the protagonist, we see through his eyes, the gangs of kids who pick on him and belittle him and finally ignore him as if he is “thin air”.

He sees them all as animals - the long-legged laughing girls are hyenas. The goading name-calling boys are monkeys. The foxes who pretend to be his friends but then laugh behind his back.  The owls, ravens and snakes each find a way to hurt him.

When he cannot cope with the stress of the classroom or playground he retreats into a series of surreal, dream-like scenes expressed through physical theatre, movement, sometimes with music - sometimes with poetry.

His one fascination is with the sky and the stars. From an early ambition to be an astronaut he now wants to fly so he can be lifted up from all of his earthly unhappiness.

The ending is ambiguous left for you to interpret whether he overcomes his obstacles or submits to his failings.

A poetic one-act drama for teenagers allowing for some improvisation and devising around the issue of loneliness and isolation.

The script is available to buy from Amazon.com for £4.95 and performance licences are available from www.scripts4stage.com