The self-appointed poet laureate
Telia Nevile’s show encourages the audience to let their ‘‘awkward flag fly’’, writes
She calls herself Australia’s poet laureate, but she isn’t really. She’s rather, a poet letting her ‘‘awkward flag fly’’.
Because if there is one thing that writer Telia Nevile of Fringe’s up-and-coming show Poet vs Pageant is, it’s that the selfdescribed and promoted poet laureate is a little awkward.
‘‘When I started writing poetry years and years ago it was as a poetry character,’’ she said.
‘‘Just before I went up on stage for the first time I was asked what I wanted to be introduced as and I thought, ‘what is the most farreaching, ridiculous thing I could possibly think of’.’’
‘‘Call me Poet Laureate Telia Nevile, because Australia doesn’t have a Poet Laureate.’’
Nevile is arriving on this side of the Tasman and appearing at this month’s Fringe Festival in Wellington. Her latest show carries the glory of two awards (Best Writing, Melbourne Fringe and L’Apres Fringe Award, Montreal Fringe) and a nomination (Best English Production, Montreal Fringe).
Poet Vs Pageant, playing at Bats Theatre, is described as Miss Congeniality meets Roald Dahl, an epic adventure. It ponders what will happen when awkward outsider Miss PL dives head-first into the perilous seas of a beauty pageant.
‘‘I did have a lot of people or a couple of people saying, ‘hey I know this really great therapist, would you like their number?’’
Telia Nevile
‘‘It’s kind of a fish-out-of-water story about what it’s like to put yourself completely out of your comfort zone and what you can learn from that,’’ Nevile said.
‘‘I try to push myself with each new show to a place I’ve never been before.
‘‘I’d never written a long-form narrative. The shows that I’ve done as a poet up until this one had been collections linked together into a show, but collections of shorter pieces.
‘‘This is 45-minute ballad-form adventure story which is definitely out of my comfort zone, but I’m really glad I did it.’’
Nevile has been making shows since 1997. She likes to push the boundaries of sanity, but often at the disturbance of others.
She signs off her emails with, ‘‘Yours in fake tan and sweaty sequins’’, with a giant photo of herself sporting a crown as blood splatters down her face.
‘‘I did have a lot of people or a couple of people saying, ‘hey I know this really great therapist, would you like their number?’ or ‘Hey, it’s really great that you’ve emerged from high school that way. Have you ever thought about talking to somebody about it?’ The stuff that I wrote up until now has always straddled the line of, ‘is she being serious? I’m not really sure’.’’
But whether she’s awkward or not, Nevile’s passion for storytelling and poetry is evident.
The Sydney Morning Herald described her show as ‘‘gloriously smart and so full of heart that it’s an unmissable treat for Fringe-loving tarts’’ in 2015.
‘‘You know when you used to listen to a story as a little kid and because you could let your eyes glaze over, your brain would paint the story that you’re hearing in your own colours?
‘‘I want the audience to have that, I want them to be able to paint the story that they’re hearing in their own colours and to really sort of come along for the ride and have a good time and laugh and gasp and leave knowing that there’s an awkward outside in everyone and that’s really great,’’ Neville said.
‘‘Your awkward nature is what makes you special and wonderful and the fact that everybody has got it, there’s a real connection point.
‘‘We’re all awkward, so get on in there and go somewhere that you haven’t gone before.
‘‘Alternatively, do something that you haven’t done before, because if you look awkward, everybody else is feeling awkward too, so why not jump on in there and have a go?’’
❚ Poet vs Pageant runs from tonight until March 9 at 9.30pm at Bats Theatre. For more information, see fringe.co.nz