Hosted by the newly elected Education EO Lewis Aaron Wood 16-17, Monday 7th March saw the return of Loughborough’s favourite Spoken Word Performance Night with headliners Mr Gee and Adam Kammerling taking the stage in Cogs as well as Loughborough University’s very own budding poets. Compère Lewis Wood kicked off proceedings with an original impromptu poem dubbing Speech Bubble the place where poems come to life!
Giving students a platform to express their work with an open-mic session; Loughborough’s very own talent took to the stage first, showcasing a wide array of topics.
Lizzie Fedorowycz began the night with ‘In the End’ a poignantly humorous poem about relationships and cats. Her laughter inducing word association proved to be a hit with the crowd. Tommy Mac delivered a piece about a driver of a minibus in the highlands, two gorilla suits, whisky, condoms and coal dust. First timer Billy Senior oozed rhyme and rhythm popping his Speech Bubble cherry as he blew away the audience. Jonathan Paris performed ‘Damaged but not broken’ with his very own fangirl squealing ‘oh my god that was so gooood!’ One of Speech Bubble’s veterans Ben Deadman took to the stage with a passionate poem about weed. Benji Appleby graced the audience with his cat inspired poem about how the world keeps turning. Aizaz ‘aka Spadez’ Hussain left the audience in awe with such a strong and powerful piece on suicide executed eloquently as he had the audience hanging on his every word. Banana Sharma’s inventive poem about emotional congruency was one of our five a day, followed by a unique Mother’s Day treat. Tony Dunning popped his open mic cherry on stage with his beautifully romantic poems. Michael Obireé, who had recently lost his virginity, let his lion roar in front of the crowd. From “Silicon Valley” CEO of Peach Cooperation Steve Employment, aka Stephen Thomas, revolutionised face-face interactions, with his poem detailing just how easy it is to talk to people.
‘Speech Bubble lineup has been incredible, to see 20 open mic slots filled was amazing. We’re very impressed with all the talent in the bubble’ – Speech Bubble Coordinators Lewis Wood and Maggie Nash
J Silks – Speech Bubble veteran and DJ took us down memory lane all the way back MSN era, after his brief stint at stand up which had the audience in absolute bits. Rupert Ibbotson who first performed at last year’s Speech Bubble presented his pleasant country life. Label’s Culture Editor, Alex Jones took a comedic approach to his recentlty vacated heart and let the audience than Macklemore speaks to him on an existential level. Speech Bubble’s Co-Coordinator Maggie Nash wowed us all with her original poem’We talk about it like it is a real trend’. Harriot Brophy’s beautiful mind wowed us all with her spoken word. Kes Browne’s untitled yet moving piece was breathtaking and extremely personal, as she bared her soul onstage.Danielle Ballard enthralled the audience with her poem turn acoustic performance that quite literally took everyone’s breath away. Former Speech Bubble Coordinator Charlie Staunton allowed into the privileged world of what it’s like working as Union security. For people to get on stage and bear their souls to a room of strangers was truly moving, listening to what people have been through and were able to articulate was truly outstanding and inspirational.
Adam Kammerling’s quirky style tantalised the audience with a very erotic poem about going to the dentist, while Mr Gee’s set oozed rhythm and rhyme throughout. Headliners Adam Kammerling and Mr Gee were a real hit with the crowd and were the cherry on top of a talent filled Speech Bubble.
