Andy Conner
Class Act
Actor waits in wings
Steals anxious glance at script
Too late for revisions
Bell tolls curtain up
Under pressure and under-rehearsed
Set up to take a fall
Charlatan in clown’s clothing
Masquerades as knight of the boards
Audience ushered into seats
Settle in preparation
Expectant hush descends
Awaiting masterclass
In the spotlight, centre stage
As sixty eyes burn bright
Coloured candles melting veneer
Of make-up masking nerves
Stuttering start, sweat trickles
Down first page of opening act
Attention-seeking heckler
Attempts to steal the scene
Critical point, sink or swim
Heckler punctured by sharp riposte
Other twenty-nine pairs of eyes
Soften at cutting comment
Audience won, nerves abate
Performer turns on the style
Anecdotes, ad libs, asides, vignettes
Enhance work of substance
Actor leads audience through the script
Audience reacts as directed
Actor glows with realisation
They have understood the plot
No applause or curtain call
Though some show appreciation
Actor stifles sigh of relief
Carried it off again
Teacher steals anxious glance at script
As next house is ushered in
Page(s) 8-9
magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The