Live Encounters Poetry & Writing, Special Edition on Humour June 2024.
Review, poem by Norm Neill.
Review
The play is neither funny nor dramatic
but the actors, businesslike, conform
as best they can – good actors are pragmatic –
to the clichéd script they now perform.
The leading character makes lengthy speeches
and the ingenue stands still too much.
A priest appears and disappears and preaches,
lacking any sacerdotal touch.
The set has brightly painted flats and drops,
eight spotlights make a florid jamboree
and every scene displays a range of props.
The saving grace was that my seat was free.
© Norm Neill
Norm Neill has been a timber-feller, fence-post splitter, shop assistant, market worker, money counter, tractor driver, factory worker, taxi driver, psychiatric nurse, door-to-door salesperson, part-time student, full-time student, teacher, historian and museum guide. His poetry has appeared in journals, anthologies and the Sun-Herald newspaper. He has convened a poetry workshop since 2002.