Our Truths and MixConceptions night was held at our regular Canterbury Mooring Cafe on the 27th of March. Our perhaps more personal/revealing theme inspired some very intimate and quite touching performances….
Hosts Holly and Alice presented this evening of truth and mixconception… Alice, in whimsical spirit, interceded acts with a number of popular misconceptions… one being that bulls do not charge at the colour red! (they are colour blind)- it is just the movement of the cloth that insights them!
First to the stage was Eli, who began with an impassioned speech upon seeing individuals, whether you liked/hated, agreed/disagreed, were similar/dissimilar, as more ‘human’. Concluding that, ultimately, we all have to just get out of bed at the start of the day, and face a number of tiring, anxiety-provoking situations… leading to most of us just being a multi-faceted mess.
We were then treated to Gabby Rolls latest set! – Having performed upon MixMatched stage over several years it is wonderful to see her go from strength to strength, and have the confidence to share more personal antidotes. She elaborated upon some paradoxical assumptions towards disability regarding social stigma. One being that a number of individuals seemed to correlate it to meaning that she was ‘innocent’/without smut! – She corrected this with a number of tactical inuendos! – She elaborated to say that, controversially, she was seen to be ‘too able’ when she applied to join certain disability groups… such as the Para Olympics! – Asserting that groups that championed diversity also had some of the most stringent/punitive acceptance criteria… despite the seriousness of the subject matter, Gabby had us all in splits, which is a testament to her growth as a comedian.
Last in our first act was Ribs… Usually tied up to their own fleets of comedy nights it was wonderful to see them again at MixMatched! Trying something completely different (and claiming not to be a poet!) Ribs shared a humorous piece about how, upon sharing they were autistic as an act of self-acceptance and pride, heard an audience member comment ‘bless her’… immediately taking the wind out of their sales. Their piece solidified the impact that seemingly innocuous comments can make.
Once again, our audience poem and caption competition circulated during the break. With it being such an intimate night it was lovely to have in-depth chat and discussions between audience and performers.
Three more acts joined us after the break! Elen Jones, MixMatched regular, in one of her wonderful self-made and tailored costumes, reflected upon, what for her, had been some extremely hard truths and shared her strong personal views upon issues surrounding placement and upbringing. She was followed by MixMatched first Rachel Reid, our second poet of the evening! Rachel had recently moved to canterbury and shared three autobiographical poems reflecting upon some major life events, and the close bonds that her and her sister have shared through them. Finishing the night was Arron Kay (who again won our caption competition!) – He spoke upon recognising his grandparents to be Neurodivergent, and how, along with the generational gap, this had led to several quite shameless interactions (such as her grandma insisting that one of her carers remove their ‘ripped genes’ so she could sew them up… presuming her to be too poor to afford new cloths… rather than understanding it as a fashion trend!) A strong finish to a lovely night… all that was left was the audience poems.
One read by Alice, the other Holly, they captured the profound spirit of the night!
Set List:
1- Eli Harnett – Speach upon understanding others, and avoiding black and white misconceptions.
2- Gabby Rolls – a personal comedy set centred around misconceptions surrounding disability reflecting on a number of her own personal communications.
3- Ribs – Joining us after a run of her own comedy nights ribs performed a humourous poetry set that reflected on elements of the stigma and critical nature of being a Neurodivergent/Autistic Performer.
Second Set:
4- Elen Jones – Treated us to another blended performance piece that reflected upon views towards her upbringing within speech and poetry and song.
5- Rachel Reid – A brave MixMatched first! – Rachel read us three of her own autobiographic poems, each reflecting on different elements of her life, such as her relationship with her sister and covid lockdown.
6- Aaron Kay – In a hybrid comedy speech act Arron shared several awkward anecdotes from experiences with his grandparents… suspecting them to also be neurodivergent, he regained us with some hilarious situations whereby generation difference led to innocent yet somewhat shameless interaction! Full of Mixmatched fun!
Winning Caption: “My Milkshake brings all the Cats to the Yard!” – Aaron!