OA Events at Dulwich College
looks at where hope can be found anew in these new beginnings. Interestingly, the other piece that you’re part of at the moment starts at the end of the relationship. Absolutely. I’m doing a play which I co-wrote with Nicole Botha called Holding at the Arcola Theatre. As you say, it starts at the end and then looks back to see how the relationship unravelled and how the breakdown occurred. I think it says a lot about me that I keep going back and talking about relationships in my poetry. The story is told through the medium of prose, rhyme and poetry. There are sections of prose which may just be two actors speaking before breaking into moments of rapping or perhaps traditional poetry. It’s been really exciting to be part of the whole creative process; the writing, the staging etc. We spent a long time finding the right venue. The BBC have commissioned you to write a podcast series. I've written half of the first series, which is four episodes each lasting 25 to 30 minutes. They look at how different people have different lives and use a variety of forms of the spoken word to tell the story. Every single episode will be a different character's name and it puts their life under a microscope. I’ve called them ‘Talking Terminals’ because when you’re in an airport terminal and everyone is talking, you have no idea what's going on - they all have their different lives. Are you surprised that you’ve found a voice that other people find pleasure in listening to? Absolutely. I'd like to think it's going to become a new genre, a halfway house between rap and traditional poetry. It’s exciting to think of people walking down the street listening to a song that necessarily doesn't have a beat but draws them in through the story it has to tell. Where does the future lie for Dan Whitlam? Innovative poetry or are you still looking for roles in the theatre and on the screen? I want them both to run together side by side going forward. Eventually, I’m pretty sure they’ll be able to help each other. I’m convinced doing both will make me a richer human being. Also, I’m firm believer in staying busy even if I’m not in paid employment. I’ve spoken to a lot of my friends who are actors and they’re going slightly mad waiting for the phone to ring. And I did drive myself mad, especially during COVID. And then I realised that I didn’t just have to sit and wait for work that was probably not going to arrive. I found that the harder I work, the luckier I get, so I'm just trying to do as much as I can.
I was really proud of a Sky Atlantic series called Discovery of Witches where I played a young vampire. We filmed in Cardiff and it was just amazing. I think it was my first example of a big TV production; there could be up to 400 cast and crew working on the set at any one time. Straight after that, I went and did a small independent film in Norway called The Beginning and End of Everything . I’ve been very lucky to have been working solidly and I’m definitely not in a position where I’ll say no to anything. I'm very much wanting to get as much on the CV as possible. How has the pandemic affected you? It was pretty awful because everything dried up all of a sudden. But that was when I told myself that I needed to start creating my own work, in particular my poetry. I had a teacher at Guildhall called Patsy Rodenburg and she always talked about turning your heartbreak into art, no matter what it was. And that's when I
Time to Celebrate…
wrote this poem about the sixteen-year-old me getting stabbed. It got commissioned by BBC Radio Four. The whole piece is thirteen minutes long, which is quite an epic for a poem. It tells my story up to the moment of getting stabbed, and then it resets to tell the story from the point of view of the person who stabbed me. And it's basically about how we're joined. I really wanted to show that it's not about witch-hunting or victimisation. We were just two people caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Once restrictions eased up a bit, I started touring with a company called Sofar Sounds which connects artists and music lovers around the world through intimate shows in unique venues. Ed Sheeran, Bastille and Billy Eilish all started in these places. You’ve got a single coming out in a few weeks. I do, it’s called ‘Exit Sign’. It had its premiere on BBC Radio London a few days ago and it’s an attempt to make poetry more approachable. It’s written as a conversation between two people who are at the start of a new relationship. They both bring baggage with them and are perhaps slightly ruined by their past relationships. One thinks that love is pointless and that it’s just one long walk to the exit sign, whereas the other is saying, “No, there is good and there are great things to look forward to”. The piece
We are so looking forward to welcoming you back! OAs benefit from 10% venue hire discount
• 020 8299 9284 • events@dulwich.org.uk • dulwichevents.co.uk
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs