‘Muse in the Muse’ with John Hegley

New Walk Museum - Council Room

July 30th 2010

Steph Mantle, who took part in performance poet John Hegley’s Muse in the Muse Workshop at Leicester’s Lyric Lounge, tells us about her experience of this very special event.

The Lyric Lounge Leicester event was held at New Walk Museum from the 30^th July to the 1^st August and created dozens of opportunities for people of all ages to get involved in different workshops based on different aspects of poetry there truly was something for everyone. I chose to attend the Muse in the Muse workshop with the acclaimed poet John Hegley on Friday afternoon and no sooner had the workshop ended that I was wishing that I could have attended more of these exciting events!

When I first arrived at the Council Room it was quite a nerve-wracking experience as I had gone on my own and knew no one at the event but once the workshop began all my anxiety vanished. Everyone was made to feel included and before long we were chatting to each other as if we had known one another for a quite some time. We worked together from the very first activity and were encouraged to work with people that we may not have known upon arrival. Everyone was able to take part and do something in each activity.

During the workshop we wrote small rhymes to go with well known sayings such as the ‘bee’s knees’ and ‘cat and coat hanger’. These were worked on individually but some were then shared with the rest of the group. We also drew pictures to match the phrases some of which were also shown to the rest of the group. Finally we wrote a few extra lines to go with John Hegley’s song, I Need You. One member of each team then sang these lines in time to the song as best they could. Everyone laughed and smiled and there was a great uplifting and happy atmosphere in the room from start to finish.

The people of all ages attended the Muse in the Muse event and there was even a whole family. After the workshop I spoke to a father and his 10 year old son, although the son was quite shy and a bit reluctant to talk to me he told me he had ‘enjoyed’ the workshop and had a ‘good time’. His dad told me that he felt the workshop had been good as ‘the kids got a lot out of it’ and they were ‘able to participate instead of sitting back and watching’.

Overall it seemed that the workshop was enjoyed by everyone no matter what age they were and I am incredibly disappointed that I was unable to attend any other events that were held over the weekend.