The Speaking Voice; the Written Word:
Norman Nicholson and Performance
The second Norman Nicholson Symposium organised jointly by the Norman Nicholson Society and the Centre for National Parks and Protected Areas at the University of Cumbria examined Nicholson's remarkable record as a public performer, and as a writer of work - particularly his poetry and his verse dramas - which he expected to be performed or, at the very least, read aloud. As one of our speakers, Ann Thomson, reminded us, in his autobiography Wednesday Early Closing Nicholson writes 'I wanted an audience; I wanted to make people listen'. Not for him a soundproof echo-chamber, no matter evocative his second-floor dormer room in Millom may seem to us today.
Our speakers showed how successful Nicholson was in finding that audience, from Andrew F. Wilson's detailed research of over 100 broadcasts for BBC radio to our keynote speaker Professor Jonathan Pitches' review of Nicholson's verse dramas. Kathleen Jones, Nicholson's biographer (The Whispering Poet, pub The Book Mill 2014), observed that 'Nicholson was a Performance Poet before they were fashionable - or even a word'.
Attendees travelled from across the North of England and beyond to immerse themselves in a full day of Nicholson presentations, all free of charge, including lunch and refreshments, thanks to very generous support from an anonymous donor. Our thanks go, of course, to that donor and also to Dr Penny Bradshaw and the staff and students of Cumbria Uni's Ambleside campus. Special thanks to our committee member and editor of Comet, Dr Antoinette Fawcett, for her immense efforts over many months in leading the organisation of the Symposium, drawing on her deep knowledge of Nicholson's life and work.
Our speakers showed how successful Nicholson was in finding that audience, from Andrew F. Wilson's detailed research of over 100 broadcasts for BBC radio to our keynote speaker Professor Jonathan Pitches' review of Nicholson's verse dramas. Kathleen Jones, Nicholson's biographer (The Whispering Poet, pub The Book Mill 2014), observed that 'Nicholson was a Performance Poet before they were fashionable - or even a word'.
Attendees travelled from across the North of England and beyond to immerse themselves in a full day of Nicholson presentations, all free of charge, including lunch and refreshments, thanks to very generous support from an anonymous donor. Our thanks go, of course, to that donor and also to Dr Penny Bradshaw and the staff and students of Cumbria Uni's Ambleside campus. Special thanks to our committee member and editor of Comet, Dr Antoinette Fawcett, for her immense efforts over many months in leading the organisation of the Symposium, drawing on her deep knowledge of Nicholson's life and work.
The Symposium was opened by Dr Bradshaw who described Nicholson's as 'a bardic voice' who continues to speak powerfully to us today. Kathleen Jones described Nicholson as 'the greatest Lake District poet since Wordsworth' and added that Nicholson's reputation has suffered something of an eclipse since his death in 1987, 'something which we've all been working very hard to reverse'.
In his keynote presentation, Professor Pitches focused on one specific aspect of Nicholson's verse plays, the way he uses mountains in his dramas, giving them personalities and speaking roles on stage. Professor Pitches referenced in particular The Old Man of the Mountains and Birth by Drowning, recalling the impact that the former had when it first appeared in 1946 with its forceful condemnation of what today would be described as unsustainable farming practices. The ideas presented in the play over 70 years ago are as current as ever, he said.
Professor Jonathan Pitches
|
|
Another of Nicholson's plays, and arguably his most controversial, A Match for the Devil, was discussed by Ann Thomson, an active contributor to Cumbrian theatre. Ann recounted how the play, in which prostitution features prominently, was commissioned by the Religious Drama Society of Great Britain, only for the Society to cancel it with the production already in rehearsal. Ann discussed the preconceptions which would have been decisive in reaching that decision and what they told us about a condescending attitude towards audiences at the time.
The audience of 2024 then enjoyed the vibrant sound of Nicholson's poetry as the Raven's opening speech from The Old Man of the Mountains was read by Kerry Darbishire; Cowper's Tame Hare read by Miggy Scott; Hard of Hearing read by Susan Cartwright-Smith; and In a Word by Bridget Sinclair.
After the lunch break the Society's chair, Professor Brian Whalley, reminded us that in three years' time we will be marking the 40th anniversary of Nicholson's death. He hoped that there would be strong support for a programme of events which will be put in place for the occasion and encouraged anyone with an interest in Nicholson to join the Society.
Susan Cartwright-Smith presented a paper entitled Poetry as aural phenomenon: how Nicholson manipulated his contrasting soundscapes. Susan, one of several speakers who are graduates of the MA in Literature, Romanticism and the English Lake District from the University of Cumbria, drilled deep into Nicholson's poetic construction, illustrating how his use of sounds, consonants and punctuation contribute to the effect achieved by his words. The transformative power of one letter can achieve a lot, she said, referencing Hodbarrow Flooded among other poems to show how Nicholson exerts 'his control of our breathing'.
This set up the next item, a rehearsed reading of The Bow in the Cloud, directed by Ann Thomson who was joined as reader by Brian Charnley, Antoinette Fawcett, and Glenn Lang. The poem reworks the Old Testament story of Noah’s Flood and places it in a Cumbrian context. The live reading gave the audience the chance to appreciate Nicholson's mastery of the aural and poetic techniques he had acquired as a schoolboy and developed and refined throughout his life
The poet and Society member Martyn Halsall spoke about the way his own work is to this day influenced by Norman Nicholson in a presentation titled Honouring the Echoes: Norman Nicholson's Creative Legacy. Martyn said that reading Nicholson had spurred and stimulated his work, referencing his recent collection The Weather Door (pub The Book Mill, 2024). Martyn then recalled that his early life and the start of his career in journalism took place in Southport, and that his parents' home had been walking distance from the scene of the knife attack in July this year in which three young girls were killed. Drawing parallels with Nicholson's The Evacuees, Martyn spoke about writing his own poem Walking Distance, inspired by the Southport attacks and the racist violence which broke out in the aftermath.
The mid-afternoon session continued with a fascinating presentation by Carole Thirlaway about her artistry as a wood engraver and how she was inspired by Nicholson's poems. Her choice of poems to represent through her technique was guided, she said, by those 'that spoke to the struggles he'd had in his own life', citing The Pot Geranium. We then heard yet another example of how Nicholson's creativity can be portrayed with a recording of Fossils by the Cumbrian-born contralto Jess Dandy, set to music by the composer Joel Rust. 'I never expected to hear the language and humour of my grandparents in poetry' commented Jess in her pre-recorded introduction.
|
|
The final session opened with a moving reading by Miggy Scott of the poem For Norman Nicholson by her late husband David Scott, a close friend of Norman.
Then came a closer look at Nicholson's radio work. Andrew F Wilson of the Institution of Engineering and Technology showed how a log of Nicholson's radio appearances demonstrated the scope of his work, and how the reach of the BBC meant that he connected with many more people than by simply having his poems printed in literary publications. Among the broadcasts he picked out were Norman's debut appearance in July 1946 when he read six of his poems at the BBC studios in Manchester; his first radio 'talk' a week later, on the future of the Lake District, which Nicholson urged never to be 'coddled'; one short story The Island in the Lake; and a play The Field, one of several pieces influenced by Millom cricket field. Another talk, On Being a Provincial, which aired on the BBC Home Service in 1954, was, said Andrew, one of Nicholson's best.
We then heard an example of Nicholson at work on the BBC when Charlie Lambert, the Society's former Chair and also a former BBC broadcaster, introduced a recording of A Wall Walks Slowly, a Radio 3 production from 1977 in which the celebrated producer Desmond Briscoe captured sounds, voices, accents and moods of Cumbria in a 27-minute programme built around Nicholson's reading of several of his poems. The audio was used by special permission of BBC Radio Arts.
The Symposium's final contributor was Dr Chris Donaldson of Lancaster University. Chris, a former member of the Society's committee, spoke on Voices of History in Norman Nicholson's Poetry and Prose, illustrating how the poet used different voices for different purposes in order to make a point from the past, with particular reference to the poems Caedmon, Five Rivers, and Nobbut God. Nicholson's employment of 'little everyday utterances' as in Boo to a Goose and Have You Ever Been to London? was another important aspect of his writing style resulting in Nicholson's being, to this day, 'a voice which speaks with enduring immediacy'.
The organisers would like to thank all the speakers who contributed their knowledge and time to the Symposium, and everyone who joined us in Ambleside for a memorable day.
Windermere looking west from Low Wood, 5.56pm September 28 2024
Words and pictures by CHARLIE LAMBERT
Words and pictures by CHARLIE LAMBERT
