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Showing posts from 2021

SIARAD, Spoken Word Theatre

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  After a sold-out Adelaide Fringe season, SIARAD was invited back to The Goodwood Theatre's Comeback Festival in September. Thanks to Arts South Australia, I had some funds to develop the show. I worked with actor Emma Beech, designer Ali Jones and director Catherine Fitzgerald to make things ping. Sia Duff was our photographer and Reply Creative recorded the show, which will be available for viewing in the near future.      You can read reviews of SIARAD over at InDaily and Artshub .            Post-show, I've been working with actor/comedian/director Steve Sheehan to emphasise the 'theatre' in spoken word theatre, and I'm really excited about where it's going. This show is changing every time I present it, which I love. There are definitely plans for another Comeback in 2022, so watch this space! 

Tickets Are On Sale for SIARAD, Spoken Word Theatre

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"Reid's delivery is masterful. This is poetry of the best kind."  Alice Gorman, Adelaide Fringe Review I am so freaking pleased to announce that SIARAD, my one-woman spoken word theatre event, will enjoy a Comeback Season in September at Studio 166, Goodwood Theatre & Studios. With the brilliant assistance and support of theatre-maker Emma Beech, Goodwood Theatre & Studios, Spineless Wonders and Andy Hunt, I'll present 5 shows across 3 days: Friday, September 17th - Sunday, September 19th 2021. Tickets have just been made available through Try Booking. SIARAD pulses with images of stars and stray dogs, highways with no horizon and mothers with fading memories, a blend of poetry and storytelling with a consistent element of humour and surprise.  Here are some responses from those who came to SIARAD at Adelaide Fringe Festival: Such a brilliant show! I loved it!!  I forgot I was even in the theatre. Thank you. If you love words and writing, this is just the pe

WRITING FOR RELIEF 2021

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Free Daily Writing Prompts delivered to your inbox every day in August.  Coronavirus continues to circle the community, causing borders to shut, raising fear and anxiety. To relieve my anxiety, I usually turn to writing. To help me get started I've put together 31 writing prompt which I'd like to share with you. CLICK HERE to sign up I haven’t been able to write much this year. Has it been the same for you? Instead of writing I’ve been playing with pictures, making collages, junk journals and up-cycled notebooks. This has brought me a great deal of joy but these past months I have been wanting to get back to writing in a meaningful way. SOOOO …. Last week I set myself some writing goals. In August (which is poetry month in Australia) my goal is to draft 4 new poems and finish 2 poems that are currently in-progress. To help me I’ve put together 31 writing prompts, one for each day. There are different types of prompts such as Observation

August is POETRY MONTH!

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  Junk Journals - covers A whole month of poetry! How sweet is that? An initiative of Red Room Poetry, you can head over to their website and check out all the wonderfully poetic things that are happening between August 1-31.   I'll also be releasing details very soon of how you can sign up for my newsletter. Yeah, I've been dreaming about setting up a newsletter for loyal followers for quite some time now, and Poetry Month is just the right motivation to make it happen. The first newsletter will offer discounts to my upcoming (return) season of SIARAD in September, plus specials on the print and audio book. I'll also have more information about my hand-made Poetry Prompt Journals.     Junk Journal - interior I learnt how to make Junk Journals recently, at a great place called The Adelaide Remakery. What fun! So, I've added my twist to them, and have been busy making Punk As Fuq Poetry Prompt Junk Journals (I know, it's a mouthful) - a fun resource to help inspire

2nd Place in Tom Collins Poetry Prize

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 In February 2021, I was awarded second place in the Tom Collins Poetry Prize with my poem 'DEVOUR'. The Prize is presented by the Fellowship of Australian Writers (WA) and was judged by Caitlin Malin.   I wrote the poem in response to the Australia's catastrophic bushfires in 2019-2020. I spent a week in January 2021 in Cape Jervis with a view of Kangaroo Island but some days the smoke from fires was so thick it obscured the island. It was a weird, fretful time, and our Prime Minister's response didn't help ease the country's anxiety.     I challenged myself to write DEVOUR like a collage, a form I'm experimenting with more and more. I use multiple motifs, weaving together references to literary heavyweight Patrick White, sanitary napkins, peri-menopause, Australia's Prime Minister and blue cheese. I love working this way. It's intuitive, trusting that threads will work and somehow pulling it together with humour and pathos. You can read my winning

SIARAD makes a Comeback in September

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 Heeeey, thanks for dropping by. Things have been rumbling along since March. My Adelaide Fringe show came and went. The audiences were lovely and the studio space was so intimate it felt like I was performing to friends in my lounge room. I did 3 shows, with a splash of heckling on opening night, which I loved! The wonderful Alice Gorman (otherwise knows as Dr Space Junk ) had this to say in her review: "Reid's delivery of her words is masterful It's no wonder she has twice been a finalist in the Australian Poetry Slam. She blends cadence with a conversational style that hits just the right balance. Music, sound effects and props augment the words and emotions as Reid moves from verse to verse. This is not a chronological narrative, but you feel you have taken a journey with Reid to some place of stillness and acceptance at the end ... This is poetry of the best kind, that engages you and makes you want to be BFFs with the poet."  If you didn't get to the show,

The Sunday Series #1: Middle-Aged Virgin Prepares for Fringe

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When I was planning SIARAD, my debut collection of poetry and prose , I wanted two things: a book that crossed boundaries and a beautiful work of art. Luckily for me, I found the people who made that happen. Bettina Kaiser art+design and the Spineless Wonders crew created a gorgeous work of art with a beautiful aesthetic. Kerryn Goldsworthy noted in the Sydney Morning Herald that "the design and illustrations are a precise fit with both the form and content of Reid's text."   And what of crossing boundaries? When the book went to print I had a vague notion that I’d like to record SIARAD as an Audiobook , and ‘wouldn’t mind’ doing it as a show. Possibly at Adelaide Fringe in 2022, I thought. Then Covid-19 invaded our world. A stressful time, to say the least. However, during lockdown I was able to use a Covid Support Grant from the South Australian government to make the Audiobook I’d been dreaming of. This is great! I thought. My book has crossed over from print into au

SIARAD Audiobook

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I'm so happy to announce that my collection of poetry and prose SIARAD has been released as an Audiobook. Available NOW from:  GOOGLE PLAY | AUTHORS DIRECT | KOBO | SCRIBD | CHIRP |  Available in January 2021 from AMAZON AUDIBLE   Watch the Trailer HERE SIARAD, poetry and prose written and read by Caroline Reid   running time: 120 minutes presented by Spineless Wonders Audio sound design and production by Jeffrey Zhang   design and illustrations by Bettina Kaiser editorial assistance by Matilda Gould   SIARAD is a 34- track Audiobook in which Jeffrey and I tried pushing the limits of the form. We tried to get a flow and a soundscape that was a bit unconventional. We worked in different geographical locations (Jeff in Sydney, me in Adelaide) and shared the tracks in Google Drive. Lots of to and fro before it all came together. It was such a fun collaboration! We're both keen to get working on SIARAD, the Show which we'll be presenting in March 2021 as part of Adelaide Fr

Slow Art or Things that Move You

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In 2015 I painted a canvas with swirls of red and orange, gold and white. I liked the movement of the paint but didn't much care for the end result. Five years later, after browsing through an old art journal, I began adding bold circles and swirls with a permanent marker; negative space opened up and suddenly I perceived the piece quite clearly. I knew exactly how to finish it. The piece is now hanging in my study, a kind of talisman for the year ahead.   I've always loved drawing, doodling and painting circles, swirls and spirals. These are the shapes that move me, that speak to me in some profound way. As we move into this new year, I set an intention to focus on these shapes. I am curious about what they will reveal. Already I have begun playing with ways that I can include them into my upcoming Adelaide Fringe Show , maybe in the set or the props I use. What shapes speak to you?