type-a-poet review (Melb Fringe)

As you enter the Temple of Poetry you instantly feel like you have been transported into an otherworldly place. Cushions are scattered on the floor, two chairs and a table are to your left and a small set of shelves hold stacks of paper kept in place by crystals and paperweight.

And there, at the head of altar sits The Poet (Andi Snelling) by their typewriter, like a street performer waiting for someone to drop some coins into their hat before they move. This is type-a-poet, a 1:1 silent ten-minute encounter where Snelling writes a poem for your soul based on your speechless interaction.

Eve St John - Melbourne Fringe Festival preview

Expecting the unexpected at the Melbourne Fringe Festival is the norm when it comes to the type of events a person might come across. One show that is bound to have audiences in quite a different state of mind to when they arrived is Eve St John, an immersive one-on-one show that is potentially the most intimate show of the festival. 

"Eve St John is a poetry immersion where individuals come, spend time hearing poetry and their hands, feet and face are washed by the poet who shares the experience with them as a mute attendant," the show's creator, Brodie John tell me. "It's an 11-minute experience where spiritualities collide to subvert how we experience poetry and ritual in our modern lives. I selected the name based on the biblical characters of Eve who for me represents passion, nature, curiosity and motherhood, and John who represents cleansing, intimacy and transformation of the self. These themes are part of the experience and the poetry content."

Audience members have control the entire time of the show and they can choose how intimate they want the experience to be, so the washing is purely optional. "The provocation of the Melbourne Fringe this year is Out of the Echo Chamber, and I realised that to really say the things we need to, requires an incredible amount of trust. My passion in my creative outputs is consent, and so we've set up an experience that can be as intimate and unique as the ticketholder chooses," he says. "We provide a lot of information up front about how the experience works so the only surprise is the poetry and the messages. This allows each audience member to really relax into the workings and allow the poetry to stand out and be heard in an intimate setting."