Snake in the Grass

My memories of last night are fading fast, so I'd better get them down quickly. Me, Toblarina and the Art East all went to Snake Bites at the Purcell Room - a literary event to mark the twentieth anniversary of Serpent's Tail books.

We wanted to go because Justin Bond was reading Jayne County, it sounded just too good to miss. In the end he couldn't make it, but for £8.50 we decided we'd still pop along.

The evening was curated by Neil Bartlett who, while he's an all round very nice man, was one of the weakest speakers. His reading was flat, he didn't emerse himself in the text and become part of the fiction. He did, however, choose his assembled cast well - they all performed and made their words brighter and more colourful.

First up was a lively little woman called Kathryn Hunter who read a feminist tale of unrequited love. I enjoyed the confused ideology of the subject who believed that marriage ruins women, but still obsessed over the man she desired in the belief that he could set her free.

Stella Duffy was slightly grating in that she carries a posh girl smugness. Her performance, however, was superb and she could teach Bartlett a thing or two about phasing and vocal expression. She read a piece about killing a date by smacking him about the head with a bat. Maybe it's my urge to do that to many people that made it so engaging.

The crowd pleaser by far was Simon McBurney - he flawlessly conveyed the story of a man who submits to the bullying of an old woman, only to erupt with fury when she has the audacity to die in his flat, leaving him with no amount of inconvenience and worry. The piece ended with him storming from the stage in disgust.

The finale was a bit of a mistake - the seven readers all returned to the stage to present brief passages concert-style with no introductions or breaks. This left them without context and became a bit overwhelming, but it was a toast to the wide variety of literature available.

I've decided I quite like being chin-strokey. It's hardly the new rock n roll, but I'll definitely be back for more.

PS. Read The Old Woman - it's fab!