REVIEW: Poems on Gender by David Lee Morgan at Etcetera Theatre 8 Aug & Hen and Chickens Theatre 12 – 13 August

‘12 poems, 38 minutes. And a whole lot to think about’ ★★★ ½

Camden Fringe is London’s opportunity to get a taste of a variety of shows of all types, but especially by all kinds of people. I was especially reminded of this when I listened to David Lee Morgan, who has been doing shows at Edinburgh Fringe since 1996. Sitting among the audience when I arrived, he greeted me and only later did I twig that he was the poet, with his long silver beard and relaxed manner.

Keeping with his style, he starts out conversationally and sets out a road map for his audience and an opportunity to question/respond in agreement or dissent. His poems provide plays on words and twisting ideas and flipping phrases... and quite a lot of food for thought. His voice is relaxed, not incorporating the irritating lilt of many spoken word poets.

Lines like “We don’t need a planet of believers / we need a planet of scientists” harken back to his years as an experimental scientist, with his mention of sample size and control groups. That was before he joined the revolution (as he says himself).

In this series of poems, the topic is gender, and he says, “Everyone is at war with gender / My first experience of women’s liberation was a liberation for me, too”. He claims that watching the gay movement, he learned to be brave (“How could you not know that a rainbow is not a problem to solve?”), and the trans movement was one more “f— you” to the gender trap. There are certainly people who would disagree with Morgan’s opinions on gender. In fact, he claims to have lost friends over his decision to approach this topic head-on, both in the trans community and elsewhere.

Previously, he did a show called Nazis Need Jews, addressing the Israel/Palestine contradictions. This is not a man who balks at hard topics. In fact, his poem about the Vietnam War was the most personal piece and the one that really moved me most as it was both personal and political, sharing his own experience of imperialism, freedom fighters, and capitalism (“We carried the enemy on our backs / Nailed into our bodies”).

The only thing about the rapid succession of poems is the lack of time to really process his ideas. Morgan hosts a conversation at the end where he openly responds to questions, and this does allow the audience time for his ideas to sink in. And to learn about the man behind the poems.

12 poems, 38 minutes. And a whole lot to think about.

POEMS ON GENDER

Camden fringe show at

Etcetera Theatre 8 August

Hen & Chickens Theatre Pub 12, 13 August

https://camdenfringe.com/events/poems-on-gender/

Written and performed by David Lee Morgan

Reviewed by Mariam Mathew