London ReviewsREVIEWSSaul Reichlin

Play Ground

Written and performed by Ivy Davies
To The Moon
2017 Brighton Festival Fringe
Blue Man, 8 Queens Rd, Brighton BN1 3WA
15-17, 23-25 May 2017; 17.40 £5 plus booking fee
Running time 1hr with no intermission
 
The Poet’s Love
 
Performance poet Ivy Davies has been living her life upside down. The reference is to Roosevelt’s advice to ‘Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground’. In a most original collection of beautifully written poetry, and movingly sung songs,  Miss Davies confides how she sets about ‘turning things around’ as she explains in her publicity. Excellent and sensitive accompaniment was provided by Nicholas Bensberg on accoustic guitar.
The production this reviewer saw was her try-out show at Wilton’s Music Hall, an extraordinary venue in London’s East End (and well worth a visit in itself). In the transfer to Brighton’s burgeoning Festival fringe in May, it is to be hoped that the next incarnation of the show will see its huge potential fully realised.
With constantly surprising poetry, sometimes morphing into a powerfully delivered rap, the combination of performance poetry and torch song at its most captivating is saved for last in the memorable ‘Like Gravity’.
Recommended
Saul Reichlin