Slam poet presents a revealing look at life behind bars

Steve Larkin has been all round the world since we last spoke, entertaining the masses with his “gritty” slam poetry as far afield as Vancouver, but now he’s back to perform N.O.N.C.E. for one last night before he puts it to bed once and for all and starts touring his next piece in progress Tess.

The Oxford poet, Hammer & Tongue inventor, youth worker, university lecturer and prison rehabilitator is presenting his one-man show as one of a trio of Britain’s brightest slam poet stars appearing at the North Wall over the next few months.

The former poet-in-residence at HMP Grendon in Aylesbury – who taught poetry to lifers – wrote N.O.N.C.E. as a result of his experiences there and describes it as “dramatic story-telling.” “It’s a dark subject lightened with jokes and laughter,” he says. “It sold out last time in Oxford and as there are still lots of people asking to see it, I added my home town on to my national tour.”

Once this tour is done and dusted, Steve is on to pastures new having written an entirely new show in Canada based on Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles novel. “The next one is non-scripted so I paced up and down in a basement for two months learning it. But once it’s in, it’s in,” he said pointing at his head. “And not having to translate it from the page means it comes out exactly as you want it to be. So what took me two years to develop with N.O.N.C.E., I’ve done in two months with Tess. Because without the clunky nature of the written word it’s fluid with more natural cadences.”

But back to the present, how would Steve describe N.O.N.C.E. in a nutshell? “A surprisingly uplifting and inspiring show about prison. But it’s also about lots of things; sexuality, our attitude to pornography, the ‘rape culture’, and why it’s all so accessible. “And while you’re writing it you have to examine your own emotions and that’s what the audience says afterwards.

“It’s as much about yourself as it is about them, so extremely therapeutic.”

And with slam poetry taking off as a genre recently, now is the time to catch Steve, one of its pioneers, while you can. ”Slam poetry is still not mainstream but people are much more receptive to it now and it’s done a lot to show that poetry is a viable source of entertainment and a good night out.”

  • The North Wall presents The Power of the Spoken Word with N.O.N.C.E on Saturday, November 16, by Steve Larkin, Beats by Kieran Hurley on Wednesday, November 27, and Kate Tempest follows in February with Brand New Ancients. Call 01865 319450.