Review: The Badly-behaved Poets' Society
It is an unenviable task bringing together two lives which shared no earthly bond. And contrivances to achieve such ends rarely convince. But every now and then a performance breaks loose from the threads of the inevitable and becomes something else. The Badly Behaved Poets Society takes two erstwhile non-contiguous lives and skilfully synthesises the coordinates of coexistence. The result is a play which more than convinces, it enthrals.
The play centres on the Scots-Italian relationship between poets Robert Burns (Lorenzo Novani) and Giovanni Pascoli (Mark Coleman). Burns awaits his visitor in the Haven – a nether world where recently deceased souls gather, some not pausing before passing on. Upon arrival, Pascoli is somewhat discombobulated – he is a man who has yet to realise he has shuffled of this mortal coil. Burns, in all his finery, cordially greets Pascoli and wastes no time presenting a contract to join ‘the badly behaved poet’s society’. Burns is conscious of time. There is precisely an hour. However, Pascoli has a leap of imagination to make…and there is the small matter of Burns’ contract being in English and speckled throughout with fine print. There is some explaining to do and, no matter how many times Burns glances at his watch, that cannot be rushed. And so we learn each man’s backstory. Their losses. Their regrets. Some of which, it turns out, can be redressed. The span of time which separates the two men allows for updates on legacy. Is Burns genuinely enjoying the company of Pascoli? Or is he another poetic soul to swell the number of his club? The audience are never quite sure yet find pleasure in the company of these two rascals.
Writers Novani and Hilda De Felice have expertly constructed a world where these two poets effortlessly meet, embracing each poets’ artistry whilst never recoiling from the darker side of their characters. It is expertly told. Fittingly, the relationship between Coleman and Novani unfurls within the opulent Glasgow City Chambers. To suspend disbelief is a talent. To convey that these two incognisant, unconversant, unacquainted poets ever breathed the same air is a sublime skill.
The Badly-behaved Poets’ Society was performed at Glasgow City Chambers on 6th May.