Shift/ – A Best of Spoken Word

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Shift/ – A Best of Spoken Word brings together seven leading spoken word poets from Edinburgh to present solo works during the Fringe. On Tuesdays, in the intimate space of the Cairns Lecture Theatre at Summerhall, Rachel McCrum presents her work Do Not Alight Here Again.

A story of places and travels; of home; of boats that navigate their way across the sea; of the mainland and whatever lies beyond. McCrum speaks softly, a small smile creeping onto her lips as she inserts a gentle joke. The words roll around her welcoming cadence. And yet, she opens: “please do not listen to the sound of my voice. Performance is cheating in poetry.”

But McCrum’s performance is understated, and it is key. Her focus is always on her words, deeply crafted but still lightly conversational. 

Do Not Alight Here Again washes smaller poems in with a larger work. Small sections that can be rolled around in minds; stories of people and places. McCrum then links these poems together with explorations of who she is and how she travelled between the spaces these poems occupy: over seas, or down streets. Through this, we see an image of the whole: an image of journeys travelled, and journeys yet to be travelled.