Lynn Bauman-Milner talks to ‘Wholly Trinity’ ahead of their debut at the Ilkley Literature Festival Fringe …
Three women will stand together in a few days’ time, facing their audience and baring their hearts as they present their poetic reflections on middle age and everything that entails. They are Hannah Stone, Maria Preston and Gill Lambert, also known as ‘Wholly Trinity’, three students from the new MA in Creative Writing programme at Leeds Trinity University. I had the pleasure of speaking with Hannah and Gill, to ask them about their debut literature festival performance, the presence of poetry in their lives, and how this opportunity came to them.
Both agreed that enrolling in the MA course has transformed their lives substantially. Poetry has been a constant for both, and the space to explore poetry—to write daily and develop as poets—was (and is) gave them a newfound avenue for self-expression. ‘Language is an elastic medium … able to soothe or to explore dangerous things. Poetry can just hijack you,’ said Hannah, explaining why she was drawn to poetry. For these two women, time or place is not a factor and one must stop and write when the ideas thump down to Earth.
This event started as an email from one of the tutors at Trinity; Martyn Bedford, an award-winning author himself, contacted the MA students to highlight that an opportunity to perform at the Festival Fringe had opened. All three replied separately, and they decided to create a joint performance. Gill noted that though all three of them are very different in many ways—and those are not limited to just writing styles—she found that these differences created an excellent alchemical mix to bounce ideas off each other, give feedback, and work together to create such a diverse response to their theme of middle age.
‘an after dinner’s sleep’ is a phrase from Measure for Measure, adapted by TS Eliot to describe this time of life. ‘Wholly Trinity’ decided that the one common element between them—their age—could provide the underpinning theme for their poetry. Their different lifestyles, backgrounds, and experiences will bring uniqueness to each performance, as they intend to weave their poems around each other’s. The support from the tutors on the MA programme has been engaged, immediate, and encouraging; Hannah hopes that the performance of ‘Wholly Trinity’ at the Festival Fringe will pay back their efforts by helping to showcase the MA programme.
Hannah and Gill are thrilled about their upcoming event; having performed at the WordSpace Open Mic event (Medusa Bar, first Wednesday of every month), this will be a very different experience for all of them. Should you find yourself free on the evening of Monday 13 October, ‘Wholly Trinity’ will present ‘an after dinner’s sleep’ at 9pm in the Wharfeside Room of the Ilkley Playhouse.