I took three bows in Ferrara

Photo: Federica Poggi, for Internazionale Festival

before an audience of over 600 people inside the Cinema Apollo. They filled the standing room at the back and flowed over to sit on the floor almost half-way down the aisle. A hundred or more stood on the cobbled street outside to watch the performance broadcast live on a large outdoor screen.

I performed in English. You can see the Italian translation of my words on the screen behind me. I wasn't sure if the performance would speak across the language barrier, especially in its barest-bones form - no theatre lighting, set, or music. My backdrop was the neon yellow banner strip listing all the festival sponsors, which you can also see in the photo.

I woke up at 2am the night before, thinking:

There's no way I can pull this off.

I got out of bed and rehearsed the pieces until 5am, trying out every idea I could come up with, every variation on how to do them, on that stage, in those circumstances.

During the poems, the audience was so hushed, I was convinced they weren't getting it. I should have remembered opening night in Vienna.

When I ended, there was no yelling. Just a strong, heavy rhythm of clapping that filled the cinema, pushed against the stage and the walls. Steady, sustained, solid waves of applause, that went on and on and on and on.

From the Ferrara Blog:

Ma l’applauso più lungo è stato quello per Migritude, l’emozionante performance di Shailja Patel (nella foto), certamente uno degli incontri che resteranno nella memoria del pubblico di quest’edizione dl festival. “Ha trovato un modo di esprimersi che commuove e insieme colpisce, davvero potente”, commentano in platea. Racconta le appropriazioni della cultura indiana da parte dei coloni, canta gli stati d’animo dei migranti e fa pensare; da decisa femminista omaggia Bi Kidude, novantenne musicista Zanzibari, e sbalordisce. Continuano a ringraziarla, dal pubblico. Prima delle domande ai relatori e fino al termine della conferenza: stupenda, bravissima, grazie”, gridano…