Mayworks Café x 2

For our two back-to-back, ostensibly labour-themed Cafés, we had prepared a variety of carefully chosen material, tailored to taste, including Political Speeches, DaBIG Ensemble Happeningz, Monologuez, Scenez and Songz. On the night, we performed by request two DaSexTangles – musical improvisations on The Rocky Mountains and Indecision, respectively –, a "Songologue", and an Improvised Scene & Song on polyamoury. (Coincidentally, we have actually written a song about polyamoury for our musical revue 'So… what About Love?', but we were missing performers.)

The sock puppetz came out en masse at Menz Bar. Hamlet's grave diggers returned to ponder the injustices of "great folk" verses "their even Christians". My favourite: a large ensemble rendition of The Log Driver's Waltz. We premiered "The Worker's Chorus of Dissent", an interactive piece during which members of the audience must make noise when they disagree with statements about work, art and wages.

Attendees were boisterously appreciative. Performing for a politically-minded audience – and our friends from the PPTP – was thrilling. We all felt a sense of solidarity from the deliberate applause, the hoots and the politically sensitive responses to controversial and topical issues. Too often art is reduced to a form of entertainment, devoid of any sense of positive social change. The Mayworks Café at JustUs on Spring Garden and its reprise at Menz Bar put back in mind the power of the word, and a living culture.