Chill Pill are one of the top Spoken Word collectives in the UK, running hugely popular nights at Soho Theatre and the Albany. The Chill Pill Poetry Pop-up began life at Deptford Market in December 2012 where our increasingly popular poetry stall adds to the already buoyant atmosphere of the area. We also ‘popped up’ as part of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park events in the summer of 2013.

The stall is a great example of the fluid ability of Spoken Word to connect to individual people as well as to the local environment. Everyone who visits the festivals will have a unique story to tell, and the Chill Pill Poetry Pop Up will provide them with a personal poem (& performance) to capture the memory based around the NOW theme.

At Deptford Lounge:

The main focus will be the ‘instant’ creation  of free bespoke poems written for passers-by who ‘commission’ a piece about anything they want and then wander the area for a few minutes while the writing takes place. They then return and pick up copy of the poem, as well as being treated to a performance of it by the poet who wrote it! There are also sporadic pop up performances of these and other poems within the immediate area, whether in an intimate one to one setting or for gathering crowds.

We will also offer ‘lucky dip’ readings from a bag of poems (chosen for their connection with NOW themes), and collect short ideas/memories from passers-by on this same theme to create a collaborative crowd-sourced poem throughout the event.  To end everything, we will perform a mini pop-up show after the stall, showcasing some of our favourite poems written that day alongside our normal spoken word/music shenanigans…