Beefstew Poetry Readings in Prague (1992-2002)

Expatriot poetry, prose, guitar playing, performance and interesting nonsense

BeefStew (1992-2002) had become as much a part of the Prague writing scene as the Charles Bridge was for the tourists

FAQs about BeefStew

How and when did all this start?

Ah, the murky past---Prague in 1992, before the streets became crowded with new BMWs, before the massive reconstruction and rehabbing of properties, when Prague still looked like an old lady in a faded scarf, a beauty who would become younger year by year.

It was in October of that year that David Freehling gathered with a few of his writer friends in a tea room up near Andel to read their poetry and prose on a regular basis. David is reticent on these facts---they have to be pulled like teeth from the scraps of available information.

Did he have a vision of what would emerge?

Probably not---few of us had visions in those days and few have them even now---it's enough to be here, among friends. But the informally named BeefStew moved in early 1993 across the river and into space that Club Radost / FX provided for us and was there until the end, ten years of continuous Sunday night readings.

So what was the gig?

Whatever we made of it. It was an open forum for poetry, prose, performance, music, whatever. Everyone got about ten minutes to get up in front of whatever audience we had and let fly. We met downstairs at six on Sunday evenings and had the place until eight. Sometimes amazing things happened, sometimes it was slim pickings, but almost always there was someone who made you glad you came.

And the format?

Somebody ran it---the last was Willie Watson---but David ran it for years, then off and on Paul Martia, Alan Ward hit a few licks, it settled for a few very successful years in the hands of Anthony Tognazzini and I ran it for a couple. But whoever was hosting passed a signup sheet and we ran a first half, took a five minute breather, then did Announcements if there are any and Giveaways, then the second half. Afterwards FX took over the space to set up for their nightly Disco and we all wandered down to The Raven, a local pub, had something to eat or a few beers and shot the shit.

What made it so special?

We all kept wondering that, but the fact was that it was special in lots of ways and I guess they're as varied as the reasons we were here. The elegant thing about writing is that it's a loner's work and doesn't need a supporting cast like music or theatre---but that's the down side as well, the isolation that comes to writers and sometimes overwhelms them. BeefStew was a place to get it off the page and into the air, to have the written words heard and find out how they felt slipping off the tongue.

It was a dependable contact point with people you didn't know but came to know, people who were struggling with the same difficulties. I remember Julie Ashley saying one time that in the US you have friends and if you don't see or hear from them for months it's because everyone's busy and that's the way life is. But if a regular didn't show up at BeefStew, their friends asked about them and if they didn't show up a second week someone called or went over to see what happened. That made for a powerful sense of community when you're in a strange country and a long way from home. Without beating this horse to death, it's specialty lay in how unstructured the whole thing was. Nobody was a star, everyone got applause, there was no reason to think your stuff wasn't good enough. There we were, together in Prague doing our writing or music or performance, mostly teaching English to stay afloat and caring about one another.

What happens now that it's over?

After a seven month hiatus, Ken Nash and Laura Conway got their talented heads together to create Alchemy, a slightly different approach to the open mic tradition here in Prague. Hosted by Arena Hostel, with it's fabulous cellar-bar, the format is one of "featured reader" during the first half and then an open mic venue for prose, poetry, performance and music. Alchemy is off to a great start and Prague has another English language venue.