By Florence Lee
To be able to capture the attention of an age group from little children and grumpy teens to parents and even grandparents is not something that everyone can do. But Michael Rosen is not just everyone.….
He was completely charismatic and had the audience in stitches for his whole show. He grew up surrounded by education, learning, and books, as his parents were primary and secondary school teachers. As he told the audience, when he was younger, he had ‘three parents.’ His mum, dad, and then his older brother, Brian. Brian is older than him by four years, and liked to tell him about his day at school, but also teach him everything he had learnt. Rosen shared the memory of sitting in their shared room whilst his brother would imitate their father at the breakfast table. Within seconds, the whole room was lit up with laughter.
No one was sat without a smile on their face. His impression was animated and came to life as soon as his mouth opened. Everyone was transported into a world of childhood memories.
Michael was born in London and came from a family that was filled with love. He was always interested in writing. He wrote poems for his mother to help her when he came back home from university, and these poems were collected to make his first book. His father was always a bit of a performer, but Michael only found out that he was a performer after writing his first book: ‘Mind Your Own Business.’ He was put in front of around 300 children and completely changed his way of thinking while these 300 kids sang his poem in rhythms and sounds; it was a new way of writing poems.
It was clear to see that as soon as Michael stepped out onto the stage, he wanted to get to know his audience and fans. He instantly pointed out people eating ‘Haribo’s’ in the front row and got to know ‘Henry,’ a young fan eagerly watching for his next joke. Rosen then introduced himself as Michael Raisin and asked the audience questions about their opinions on raisins. Everyone, once again, was laughing as soon as he made a joke.
Michael talked about how he named his books and told stories about people asking him what it was called and having to reply, ‘Mind Your Own Business.’ This caused an eruption in the hall, but he continued to when people asked him about his second book. This time, he would say ‘Wouldn’t You Like To Know,’ and getting the response: ‘Yes, I would like to know.’
Not only did he interact by talking to the audience, but he also made the audience speak and act out his poems with simple movements. Even ‘the dads.’
His captivating poems had everyone doing exactly as he said. As I said earlier, capturing everyone’s attention is a very hard thing to do, but it seems to me that Michael did it with ease. Had Michael not gone into writing, stand-up comedy would have suited him perfectly. If anyone has the chance to spend an hour with this enthralling author, don’t hesitate to go. You will not regret it.
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