Theatre and Dance

Birmingham writer and performer Steve 'Polarbear' Camden is back in his hometown with his groundbreaking show "If I Cover My Nose You Can't See Me", showing at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre 14 - 16 October.

Born and raised in Birmingham Steven Camden aka Polarbear is now a respected spoken word artist. He apparently discovered his talent when he had to go on stage to introduce a friend's band during a powercut – he ended up entertaining the crowd.

Steve Polarbear Camden

The snowball started and since then Steve has performed at Glastonbury, which led to performances at the Ledbury Poetry Festival, the Southbank and the beginnings of a career that is still gathering momentum.

So we caught up with him to ask him a little about himself.

"I'm from Smethwick", began Steve. "I grew up in Bearwood and still call Birmingham home - even though my slippers are now in London."

The first gig

"My first ever gig was at the Glee Club in Birmingham. A guy saw me there and asked me to come to Glastonbury 2005. I'd literally just started performing spoken word. On the back of that I was asked to do a national tour with Apples & Snakes called 'Exposed'."

So how does Steve describe his style?

"I'd call it rhythmical stories from a no-nonsense perspective!

"I got my inspiration from Birmingham and people I know. I like writing about things that have happened and places that I know well."

Steve's best show?

"I've been lucky enough to have a few that I've really enjoyed. I guess the opening of 'If I Cover My Nose You Can't See Me' with Goonism there was pretty special. I felt like I'd graduated somehow."

Goonism aka Pete Wilson is a contemporary visual artist from Leicester. He's been involved with graffiti art since the mid 1990s developing his own style and characters christened the Goon Squad.

Steve says of his first full-length show: "I wanted to create a good story about real characters that felt relevant to me.

Steve Polarbear Camden

"My hope is that people will come and see the performance and relate to what they hear in some way and believe enough in the characters and their world to come with them for the journey of the piece. And, at the end audiences get to see Goonism's brilliant mural that he’s has been busy creating during the show."

The show has been produced by Apples & Snakes, one of the UK's leading organisation for performance poetry. Established in 1982 as a platform for popular, high-quality and cross-cultural poetry, it has been the development ground for many high profile poets and artists, inspiring over 60,000 young people through workshops and reaching over four million audience members in theatres, galleries, schools and prisons nationwide.

How does Steve rate his hometown in the writing stakes?

"There are more good writers in Birmingham than people are aware of. My favourites are Kim Trusty, LCB, RT, Professor D, Roxanne and Evoke."

And one final question - why the name Polarbear? There aren't many of those around Birmingham.

"I used to want to be one when I was a kid. Polar bears are basically the super heroes of the natural world. They are untouchable by any other beast."

Where's the bear?

You can see Steve 'Polarbear' Camden back in Birmingham on 14th and 15th October at The Repertory Theatre, joined by artist Goonism who'll be creating a larger-than-life mural inspired by the story in the theatre foyer each night.