Building God

David Lee Morgan's Building God is a poetry performance that discusses, deals with, judges and examines past state revolutions and the present state of affairs. Set to music created by CloudFistConceptz, Morgan tells us that his show lasts 42 minutes, although he spends a little time giving us some background on his work and organising his set.

Morgan’s two great strengths are his skill at creating brilliant imagery and his sincerity and honesty.

Building God, Morgan explains as he adjusts sound levels, is a “continuation of ideas” introduced in his previous show, Science, Love and Revolution. He feels like he raised some questions that Building God can start to answer. Morgan discusses all of this in his inclusive, genuine and somewhat absent minded way, leaving anyone unfamiliar with him unsure of what is coming next.

His transformation upon the first word of his first poem What Is To Be Done? is astounding. His physicality becomes somehow rigid, his voice becomes impossible to ignore. This is a man with a keen intellect and a priceless talent for expressing the injustices and concepts that are so hard to explain in any other medium. If you didn’t know why the revolution hasn’t come, or what’s wrong with the self-interest of our world and the systems we’ve set up in it, you will by the end of this show. The music provides an excellent continuity and flow to the work, and helps to set tone for the poetry, which is delivered with fierce expression and rhythmical precision. Even if you didn’t understand the language you would grasp the tones and general meanings. Malcontentedness, hopefulness, helplessness, fearfulness and longing live within Morgan’s syllables and intonations, and in his performance, often accompanied by movements that seem to come to him instinctively, these feelings and thoughts are uncaged to roam around the room, visiting each of us. It’s spellbinding.

Morgan’s two great strengths are his skill at creating brilliant imagery and his sincerity and honesty. The wonderful imagery is illuminating, and refreshingly effective in that his images truly do allow you to grasp the complex ideas that he trades. Added to this is his humbleness and truthfulness; you believe that Morgan really does want us to take heed from past revolutions, and that this performance is truly about sharing his thoughts. These two things combine with his performative skill to produce a show that has a profound, thoughtful effect and should not be missed.