She doesn’t want to be a Goddess. She wants to be a Gobbess.
Storytelling and poetry combine with aerial, circus and live music to tell a kaleidoscopic story of rage and becoming. This is one person’s search for lightness and depth amongst creativity and cat-calling.
Naomi Wood is a multi-disciplinary performance artist specialising in aerial arts and spoken word. She brings the two together to tell her personal story on the nature of creativity and identity, of queerness and self-expression in the social media age. Her work covers consent, the weirdness of human habit and why sometimes we should just embrace being rubbish.
Naomi has an MA in Creative and Critical writing from Sussex University and teaches creative writing workshops that empower people to perform their work onstage. As well as the show, she will be providing a free creative writing workshop at The Old Market – full details for this are coming soon.
Discover were fortunate enough to be invited along to review this performance last month as part of the Reigning Women programme at TOM. Fear not if you missed Gobbess, Naomi will be performing the show again at The Spiegeltent as part of The Fringe Festival on the 8th and 21st of May.
It is very rare that we are lost for words after seeing a performance, the show is pure magic. From the outset, this enchanting woman held the audience in the palm of her hand, her diminutive form filling the stage as she skilfully combined hoop performance skills with spoken word in a dazzling one hour show about her essence.
Each spoken word piece gives an insight into Naomi’s psyche and with it the struggles she has faced as a women and someone who has also struggled with their mental health. The performer’s vulnerability is powerful, it empowers her and the audience, showcasing bravery in sharing the most intimate life details. We related to many of the topics covered, such as overcoming anxiety and the negative aspects of falling foul of the male gaze, while trying to find herself as a young woman in a confusing world.
There is also much joy and laugh-out-loud humour as Naomi relays tales of living a hedonistic life in Brighton and causing havoc in sequinned hot pants. You will fall in love with her unabashed honesty and talent for expression through writing. She is delightful and the show is unmissable.
Warm up act Felix Orlo was also incredibly entertaining – she had us at ‘Helena Bonham Carter in the back of a spoon’.
Words: Samantha Harman.
Instagram: @iamnaomiwood / @naomiwoodwrites
