Polari workshop – Belfast Pride Festival

At the start of the workshop, participants will watch a short poetry film by Lee called The Tale of Benny Harris (2022) a film written entirely in Polari (gay slang).

Lee then explains how his interest in Polari was triggered when he attended a Polari-writing workshop in Manchester several years ago where he was encouraged to write his own Polari phrases and how this led to the eventual development of a poem he wrote called The Tale of Benny Harris.

Participants are then given copies of a Polari dictionary which Lee uses as a basis for discussion including identifying Polari words that they may already be using. Lee then invites participants to write their own rhyming Polari phrases and then, invites participants to speak their phrases out aloud for everyone to enjoy.

Dr Lee Campbell is an artist, performance poet, experimental filmmaker, writer, Senior Lecturer at University of the Arts London, and curator/founder of Homo Humour, the first of its kind project on contemporary queer male film and moving image practices that explore humour and LGBTQ+ storytelling. His experimental performance poetry films have been selected for many international film festivals.