That's a good point William, that a poet's own work is theirs to interpret as they see fit, but since memorisation seems to be so important to the bush poetry judges, I thought that it would help if they had a way of checking the validity of the memorisation.
It could go round in circles Marty, I think it is not a bad thing if we just throw a few thoughts around for a while , I'm not interested in winners or losers, more in trying to be clear about why I hold to my views.
Interesting angle Robyn. It's hard to draw lines I think. I know what you mean, and I know what Glenny means, she has a good point to consider.
I think the line is probably being crossed when the act of the performer takes all attention away from the poem. When the poem becomes just another prop for the performer's antics, if you like. That's just my view, others might accept things differently.
As far as props and costumes. I think that depends on the poem. Some poems lend themselves to a bit of embellishment, some just don't need it and others are just distracted or even demolished by any visual decoration.
So that one I think is a highly subjective matter. Who can tell for sure?
Good on ya Bob. I used to work with this bloke who, when I disagreed with him, would say " That's all right, everyone is entitled to their own idiotic, ridiculous opinion "
