Meet the Artist: Performing Langston Hughes

Performing Langston Hughes by David Mills was a really powerful performance. Mills’ strong personality only augments the natural charm and rhythm of Hughes’ engaging works. I particularly loved the Madam poems. Mills plays a woman so well; his body language, his posture, and his gesticulations so clearly depicted a woman. He mentioned he tries to keep his physical props to a minimum (a pencil, a handkerchief, and a piece of paper) for practical reasons (he performs in different places) and because he wants to create a world with his words. I have read Hughes’ works and “Madam” always seemed overdone; Mills’ performance was very true to that persona. He captures the humor and gravity of who Madam is. She isn’t meant to be cartoonish but she is meant to be amusing.

Mills also performed one of his own pieces. It was interesting and well-written and rhythmic to the point where it could have been music. I liked Hughes’ pieces better, though. Mills himself pointed out that Langston Hughes’ works are much more direct whereas his pieces are more “out there”. I also found it interesting that Mills seemed incredibly reluctant to admit that Hughes’ work had any effect on his writing. He was very possessive of his poetry and clearly very proud of it. That’s not a bad thing but it was interesting because he lived in Hughes’ home for three years. I got the impression Mills was saying he was not profoundly affected by Hughes’ work. Which begs the question: “Why is he performing it and why did he study said poet so carefully, so much so that he lived in his house, if he wasn’t actually moved by the poetry?” He mentioned Merry-Go-Round by Langston Hughes in relation to a poem of his “Adventureland”. So maybe he was affected and he just wasn’t expressing himself clearly.

I was thinking that performing poetry is not really another form of art, separate from poetry itself. After hearing Mills perform Hughes’ poetry, I realized that the poems were meant to be read aloud. They have a lyrical quality that is missed if simply read. I imagine it’s like saying a song as opposed to singing it. Mills definitely brought his strong personality into his performance of Hughes’ poetry but (in my opinion) he didn’t distort the works in doing so.

And then again, Mills has a really strong personality and he definitely injected some of that into Hughes’ pieces. Also, he isn’t doing these shows for free. He has a producer and he plans it out. He is making a presentation aimed to entertain. This is his living. In a way, I felt like if Hughes himself had performed the works, then they might have been poetry in its truest form. So maybe Mills’ act is a new art form- performing poetry. Once the words were spun through David Mills’ eyes, they changed.