Tina Sederholm has journeyed along that little known career path of international event rider to performance poet. No-one saw this coming, least of all her. From a concerned little girl following her dream to win Badminton Horse Trials, she has become an acerbic, big-hearted, insatiably curious woman. She uses poetry to pry open paradoxes such as the positives of failure, the richness in debt and the quixotic nature of love.
Tina returned to poetry when her successful career as a three-day event rider ended. Inspired by meeting the poet David Whyte she began writing poetry. Later, she discovered performance poetry through Hammer & Tongue in Oxford and began performing her work at small gigs and festivals.
An early reviewer wrote, ‘First she makes you laugh, and then she makes you think.’ Tina endeavours to follow that ethos in all her writing, creating poems and shows that suit the immediacy of the stage, but also contain deeper provocations, should you choose to sit with them.
After a visit to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2011, she and Lucy Ayrton dared each other to write a solo show for the Fringe in 2012. For the next seven years, Tina took four different shows to Edinburgh as well as many other festivals and theatres.
Theatrically she has been inspired by Deanna Fleysher to find humour and pathos, as well as deep connection with the audience. Bryony Kimmings showed Tina how to explore every avenue to tell a story. Rachel Mae Brady directed three of Tina’s shows, and taught her how to turn any stage, however small and unpromising, into an exciting performance space.
Tina also works as an editor and script consultant and loves the process of taking raw material and shaping it into a cracker of a story. Tina has been a friendly reader for novelists such as JP Delaney (The Girl Before, Believe Me, The Perfect Wife) and Lucy Ayrton (One Last Chance) and editor and story consultant to spoken word theatre-makers such as Alexander Rhodes (One Foot in the Rave) and Matt Black (The Snoopy Question). She also edits poetry manuscripts, memoir and non-fiction and runs poetry editing workshops.
Now that her latest poetry collection, This Is Not Therapy has hit the shelves, she has re-started development of her next solo show, REST.
‘I love Tina’s writing. She’s both funny and surprising even when writing about the familiar and everyday. Her poems are like a joyous, witty friend you can’t wait to hang out with.’
‘Instantly accessible, provocative and fun, Tina Sederholm’s poems are depth charges of insight and emotion.’
‘Poetry that knocks your socks off – then pops down the shops to get you warmer ones.’
‘Tina is a wonderful mix of warm, acerbic, and terrifyingly honest. She turns life’s vicissitudes into lessons we can all laugh at. Her larger-than-life stage presence is perfectly crafted, and draws you in from across the intimate tea shop, the crowded theatre, or the massive festival field.’
‘A beautifully humbling and thoughtful storytelling experience dripping with hope, acceptance, and grounding self-mockery, Sederholm’s stunning set reduced myself and other audience members to the sensitive and teary-eyed children we’re all really hiding inside.’ *****
Three Weeks
‘First she makes you laugh, and then she makes you think.’ *****
edfringereview.com
‘Biting and lyrical insights…A ‘Must See.’
Fringe Review
‘Utterly enthralling.’ *****
edfringereview.com
‘A poet and performer of exceptional prowess.’
dailyinfo.co.uk
‘Tina’s language fluctuates from luscious to fragile and perceptive.’****
sabotagereviews.com
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