Hello, welcome, come in. What’s your name?

Ok, this is how it works. For the next five to ten minutes, you’re going to describe to me your perfect day. Anything at all is allowed in your perfect day. I may ask some questions, for clarification, but mostly I will just listen, with all of my attention, with my heart open to everything you are saying, and to everything you’re not saying.

Then, for the next fifteen to twenty minutes, you can close your eyes and relax as I describe your perfect day back to you, in the present tense, as if you are living it. I will use all my powers as a poet to bring your day alive with details. And I will record it.

Later, I will transcribe and re-record the piece, a process that takes sixty to ninety minutes, and then my sound engineer will add on an ambient soundscape using a special app. Then I will send it all to you, as your personalised, bespoke relaxation tape.

I’m doing this because I don’t want to perform a show about compassion without making the effort to offer active, useful compassion to my audience. Today one of my Perfect Day participants came up to me and said she’d had a horrible couple of weeks, but she was soothing herself to sleep every night by re-imagining my voice describing her perfect day. I haven’t even finished her tape yet.

If you’d like a Perfect Day, I will be at Queen’s Hall, Hexham this Saturday 9th July with slots available at 10.00am, 10.45am, 11.30am and 11.45am. The show then starts at 2pm.

I will also be at Alphabetti Theatre on Monday 11th July with slots at 1.00pm, 1.45pm, 2.30pm, 3.15pm and 4.00pm. The show is on Thursday 14th July at 7.30pm.

To book a Perfect Day, please email me at imeldasays@gmail.com. Thanks xx