Speechless is a unique international performance poetry project, and starting in October, Apples & Snakes and the British Council Literature Department will take Speechless around the UK. The project will tour eight venues in the UK and aims to foster the interaction between the poets and young people in Britain – specifically the Diaspora – through community and university workshops.
Speechless has been created out of the success of Animating Literature – the performance poetry workshops which took place in South East Asia from 2005 in collaboration with Apples & Snakes (the UK’s leading organisation for performance poetry).
The current initiative is designed to develop the role of performance poetry in five Asian countries and to give greater exposure to the very best of East Asia’s next generation of performing poets. The project aims to create a bridge between Asian authors and British writers, and develop their skills as individual poets.
Funded in part by Arts Council England, each performance features a 10 minute selection from: Priya K (Malaysia), Siege Malvar (Philippines), Pooja Nansi (Singapore), Liu Liang Yen (Taiwan), Da Thao Phuong (Vietnam) and UK artists Francesca Beard, Malika Booker, Aoife Mannix and Jacob Sam-La Rose, based around the theme of freedom of expression.
The UK tour marks the close of a multi-faceted project which has already toured overseas. A lasting network of performance poets has been built through an investment in education and skills development.
The Speechless tour includes the following cities and venues:
October 9: London, 8pm at The Albany, Douglas Way, Deptford SE8 4AG
Tickets: £8 / £5 conc
Book: 02086924446 / www.thealbany.org.uk
October 13: Liverpool, 8pm at Chapter and Verse Literature Festival, the Bluecoat, School Lane, Liverpool L1 3BX
Tickets: £7 / £5 conc
Book: 0151 702 5324 / www.thebluecoat.org.uk
October 20: Bath (Bath Spa University)
October 23: Lancaster, 8pm at Litfest, The Nuffield Theatre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YW
Tickets: £6.50 (£5 students)
Book: 01524 594151 / www.litfest.org
October 30: London, 7.45pm at Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London SE1 8XX
Tickets: £8.50
Book: 0871 663 2500 /www.southbankcentre.co.uk
For more on the participants, click here.
Founded in 1982, Apples & Snakes focuses on working with emerging artists, producing new work and putting poets in education. It works extensively with schools, prisons and libraries to develop literacy, communication skills, motivation and self-esteem through high quality performance poetry workshops and events. Apples & Snakes run regular events across England alongside pioneering artist development programmes.
For more information see the Apples & Snakes website and our Facebook page: www.facebook/speechless
