Autumn’s conversation flows at ARC

Separated twins, personal news stories, fake funerals and super heroes. Welcome to the autumn season of spoken word performances at ARC. 

ARC’s summer season saw performances from John Cooper Clarke, Polar Bear and Radio 6 regular, Murray Lachlan Young and the new season’s line-up continues to showcase talented spoken word artists who have taken to the still relatively young genre of performance poetry and live literature like a duck to water.

This season’s varied programme begins with the end, in The Life and Deaths of Dominic Statton. Written and performed by Michael Edwards, the production presents the story of Dominic Statton aka Death, who faces a mid-career crisis as he begins to question whether he is in the right job. This comic and poignant monologue follows the sensitive Dominic as he talks about his work, his life before Death and his future.     

The dynamic North East sextet of spoken word, Articulate, return on Wednesday 13 October with plenty of punch (literally) as they bring Super Heroes and Skilduggery to ARC. Featuring comic book characters including The Dynamic Duo, Lone Crusader, and The Morbid Maiden amongst others, Articulate will invite audiences to dress up as their favourite super hero orvillain, and ask that mind-boggling and often universally unanswerable question, ‘Which super power would you most like to have?’

Early November sees the welcome return of the talented Nigerian-born Inua Ellams. Untitled is Ellams’ magical realist story set in Nigeria and England, where identical twin boys are separated at infancy. The circumstances of this situation lead Ellams’ to invite the questions, ‘If we let our children name themselves, will they author their own destinies?’ and ‘Will the nameless ones be free?’

“Ellams’ poetry is smooth enough to melt in the ear, yet packed full of snap, crackle and pop.” Time Out

As the eclectic programme continues into November, ARC invites audiences to enter a circus of words as the venue is transformed into a funeral chapel, playing host to mourners for famous fictional characters, including Scrooge McDuck, Darth Vader, Cathy from Wuthering Heights and The Milk Tray Man to name but a few. The latest ground-breaking offering from North East Monkfish Productions, The Dead that Never Lived is fresh from its sell out performances at this year’s Late Shows in Newcastle Gateshead. 

To close the season, Newcastle based writer, poet and all round comedic talent Kate Fox will take audiences through a journey of her life as a news story with Kate Fox News. This co-production with New Writing North and ARC takes a trip around Fox’s mind discovering what she has lost and found along the way. Kate wished Tony Blair was her dad, found out the Yorkshire Ripper worked for her auntie and watched the Satanic Verses being burned through the window of the 576 bus.

With this line-up absurd, novel and thought-provoking spoken word performances, ARC is not going to be short of conversation this autumn.