The Princess Monologues are back!

It’s your last chance to catch Eleanor Dillon-Reams’s 5 Star performance in The Princess Monologues this Friday at the Bread & Roses Theatre, Clapham.

She’s wowed reviewers and audiences alike with the virtuosity of her interpretation of 7 monologues written by Claire Booker, Amy Bethan Evans, Tessa Hart, Simon Jay, Tina Jay, Tilly Lunken and Eliza Power and directed by Tessa Hart.

Goblin Baby Theatre Company’s production has already played at The Bedford, Balham, The Hen & Chickens, Islington, The Space, Isle of Dogs, and returns to the Bread & Roses, 68 Clapham Manor Street, SW4 6DZ for a final performance at 8pm on February 12th. To book tickets, please click on the following link: www.goblinbaby.com/princess

A must-see for everyone! – RemoteGoat. A fantastic show – Female Arts. Brave and relevant theatre – London Pub Theatres. A rewarding experience – LondonTheatre1

Each monologue explores a different aspect of being a ‘princess’ in the 21st century from an African royal, a DisneyWorld employee and a drag Queen, to a young abused mother, a boy who dreams of finding his prince and a revenant Princess of Wales.

Dynamite II by Tilly Lunken, Just a Girl by Tina Jay, Home Made Princess by Simon Jay, Mr Andersen’s Princess by Amy Bethan Evans, Hail Your Majesty by Tessa Hart, #Shame by Eliza Power and my play Princess Frankenstein were all commissioned by Goblin Baby Theatre Co, an activist theatre company which has been making waves in south London since they launched two years ago.

I was thrilled by Eleanor’s cut-glass rendering of my monologue about medical student Frankie, who is a genius in the lab but a picky princess in love. Can she surgically create a perfect boyfriend?

“Princess Frankenstein has an incredibly dark humour, which had the audience in stitches.” RemoteGoat.    “Princess Frankinstein is genius, strange  and a little unsettling, as well as being hilariously funny.” Female Arts.    “Can she surgically create the perfect man? No, it turns out, but not before leading us through a hilarious tour of her struggling love life. It’s almost an exploration of what it means to be human in ten too-short minutes.” London Theatre 1.     “Princess Frankenstein is a darkly comic gem: one of the funniest things I’ve seen all year.” Angela Clarke.

But don’t trust the reviews. Go and see the show yourself!

New drama alive and kicking in Clapham’s Bread & Roses Theatre

Some stunning new dramas played at Clapham’s newest theatre, The Bread & Roses, last month as part of ‘Unheard’ – a four day festival of plays that explored themes of abuse and violence.   

From rehearsed readings to scratch performances and full productions, many of the twelve events organised by activist theatre company Goblin Baby played to capacity audiences. These included charity fund-raiser ‘The Vagina Monologues’ and two evenings of short new plays including ‘Deliverance’ by Amy Bethan Evans and ‘Bathroom Secrets’ by Claire Booker. Hot from its success in New York, the  ‘Maison des Reves’ shook audiences with the story of a woman who murdered over a hundred men in Czarist Russia, written and performed by the amazingly versatile Talie Melnyk.

Tickets cost as little as £3.00 in keeping with Goblin Baby Theatre Company’s policy of bringing thought-provoking theatre to people at a price everyone can afford.

Susan Hodgetts

‘Bathroom Secrets’ was performed with touching honesty by Susan Hodgetts in the role of Bee, whilst Mark Lisseman brought poignancy to the role of her husband.  A big thank you also to director Suvi Peisanen and Goblin Baby Theatre Company for producing my work.

Goblin Baby Theatre Company are now preparing their next production due in April/May  – a contemporary take on August Strindberg’s Miss Julie featuring Tessa Hart & Rebecca Pryle. Do check out their website for further details at.:

Goblin Baby Theatre Co.

The Bread & Roses Theatre has been building audiences rapidly since it opened earlier this year. You can enjoy theatre, comedy or Open Mic events only a few minute’s walk from Clapham Common/North tube stations on most nights of the week. For a full programme go to: The Bread & Roses Theatre

Photographs curtesy of Kenneth Jay.

A Brace of Clapham ‘Original Poets’ in Poetry News

Unfurl the latest copy of Poetry News and you’ll find poems by Claire Booker and Andy Hickmott, selected from among 313 entries to the magazine’s competition on the theme of ‘Unsayable’.

Six poems were selected anonymously by Katrina Porteous, who specialises in radio poetry, and whose new collection, Two Countries’ is due from Bloodaxe in 2014.  This is what she had to say:

“‘I didn’t like Seamus Heaney’ by Andy Hickmott shocks, because so many of us loved him. But I think it earns its right to do so. I like it for saying what we think should not be said, and for using that trope to lead us gracefully to what indeed is not said until those quietly devastating last lines.”

“‘What Cannot Be Said’ by Claire Booker, nails the detail of intimacy and simply rings true. The rhyming couplets, risky to some modern ears, reinforce the clock’s relentless tick.”

To read either of these poems, or the other four winners (by Suzanna Fitzpatrick, Sue Leigh, Denise McSheehy and Marie Naughton) check out Poetry News (Winter 2013/14) or click on:  http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/publications/poetrynews/pn2014/

Andy and Claire both belong to ‘Original Poets’ who meet every month in Clapham, south London, to feedback on poems; whether from long-established writers or those new to poetry.  The ‘Originals’  occasionally perform their work, most recently at ‘Beyond Words’ in Gipsy Hill, ‘Poetry Unplugged’ in Covent Garden’s Poetry Place, and at a legendary Poetry Bonanza event: Clapham versus Brixton.  New members are always most welcome.

For more information on Clapham Original Poets please visit:  Facebook page

Clapham and Brixton poetry riots!

Six red-hot poets from Clapham faced six notorious wordsmiths from Brixton in a Stanza Bonanza that is destined to go down in history.

For two intense, often hilarious and sometime shocking hours, poetry pinged off the walls of Covent Garden’s Poetry Cafe like buckshot. The event was so popular, many audience members were forced to stand at the back or along the stairs and even celebrity, Alistair McGowan, found himself shoe-horned in at the back.

Punching for the Clapham Stanza group were Claire Booker, Nicole Carrel, Mickey Feather, Andy Hickmott, Tessa Lang and Chris Parker whilst Jill Abram, Steve Boorman,Wendy Dyer, Margaret Haig, Sophie Herxheimer and Paul Minor  squared up in the Brixton corner.  Each poet had precisely eight minutes to prove their worth in a head-to-head battle with their opposite number.

To avoid bloodshed, Paul McGrane from The Poetry Society, declared the evening a draw and both sides removed to the bar to celebrate, if any proof is needed, that poetry can make a sizzling evening’s entertainment.

The entire event was filmed for Poetical TV. Click on the following link if you’d like to see me reading my poem ‘New Arrival’. I’m the fourth poet (in the pink shirt!) about half way through the film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io7vZh_5DDE&feature=player_detailpage

For more information on Clapham Original Poets please visit:  Facebook page

To find out more about The Poetry Society, click on:  http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk