Wordworms Premier

A show of wild imaginings for ages 7 to 107
Mark Gwynne Jones premiers his new young people’s collection Wordworms! at the Buxton Pavillion Studio Theatre
Fri 18th, Wed 23rd and Thurs 24th July.

In a family show of wild imaginings, award winning poet and performer, Mark Gwynne Jones invites you to meet the boy with the eye on his index finger, learn to escape school by becoming a cat and make friends with a giant toad! His show at this year’s Buxton Festival Fringe will introduce you to some extraordinary characters and lead you to a place where words are alive and the impossible is possible.

Based on his new collection for young readers, Wordworms! – the show centres on how the words we think and speak are alive, how they shape the way we feel, and of the magic they possess. A magic sometimes used to transform our world in humorous ways: If I were a poet… he writes, I’d turn celebrities / into thin air / then sell them on eBay, / in a jam jar!

Mark says ‘Young people respond well to live poetry. They enjoy its energy, playful irreverence and sense of danger. It comes down to the pictures and the pictures tell the story. I think we’re hardwired for narrative, everyone loves a good story!’

When asked about the title of his show, Mark says ‘Words are alive… They’re Wordworms! Living creatures… They’ve always had wings but now they fly faster than ever, can travel the world in an instance and will sometimes change the way you think and feel. They can be your best friend and your worst enemy. They’re magic and can pretty much change anything!’

For tickets visit www.undergroundvenues.co.uk tel (noon-3pm) 020 8144 0070

Click here for Mark Gwynne Jones website.

Wondermentalist Cabaret

Mark Gwynne Jones on BBC Radio 4’s Wondermentalist Cabaret, recorded live at the Way With Words Festival, Dartington Hall.

Free Poetry Podcast

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Free Poetry Podcast – featuring some Mark Gwynne Jones magic.

 

Tracklist: The Inevitable Chair (0:00) Helical Staircase (0:57) Alien Rave! (5:06) Forget (10:31) Season of Mists (15:02) The Birmingham 666 (17:56) The Best and Worst of Times (18:50) Stop the Week (20:21) Omens in Bloom (24:58) Brassed Off Billy Monty (29:08) Signing Out (32:36)

Click here to download MP3.

The Overexposed

A new track from Mark Gwynne Jones and The Psychicbread for National Poetry Day. It’s from their new album Lyric in Limestone. All tracks on the album were recorded live on location at several spots across the Peak District. The Overexposed reflects on a B29 bomber that crashed in the high peak. This track was recorded in one take on Bleaklow one warm April day. Lyric in Limestone was commissioned by Glassball Art Projects.

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Click here for more on Mark Gwynne Jones and to order his album In The Light of This

Secrets of the Peak Whispered Underground

‘Inspired… draws the audience into a world where things are not quite what they seem’  The Guardian

‘Astonishing… you’ll love this show’ The Daily Mail

Four-times fringe award winners Mark Gwynne Jones and the Psychicbread are set to reveal the unheard voice of the Peak District in a show staged in the echoing chambers of The Devil’s Arse, Castleton.

In an underground display of film, sound and poetic drama the show promises an exotic experience taking people on a new journey through the region. From reflections on a B29 bomber that crashed in the High Peak, to the compelling story of the last gibbet in Derbyshire and how it was a poet who ended the grisly practice – this new collection of lyrical works is inspired by some of the region’s most outstanding locations, its unique culture, and stories that connect the Peak to wider struggles and world history.

Commissioned by Glassball Art Projects, the event will showcase an on-going project to write and record lyrical works in the places that inspired them. Well known for surreal narratives with an almost music-hall edge, the underground setting for this show will only add to Psychicbread’s high sense of drama. Their sound is contagious, gritty and sometimes startlingly sensitive. Once described as new musical theatre, Mark’s stories are imaginatively enhanced by the music, percussion and vocals of Psychicbread – and the effect is spell-binding.

Mark Gwynne Jones and the Psychicbread will stage ‘A Lyric in Limestone’ at: The Devil’s Arse, Peak Cavern, Castleton, S33 8WS. on Sat 16 Jul 8pm to 9pm £9 (Child £6, Conc £8). This event is part of the Buxton Festival Fringe and tickets are available from the Opera House Box Office: 0845 127 2190 / or online at www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk/whats-on/lyric-in-limestone

Click here for more on Mark Gwynne Jones.

Manchester Book Market 2011

A big thanks to all those lovely people who came by our stall at Manchester Book Market this year and bought books. There’s some great people in the city. (Incidentally if the German student who talked to us about Rudi Dutschke happens to be reading this, please do get in touch!)

Out stall this year was right in front of the poetry tent. Gerry Potter has hosted this event like a trooper for the last four years and he describes it as more of an arts installation than a poetry reading, such is its bizarre nature of words and phrases thrown into the air at passers-by who are on with their everyday business. The above clip is a tune from two-fifths of Manchester based poetry collective Penultimate.