Apples and Snakes, with support from Writers' Café, present
Writing for Performance

Once a month we will be sharing writing prompts, games and thoughts about what kind of writing might work for performance. Facilitated by Apples and Snakes North East Coordinator Kirsten Luckens but with plenty of room for adding your experience into the mix. Participants are encouraged to try out their work in performance by attending Scratch Tyne.

When: Tuesday 15 May, 9.30am - 12.30pm
Where: Settle Down Café, 61 – 62 Thornton Street, Newcastle NE1 4AW
Tickets: £FREE
Info: www.thesettledown.com
Booking: drop in!

Apples and Snakes presents
Scratch Tyne

Rehearsal Club
A monthly rehearsal club for spoken word artists in Tyneside, often incorporating ‘poet’s playtime’ sessions for creative writing and page critique alongside peer-led performance feedback. Join us for what promises to be a fascinating and productive workshop on how to use physical acting tricks to add depth, power and emotional range to your spoken word!
When: Sunday 20 May, 3pm
Where: Floor 2, Commercial Union House, 29 - 47 Pilgrim Street, Newcastle NE1 6QE
Tickets: FREE
Info: Facebook group

Performance

New poems, new poets – be a critical friend and help to shape our spoken word culture. Be the first to hear new poems from spoken word artists both established and unfamiliar. This is a short but intense hour of work rehearsed throughout the afternoon, offered up for your considered opinion as a critical friend of poetry in the north east. We welcome anyone with skills and expertise in creative writing, drama and performance or other forms of stagecraft.
When: Sunday 20 May, 6.30pm
Where: Floor 6, Commercial Union House, 29 - 47 Pilgrim Street, Newcastle NE1 6QE
Tickets: FREE
Info: Facebook group
Booking: on the door

Apples and Snakes and mima present
Scratch Tees

Rehearsal Club
A monthly rehearsal club for spoken word artists in Teesside, where we can work collectively to experiment with new work and improve our performance techniques. We finish the day by performing to an audience of performance professionals and other members of the public.
When: Sunday 27 May, 12pm - 2pm
Where: Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Centre Square Middlesbrough TS1 2AZ
Tickets: FREE
Booking: Facebook group
Info: Facebook group

Performance
A free monthly taste of spoken word, served in the relaxed surroundings of mima café. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon? Featuring Andy Willoughby and Bob Beagrie.
When: Sunday 27 May, 2.30pm - 6pm
Where: Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Centre Square Middlesbrough
TS1 2AZ
Tickets: £FREE
Booking: Facebook group
Info: Facebook group

Grants available for Arvon creative writing courses
If you think there may be a poem, novel or film script somewhere deep inside you, there is no more effective way to bring it out on to the page than by going on an Arvon Starting to Write residential course.

During the five day course at one of the Arvon writing houses, set in inspirational countryside, you will experience a powerful mix of daily workshops and individual tutorials with highly respected authors, time and space to write on your own, and the friendship  and support of your fellow writers. 

Arvon has courses in a wide range of creative writing genres, including Poetry, Fiction, Short Story, Writing for Comedy, Screenwriting – and Starting to Write for those wanting to explore their writing and find the style that suits them.

At Arvon, everyone is a writer for a week and leaves with the confidence  to  carry on writing long after they have left. If you are on a low income or are unwaged, you can apply for a grant towards the course fee (potentially up to the entire course fee).

“This was the most amazing course and it inspired me so much. It really got me into writing and has encouraged me to pursue it as a career. The tutors were really inspirational.” Arvon Course Participant

www.arvonfoundation.org/grants

John Cooper Clarke
Living legend Mr. Clarke is back in the north with what promises to be a storming show, not to mention he’s supported by our region’s finest and funniest – the lovely Kate Fox and Mike Edwards. NOT TO BE MISSED!
When: Saturday 12 May, 8pm
Where: ARC, Dovecot Street, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 1LL
Tickets: £15
Info: www.arconline.co.uk

JibbaJabba - The Spoken Word Open Mic Night
Come one and all for Jibba’s second birthday party, where we can expect not only the quick fire open-mic and the special guests, but very possibly also cake!
When:  Saturday 19 May, 8pm
Where: The Trent House, 1 - 2 Leazes Lane, Newcastle NE1 4QT
Tickets: £2
Info: Facebook group

Lamplight Poetry Slam
Up to sixteen of the region's finest spoken-wordsmiths will battle it out in the Auditorium Bar of Lamplight Arts Centre, Stanley, in a high performance contest for a cash prize. Rhymers, ranters and monologists performing in a series of 3-minute bursts aiming to impress a panel of judges picked from the audience. Come and soak  up the lyrical atmosphere. It's words with wow factor all the  way. Fancy your chances on the mic? Places still available - contact Steve Urwin. Bring at least five poems to compete - WE NEED MORE FEMALE POETS!!!
When: Monday 21 May, 7.30pm
Where: Lamplight Arts Centre, Front Street Stanley, County Durham DH9 0NA
Tickets: £2 - free for slammers
Info: Facebook event
 
Articulate: Andy Croft & Martin Rowson
A night of funny performances from The Limerickiad (classics retold in dodgy limericks) and 1948 (comic novel told in Pushkin sonnets).
When: Tuesday 22 May, 7.45pm
Where: ARC, Dovecot Street, Stockton-on-Tees TS18 1LL
Tickets: £5 / £4
Info: www.arconline.co.uk

CountryBoy’s Struggle
One-man show from Maxwell Golden, in which he plays 40 characters in a fast-paced mix of hip hop, spoken word and physical theatre.
When: Wednesday 30 May, 7.30pm
Where:  ARC, Dovecot Street, Stockton-on-Tees TS18 1LL
Tickets: £10 / £8 / £5
Info:  www.arconline.co.uk