Event type: Performance

Yellow Furry Lullaby

Artist collective Breakwater of Youngsook Choi and Taey Iohe present a powerful storytelling performance that brings awareness to the historical trauma of Chinese indentured labour.

The performance interweaves the 2004 Morecambe Bay cockling disaster and 2021 Atlanta spa shootings tragedy with the classic children’s story, We’re Going On a Bear Hunt, and symbols from Korean mythology. Yellow Furry Lullaby is a ritual and moment of collective healing performed alongside Fermented Flower (2021), a detailed tapestry by the artist duo that confronts the racist roots deeply embedded in the field of botany.

Breakwater is Youngsook Choi and Taey Iohe. Based in London, the Korean diaspora duo explore social practice across subject matters around climate justice and migrants’ lived experience.

This event is part of the Lunar New Year Weekend at FACT. Discover their full programme of events.

Penny Readings at Home

The Reader’s seasonal celebration of reading, music and performance, the Penny Readings, is back for another year in a new format.

Join them as they broadcast the annual event live from the Mansion House, from the comfort of your own home.

Inspired by Charles Dickens’ public readings of the same name, the Penny Readings is a joyous celebration of storytelling, song, performance and community not to be missed.

Volunteers, group members, customers and the public are all invited to enjoy the show, which will be hosted by their founder, Jane Davis, alongside Greg Harwood-Jenkins from their young person’s team (fresh from his recent Radio 5 Live interview).

Full line up to be revealed over coming weeks – follow @thereaderorg on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook for details or sign up to receive updates from The Reader here.

Jason Manford : Like Me 2022

He’s back!It’s been a busy few years for Jason Manford since his last smash-hit stand up show but fans of his Absolute Radio show will know this nationally acclaimed comedian hasn’t changed a bit.

‘Like Me’ is Jason’s latest comic offering set to hit the road, and is sure to be ‘expert observational comedy’ (The Guardian) mixed with ‘comic gold’ (Mail on Sunday).

Jason said: “After the fun we had on my last tour ‘Muddle Class’, I’m excited to get back on the road with my new stand up show, ‘Like Me’. In these trying times it’s always important to be able to get away for a couple of hours and exercise the old chuckle muscle! So I’m coming to a venue near you in 2021/2022 so we can have a good laugh together. See you then.”

Spoken Word 9

The Reader’s Spoken Word event for December will feature Vicky Foster, Roy, Cath Holland, Saint Vespaluus and Janaya Pickett

Spoken Word events encompass a huge variety of writing and performance styles, from the intimately personal and heart-breaking to the uproariously funny and celebratory. Poetry in all its forms will be the main feature, along with memoirs, stories, monologues and any number of almost-indefinable types of prose!

They recommend this event for adults 18+. Doors 7pm. The Mansion House is wheelchair accessible, for access enquiries please contact them at tickets@thereader.org.uk.

A licensed bar, a beautiful venue and always a lovely audience. Be there!

Exciting Science

This brand new, exciting and educational show will amaze and astound all ages from 4 years and upwards, as they put the “Exciting” back into “Science”.

With fun and fact filled experiments, watch in amazement as they recreate a volcanic eruption; turn a vacuum cleaner into a missile launcher or take aim at you with our smoke blaster!

So stand clear and prepare for action, as this show is full of Wiz, bang, pop …. And splurt!

Laughterhouse Comedy Christmas Show

Laughterhouse Comedy proudly present Tom Stade, Mick Miller, Justin Moorhouse and Chris Cairns.

Enjoy an evening of hilarity with your favourite home-grown comics, alongside Live At The Apollo stars and the very best acts on the international comedy-circuit!*

This December Laughterhouse Comedy deliver the very best TV comedians of the highest calibre in a single stellar lineup that will have you rolling in the aisles!

So bring your partner, your best mates and your nan as they guarantee something for everyone at this show!

Line-ups are subject to change.

Voices of Christmas

Immerse yourself in Christmas past, present & future with poetry and short stories from talented local writers and performers.

Sit back, relax and enjoy a festive evening of poetry, prose and short stories to get you in the Christmas spirit. We’ll be joined by local writers, performers and friends of The Old Library as they imagine Christmas in time gone by and look to the future as the year draws to a close.

Doors and bar (serving snacks, hot drinks and alcoholic beverages) open at 6.30pm and the event begins at 7pm.

A Lovely Word featuring Amerah Saleh

A Lovely Word is Liverpool’s most eclectic poetry night, featuring two halves of open mic poets, and a headliner beginning the first half. Hosted by Alex Ferguson and Lyndsay Price, this free event is a fun, relaxed and friendly evening of performance poetry.

The event is free and held Downstairs at the Everyman, 2 December, 7.30pm.

A spoken word artist championing the Birmingham Poetry scene, Amerah Saleh’s writing mixes passion with fiery intelligence and an uncanny insight into what it is to be human.

Poetry has taken her around the world sharing stories with people and also gathering them for her own suitcase when she needs them. She is the Co-Founder of Verve Poetry Press and a General Manager at Beatfreeks. Amerah released her first collection called ‘I Am Not From Here’ in April 2018.

Amerah Saleh has performed around the country at events and festivals and has received commissions from Sampad, Birmingham 2022 (Commonwealth Games), BMAG, mac Birmingham, Channel 4, Eastern Electronic Festival, TedxBrum, Library of Birmingham, REP Theatre and Watford Palace.

She has performed around the world, sharing her stories and connecting with people. She has performed and created pieces in Birmingham, London, Oxford, Preston, Scotland, Ireland, Poland, Bosnia, New York, Budapest, Austria, Belgium and San Francisco.

TAKE PART

Whether you are a new poet performing for the first time or a seasoned poet who wants to try out some new stuff – sign up to perform by EITHER;

I) turning up at 7.30 in the bistro (10 slots available)

II) emailing alovelywordpodcast@gmail.com (BEFORE 26th November) (10 slots available), with a confirmation of your full name, mobile number

When signing up to perform, you are signing up to these principles of the open mic.

I’m not the sentimental type, Bu...

“I’m not the sentimental type, but… is an artistic exploration of the feeling of nostalgia. How does nostalgia affect us individually and what lies beneath the initial set of feelings?

This audiovisual album visually dismantles and reframes footage of the Wirral, whilst spoken word, field recordings and synthesizers create a thought-provoking interpretation of the area.

The work is a culmination of the practice-led research undertaken by audiovisual artist Mathew Lomas. I’m not the sentimental type, but… explores the themes of existentialism, time and technology through the lens of nostalgia.”

An audiovisual album captured through the gaze of nostalgia by Mathew Lomas, the film will be followed by a nostalgic DJ-set. Dress in your best retro garments.

All donation based tickets funds are reinvested back into their current and future creative programming. This will support them in creating more opportunities for both people in the creative industry and the wider community. All their “In Cahoots” core programming is free to attend and donations are optional.

David Sedaris

With sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, David Sedaris has become one of America’s pre-eminent humour writers.

He is the master of satire and one of today’s most observant writers addressing the human condition. Sedaris has been nominated for five Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy Album. His audio recordings include “David Sedaris: Live for Your Listening Plea- sure” and “David Sedaris Live at Carnegie Hall.” Since 2011, he can be heard annually on a series of live recordings on BBC Radio 4 entitled “Meet David Sedaris.”

His recent books are The Best of Me – a collection of 42 previously published stories and essays and a second volume of his diaries A Carnival of Snackery, Diaries (2003- 2020) and Calypso, another collection of essays, was a New York Times best-seller, and a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. The audiobook of Calypso was also nominated for a 2019 Grammy for the Best Spoken Word Album.

In 2019 David Sedaris became a regular contributor to CBS Sunday Morning, and his Masterclass, David Sedaris Teaches Storytelling and Humor, was released. There are over 16 million copies of his books in print, and they have been translated into 32 languages.

He has been awarded the Terry Southern Prize for Humor, Thurber Prize for American Humor, Jonathan Swift International Literature Prize for Satire and Humor, Time 2001 Humorist of the Year Award, as well as the Medal for Spoken Language from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In March 2019 he was elected as a member into the American Academy of Arts & Letters.

In 2020 the New York Public Library voted Me Talk Pretty One Day as one of the 125 most important books of the last 125 years.

He and his sister, Amy Sedaris, have collaborated under the name “The Talent Family” and have written half-a-dozen plays, which have been produced at La Mama, Lincoln Center, and The Drama Department in New York City. These plays include Stump the Host, Stitches, One Woman Shoe, which received an Obie Award, Incident at Cobbler’s Knob, and The Book of Liz, which was published in book form by Dramatists Play Service.