A Paralalia Universe

Latest News!....
This show has now gained the backing of Arts Council England and Poetry Can to the tune of one touring grant, which hopefully will facilitate a series of 12 performances around England. We are already booked for several gigs and look forward to sharing our experiences all over the place in 2007.
Tour Schedule
Cambridge
Mon 21st May, The Man on the Moon, Norfolk St.
Price: £4/£3 concs (Anglia Ruskin University Students free)
Tickets on door or contact Anna Rowntree at Anglia Ruskin University Art Council
Door 7.30pm Show starts 8.00pm
Hay Festival Fringe
Friday 1st June, The Legion, Market St, Hay-on-Wye,
Featuring top Canadian performance poet
R C Weslowski
"...a clown mouth gargling love in the belly of inertia."
www.myspace.com/rcweslowski
Doors 6.30pm, Show 7.00pm
Tickets £5 from www.hayfringe.co.uk or on the door.
Ticket price also includes entry to open mic after the show.
Oxford
Tues 4th Sept, The Vaults, Radcliffe Square, Oxford
Featuring Adriel Luis
"..through persistant self-examination and frank honesty (Adriel's) vision is full of a bitter-sweet yearning for a better world" Genny Lim, author of 'Child of War'
Show 8.00pm
Tickets: £5/£4 on door
Meal option available from 6.30pm, price £12
Ffi: [email protected] or 01865 200 550
Brighton
Thurs 6th Sept, Komedia, 44 Gardener Street, BN1 1UN
Featuring Adriel Luis
"..through persistant self-examination and frank honesty (Adriel's) vision is full of a bitter-sweet yearning for a better world" Genny Lim, author of 'Child of War'
Show 8.00pm
Tickets: £5/£4 on door
Ffi: [email protected] or 01865 200 550
Kendal
27th Sept
Brewery Arts Centre, Highgate, Kendal
Featuring Jive Poetic
Mesmerising and thrilling performer, bringing truth and humour in equal measure
Show 8.00pm
Tickets: £7 / £6concs. /£5 students
Book online at: www.breweryarts.co.uk or Box office: 01539 725133
Canterbury
2nd Oct
Gulbenkian Theatre, University of Kent, Canterbury
Featuring Jive Poetic
Mesmerising and thrilling performer, bringing truth and humour in equal measure
Show 7.45pm
Tickets: £10/£8concs
Book on line at www.gulbenkiantheatre.co.uk or Box Office 01227 769075
Wolverhampton
3rd Oct
Wolverhampton Arena, Wulfruna St, Wolverhampton
Featuring Jive Poetic
Mesmerising and thrilling performer, bringing truth and humour in equal measure
Show 8.00pm
Ffi: [email protected] or 01865 200 550
Cheltenham
9th Oct
Book It! Tent, Imperial Gardens, Cheltenham,
Featuring Jive Poetic
Mesmerising and thrilling performer, bringing truth and humour in equal measureShow 7.30pm
Tickets £5
Book online at www.cheltenhamfestivals.com or Box Office: 01242 227979
Birmingham
17th Oct
Library Theatre, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham Book Festival
Featuring: Mahogany L Browne
A powerful, lyrical voice addressing today's issues
Show 7.45pm
Tickets: Book online at www.birminghamboxoffice.co.uk or Box Office: 0121 3032323
Penzance
20th Oct
TipofyourTongue Festival, Acorn Arts Centre, Parade St, Penzance
Featuring: Mahogany L Browne
A powerful, lyrical voice addressing today's issues
Show 2.00pm
Tickets: Free!
Ffi: www.tipofyourtongue.co.uk
Sheffield
22nd Oct
Off the Shelf Festival, The Fusion, University of Sheffield Union
Featuring: Mahogany L Browne
A powerful, lyrical voice addressing today's issues
Show 7.30pm
Tickets: £5/£4
Box Office: Sheffield Theatres 0114 2496000
Bridport
15th Nov
Bridport LiveFestival, Bridport Arts Centre, South St, Bridport
Featuring: Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai (Yellowgurl)
Show 7.30pm
Tickets: £8/£7
www.bridport-arts.com Box Office: 01308 424204. Tues-Sat
is the brain child of performance poets
David C Johnson and Peter Hunter.
The Next performance of the show will be at
The Little Theatre, Bath at 7.30pm
on Sunday 25th March 2007.
and will feature US performance poet Jive Poetic
Price: £7.50 / £5.00 concs. Box Office: 08707 551241
The show is a live mix of performance poetry, theatre, photography and documentary film footage of their travels in Texas and southern states of America in spring 2005 and is a lively, entertaining and thought provoking record of David and Peter's travels, featuring poems especially written in reaction to their experiences in the US; from thoughts on people they met and places they saw, to commentary on events and slams they performed at and the differences between US slam style poetry and 'English' style slam poetry.
The show also features a special guest American poet.
Tales from a Paralalia Universe was first performed at The Arnolfini theatre auditorium on September 14th 2006 as part of Bristol Poetry Festival 2006.
The special US guest was New York's Jive Poetic.
Below are some comments that were made by audience members after the shows first outing:
Peter Hunter and David C Johnson presented their show, Tales From a Paralalia Universe, chronicling their journey in 2005 through the USA in search of poetry and America! The show featured superbly entertaining and evocative documentary film footage, and a guest performance from one of the star performance poets in the USA, Jive Poetic. Peter and David successfully blended poetry, performance, film, music and comedy to create a wonderfully entertaining and thought provoking show, and a huge audience at the Arnolfini were totally engaged from first moment to last. Standing ovation!
Colin Brown (Director, Poetry Can)
I really liked the presentation, the slick neat set which gave context but allowed us to use imagination too. I like the whole road-movie thing, the feeling of two-men-on-a-journey, almost Steinbeck, which touched my teen-romantic sense of travelling across lonely terrain, Easy Rider, Guthrie, all that stuff...I liked the droll humour you used to create the on-stage relationship of the 2 poets...I enjoyed a lot of the poems, especially the ones that you took with you to the States to use in the slams. I liked the way the visual elements were used - short sections of actual film, and the single images not overwhelming or trying to be Power-point illustrations. It seemed like a way of moving performance poetry forward experimentally, maintaining the integrity of words instead of those ubiquitous rants in which polemic gets stuck in a rap-track.
Crysse Morrison (Frome Literature Festival)
... really enjoyed your show on Thursday night. Loved all the insights into America and of course the set! Sometimes with that kind of thing my mind wanders but I have to say I was riveted all the way through.
Jenny Crowe.
Several people have said that they hope you will be taking your road trip on the road, especially to the Edinburgh Fringe. You know it really was fantastic...It really is a wonderful show and deserves several more outings.
Catharine Stott
Just to say that Richard and I both really enjoyed the performance at the Arnolfini last Thursday. Very well planned and presented evening with beautiful poetry from all.
Hope you guys will do more of these.
Beth Ford
Just to say how much I enjoyed your gig at the Arnolfini. It was funny and entertaining and I really enjoyed it.
The very idea of you two performing in those poetry slams in the US heartland is funny! Brave too!
Wonder what you're doing next?"
Juliette Lewis
That was a great show, you guys rock!
Julian Ramsay-Wade
Below is the latest promo for Looking for the Lone Star, a documentary currently in production by Fluidity Films of David and Peter's travels in the US.
(Film quality greatly reduced due to publication on Youtube) (6 MB)
And here is the original promo (7MB):