I must begin this post with an apology. This might not be the most grammatically correct editorial. Im writing this under direst of an early start, a long day in work and a rather interesting train journey home involving a broken down train, a two hour delay and an over crowded train packed full of football fans during which time I fully understood the meaning of the phrase “hell is other people”. But on the upside it gave me the chance to listen to the hole of Fleetwood Mac Rumours album which was cool. But on the down side it also tends to bring out my dyslexic nature a little too much so I apologise in advance.
Now Im home with a cup of tea, posing over questions such as how European Starling got to America?
I don’t suppose you have ever wondered this? No? It’s rather an amusing tale. Its all because of Eugene Schieffelin, a New Yorker who in 1890 released 60 Starlings into Central Park. Fast forward 127 years that 60 strong flock have risen to a million drove who reportedly terrify and cause havoc to crops across North America. Why did he do this? Was it because he wanted to introduce a predator to the ever growing population of House Sparrows pests which he also released 30 years earlier? well no, Eugene Schieffelin did it because he was a massive Shakespeare fan. So much so that he wanted the New World to have an example of every bird mentioned in the Bards plays. Little weird I know but Eugene Schieffelin was a really big fan. His release resulted in causing a massive unbalancement to the natural Eco system of the continent and dramatically changing the food chain of North America. All because he really liked Shakespeare.
Now I love this story, not because it’s a perfect example of Chaos theory but because it shows you what culture can do to you. It can drive you, inspire you, make you do mad, crazy, weird but brilliant things. It causes you to change the world in ways you’ll never realise and probably won’t understand at the time and yeah okay letting lose a load of birds because you are quite fond of some old plays and accidentally setting in motion a series of events that drastically alter the entire ecological system of a country is a little over the top but it can and has happened.
Actually residents of Roath might recall a similar story during the 90s of turtles turning up in Roath park after the popularity of the Teenage Ninja Turtles TV program (Hero’s in a half shell – TURTLE POWER). People bought turtles, not realising how large they grow and so let them go into the lake. You can still see the decedents of those turtles in the Roath park green house.
So back to Made in Roath. In tonights post we are going to look at the wonderful world of our Stage and Spoken word programs. Both are forever popular aspects of the festival and both have a tenable connection with Shakespeare so my beginning tale kinda fits in (sorta).
Our Stage coordinator is the fantastic Rachel Helena Walsh. Stage as you can guess is everything that is slightly performance related, some of it might involve a stage some of it might not (we like to add an air of mystery to things). We have an awful lot going on this year from blindfolded experiences in Inkspot, to the return of “The Dom Show – Threepeat” at Nofitstate. Pulse a lot more, including new work from newly seen artists. You can see a better list of performances here but a brief list is below
GARETH ZIGGY PRESENTS… CONGREGATION
5:00 pm 06: Inkspot – 15 OCT
A SINGLE TREE: A CHRISTMAS TALE GONE WRONG
7:00 pm 05: Nofitstate Circus – 15 OCT
THE IRISH SESSION (SEISIÚN)
8:00 pm – 10:30 pm 49: The Albany – 15 OCT
GARETH ZIGGY PRESENTS… CONGREGATION
12:00 pm 06: Inkspot – 16 OCT
ANDREW BUCHAN BAR FESTIVAL WEEK
8:00 pm 23: The Andrew Buchan Bar – 16 OCT
OPEN MIC AT THE DELI
6:00 pm – 9:00 pm 63: Deli Rouge – 18 OCT
NIGHTMARE VISION: DAVID LYNCH INSPIRED WORKSHOP
8:00 pm – 9:15 pm 06: Inkspot – 18 OCT
LOOP/SPIRAL
7:00 pm 06: Inkspot – 19 OCT
THE DOM SHOW: THREEPEAT
8:00 pm – 8:30 pm 45: Cardiff M.A.D.E. – 19 OCT
THE ROATH HOP
7:00 pm – 11:30 pm 17: The Gate Arts Centre – 20 OCT
LAURA PALMER FANFICTION & THE MONOLOGUE LADY
8:00 pm – 9:30 pm 06: Inkspot – 20 OCT
ANDREW BUCHAN BAR FESTIVAL WEEK
8:30 pm 23: The Andrew Buchan Bar – 20 OCT
GEMINI ANDERSON SINGS TWIN PEAKS
9:30 pm – 10:00 pm 06: Inkspot – 20 OCT
‘LITTLE N’ BY KELLY JONES
7:30 pm – 8:30 pm 05: Nofitstate Circus – 21 OCT
ANDREW BUCHAN BAR FESTIVAL WEEK
8:30 pm 23: The Andrew Buchan Bar – 21 OCT
ANDREW BUCHAN BAR FESTIVAL WEEK
7:00 pm 23: The Andrew Buchan Bar – 21 OCT
So next up we have the fabulous Spoken Word, our coordinator this year is the brilliant Christina Thacher. Spoken word is the poetry and literary related aspect of the festival. Cardiff has a fantastic and very large spoken word scene which we are lucky to include into the festival. There is Open mic nights, workshops, a poetry contest, storytelling, poetry reading, bed time tales pulse much more. It all kicks off from day one of the festival and below is a brief list of events but do check out the website for more information.
SQUNDAY
7:00 pm – 10:00 pm 11: The Crofts – 15 OCT
TEN STORIES HIGH PRESENTS: THE LAST CAMPFIRE
7:30 pm – 9:30 pm 06: Inkspot – 16 OCT
THE BALLOON GIRL – THE FIRST AND FATAL FLIGHT OF MADEMOISELLE ALBERTINA
4:30 pm – 6:00 pm 54: Cathays Library – 17 OCT
BETTER HOUSES – A LITERARY HOUSE PARTY
7:30 pm – 9:30 pm 32: The Diana Rooms – 17 OCT
FROM PAINT TO PAGE: AN EKPHRASTIC WRITING GROUP
7:45 pm – 9:30 pm 17: The Gate Arts Centre – 17 OCT
PROSE & POEMS EVENING
7:30 pm – 9:30 pm 17: The Gate Arts Centre – 18 OCT
BEDTIME STORIES
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm (21) 10: 34 Partridge Road – 19 – 21 OCT
OCTOPOET
7:00 pm – 10:00 pm 76: Terra Nova Café – 19 OCT
GLAMORGAN FOLK TALES FOR CHILDREN
12:15 pm – 1:15 pm 40: Wellfield Bookshop – 21 OCT
CREATIVE WRITING MASTERCLASS
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm 45: Cardiff M.A.D.E. – 21 OCT
POETRY TAKEAWAY
LOCAL WRITERS
11:00 am – 4:00 pm 71: Bowling Pavilion – 22 OCT
JUST A MINUTE, ROATH
MARK BLAYNEY
7:00 pm – 10:00 pm 76: Terra Nova Café – 22 OCT
As ever thank you for reading and apologise for all the spelling mistakes, I hope they were amusing rather than annoying. See you in Roath.