ON OUR RADAR

Spork! Christmas special returns

Spork! presents poetry, comedy and live music from Elvis McGonagall, Josie Alford and BopaRhys, with carols from the Exeter Railway Band.

Leigh Curtis

Spork! Christmas special returns for its fourth year on Monday 18 December at Exeter Phoenix with poetry, comedy and live music from Elvis McGonagall, Josie Alford and BopaRhys and carols from the Exeter Railway Band.

Elvis McGonagall Elvis McGonagall

Elvis McGonagall is a comedian, broadcaster and stand-up poet.

A former world poetry slam winner, he regularly appears on BBC Radio 4 including in his two-series sitcom Elvis McGonagall Takes A Look On The Bright Side.

Viva Loch Lomond!, his first poetry collection, was published in 2017. A second collection, Complete & Utter Cult!, was published in 2020.

He also performs with his band, The Resurrectors. Their debut album Gie It Laldy! was released on Bar-Ox Records in 2018, followed by a 4-track EP Oot in Fairy Lights in 2021.

Josie Alford Josie Alford

Josie Alford is a poet and event host from Bristol. She is the co-founder of The Sword Forge Collective, a poetry network with a social change focus.

Her debut poetry collection Faulty Manufacturing was published earlier this year.

Spork! Christmas special will also feature drag artist Bopa Rhys performing festive songs, jokes and stories.

There will also be Christmas carols led by the Exeter Railway Band, a traditional brass band originally founded in 1944.

Bopa Rhys Bopa Rhys

Spork! is a community-led producer of spoken word works. It was founded in 2018 by Exeter poet and artist Chris White.

It holds regular events in Exeter venues that feature local talent with line-ups from across the UK and offers a year-round programme of writing and performance workshops and an artist development programme.

Spork! works with a range of community partners from Newcourt Community Centre to Mothers Who Make.

It has programmed drag queens, brass bands and rappers as well as some of the best spoken-word artists in the UK and beyond, including Buddy Wakefield, Vanessa Kissule and John Hegley.

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Spork! Christmas special is at 7.30pm on Monday 18 December 2023 at Exeter Phoenix.

Tickets cost £12, or £8 for students or under-25s, and are available from the Exeter Phoenix website.

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