About This Show
Ben Norris: A Short Tour of the Heart – Join star of The Archers and two-time UK National Poetry Slam champion Ben Norris on a short tour of the heart. Fusing spoken-word and music with his trademark storytelling panache and famous modesty, the Notts-born writer-performer will be trialling brand new work as well as sharing pieces from his back catalogue. Armed with several probably-illegible notebooks, a loop pedal, and a refurbished macbook paid for by the government’s coronavirus self-employment income support scheme, Ben anticipates exploring themes as diverse as family, general sadness, lockdown sadness, grief, heartbreak, other miscellaneous sadnesses, memory, The Midlands, family, and the art of effective list-making. Like so many things in the world right now, including this description, the show will be a work-in-progress. Ben Norris is an award-winning poet, playwright and actor, and a Creative Associate at Nottingham Playhouse. His second pamphlet of poetry, published in 2019, was described by Colm T?ib?n as ?the real deal’, by Andrew McMillan as ?moving, witty and beautifully-crafted’, and by his mum as ?obviously quite painful to read’. In lieu of this summer’s Edinburgh Fringe, he endeavoured to capture the feeling by spending most of August standing in the rain talking to himself at home, finding it much more cost-effective and considerably better for his mental health. Naomi Obeng: Where it Lands – The first reading of a new Nottingham Playhouse commission by East Midlands based writer, Naomi Obeng. a woman. a mind. a knock on the door. a permission denied. and yet, The Idea sees no boundaries, The Idea lets itself in. mixed race people are the UK’s fastest growing ethnic group mixed race people are the UK’s mixed race people are Nottingham has a higher than average mixed race population compared to the rest of the UK. Against the backdrop of historical hostility against mixed race people, resurgent racial divisions in society, and the mainstream use of ?mixed’ as an ethnic group, this probing new piece of one-person storytelling examines the reality of a mixed race identity in 2020. Naomi was previously a member of Nottingham Playhouse’s Homegrown group for young theatre-makers. She is a New Associate at New Perspectives, currently part of Soho Theatre’s Writers’ Alumni Group and was a writer in residence at Leicester Curve. Her writing for the stage includes A Distance Between for Paines Plough’s Come To Where I’m From project and I’ll Show You The Oranges (Young Court at the Royal Court).
This exciting double-bill is part of the Nottingham Playhouse Unlocked festival of live and livestreamed shows. There is a strictly limited number of tickets to watch the event in person at Nottingham Playhouse, or purchase an e-ticket to watch the livestream at home.
