John Hegley: Biscuit of Destiny – Saturday 21st October

Description

John Hegley at The Attic in Southampton for his new show ‘Biscuit of Destiny’

Celebrated poet and musician John Hegley comes to The Attic in Southampton for his new show, Biscuit of Destiny. This 90-minute performance introduces a few older favourites, a clutch of new verses and a cardboard camel with a moving jaw.

 Derived from a phrase coined by Romantic Poet John Keats, ‘a scarcity of biscuit,’ the biscuits in the show defy expectations of subject matter and spelling. It encompasses 7 drawings of elephants, myths, discos, daleks, optional community singing, and the pursuit of self-worth. The show was honoured with a ‘Lustrum Award’ at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2022.

★★★★ – ‘a lovely show of stories, music, poetry and silliness’ – British Theatre Guide on Biscuit of Destiny

 John Hegley, from Hackney, led two john Peel sessions with his band the Popticians on Radio 1 in 1983/4. He has also hosted the Border TV poetry series, Word of Mouth in 1989 and was a Perrier Comedy Award nominee, all in the same year! Hegley was the BBC Online poet in residence 1999. And in 2010, he worked with Company Paradiso in Warning, May Contain Nuts alongside BBC Radio Sussex and Berkshire, challenging stigmas around mental illness. Hegley was also Keats House poet in residence in 2012, and the Arts Council England funded his collaborative touring project Putting You in the Picture in 2019. He worked alongside fellow poets within this project to take children to art galleries to experience a whole new world of art, with drawing, writing and cut-out paper characters.