(IMAGE CREDIT: SETH GUY)

ADAM ELMS:

Born and bred in Devon, Adam Elms is a visually impaired creative who has lived in Bristol for almost twenty years. His poetry has been published by Nuthatch Press, Walk – Listen – Create, Black Nore Review, R.C. Sherriff Trust, Steel Jackdaw Magazine, Lord Whisky Foundation, and Frosted Fire. His poem, 'The Last VHS Player In England', won the 2023 Waltham Forest Poetry Prize. His playwriting credits include: Are You Sitting Comfortably? (Four Fig Theatre); Mother Lode (Owdyado – Cornwall tour); Love & Death (SKINT Festival, Bristol); Pepper In The Honey, Target Practice (Old Red Lion); Social Class (Park Theatre); When The Lights Go Out (Ophelia Theatre, Dalston); Painted Blind (Wireless Theatre Company).

NICK MOORE & KAY GRANT

Nick is a Bristol-based poet, abstract painter, improvising musician and co-curator of monthly improv music sessions at the Elmers Arms.

He has been writing and performing poetry for over thirty years; as poet and musician he has collaborated with dancers, visual artists, musicians and other poets in various combinations.

COncreteVisualSOnicPhOnicWOrdPlay
In recent years Nick has become more interested in how writing looks on the page and its relationship to sound. He has recently published five booklets which explore this theme, as well as EXTEMPoRiSATIoN, a book of visual music/graphic scores. These are now held in the British Library’s contemporary print archive.

He has also been known to thread spontaneous music of various sorts into his readings and that of others…

Nick will be joined by Kay Grant (Seer Sisters), Jazz vocalist, bandleader and composer with a style-spanning background. Throughout her varied career, Grant’s music has travelled an open-eared and open-armed path through interpretation, improvisation and composition. Grant has toured and recorded throughout the UK, Europe and in the US, from intimate performances in local venues to celebrated spaces including the Barbican in London, Carnegie Hall in New York and Le Zénith in Paris.

In 2021 she relocated from London to Bristol and has been busy playing with many of its brilliant musicians. Her new jazz ensemble The Kay Grant Group features guitarist Neil Smith, Luke Annesley on sax and Pasquale Votino on double bass. She can also be heard in a free jazz/improvisation context here in Bristol.


ODDSOCKS THEATRE COMPANY:

Oddsocks Theatre Company present ‘Fall’ a powerful and intimate theatre piece exploring the realities of dementia through personal experience – both from working in care and through family members who have been affected. The piece delves into the profound impact of dementia, balancing dark and raw moments with a compassionate sensitivity. We approach these difficult themes with care, ensuring the work nurtures and respects both the subject matter and the audience’s experience. As performers, we are unafraid to confront uncomfortable truths, but always with a mindful and thoughtful touch.

At Oddsocks, we thrive in the space between hilarity and tragedy, often blurring the lines to uncover deeper emotional insights. Since our founding in 2008, Carly & Poppy first began collaborating as students, we have been dedicated to creating work that resonates on multiple levels. Following graduation, we were fortunate to receive funding from Bristol City Council, Cirque Bijou, and Desperate Men, which has supported our ongoing creative journey.
@oddsocks_theatre

ANDREW HYKEL MEARS:

Andrew Hykel Mears is a poet based in Bristol. His most recent book ‘Opened Ribs are a Church Full of Sky’ is published by Bread & Roses Press, 2024. His work has appeared in PN Review, Berlin Lit, Propel, Gilded Dirt, The Oxonian Review, Anthropocene and elsewhere. He’s the managing editor of Ambient Receiver: A Journal of Creative Ecologies focussed on sound works and literature that write with the More-Than-Human.

Entry requirements: no age restrictions — Read more — Read less