YORK performance poet Henry Raby and musician Travels By Telephone introduce their fully formed new show, Practise Patience, on home turf at the Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, on Saturday night.

The 7.30pm performance combines the raw, honest writing of Raby with the sweet acoustic music and gentle lyrics of TBT’s Jamie Wilson to “leave you feeling warm, enthused and keen to make that important phone call to the person living far away”.

Practise Patience grew initially from Henry and Jamie constructing a one-off song of that name after Henry had written a poem for each act, inspired by their set, at a show where he was the compere. Among them was Travels By Telephone and a partnership was duly born.

Practise Patience went through a long scratch process last year, featuring work-in-progress performances at the Edinburgh Fringe and the Little Festivals in a shop and old people’s home in Easingwold and a hotel function room in Selby, as part of York Theatre Royal’s On Our Turf Project.

This work culminated in a performance at The Empty Shop in Durham and now the fully fledged version makes its debut this weekend in York.

The show asks: What does it mean to wait for someone? How can we survive distances and hours between meetings?

“It’s changed a hell of a lot since Edinburgh,” says Jamie.

“We spent a lot of time discussing what was the story that we wanted to tell,” says Henry. “We wanted to make it a 35-minute experience for the audience, giving it a proper structure, rather than just being something that was just touching and sweet.

"So essentially it’s about being patient and waiting. It’s about love and friendship and how do we experience that in the 21st century when communication is everywhere.”

Technology versus flesh and blood, in other words.

“Technology has its role but it can’t replace everything,” says Jamie.

• Henry Raby and Travels By Telephone present Practise Patience at Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, Saturday, 7.30pm. Look out for vegan flapjack, a “zine” stall and support acts from Floating Bear, Genevieve Carver and Pessimsister.