Performance poet Henry Raby presents spoken word show in York (From York Press)

Performance poet Henry Raby presents Letter To The Man (From The Boy)

12:03pm Friday 27th January 2012 in Theatre

YORK performance poet Henry Raby is to present his solo spoken-word show Letter To The Man (From The Boy) in his home city and Leeds next month.

Directed by Tom Bellerby, associate artist of Pilot Theatre, Henry’s tale is spun around the idea of writing a message to yourself in the future and fuses together poetry, theatre and elements of a writing workshop.

Henry will perform a range of his poems on the theme of growing up, taking him from cartoons, comics and crayons to teenage crushes, alcohol and friendship, and the show will be interactive too.

“I’ll be encouraging the audience – in a gentle fashion – to write their own letters to their future selves, packed with memories, loves, ambitions, hopes and funny stories,” says Henry.

Letter To The Man (From The Boy) was first developed during Tom Bellerby’s artistic directorship of the 2011 TakeOver Festival at York Theatre Royal.

“After overwhelmingly positive audience feedback, we’ve continued to develop the show prior to this year’s performances,” says Tom.

“I’m very excited to be getting Letter To The Man (From The Boy) out to further audiences. It not only presents Henry’s brilliantly honest, comic and intelligent poetry, but also gives the audience a chance to reflect on their memories and their wants for the future.”

Henry was this month picked out as a highly commended writer in Pilot Theatre’s Generation Zed play-writing competition. Now he has two new challenges ahead, having been appointed associate director of the 2012 TakeOver Festival and accepted on to the young writers’ course at The Royal Court theatre in London.

Letter To The Man (From The Boy) will be performed at the Workshop Theatre, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, on Wednesday and Thursday at 7.30pm and in the Basement bar at City Screen, York, on February 10 at 8pm. The shows in Leeds are free, but space is limited, and the York night costs £4 on the door. Support acts that night will be York company Six Lips Theatre and poets Humphrey McColl and Rosie Drew.