17/03/06 UK Poetry Slam Championship - THE FINAL!!!
The good news is both Scott and Kate from the Poetry Vandals made it to the UK Slam Final. However neither grabbed the trophy, which was claimed by the fabulous Elvis Mcgonnegal (aka Richard Smith from Dorset) with a performance that was clever, political stupid and hysterical.
It was an amazing final with some of the best and most diverse performances found anywhere on the UK poetry scene. Big shout outs to Elvis, DK and Mike Garry from Manchester, Andy Craven-Griffiths, Deep Cobra, Mosaique, A.F. Harrold, Sophia Blackwell, Littleman and the Edge, Nicholas Shelton and of course to Kat Francois our gracious host and the staff of the Theatre Royal - Dawn, Alexis and Karen.
The Final was filmed by MTV Base, and both Scott and Kate were interviewed, so look out for a couple of Vandals clogging up your set-top-box soon!
We hope everyone enjoyed the whole experience as much we did, and keep in touch!
24/02/06 UK Poetry Slam Championship Semi final
Scott Tyrrell and Kate Fox of the Poetry Vandals have been selected to compete in the UK Slam Championship semi finals in London this March.
20 of the country's top slam poets will battle it out at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East on Thursday 9th March for a place in the final on the 11th. The winner will represent the UK in the World Championship in Rotterdam later in the year.
For more information and to book tickets visit the Theatre Royal Stratford East's website here.
23/01/06 Aufwiedersehen poets
The Poetry Vandals are off to Berlin for a gig at the Café Rosa on Feb 11th. The visit will be filmed for the Granada TV programme Airline. A film crew will follow the journey from Newcastle Airport on Easyjet to Berlin and then film the gig at Café Rosa. The footage will be broadcast later in the year.
10/01/06 Poetry Vandals Residency Ends
The Poetry Vandals regret to announce that our residency at the Cumberland Arms in Byker has come to an end. We have had support from the Arts Council in the past but an application for funding for 2006 was not successful.
We are trying very hard to get alternative funds and if or when we do, we will be back. In the meantime the Poetry Vandals will be touring the North of England and if you would like the poetry vandals to come to a venue near you then please let us know by contacting jeff@poetryvandals.co.uk
02/12/05 PV Funding Cut
In the same month as the Poetry Vandals winning a national Poetry Slam for the third consecutive time comes the not-so-fantastic news that our Arts Council funding has been stopped.
We have brought many a great night at the Cumberland thanks to the gracious financial assistance of the Arts Council which has enabled us to pay our guests and to also bring performers from outside the North East including World Poetry Slam champion Buddy Wakefield.
With our funding (like so many other North East arts organisations this year) being cut, this will put a big question mark over the future of our residency at the Cumberland.
However Jeff Price of the PVs is making it his mission in the next couple of months try and get help from other sources, we sincerely hope we can return triumphant in 2006 bigger and better and with enough money to pay the talent. Watch this space...
29/11/05 The Belfast Slam Result 2005 - OOPS! WE DID IT AGAIN!
The Poetry Vandals have retained their title as the Belfast Inter-City Slam Champions for the 3rd year running! Scott Tyrrell and Kate Fox won the team prize for Newcastle Gateshead and Scott Tyrrell held on to the individual title going up against such seasoned slammers as London based poets Steve Larkin and World Champ 2005 Kat Francois.
The slam went like this: Each poet was required to entertain the audience for 5 minutes be it with a 5 minute poem or a 5 one minute poems. The results were collected with a clapometer (a decibel reader). Then the 3 highest scoring poets (Scott, Kat and Kate) went into a sudden death playoff in which they had to perform a poem no longer than 3 minutes. Then the audience decided the individual winner.
Many thanks Mark Madden and the Creative Writers Network for organising the event and for allowing us to compete against such an impressive array of talent. We hope to see you all again next year!
05/11/05 The Belfast Inter-City Poetry Slam - THE REMATCH!
Last year it was close, but we did it. 12 poets from UK and Ireland battled it out in a war of words to defend their region's cultural honour. Poets from Belfast, Dublin, Bristol, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Newcastle/Gateshead piled in to the Duke of York pub in Belfast to duke it out in a packed in house. Some of the best slammers from around the UK performed their little hearts out (sometimes quite violently) and a very enjoyable (if sometimes quite intense) evening was had by all.
Scott Tyrrell and Karl Thompson swept the board with the Team prize (a very tasteful glass bowl which is now above the bar in the Cumberland Arms in Byker) and Scott nabbed the Individual prize (which happened to be a stuffed lizard his stepdaughter subsequently nicked and named Zandor).
And on Saturday the 26th of November we go back to see if we can do it again. Scott Tyrrell will once again be defending his title, but Karl Thompson has graciously stepped down from slamming duties to allow our newest member, Kate Fox to try out her slamming skills in a national contest. Other competing cities this year will be from Derry, Belfast, Galway, Liverpool and London - including new hotshot poet and performer Kat Francois.
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