Saturday 17th May 8pm £7 (£5 concessions)
A funny, animated, theatrical spoken show about…heart failure?
Performance poet, writer and comedian Richard Tyrone Jones’s
award-winning solo show is a darkly comic spoken word show about
his near-fatal heart failure. The show has been performed in hospitals
and was funded by the Wellcome Trust.
‘Fascinating, sobering, hilarious and ultimately uplifting’ (New Scientist).
The story is told by a charismatic, likeable and honest performer –
“self-deprecating and funny” (The Skinny)
The show has also been made into a Radio 4 spoken word sitcom.
Suitable for ages15+
For his thirtieth birthday RTJ, the healthy, gym-going “Ringmaster of Spoken Word” (ThreeWeeks) at the Edinburgh Fringe got an unexpected present: heart failure.
Now join him as he relives his perilous odyssey through the NHS, to the operating table and back with his award-winning solo show. A healthy prescription of cardiomyopoetry, (re)animation and anecdosage, this is not just for spoken word fans but for anyone who has a heart. Or failure…
“fascinating, sobering, hilarious, and ultimately uplifting.” – New Scientist
“has the audience in stitches…Who knew someone’s near death experience could be this hilarious?… It’s incredible hearing a first-hand account of coming back from the dead and this show puts a shine on the mundane and jumpstarts your heart. If you want a cure for apathy, Tyrone is just what the Fringe ordered.” – CVVMagazine.com
“pulses with charisma” – Georgia Straight
“the most satisfying and enjoyable of the eight shows I have seen” – PlankMagazine.com
Directed by Royal Society of the Arts fellow Anthony Shrubsall, with interactive projections from five-star animators patternfightperformance.com, Big Heart hit the Victoria and Vancouver Fringes in August and September 2013, winning Victoria’s Best Spoken Word show award, and Vancouver’s Spirit of the Fringe.
Big Heart has appeared in the UK at Peterborough Arts, Green Man and Latitude Festivals, Camden Fringe, was nominated for ‘Best spoken word show’ at the Buxton Fringe, and was recommended in the New Yorker and Time Out. Richard won ThreeWeeks magazine’s Editor’s Choice award at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe, where Richard has been Director of Free Fringe Spoken word for the last five years. He has put on acclaimed ‘Utter!’ spoken word shows in London for the last ten, and Big Heart toured the UK in 2012/13 with support from Wellcome Trust.
“masterfully manages the listeners’ mood as it oscillates between laughter and despair… It is a big-hearted show, and a valuable lesson in making the most of whatever life throws at you. Highly recommended.” – Fringe Guru
“This show was the most thought-provoking I have seen this year at the Fringe… touching yet funny, gruesome yet poetic, informative yet uplifting.” – Buxton Fringe
“Well worth an hour of your time, this is a curiously life-affirming show from a charismatic and likeable performer.”– The Skinny.
“raw, at times graphic, and very funny.” – BBC Ouch!
“a refreshing innovation in the spoken word scene… a testament to how far we can all recover from even the darkest diagnoses.” – broadwaybaby.com
“His manner of storytelling is engaging and compassionate. In many ways he is like a doctor with patients, explaining complex medical terms and experiences of trauma to a lay audience… I left feeling uplifted and inspired by a tale of such optimism in the face of death.” – On the Fringe
“I would have been mortified to have missed a second of this thoroughly engaging show… not only a magical use of the English language but the performance and presentation skills of an accomplished stage actor… I urge you to see this show!”– www.remotegoat.co.uk
Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T042EMs_Og
Website:www.rtjpoet.com
Twitter: @rtjpoet
Link to BBC Radio 4 sitcom: https://soundcloud.com/richard-tyrone-jones