Off The Chest’s Brighton Bards made their return to Komedia on 19th May, with headline set from “spectacular” Naomi Wood.
After their hit Brighton premiere last year, the sell-out poetry night Off The Chest made their anticipated return to Komedia Studio Brighton.
Off The Chest have been creating spaces for poetry since 2019. Their mission is to give a platform to poets of diverse backgrounds and celebrate original voices in the UK poetry scene. They’ve sold-out venues like Rich Mix, and brought their event to locations across the UK. More announcements coming soon, keep an eye on Off The Chest’s Instagram for updates – @offthe_chest.
The show opens with our hosts poets and performers Ella Dorman-Gajic and Iftikhar Latif. They inject an instant dose of enthusiasm, energy and humour as they tell us what to expect from the night in front of us and it sounds great!
‘Absolutely amazing features and brilliant hosts’ – Arji Manuelpillai
The first poet to hit the stage is co-presenter Iftikhar Latif with his, heartfelt and heartbreaking, ‘Confessions of a Very Sensitive Person’. What a perfect way to start the evening.
We’re joined by guest presenter, Brighton poet Ella Sadie Guthrie (writer of Scorpio Szn, published with Write Bloody UK) who gives us her insightful poem about love – It’s Really Cool and Sexy To Love – about the risk of falling in love and the bravery of continuing to do so. Guthrie is sharp, witty with an ability to spot the smallest details of the world around us.
Also appearing was multi-award-winning writer Elle Dillon-Reams (writer of 5-star, sell-out Edinburgh shows ‘MEAT’ and ‘HoneyBee’). Utterly wonderful, funny and a ball of madcap energy also from Brighton. She is an award-winning writer and performer. Her two Edinburgh Fringe shows, ‘MEAT’ and ‘HONEYBEE’, received sell-out audiences and 5-star reviews. Her debut poetry collection ‘Maladaptive’ was published by Verve Poetry Press in 2022. Elle has featured at Glastonbury and been selected by Craig Charles and BBC6 Music as part of the Poetry class of 2023. More: www.elledillonreams.com/about
‘A tour-de-force… with playful energy, a witty self-awareness and a great big heart’ – Three Weeks
Ella Sadie Guthrie‘s next role is to welcome to the stage those brave souls who have signed up before the show to do a slot in the famous Off The Chest open mic. Throughout the evening we’re treated to work being read by twelve poets amongst whom there were at least two who had never read their poems in public before. Their output is of an extremely high standard in a broad amount of styles. One minute I’m giggling, then a lump appears in my throat, followed by anger and awe.
Ella Dorman Gajic gives us ‘You Have Been WalkingThe Relic Train Back To Kragujevac’ inspired by her dearly loved Serbian grandfather. Beautiful and gently heartbreaking, it brought tears to my eyes.
Off The Chest ran a competition on their Instagram this week to feature as a special guest poet this night – MIthago. Their words sway like waves onto the shore ebb and flow. Their’s was an epic poem of struggle to recover from serious illness. Utterly stunning!
This exciting evening of words included a headline set from Brighton’s own Naomi Wood (writer of 5-star, sell-out show ‘Gobbess’) is a spoken word performer and theatre maker. Her solo spoken word show ‘Gobbess’ which is still touring the UK, with previous shows at Edinburgh Fringe and Glastonbury, has been described as ‘Laugh-out-loud humour’, ‘delightful’, ‘raw, powerful and incisive’, ‘pure magic…unmissable’. Naomi also teaches creative writing workshops across the UK that encourage writers to be playful and take risks in telling stories. Naomi has been published by Backlash Press and Ink, Sweat and Tears and was recently shortlisted for The Bournemouth Writing Prize.
Wood’s set includes observations of our everyday lives both personal and political. All of life and its ages are here including hilarious stories of water sports and messages on toilet walls.
‘Naomi Wood is a huge talent and a force of nature.’ – Brighton and Hove News
Date: 19th May, 7:30pm
Location: Komedia Brighton, Downstairs Studio
