Author: Dave Pitt

As the cool wind of Winter starts to give way to Spring we had our next helping of PASTA and the theme… well the theme was farts. Don’t let anyone tell you getting your audience to decide the theme for the following month is a good idea. We’re just amazed it took this long before such a theme was “let loose”.

Once Dave and Emma had got the microphone working it wasn’t surprising to find a lot of people had guff themed works. We had farty pants grans, a Bachelor of Farts and were even invited to the Welsh Coast where we could stand with our back to the sea and trump at Trump. It was also nice to see the storytellers come out in force. We were presented with a snippet of a show (or a waft of a fart if you prefer) which referenced Mad Max, Meat Loaf and Phil Taylor. Along with the line, “The vindaloo has helped free my third eye.”

We like to think the fact the back screen of the stage had the words, “Supported using public funding by the Arts Council England” projected on it was both a show of resistance and a surrender to our baser instincts.

The first half ended with a lovely story from Daisy Black. A tale of harvest, a plague and a strong woman dealing with the Devil and finding an ally in a flatus. Daisy has a show on at the Arena in April and we think you should see it.

“Anymore farts?” said Purshouse and fortunately, or unfortunately, there wasn’t. At least none anyone admitted to.

After the interval we dived into the second half with a poem about ethics which included the killer line, “Values are what remains when we’re triggered.” We also had more storytelling including a lovely piece about the writer’s mom who was suffering from Cancer.

Witty, heartfelt and we have no doubt plenty of us know women who can show such strength and humour against adversity. These little snippets of prose go down well at these nights so if you have anything you’d like to try pop along. We then had more lovely poems on spiritual excess, dreams and then just in case you missed what happened in the first half a piece about uncontrollable gas.

We picked the theme for next month which is “Sheer Unspeakable Strangeness” and can only hope people don’t reuse their fart poems. Oh, reusing farts… that’s not a healthy.

Please don’t do that but do pop along next month and speak your unspeakable strangeness.

The dust had barely settled on Wolverhampton Literature Festival, but the creative energy in the city wasn’t ready to dim just yet. This past Tuesday, February 10th, we hosted another Arena Nights. If the Literature Festival was the feast, Arena Nights was the perfect digestif. 

The night opened with three performers taking the stage to test their mettle (and their memory) by performing works-in-progress. We heard of a better world, a story which was not about a stone and Red Emma.

Before the interval, we were treated to a 10-minute snippet of An Evening With Gareth Evans, a work-in-progress by Kerry Frater. Though we only saw two of the nine intended scenes, the impact was immediate.

The play introduces us to Wales’ first movie star, Gareth Evans. A man who feels profoundly out of place as he navigates a world that doesn’t quite know what to do with him. Kerri’s writing hints at a character layered with secrets, leaving the audience with a desperate need to see the full picture. You could tell a performance was successful when half the audience spent the interval Googling “Gareth Evans.” The intrigue is officially sparked.

The second half belonged to Maya Catherine Foster and her stellar piece, Lullabies and Love Stories.

This is theatre at its most evocative. Foster deconstructs the treatment of female characters in traditional folklore, weaving together storytelling and song with a linguistic richness that is rare to find. While the tone is often dark, the “well-placed splashes of humour” prevented the weight from becoming overbearing, instead making the sharper edges of the stories cut even deeper.

In a world of “heroic” narratives that often leave women in the margins, Foster’s work feels like a necessary reclamation. “I care for girls that heroes will discard.” Foster proclaims at one point. And shouldn’t we all.

It’s Monday afternoon, and we’re looking back – bleary-eyed – at a packed weekend of events at Wolves Lit Fest. It’s fair to say we’ve a real sense of wonder about just how good it was once again. And alongside that, there’s a considerable amount of exhaustion – ideally, the pandemonialists would be writing this blog curled under their respective duvets, but the world isn’t like that, and we’ve been travelling the West Midlands/doing IT/slogging through admin since first thing this morning.

Anyway, them’s the breaks. Let’s talk about how good Lit Fest was! As always, there was oodles of stuff we never got the opportunity to see, but there was a fair amount we were closely involved in and chuffed to bits to put on. On Saturday, we curated the Fringe Room in the Arena Theatre: five Fringe shows performed to an appreciative audience, each of them pay-as-you-feel (with all the money going direct to the artist).

First up was Melanie Branton with her show The Full English. We brought this up to Wolves in the summer, as part of Midlands Fringe, but it’s so good we had to bring it back, and we’re very glad we did. Catch it if you can!

Rob Kemp should have been next, with his show Beatlesjuice, but he was unable to make it (get well soon, Rob!) so our very own Steve Pottinger stepped in with a debut performance of his show Sweat & Mugs & RocknRoll.

Emma slipped away to interview Kit de Waal in Wolverhampton’s Art Gallery, which meant she missed show number three – Cameroonian storyteller Charles Kouasseu, who soon had a packed theatre singing and dancing, despite the rain outside. Highly recommended.

Our fourth show was AngelaBra: diary of a bingo call girl which was a lot of fun, got everyone playing bingo, and we take our collective hats off to the audience members who lip-synced and danced to a disco classic in order to win their prize. You were ace!

And we closed with Still Raving in your 40s by Donald Jenkins, a full-on piece of physical theatre which took us into the heart of the lived experience of rave culture.

There was just time to grab a bite to eat before Stars of Slam, our annual poetry event in the Art Gallery which showcases the considerable talents of four slam-winning poets, and their incredible poetic voices. Stepping up to the mic this year were Clive Oseman, Charlotte Faulconbridge, Davina Songbird, and the winner of last year’s Wolves Lit Fest slam, David Braziel. And it was glorious!

We headed home, we got some sleep, we came back in bright and early on Sunday morning, and we spent the day curating the Writers’ Hub. This gives a platform to a host of local writers’ groups from across Wolverhampton, as well as groups from Walsall, Lichfield, and Stourbridge, and it’s a hugely important part of what the festival offers. Over the course of the day, we had almost 400 people come through the doors, to support friends, to listen, or to read their work.

Emma slipped away again, this time to give a sold-out reading from her latest collection Unsung (which is very very very very good) but was back in time to see new writing group Willenhall Writers share their work at the festival for the very first time. And if that isn’t part of what a literature festival should be doing, then we don’t know what is.

They closed the Writers’ Hub for 2026, we treated ourselves to a curry and an early night, and today is all about saying ‘thank you’ to the artists, audiences, and organisers who made this year’s festival such a success. It’s also about us recycling our blog titles because we’re tired, and hoping no-one notices. But we won’t mention that.

Wolves Lit Fest will be back in February 2027. Put the dates in your diary and we’ll see you there!

PPP
9th Feb 2026

Our latest PASTA (Poets and Storytellers Assemble) open mic night at the Arena Theatre in Wolverhampton delivered another rich tapestry of voices mirroring the plentiful colours of autumn. That’s because falling leaves was the theme for the first half. While the theme suggests quiet contemplation, transition, and your ears getting cold, our performers, as always, used it as a springboard to dive into unexpected mounds of, well, fallen leaves.

Sure, we heard pieces exploring that transition from autumn to winter. Yet we also heard about “ghost trees,” and even a piece set in1960’s Cuba. Continuing the revolutionary theme of 1960’s Cuba, one poet decided to use a completely different set of stairs down to the stage. Every day it seems is a time for a new outlook on life. Kind of like falling leaves in autumn.

Following the break, the floor opened up for work on any theme, resulting in a fascinating collection of subjects and forms, addressing the misconception by some that vinyl records are just massive CDs, a poem with a devotional obsession to mushrooms, and a number of haiku (last month we famously had a haiku in the original Japanese; this month it was the turn of the moribund language of Latin to take centre stage in a poem – it all happens at PASTA).

We also had someone share work for the first time. More accurately, someone spoke publicly for the first time to share the work of another poet who was sharing for the first time. We don’t care how it happens – we’re just glad people are writing and sharing. The more people involved in that process and who get to discover the joys of creativity and sharing, the better.

Thanks to everyone who shared their work and contributed to this vibrant, intellectually engaging evening. The PASTA stage remains a place where any subject, from a falling leaf to a massive CD, can become poetry.

The theme for our next PASTA is “Creases” and it’s scheduled for Tuesday February 17th so you’ve got plenty of time to rustle something together.

Last night was the second run in of our new night at the Arena Theatre. Arena Nights is a PAYF event focused on learning performance pieces, showcasing new work, and is rounded off with the performance of a full fringe show, with all money collected on the night going to the headline artist.

After several poets dug into their noggin to recall and recite their work – including an excellent piece about a River Monster in the Tyne – we then had a 10-minute extract from Daron Carey’s play, “Last Orders.” This was a fantastic piece full of rich language and inventive metaphors. If you get a chance to see Daron’s work in full then remember, you only need one kidney. You can sell the other one.

After the interval, the main performance was John Biddulph’s show, Gallimaufry. The title reflects the content, which was a collection of poems and stories gathered throughout his professional life as a musician and psychologist. Highlights of the show, delivered with poise and warmth, included a poem that was both written and performed in Middle English, and a separate piece focused on the experience of tinnitus.

Next week we’re back at the Arena for the last PASTA of 2025. The dates for Arena Nights and PASTA in 2026 will be released shortly. So sign up to our newsletter to find those out. In the meantime, get some ten-minute sections of your new show ready, memorise a few poems, and maybe even polish off that script for the Fringe performance you’ve always promised yourself you’ll do, and we’ll see you in 2026.

The nights are drawing in, the air’s getting colder, and at the Arena Theatre, that can only mean one thing — PASTA is back, serving up another rich helping of poetry, performance, and just the right dash of mischief.

This month’s theme was HALLOWEEN, and the first half of the evening delivered everything you’d hope for: scares, fears, and a fair few memories from childhood Halloweens gone by. There were poems about ghosts and ghouls, strange sounds in the dark, and the kind of fears that follow you into adulthood. The audience threw themselves right into the spirit of things too — joining in with ooohhhsss and spooky sound effects whenever the chance arose. Someone even attempted a bat impression at one point. Let’s just say… admirable effort, but a little more practice might be needed before the next full moon.

After the break, the tone shifted — as it always does at PASTA — to take in the wider world. We had poems on the recent robbery in France, complete with brave (and occasionally questionable) attempts at the accent, as well as reflections on current troubles and the protest marches filling our streets. There was even a haiku read in Japanese, which sounded wonderfully impressive… though those who were there might suspect that Paul Elwell was taking a shortcut or two in his Japanese lessons.

It was, as ever, a night of warmth, wit, and words shared among friends — exactly what PASTA does best.

The next PASTA will be held on Tuesday 18th November, with the theme FALLING LEAVES. Expect poems of change, loss, renewal, and perhaps the odd leaf-based pun (you know who you are).

Whether you’re a regular or it’s your first time, bring your words, bring your ears, and join us for another evening of poetry, stories, and community.

PPP
24th October 2025

Tuesday night marked the very first Arena Nights at Arena Theatre in Wolverhampton – a brand-new collaboration between Arena and Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists. And what a start it was.

The evening began with an open mic session that encouraged people to perform without a script. It brought a real sense of energy and connection to the room.

We then had a ten-minute spot from PPP’s very own Emma Purshouse, who performed a crown of sonnets. It was a fantastic showcase of her skill – clever, heartfelt, and beautifully constructed.

After the break came a fringe show from Ann Atkins titled Not a Robot. The show explored what it means to be human in the modern world. Ann used props and projections to engage the audience in this gentle, funny, thoughtful one-person show, which resonated deeply with the audience – who absolutely loved it.

If you would like to have a go at learning a poem, story, or short monologue by heart for sharing, then Arena night’s open mic element might just be for you, these slots are bookable on the night. If you’ve got a longer extract from a work in progress, whether that be a play, or one-person show and you’d like to try it out then get in touch to book a 10 minute slot. Our next Arena Nights full feature one-person show will be announced shortly.

Arena Nights is all about developing new skills, new performances, and new audiences for the joys of fringe theatre.

We’ll be back on 11th November – so come along and be part of something special.

On Tuesday 16th September, PASTA returned to the Arena Theatre in Wolverhampton with another evening of open mic poetry – and what a night it was.

The first half carried the theme of SUNSHINE. We heard everything from hardcore Black Country verse, to sunshine squeezed out of a lemon, to cosmic trails of stardust. Some poets stuck to familiar ground, while others stretched the theme in gloriously tenuous ways. As always, a rookie stepped up for their very first live reading, greeted with the warmth and encouragement that makes this crowd and event so special.

After the break, the second half opened up into a wider world. We had sharp observations on climate change, nostalgic nods to punk bands from Tipton, and one poem so striking in its take on today’s world that the audience left with a new rallying cry: “Vote Morgan Birch.”

It was a wonderful night – the kind that leaves you feeling like you’ve been basking under sunshine.

The next PASTA takes place on Tuesday 21st October, and with Halloween just around the corner, the theme is perfectly topical: Halloween. Expect tricks, treats, and maybe the odd scare…

This was the last PASTA of this season and our theme for the first half was “MYSTERY”. As usual our poets brought a wide mix of ideas for the theme. Yes, we had Sherlock Holmes. Yes, we had some spooky shenanigans. Yes, we had a look at what mystery actually is. However, did anyone expect Mr Benn would show up? Did anyone expect yodelling?

This is the thing about PASTA. If you give creatives a bit of space and a theme then you shouldn’t really be surprised at what pops up.

On top of some great spoken word we also welcomed back old faces who hadn’t joined us in a while. There’s a strong poetry and spoken word community in these parts and it’s nice this little night can exist as a place to meet up and share work. Watching old friends catch up during the break shows how important it is we all keep in touch.

Another strength of this night is the platform it gives to the new performers. After the break someone shared work for the first time. It left a lovely silence of contemplation hanging in the air along with a few misty eyes.

It’s safe to say one thing that isn’t a mystery is why PASTA keeps drawing in crowds. Great poetry and spoken word, a warm and appreciative audience and a safe space to give things a try. See you at the next one.

What have a disco bike powered by Fun Boy Three, two impressions of Fred Dibnah, and Paul Simon got in common? They all made an appearance at PASTA last night.

Now, attendees might not remember Terry Hall riding a bike across the stage. They may even have been under the impression that the impressions were West Coast rap and cockney. There’s an outside chance Paul Simon was actually two separate people. One called Paul and one called Simon. But none of this took away from an excellent night of poetry, spoken word, and a sing song or two.

We started with some wonderfully muddled admin from our very own Purshouse. A reminder to everyone this is a night to relax, have fun and try stuff out. And they did. Our first half theme was “Wheels” so it’s no surprise Terry Hall turned up on his disco bike. We also had lost moons, great shirts, and a sing along. Special mention also has to go to Bill, who elevated himself from Poet Rookie with an excellent performance. We’ve got our eye on you, Bill. We predict excellent things for your future.

After the break Paul and Simon waxed lyrical, we had another song and we discovered just how much other poets learn about poetic forms from our very own Purshouse. There is no doubt, what Purshouse lacks in admin-based professionalism she more than makes up for with knowledge of poetic forms. Or at least the phone number of someone who knows about poetic forms.

There was no denying it was another captivating night of poetry and spoken word. A hastily drawn theme of “Mystery”; or possibly “Amateur”; is scheduled for our next helping of PASTA on 17th June. Who knows, next month maybe Martin Degville, the lead singer of Sigue Sigue Sputnik, will turn up on a toboggan. There’s only one way to find out. Come along.

PPP
21st May 2025