Utter! Lutonia
A place where divides drop away and humanity unites humans.
Where speaking and listening is natural and free - not something to be measured but something in which to limitlessly luxuriate. Each UTTER! Lutonia is slightly different but just as full of warmth, joy, challenge, ideas, glorious people and wonderful words. This is a place where divides drop, connections are sparked, words and ideas cross-fertilise and nobody is nobody.
On a damp Thursday evening in 2013, Marjorie’s Kitchen in Hightown kindled & fostered a spark that has fizzed and popped for a decade now. As a wise man once said “poetry is an explosive device and Luton is the perfect fuse…”. And so it continues to be . . . this month, there’ll be all sorts of words, old and new ideas and faces alongside the constants: an open door, a welcoming atmosphere, an eclectic and challenging set of ideas and always the kindness.
Running Time: 2 hours 30 minutes including interval
Line Up
Janine Booth
“Disaffected middle-aged woman and Marxist motormouth”
Janine Booth is a ranting, rhyming and revolting poet, who tackles diverse subjects with wisdom and wit. She has been widely published in anthology and in several books of her own. Her poems are serious and lighthearted, free and formal, and guaranteed to entertain and provoke thought. An sort of UTTER! Lutonia demi-regular, this time she will be performing poems from her new collection ‘Amplify’. Find out more at www.janinebooth.com
Richard Lafford & Leslie Tate
“The highs and lows of life in the climate movement . . .”
In a set full of powerful music & words, Richard Lafford and Leslie Tate of PLANETSONG will recreate the highs and lows of life in the climate movement.
Richard is the founder of the music collective Change The World Through Music and a prolific indie composer https://soundcloud.com/user-490583663. Leslie is the non-binary author of four character-driven novels about love and generational change https://leslietate.com/
Kat Joyce
“In 2021 Kat’s immune system went rogue and tried to kill her. One full immune-system reboot later, she’s feeling . . . contingent.”
Kat is a theatre-maker who makes socially (politically) conscious work that happens in all sorts of places and with all sorts of people. Kat is the co-Artistic Director of Luton based company Tangled Feet and this is her first foray into being on the stage since about 2001 (usually she’s pulling strings from the sidelines). For her UTTER! Lutonia debut, Kat presents “Contingent” which is a work-in-progress. In 2021 Kat’s immune system went rogue and tried to kill her. 600 hours/several gallons of chemotherapy and a full system reboot later, she’s feeling . . . contingent. Fucking with the form, rejecting the sympathy and ripping up the glib cancer narratives, Kat is aiming to take us on a delve through ‘Progression Free Survival’, leaving a trail of unwanted silver linings and pity parties.
Lillith May
“Utter’s own resident artist: Now Speaking”
Lil was raised by creatives, but more importantly she was raised by people who care. People who care about nature, politics, each other; just about anything and everything. These people were mostly punks and they were loud when they felt something. She isn’t so sure all of that will come through in her poems, but she’s looking forward to the chance to be loud anyway.
Labelled a ‘minor eccentric’ in her childhood, people always considered Lil just a lil-bit strange. She continues to perplex us all, and now says she looks forward to being odd in front of a live audience. (Again.)
One of the things we love about Lil is her sense of humour. She isn’t very good at writing bios (despite being a poet), but we let her write her own anyway.
Nik Scott
“Writer | Musician | codeMonkey | Beard | Misanthrope”
Nik Scott can be described as a musician, or as a geek, but most would call him a high functioning chunky blob of ego and anguish
A Creative Writing graduate of the University of Bedfordshire & a source of mouth noises for local rock acts Of Concrete Gods & Screaming Mechanical Brain, Nik can very often be found on a stage trying desperately to be the centre of attention whilst also begging to not be noticed. He's quite simply a complicated chap...
Mouse Assassins
“Mice that assassinate or the assassins of mice?”
It seems it is still too early for a definitive answer to this question. Still, while you wait for certainty those cheeky mice (or those charming assassins) will beguile and bewitch, amuse and amaze, entice and enfold you in their chiming melody and deft wordery. As any self-respecting assassin (or wily, worldly mouse) will nearly tell you; ‘the truth can only be found through empirical experience’, so come and see for yourself . . .
This Event Also Features:
- Expert hosting and expectation-wrangling from the living Lutonian legend that is Lee Nelson.
- Vibration control and atmospheric-engineering from the Round-Green based spinning Sonic-o-Titan Stephen Whiting
- Biblio-vendatory magnificence and great-learning-worn-lightly charm provided by one of the beating hearts of the Clod coalition – Andy Kingston
