A Leap in the Dark 37

A Leap in the Dark 37   8pm  Friday 7th August 2020

  Acts of writing,

       Rites of acting

The home stretch for Spring Journal by Jonathan Gibbs, read by Michael Hughes; Neil Griffiths on the new indie press Weatherglass Books; the next section of Amy McCauley’s 24/7 Brexitland performed by Malady Nelson; the actor Michael Colgan in conversation with The Pale Usher; the poet/theatre maker/artist Alan Fielden and the Settee Salon looks at the rituals of theatre.

There's no charge for taking part in A Leap in the Dark, but please make a donation, no matter how large, to The Trussell Trust.

The Programme

1 The Pale Usher welcomes you

2 Spring Journal canto XXI by Jonathan Gibbs, read by Michael Hughes

3 Neil Griffiths introduces Weatherglass Books

4 Amy McCauley (as Malady Nelson) performs 24/7 Brexitland (part 3)

5 Michael Hughes & Michael Colgan in conversation with The Pale Usher

Interval 

6 Alan Fielden: poet / theatre maker / artist

7 The Settee Salon: Michael, Michael and Alan on theatre ritual 

8 The Pale Usher signs off

The Company

Michael Colgan is an actor based in London. He recently appeared in the BAFTA award-winning television drama Chernobyl. 

Alan Fielden is a poet, theatre maker, artist, and lecturer at the University of Worcester and Central School of Speech and Drama.

As a performance maker he tends to work collaboratively from text, developing material through prolonged improvisation and experimentation, approaching performance through musical and poetic dynamics like resonance, dissonance, composition, repetition, and tone, rather than more traditional dramatic elements like character and plot. Some of his preoccupations are tenderness, hysteria, and narrative form. He is a founding member of JAMS, ROOM, and National Art Service (RIP).

Jonathan Gibbs is a writer and critic. His first novel, Randall, was published in 2014 by Galley Beggar Press and his second, The Large Door, by Boiler House Press in 2019. He has written on books for various publications including the TLS, Brixton Review of Books and The Guardian. He curates the online short story project A Personal Anthology, in which writers, critics and others are invited to 'dream-edit' an anthology of their favourite short fiction. Spring Journal is a response to the current coronavirus pandemic taking its cue very directly from Louis MacNeice's Autumn Journal.

Neil Griffiths is an author, publisher and founder of the Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses.

Michael Hughes is the author of two novels: Countenance Divine (2016) and Country (2018) both published by John Murray, the latter winning the 2018 Hellenic Prize. 

Amy McCauley is a poet and freelance writer. She is the author of OEDIPA (Guillemot Press, 2018) and 24/7 Brexitland (No Matter Press, 2020). Amy’s first full-length collection of poetry will be published by Henningham Family Press in 2021.

The Pale Usher is David Collard, who organises these gatherings.

The pale Usher—threadbare in coat, heart, body, and brain; I see him now. He was ever dusting his old lexicons and grammars, with a queer handkerchief, mockingly embellished with all the gay flags of all the known nations of the world. He loved to dust his old grammars; it somehow mildly reminded him of his mortality.

  Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

The next Leap in the Dark tomorrow (Saturday August 8th) will feature:

- Two readings by Kevin Boniface

- Wendy Erskine undertakes a close reading of “Egress’, a short story by 

  David Hayden (and all invitees will receive a copy in advance)

- David Hayden responds to Wendy’s close reading of ‘Egress’

- A Letter from Auckland by Oscar Mardell

- A Letter from Magaluf by David Holzer

Stay well!

The Pale Usher