POETRY and COMEDY with FRANCESCA MARTINEZ! with support RICK FOOT – LIVE
A UNIQUE performance by one of the UK’s best loved comedians. Many of you will know that Francesca Martinez is very funny but not so many will know that she also writes poetry. Come and listen to some of Francesca’s wonderful poems read by her partner, actor Kevin Hely.
Enjoy a LIVE comedy performance with one of the UK’s best writer/comedians seen at the Apollo, regularly on TV and at the National Theatre – in our magical marquee .. the truly marvellous FRANCESCA MARTINEZ with KEVIN HELY! DO NOT MISS!
With support from RICK FOOT – maverick genius drole poet and double bassist – really quite unusual and very original.
FRANCESCA MARTINEZ is a comedian, writer, actress and speaker. The only woman to win the Open Mic Award, she has toured the world with her award-winning stand-up shows. TV / Radio appearances include GRANGE HILL, EXTRAS, THE NEWS QUIZ, THE JONATHAN ROSS SHOW, and LIVE AT THE APOLLO. Writing credits include the book WHAT THE **** IS NORMAL?!, the radio play HOW WE’RE LOVED in which she starred, the TV show HOW I FOUND MY TWO BEST FRIENDS, and the hit play ALL OF US, which opened at the National Theatre in 2022 with Francesca in the lead. She has two honorary doctorates and cerebral palsy but prefers the word ‘wobbly’.
Kevin Hely co-founded Fly by Night Theatre Company in Dublin in 1992, performing with them in several plays by Conor McPherson, including the one-man play The Good Thief. Since then, he has performed in over forty plays, the most recent being All of Us by Francesca Martinez at the National Theatre. He toured the world with Francesca in her comedy shows In Deep, What The **** Is Normal?! and Wobbly Manifesto. He co-founded Theatre Ortas in London in 2009, for whom he directed Private Thoughts and performed the one-man play The Rose of Jericho throughout the UK and in Dublin.
RICK FOOT Double bassist and writer of sardonic songs. Highly original material. Very unusual, definitely worth catching!
As a bass player his background is in jazz and abstract improvisation, and much of his current work is with acoustic singer/songwriters, most recently touring with the Ruth Theodore Band and Kirsty McGee. He has recorded and performed with many people across a range of genres, from folk musicians Nancy Kerr and James Fagan to saxophonists Dick Heckstall-Smith and Evan Parker.
As a songwriter he has released an album (Rain Machine) and an EP (Songs of Idiocy & Expedience) of his own work, which he performs solo with voice, bass and loop device.
“Breathtaking… a distinctive voice” — BBC
“Splendid and off-the-wall” — Festivals For All
“Conjures an impressive array of sound effects without any electronic trickery” — City Life
“A freak” — Jersey Evening Post
Extensive work in jazz and free improvisation with many different musicians in the UK, Holland and Spain – among them Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, Harry Beckett, Chris Biscoe, Sarah Gail Brand, Henry Lowther, John Law.
Marvellously drole poems/spoken word pieces accompany his wild/improvised/genuinely brilliant double bass playing – JUST COME AND LISTEN !
TICKETS £12 – (see below)
TICKETS ON LINE AND ON THE DOOR
ALL DAY FOOD and BAR and wandering saxophone improvisation!
