Wheatsheaf. 12.30pm. Pay-As-You-Feel
Rating: 12+
Poet, playwright, singer-songwriter, author and comic compère, Brendan Hawthorne is a born and bred Black Countryman.

He is widely published and has made several appearances on television and radio. He has held several writing residencies and delivered many bespoke commissions throughout his career to date.

Laughing In The Face of Absurdity is a performance of original songs and poetry from Brendan’s wide and varied canon that try to make sense of the ludicrous trials and tribulations of modern life through ageing eyes and mind!

Be prepared for wry humour and keen observation in local dialect and relatively standard English!

Wheatsheaf. 1.45pm. Pay-As-You-Feel
Rating: 18
Pub Crawl Posts present Throwing in the Trowel. A powerful working-class spoken-word performance that gives voice to frustration, resilience and the dream of a fairer life. Honest, direct and unapologetic, these are poems from the sharp end of modern Britain. We don't want to be poor anymore.

The Pack. 3.15pm. Pay-As-You-Feel
Rating: 12+
A stunning storytelling show.

In real life, we don't always get our happy ending. In this new storytelling show to commemorate the launch of his new book, Tom performs some of the stories he has committed to print. This is your chance to hear them as they were always meant to be told, from the mouth of the storyteller to the ears of the listeners.

The Pack. 4.30pm. Pay-As-You-Feel
Rating: 12+
A stand-up comedy show about the everyday absurdities of India, the US and the UK where Prateek has lived and performed. The absurdities get historical, political, and sometimes to outright denial when it's least expected. Prateek is an Indian comic who is quickly making his name in the UK comedy circuit and can regularly be seen performing at top comedy clubs across the country like The Comedy Store, Up the Creek and Komedia. 

Shortlisted: BBC New Comedy Award

Runner-up: West End New Act of the Year

Finalist: Komedia New Comedy Award

Beyond the joke: "he’s smart – politically and historically curious, that continues throughout the show and nicely into the biographical nuggets shared of his life living in India, then the US, and now the UK . . .There’s a lot to enjoy in ‘Denial’, not least almost an hour in the company of this sweetly charming and engaging comedian. . . in his workings and intellect, his eye for the quirk and the unexpected perspective. Kohli’s writing is quick, and his eye for a punchline sharp."

The Pack. 5.45pm. Pay-As-You-Feel
Rating: 18
Fickle Puck interrogates the bodily lived experience of queer femininity through the media of poetry and burlesque. Suzanna Fitzpatrick grew up under the imposed silence of Section 28, only realising her bisexuality in midlife. Through her newly opened queer eye, she writes from the perspective of the female rake: flaneuse and voyeuse, furious and sexy. In a sequence of sonnets about clothes and appearance, Fitzpatrick slowly sheds outfits and alter egos, subverting the striptease to become ever more powerful as she dismisses layer upon layer of expectations and flips a finger at the patriarchal gaze. Come along for the ride and let your own rake out to play.

Suzanna Fitzpatrick (she/her) has been featured on BBC Radio 4 and widely published in magazines and anthologies in the UK and worldwide. She has been longlisted for the National Poetry Competition, shortlisted twice for the Bridport Prize, come second in the Café Writers and Buxton Competitions, and won the Poetry Society Hamish Canham Prize, the Edward Thomas Prize, and the Newcastle University Chancellor’s Prize two years running. Her debut pamphlet, Fledglings, was published by Red Squirrel Press in 2016, and her first collection, Crippled, in 2025. She holds the Poetry School/Newcastle University MA in Writing Poetry with Distinction.

Howling Wolf Gaming 7.15pm. Pay-As-You-Feel
Rating: 12+
The show focuses on the dark and bloody fates so often inflicted upon women in fairytales and folklore, and questions the need for the continual sacrifice they face in an epic hero's tale. The whole concept focuses on a supernatural spirit capturing the audience, who serve as a collective "Hero," in a pseudo fairy circle, and telling them stories and folksongs in an attempt to steer them down a new path, one filled with less bloody casualties that fuel the Hero's narrative arc.

It's a twist on the classic storytelling around a campfire, with an ironic title describing the dark traditional folk songs and fairytales being told. Though some of the stories and songs might be familiar to audiences, they are reset in different contexts (such as changing the setting to America), or are often variations of famous story archetypes that inevitably evolved over time and locations.

Howling Wolf Gaming 8.30pm. Pay-As-You-Feel
Rating: Universal
The Clarkes & Co play original songs using a combination of guitar, English concertina and vocal harmonies. Delivered acoustically in the alt-folk, roots style, our set is focused on witty and meaningful lyrics and poetry with hummable melodies, written by Stephen Clarke. 

The show will feature songs from their new album Save the Pangolin and Nine Other Love Stories and poetry from Stephen’s new book: Collected Published Poetry - Stealing My Mother’s Car.

The Clarkes & Co are presenting original songs and poetry, hopefully to make you think and sing along and in all cases, be entertained.