Generic End Of Year Review Blog

It’s time for my annual 2015 round-up of all The Things I Did.

I spent the last few days of this year praying that the Ouse defences would hold and leave my house high and dry, so far, so good.

My intention for this year was to write more blogs, not necessarily from a journalistic or literary perspective, but to keep my fingers typing away.  Type type.  Click. 

But I always assumed I’d never have the time to write a ‘proper’ blog.  Too busy being busy. So I decided to limit my writing to 20 minutes and 15 seconds.  20.15.  Geddit?

Dance Like Nobody’s Blogging

Don’t Judge Me

We Don’t Do This To Win (but we still won)

Riot Nerrrd Tour

Patchwork People

Delayed Response to the General Election

Adapt to Survive

Ambition (or:  Lex Luthor is Bad)

Edinburgh:  The Story of Edinburgh 2015

The Best Beards In The [B]oetry Business

Be Chronos:  Workshop planning & delivery

Public Address Tour

Spectre Didn’t Have a Ghost of a chance

GreedCreep

Who Killed Blogging Moose?

So some other highlights:

I was the Community Artist for Selby’s On Our Turf Project culminating in a performance in Selby Abbey, a very unique situation and performance.  I learned a lot about Selby, I chatted to its locals and hopefully produced a evening celebrating Selby’s unique history.

I went on tour with JENN HART who is super awesome and super cool.  I documented this in my blog here and am working on a podcast of all the interviews we did along with the way, but looking back I am still amazed it all came together, and we did it without a car!  I am keen to get touring once more, and might put a week aside in 2016 to give it another go.

I went to EdFringe, again, documented here.  Still need that photo of the human pyramid!

Gigged with Apples & Snakes' Public Address tour and met loads of ace new poets!

I wrote a load of plays for Youth Theatres, including Who Shot The Sherriff? for Harrogate Youth Theatre’s summer show (an adaptation of the Robin Hood story, but for the characters as teens) and The Hunt for Hull truck Youth Theatre.  I worked on a Play In A Week for York Theatre Royal and Hannah Bruce & Co, and I also got to do more freelance work across Yorkshire, and will be working with Harrogate YT leading a play-wrighting group.

2016?  Well, we have more Say Owt Slams in the pipeline, I wrote an adaptation of The Castle for Hull truck YT which is on in Feb, another Words & Whippets gig planned at York Theatre Royal and I hope to tour more and do EdFringe again!

I can only hope 2015 was good for you, and I wish you all the best in 2016.  Let’s hope it’s peaceful, fruitful and leads to the Grand Revolution toppling the capitalist system so we can build an Anarchist utopia.

In solidarity x

Henry

Tonight I Typed

Tonight I typed

I didn’t have enough tissues to wipe away the debris of spittle

And I yelled until my housemates asked me to keep the noise down

They had work in the morning, and, to be fair, so did I.

In the brief moments my internet crashed

I continued to thump against the desk, just to try and relax.

I typed and typed until my fingers were simply bone

And my keyboard short circuited as it overflowed in blood.

Only when my head was spinning from the dents

And only when I had ground my teeth into fine powder did

I hear in the distance the share holders of BAE systems

Wheezing to raise their wadded wallets to their puckered lips.

I heard The Allies breathing a sigh of relief.  Phew.  No one noticed.

I heard the orphan, clearing their throat, some rubble, digging.

I heard the parent’s tears trickling onto what remained.

Then I heard The Terrorist fill in another Weapon Resupply Form

for another resupply of recruits.

No, I didn’t.  I couldn’t hear all that.  I was safe in my walls.

But I could hear the brutal cheering of politicians of all colours

United, together, in the squealing joy of a successful evening.

And as the morning sun rose, the bombs started to fall.