RE-ENCHANT :
Poetic Experiments For A New World.
A 5 Day Festival.
9 - 13 May 2023
The Cockpit, NW8 8EH
https://www.thecockpit.org.uk/re-enchant
As the world breaks down, the spoken-word recomposes consciousness and vandalises literary forms. RE-ENCHANT brings a week-long festival of shows from groundbreaking UK poets - backed by synths, loop machines, dubstep (and one orchestral harp!). Take part in unforgettable evolutions of the oral tradition; with shows, workshops, panels and more.
Experience live literature as it has never been.
Diary
- Tuesday, 9 May, 7:30 pm. Dancing To Music You Hate. By Jasmine Gardosi
- Wednesday, 10 May, 7:30 pm. Pen-Ting - Experiments In Flow
- Thursday, 11 May, 8:00 pm. Garden of Madness. By Pete "The Temp" Bearder, Emmy the Harp & Hally Kelly
- Friday, 12 May, 8:00 pm. Narcissus By Ruby Wednesday & The Feathers of Daedalus
- Saturday, 13 May, 2:00 pm. Experimental Performance Symposium
- Saturday, 13 May, 2:00 pm. An Evening With She Drew The Gun
Jasmine Gardosi is the Birmingham Poet Laureate - an award-winning spoken word artist, beatboxer and multiple slam champion of national and international renown.
This is her brand new, debut show about gender identity, coming to terms with queerness, and finding the words. Commissioned by Warwick Arts Centre, it premiered at the WAC in October 2021 to standing ovations and was shortlisted for Best Spoken Word Show in the Saboteur Awards. Prepare for an hour of explosive dubstep bass-lines and soaring folk violin which blow apart the boundaries of gender and musical genre alike. Watch Jasmine converse, argue and compete with a live band of instrumentalists as she cracks open the binary with boldness, humour and celebration.
Tickets: £10 - £15
Early Bird Full Festival Pass: £30 (Available until the end of April)
Full Festival Pass: £45 (Available from the start of May)
50% off for Supporters Of Sound
Curated by Pete The Temp & Pen Ting in collaboration with The Cockpit
A Jazz In The Round: Emergence Production
Joining her are Alternative Dubstep Orchestra’s DJ C@ in the H@, Ire-Ish’s multi-instrumentalist Jobe Baker-Sullivan, drummer Noemi La Barbera, saxophonist/flautist Alicia Gardener-Trejo and vocalist/producer AGAAMA.
The first half of the night includes a musical open mic where poets can perform their poetry with the band. Maximum poem length: 3 mins. Sign up on the door.
“The most important piece of art that I can remember seeing” - Casey Bailey, Birmingham Poet Laureate 2020-22
“Tricky, sticky themes explored with humour, passion and euphoric music. Conversations around themes of sexuality and gender can alienate people who really need to be part of them, but this show was validating and welcoming.” - Malaika Kegode, Milk Poetry
“The way she explores gender identity and mental health through the power of poetry, beatboxing and music was phenomenal. She certainly knows how to capture the audience’s attention and the world needs more poets like Gardosi to use their words to create change.” - Redbrick
Commissioned by Warwick Arts Centre and supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
PEN-TING POETRY: Since 2017, Pen-Ting has established itself as a pivotal rap & poetry night in London, championing the rising stars and pioneering artists of page and stage through their monthly shows at the Bush Theatre and the Poetry Café, and festival appearances, hosted by The Repeat Beat Poet.
Previous headliners include Roger Robinson (TS Eliot Prize), Truemendous (High Focus), Safiyah Kamaria Kinshasa, Otis Mensah, Shunaji, and Kid Anansi (Bafta-winning Life & Rhymes). Pen-Ting shows feature performances from artists breaking beyond genres and delivering intricate and inventive wordsmithery, grounded by a commitment to centre Black, Queer, and marginalised voices. It’s the best of Hip Hop and Poetry, good vibes guaranteed

Kid Anansi is the poetic equivalent of finding out that the drinks machine in your local McDonalds has quietly replaced its Pepsi button with spiced rum. He is confusing, frightening, delicious with ginger ale and lemon, and unhealthy in large doses. His unique brand of poetry will either have you laughing, crying, biting your knuckles in second-hand embarrassment, or all three, mixing history and melancholy with slapstick humour and inimitable energy. A regular face on the BAFTA Award winning first season of Life & Rhymes, and a host of multiple poetry nights around London.
PEN-TING POETRY
Wednesday, 10 May, 7:30 pm RE-ENCHANT: Pen-Ting - Experiments In FlowHip Hop, Poetry & Good Vibes. Curated and presented by Pen-Ting Poetry
PEN-TING POETRY: Since 2017, Pen-Ting has established itself as a pivotal rap & poetry night in London, championing the rising stars and pioneering artists of page and stage through their monthly shows at the Bush Theatre and the Poetry Café, and festival appearances, hosted by The Repeat Beat Poet.
Previous headliners include Roger Robinson (TS Eliot Prize), Truemendous (High Focus), Safiyah Kamaria Kinshasa, Otis Mensah, Shunaji, and Kid Anansi (Bafta-winning Life & Rhymes). Pen-Ting shows feature performances from artists breaking beyond genres and delivering intricate and inventive wordsmithery, grounded by a commitment to centre Black, Queer, and marginalised voices. It’s the best of Hip Hop and Poetry, good vibes guaranteed.
Hosted by Kid Anansi
Kid Anansi is the poetic equivalent of finding out that the drinks machine in your local McDonalds has quietly replaced its Pepsi button with spiced rum. He is confusing, frightening, delicious with ginger ale and lemon, and unhealthy in large doses. His unique brand of poetry will either have you laughing, crying, biting your knuckles in second-hand embarrassment, or all three, mixing history and melancholy with slapstick humour and inimitable energy. A regular face on the BAFTA Award winning first season of Life & Rhymes, and a host of multiple poetry nights around London.
"He's that creative hurricane!" Benjamin Zephaniah.
With:
Zena Edwards
For 27 years, Zena has been a professional writer/poet performer, creative educator and project developer after graduating from Middlesex University. She studied storytelling and performance at The London International School for Performing Arts.
Curator and producer of independent live and online events, Zena advocates climate and environmental awareness, equity and regeneration.
Zena's writing and performance pedagogy is rooted in identifying the connection to the body, the imagination and the Earth and her mentorship practice focuses on professional artist's development that amplifies personal sovereignty and empowers collective well-being using creativity
SkyGod
Sky God is a multidisciplinary artist from West London combining Hip-Hop and Drill with conscious lyricism and political commentary. His passion for music came from a catalogue of his mother's old CDs: Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu to Wu-Tang Clan and the RHCP. Sky founded Pen-Ting Poetry in 2017 in an effort to promote community cohesion and the decolonising of arts spaces, with the goal of platforming the voices of minority artists, whilst completing a master’s degree in History at SOAS. Sky has spent the last two years refining his art and perfecting his craft at label Equilibrium Records before making his way back to the stage with his new sound.
Arnie The Beta
Hailing from East London, Arnie The Beta showcases his flaws, life insights and experiences into spoken novelties.
He found spoken word through penning problems and expressing himself at church. Always appreciating the poetry through fundamental rap and hip hop crafts,
His metaphoric riddle style and word play leaves people intrigued of how his experiences and penmanship rabbit hole goes.
Francis-Xavier Mukiibi
Francis-Xavier Mukiibi is a poet and spoken word performer of Ugandan heritage from North
London. He is a current member of the Barbican Young Poets programme and is an alumnus of the Roundhouse Poetry Collective. He was a finalist of BBC Words First in 2020 and is a multi-UniSlam finalist as a performer and coach. He has performed his poetry on BBC Radio and iPlayer and has also featured in various creative arts festivals throughout London and the Midlands, including Festival2Funky in Leicester, the Camden Inspire Festival, and the Roundhouse Last Word Festival.
L-Nino
Influenced by his experiences, L-Nino strives to create a distinctive style of music incorporating his life experiences and global affairs for listeners to relate to. L-Nino has a unique way with words and has developed a different kind of sound that he continues to perfect throughout his musical journey. Nino gives us an insight into his past through gritty lyrics and raw imagery, while simultaneously reflecting on his journey ahead and how he can use his life experiences to further enrich his music, and the lives of his fans.
Equilibrium Records
A London-based UK rap label producing a refreshing new wave of UK music, and striving to create opportunities for those with the promise and drive to create long-lasting impacts in the industry and beyond.
Curated by The Repeat Beat Poet
Peter deGraft-Johnson is The Repeat Beat Poet, a British-born Ghanaian poet, Hip Hop artist, and broadcaster. His debut pamphlet, A Testament To Life & Death, contains poems bursting with intensity, real-world utility, and tenderness of spirit. A writer as comfortable in the cadence of preachers as easily as the flows of rappers, Peter works with poetry to celebrate life, chronicle suffering, and point towards paths of survival and freedom.
Peter's work has been published by Penguin, Amnesty, and exhibited by The U.N during COP26. In 2021 he was a writer-in-residence at The Library Of Africa & the African Diaspora in Accra, Ghana, and he co-founded the Hip Hop & Poetry open mic night Pen-Ting, dedicated to showcasing the best in new Black British writing. As the Repeat Beat Poet, Peter is a prolific performer, appearing at the Southbank Centre, The Jazz Café and Ronnie Scott's in London, playing festivals including WOMAD, Love Supreme, We Out Here, and the Edinburgh Fringe. He has shared bills alongside Margaret Atwood, Salena Godden (FRSA), and TS Eliot Prize-winning poets Roger Robinson and Joelle Taylor, as well as collaborating live with Grammy Award-winning jazz musicians Thundercat and Blue Lab Beats. His latest collaboration 'What Is The State Of Our State?' features on Scrimshire's forthcoming album Paroxysm. Peter is the showrunner behind multi-award nominated interview series the Lunar Poetry Podcast which is archived in the British Library and has been featured on BBC 4Extra. As a radio DJ, Peter appears monthly on Soho Radio with record label, jam night, and tastemakers Imaginary Millions, alongside hosting his own pan-African music show Loose Egusi.
About Pen-Ting
Pen-Ting shows feature performances from artists breaking beyond genres and delivering intricate and inventive wordsmithery, grounded by a commitment to centre Black, Queer, and marginalised voices. It’s the best of Hip Hop and Poetry, good vibes guaranteed. Previous headliners include Roger Robinson (TS Eliot Prize), Truemendous (High Focus), Safiyah Kamaria Kinshasa, Otis Mensah, Shunaji, and Kid Anansi (Bafta-winning Life & Rhymes).
Thursday, 11 May, 8:00 pm. RE-ENCHANT: Garden of MadnessLive Looping - Harp - Rapture. Curated and presented by Pete "The Temp" Bearder, Emmy the Harp & Hally Kelly
Garden of Madness is compelling, empowering and absurd. The show dives into themes of madness, philosophy and physics in a playful and engaging fusion of harp, vocals, loop machines and vocal processors. Expect a one-of-a-kind act of rapture. Laugh, sing and prepare to be enchanted.
Pete Bearder is an award-winning spoken word poet, author and comic. His work has been featured on BBC Radio 4, The World Service, and Newsnight.
Emmy the Harp is a classically trained harpist with a lifelong dedication to her craft. Her collaborations include duets and bands ranging from prog-rock to afrobeat.
Hally the Kelly is a composer, producer and performer based in Bristol. They use synth, sampling, live looping and vocals to create psychedelic electronic music and experimental sound works.
‘Fresh, empowering and fun’ (Shindig Festival)
‘Nuts, sublimely nuts’ (Green Gathering)
'Rumi on acid' (Shambala Festival)
Friday, 12 May, 8:00 pm. RE:ENCHANT: Narcissus
By Ruby Wednesday & The Feathers of Daedalus
Who stares back from behind the silver?
Do you truly know them? And could you truly love them?
Following their sell-out run at Vault Festival, Ruby Wednesday and the Feathers of Daedalus present their new award-winning show NARCISSUS specifically adapted for Re-Enchant Festival.
Crafted around Ruby Wednesday’s first poetry collection 'Grave Unknown' and music from their debut album.
NARCISSUS fuses ethereal sound and visceral lyrics with mesmeric performance and daring contemporary circus.
NARCISSUS lures you beyond the mirror, into a shadowed world.
Don’t look backward; look inward.
Bring something to burn.
Saturday, 13 May, 2:00 pm RE-ENCHANT: Experimental Performance SymposiumPerformance - Workshop - Panel. Curated and presented by Hannah Silva, Jasmine Gardosi, Pete the Temp & Mellow Baku, in collaboration with Pen Ting Poetry
An afternoon symposium hosted by four performers who are stretching the bandwidth of live literature.
What happens when we jump outside the dictionary? Where else can we go with the human voice?
Encounter the forgotten weird of live verse – the absurd and disturbing world of poetic noise. Expect loop machines, beatbox, and language made strange.
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