Ross Sutherland was born in Edinburgh in 1979. He was included in The Times’s list of Top Ten Literary Stars of 2008. He has three collections of poetry: Things To Do Before You Leave Town (2009), Twelve Nudes (2010), and Hyakuretsu Kyaku (2011), all published by Penned In The Margins. Ross is also a member of the poetry collective Aisle16 with whom he runs Homework, an evening of literary miscellany in East London.
He has one-man show, The Three Stigmata of Pacman, and is currently developing a piece of interactive theatre: Comedian Dies In The Middle Of A Joke.
He also has a new documentary about whether computers will ever be able to write poetry. 'Every Rendition On A Broken Machine' is released Christmas 2011.
If you’re going to the Camden Crawl this weekend, here’s a special event happening at The Enterprise pub (Chalk Farm) on the Saturday: an afternoon of true stories on the theme of LOSING IT, told onstage by the people they happened to. It’s hosted by me and Joe “Successful” Dunthorne.
5th May 2012 | Upstairs @ The Enterprise pub | Doors at 14:00 | Show from 14:30 to 17:30
If you’ve got a Camden Crawl wristband, you get in free. You can still get tickets from: www.seetickets.com/camdencrawl. For more info, click here.
This moody picture of me roaming parks at night can mean only one thing. I am on tour! Only for a week, but hey it still counts. Possibly I am lurking in a park near you.
Homework is leaving its usual home at the BGWMC for a special one-off appearance at the Camden Crawl on May 5th.
We’re hosting an afternoon of true stories, told onstage by the people they happened to. We’re looking for stories on the theme of “Losing It”. Whether that’s a loss of control, loss of innocence, or just a loss of carkeys, we want to hear about it.
There are still floor spots available, so if you have an anecdote you’d like to share onstage, first check this document, then contact me here at rossgsutherland@yahoo.com
Full details:
5th May, Upstairs @ The Enterprise pub
Doors open at 14:00, show from 14:30 to 17:30
Free to Camden Crawl wristband owners.
Ticket Link: http://www.seetickets.com/camdencrawl
I made my first ever documentary in February this year. In it, I tell the story of my quest to find a computer program that can write better poetry than I can. The whole thing is now online and you can watch it here. Happy New Year, everyone!
For the last couple of years, I’ve been developing a piece of interactive theatre called Comedian Dies In The Middle Of A Joke. Next Thursday it has its LONDON DEBUT at Battersea Arts Centre. After some great scratches at Sampled and the Forest Fringe, it’s getting a proper full release, and I cant think of a place we’d rather do it.
At its core, the show is a piece of Comedy Karaoke, with audience members taking it in turn to read the auto-cue. There are scheduled opportunities for heckles, which become more and more savvy as the show progresses. Here’s a nice writeup from social gaming supremos Hide and Seek, who came along to a scratch in Edinburgh.
At that same performance, comic Daniel Kitson came along and gave some useful feedback, which I’ve duly incorporated. I think the piece will continue to grow like this, as the whole thing is carefully centred around the unique experience of the audience. So, if you’ve participated before and have some ideas, leave me a message.
The dates are December 1st, 2nd and 3rd. There are two shows per night: 7.15 and 8.45. To buy tickets, click here.
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TWO THING: STANDBY FOR TAPE BACKUP (SCRATCH)
I am also scratching some ideas for a new one-man show on Wednesday 30th at 5pm. It’s free! And it also features a new poetic form, which I’ve derived from the opening credits of The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. For further details, click here.
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THREE THING: TRUE STORIES OF FRIENDSHIP, with MOLLY NAYLOR
And I am also also hosting a night of true stories at the BAC with the poet Molly Naylor on December 8th. All of the stories are themed around Friendship: tales of unusual alliances, breakups and reconciliations, told by the BAC’s resident artists, its staff, and members of the public. Plus wedding band The Middle Ones. For more information, click here.
To tie in with National Poetry Day, I’m releasing a free e-book of 12 illustrated sonnets, each based on a different character from Street Fighter 2. That’s right: ANOTHER BOOK OF STREET FIGHTER SONNETS. Sheesh.
At the back of the book is a personality test. Find out which streetfighter you are most like! My dad is Zangief.
You can download the book for free from Penned in the Margins, who have done some great last minute work to get this ready in time. There’s also some more information about the project and how it came about.
Sometimes the website doesn’t work for iPad and iPhone users, so here’s a direct link as well.
OK, I’m back from Edinburgh, and my immune system has gone into some sort of critical meltdown. Is it possible for someone to have TWO COLDS SIMULTANEOUSLY?
I was trying out a lot of new stuff over the summer, and I’m happy to say all of it went pretty well! I got some great feedback on both Hinterland and Comedian, and I’m hoping both projects will continue to develop over the next year.
I also had great fun with my two commissions for Detours. I was commissioned by Trigger and the Edinburgh Arts Festival to produce two pieces: one in response to the David Byrne exhibition, and the other in response to the David Mach show. Here’s two short films about the project, made by the amazing Daniel Warren.
For the David Byrne exhibition, I played the opening five minutes of Tutti Frutti, and layered an autobiographical story over the top of it. My new story was meant to be synchronised, shot-for-shot, with the original film. I did this three times over: first with a story from when I was 6, then one from when I was 15, and a final story from when I was 27.
Me and Daniel spent a Sunday morning at the Swimmer One/Eye Of The Duck HQ, turning the middle story into this:
For the David Mach exhibit, I read a short story called In The Beginning. In it, a man tries to understand his loveless marriage by comparing it to various creation myths. Here I am rehearsing at the City Art Centre after hours:
This are two of eight films made by Daniel Warren in response to the events. Watch commissions by Josie Long, Aidan Moffat and Nigel & Louise Shunt right here.
The final few days of Edinburgh Fringe, and I’ve got a bit of a safari party lined up.
On Friday 27 August at 7pm I’m doing Neu! Reekie! at the Scottish Book Trust
(Trunk’s Close, 55 High Street, Royal Mile) with Kevin Cadwallender, Michael Pederson and the mighty Stevie Jackson from Belle and Sebastian.
Same night, I’m running over to the Edinburgh International Book Festival Spiegeltent in Charlotte Square Gardens (9pm start) to do a 10min set for Words Per Minute Unbound. Also on the bill: Chemikal Underground’s M Hubbert and
McSweeney’s author Adam Levin.
THEN, at midnight, I’m running back over to Forest Fringe for LIVE ART SPEEDDATE (running from 11pm-1am), run by the mighty Stoke Newington International Airport. I’ll hopefully be doing one-on-one performances for audience members. After that, there’s a closing party until 3am. Its one of the last nights of the Forest, so come along and say your goodbyes. I’ll be one looking tired & haunted in the corner.
After a week of play at Forest Fringe, The Hinterland has accumulated a great deal of worthy adventurers. See my dope infographic above.
Today, we had our first player reach Canto Four! It’s a matter of time before they reach the centre of our diabolical maze. This is very exciting for all of us involved.
If you’d like to register, pop into Forest Fringe 12-6pm every day. We’re in the box room at the top of the stairs.
