Doctor Zeeman's Catastrophe Machine

Contact: matt@artfulscribe.co.uk

Following his award-winning spoken word show, Whistle, Martin Figura brings his exciting sequel Doctor Zeeman's Catastrophe Machine to Southampton.

Whistle received two major Arts Council Lottery Fund Awards in 2010, was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Prize for New Work in Poetry, won the 2013 Saboteur Best Spoken Word Show Award, and was awarded the Poetry Society's Hamish Canham Prize in 2010.

Is there a mathematical equation for love and the behaviour of a beating heart? What can be retrieved from life’s catastrophes and wounds? When our windshield is blurred with rain and we’re wearing our reading glasses, can we learn to look in the rear view mirror and smile?

Doctor Zeeman’s Catastrophe Machine, is the new stage production from award-winning poet Martin Figura, produced by Melanie Abrahams and the good people at Tilt. He turns to international mathematics guru Sir Erik Christopher Zeeman’s iconic machine, the moon and photographs to shed light on these pressing questions and to help him sort out love, loss and when to let go.

The show finds the adult life Martin made for himself, following his moving portrayal of the shocking events surrounding his mother’s death at the hand of his father (when Martin was just 9 years old) described in his show Whistle.

The show blurs the edges of personal memory as he learns to move forwards and how (some) catastrophes eventually turn out for the best. He takes an American road trip with his teenage son and his Down’s Syndrome daughter engages in intense relationships with cartoon characters and leaves home for college.

The money raised from this event will go towards making good things happen in literature development in the city through the SO:Write project. Supported by Arts Council England and in partnership with Mayflower Theatre, John Hansard Gallery, Apples and Snakes, University of Southampton, NST, Southampton Libraries, Southampton Festivals and Southampton Cultural Development Trust, this project works with writers from primary years through to those living with dementia, raising the profile of writers and writing in the south.

Tickets are available via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/doctor-zeemans-catastrophe-machine-tickets-45135660977

Price: £10.00

Time: 7:30pm (Doors 30 mins before start)