A new monthly artistic venture begins in Mold on Thursday 22nd May. Partners Andy Garside and Sophie McKeand are extending ‘TheAbsurd’ collective to include evenings of spoken word and music.

An eclectic line-up of poets and musicians, all who are individually well known in North Wales, promises to be the start of some interesting artistic collaborations in the local area. Andy and Sophie use their individual interests to blend spoken word, art, poetry, photography, graphics and philosophy – and from that the TheAbsurd was born.

Andy said,

“We both have so many influences and North Wales is such a hotbed of creative talent that we wanted to provide a event where people could come to enjoy a night out and experience a real mix of music and spoken word.”

Sophie added, “The aim is to bring poetry into the local community. We have a fantastic venue in the upstairs room at Y Delyn wine bar and this is the kind of event that will have something for everybody, you don’t have to be a poetry buff to enjoy the evening!”

The couple already have the backing of The Academi (Welsh National Literature Promotion Agency) and a waiting list of performers for future events, as they will be running the night on a monthly basis from now on.

Sophie said, “We are so excited about the guest artists that will be appearing. Martin Daws was runner up in the John Tripp Award earlier on this year and is a truly inspirational performer. Also, Laura Leigh (who used to write the Evening Leader’s ‘The Scene’ column) will be playing an acoustic set and she has such a beautiful voice. We’ve got some slam poetry and some really avant-garde stuff going on too.”

Sophie first became interested in poetry when she studied a Ba Hons in English Literature at NEWI and has thrown herself into the world of the spoken word ever since. She has since had her poetry published internationally and performs at venues across the North West and Wales.

Andy has a background in design, visual arts and an unhealthy obsession with music.  He said, “We have plans to grow TheAbsurd to a full festival next summer, but for this year we are concentrating on these monthly events to build up interest and hopefully meet new artists in the local area.”

There will be limited open floor spaces available for any budding poets or musicians to get up and do a brief piece, and free tapas from 7pm.

For further information you can visit the couple’s myspace page at www.myspace.com/theabsurduk or contact sophie@theabsurd.co.uk

The next TheAbsurd events will be on May 22nd and June 19th.