Monday 8th February, 8pm, Norwich Arts Centre, St Benedicts Street
Tickets, priced at £8.50/£6 concessions are available from the NAC box office on 01603 660352

If your home town is in and around Norwich and you support a combination of live poetry, stand-up and film, you should get down to Norwich Arts Centre on Monday 8th February for the home-coming gig to end all home-coming gigs – yes, Aisle16, the UK’s most sought-after poetry collective, are returning to their hometown of Norwich for the first time since 2007.

They will be performing Local Boys Done Good – a brand new live show about heading back to your hometown and confronting your past.

Mixing stand-up, live poetry and film, Local Boys Done Good stars Tim Clare, Joe Dunthorne, Chris Hicks, John Osborne and Ross Sutherland, who met at the University of East Anglia.

Early last year, one of them posed the question: ‘Where’s the worst place you can imagine doing a gig?’ They all gave the same answer – the towns they grew up in. It was too tempting a challenge to say no. Thus they set out on a tour of the grim hometowns they once fled.

Mixing clips from the documentary they made with live commentary and poems inspired by the trip, they hunt wild horses, bust ghosts, and rail against village speed restrictions. Toughest of all, they have to finally admit to old friends and neighbours that they’ve become poets. People say you’re only ever five bad gigs away from quitting – Aisle16 were about to find out.

Aisle16’s John Osborne, who lives in the city, said: ‘Norwich has always been important to Aisle16 and we’re all excited about doing a homecoming gig. Doing the tour was one of the best things I’ve been involved in and I can’t wait to bring the live show to Norwich.’

Fellow poet Tim Clare said: ‘The title of the show’s supposed to be a bit tongue-in-cheek. We ended up doing my leg of the tour in my old playgroup. If we’d really done that good, we might at least have been able to get the backroom of the Rotary Club. It’s a show about why people leave the towns they grew up in, and why, a little while later, they return. Norwich has one of the best poetry and literature scenes in the country, and we’re proud to be returning to our roots.’

This gig marks 10 years since Aisle16’s humble beginnings above Norwich pub Cafe Da, as a poetry night founded by Ross Sutherland and Luke Wright. Since then, members have written over a dozen live literature shows, released six books – including a Radio 4 Book Of The Week – and appeared on BBC2, Channel 4, Radio 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6.

‘Highlights of the spoken word scene’ – The Sunday Times

‘fast-paced, cuttingly clever and ferociously funny performance poetry’ – Spoonfed

They now run a monthly literary cabaret club in London called Homework, performing a mix of comedy, poetry, music and literature alongside special guests like Fringe award winner Tim Key, Brit award winner Kate Nash, and twice Sony-nominated journalist Jon Ronson.

Aisle16 are available for interview. Contact Tim Clare on 0774 8102781 or joshureplied@yahoo.co.uk.