Humber Mouth Festival Index Page

Humber Mouth 2003 celebrates Hull's long tradition of involvement in literature with a programme which offers not only some of the most rewarding and frequently read writers in the UK, but the best of local projects and the chance to participate. Next year Humber Mouth moves to the summer months, with dates fixed for June 19th to July 4th.

This year sees Joan Bakewell, Jake Arnott, Patrick Gale, Jill Dawson, Barrie Rutter, Julia Darling, Valerie Bloom, Roddy Lumsden and Russell T Davies, among others, visiting the city. There is international theatre from Johannesburg with Woza! Albert, one of the most exuberant and finest pieces of social theatre.

There is Readers Day which brings book groups and readers together with top writers to discuss the pleasures of reading, and a Writers Day which explores the professional issues facing would-be writers. At Hull Truck, there is a day long celebration of new theatre writing with input from John Godber, Stephen Jeffreys and Test Tube Theatre, as well as music from Emma Rugg and new Drama from local playwriting group Blockheads.

Young people in the city will have the chance to work with writer Sherry Ashworth and to visit the Enigma Project in workshops which explore codes and code-breaking with a genuine WW2 Enigma Machine. The Warren Centre present work by young people alongside Husi, a group of Zimbabwean musicians and dancers.

Again, a range of local organisations have become involved in the festival, demonstrating the good health of the arts within the city: Hull Independent Art School, Hull Film, Arts in Health, Hull and East Yorkshire MIND, Hull Truck, BBC, the Universities of Lincoln and of Hull, the Deep and many more. We would like to thank everyone for their enthusiasm and commitment and for making the festival possible.

With over sixty events including theatre, readings, workshops, music, film, exhibitions and more, Humber Mouth 2003 offers something for everyone.

Humber Mouth Reviews -BBC Telling Lives Showcase Film Screening 8th Nov 2003 Quality Royal Hotel, by Cilla
	Since January the BBC Telling Lives team has been helping local people from the Humber region tell their real-life stories and turn them into short films that are broadcast by the BBC. Some are deeply moving, some funny, some quirky - and each one is unique to the storyteller - they are 'stories no one else can tell'. Read more...

Humber Mouth Reviews - Daphne Glazers The Wardrobe.
	Monday 10th November Reviewed by Michelle Dee In Daphne Glazers case they certainly do. Daphne, a novelist and short story writer was originally from Sheffield she now resides in Hull with her family and beloved parrot, "Squawter". Her father was also a writer though his work is sadly unpublished. In her early twenties Daphne lived and worked in Nigeria where she produced a serial in a national newspaper. Read more...

Humber Mouth Reviews - Theatre Test Tube : Versus the Silent Majority at the Hull Truck Theatre
	Reviewed by special guest reviewer - Broten. I was kindly asked to write this review by Steven Hall, one of the authors involved in tonight's performances, as he quite wrongly pointed out that it would be artistically corrupt to review his own plays. I personally think he would have done a wonderful job, and frankly would have been more honest and critical than me. But there you go, you're stuck aren't you. Read more...

Humber Mouth Interviews - Tony Petch: Vanishing Point By Nicholas Boldock
	Tony Petch could be regarded, in the nicest possible way, as an elder statesman of poetry in Hull. He's certainly been around for a while now (and I'm sure he won't mind me pointing that out) and has been published in innumerable anthologies and magazines over the years. It comes as a surprise to discover that Vanishing Point is his first solo collection. Read more...

Reviews - Readers Day: Jake Arnott, Julia Darling, Patric Gale, James Nash By Humber Mouth Critic Steve Hall
	Jake Arnott - Author of the hugely (and rightfully) successful novel The Long Firm and its two sequels He Kills Coppers and truecrime, Arnott's work to date has explored crime, crime culture and criminals in stark, dirty, realistic and above all, disturbingly human manner. His novels stand as an important counterpoint to the brown tinted, stylised mockney gangster-ism of films like Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and .. Read more...

Humber Mouth Reviews - Shopping and F**king - Hull Truck Theatre - Friday 14th November By Cilla
	I'm not sure when I've been more confused or out of my depth or maybe too tired or something - but I didn't enjoy this evening at all. Maybe I should have been more suspicious when I saw the St. Johns Ambulance team with their resuscitation gear sitting in the audience. After it was finished, I turned to my friend Ruth and said 'Can you explain that to me? I didn't get that at all? What was the story?' She looked back blankly and said 'I was hoping that maybe you could tell me'. Read more...

Humber Mouth Reviews - Thur 13th Nov Pooh Bear Reading Workshop Central Library By Steve Hall
	Aimed at parents and carers, the workshop I attended was one of a number being run by the Pooh Bear Reading Assistance Society in various Hull libraries throughout the Humber Mouth festival. We did a lot of exercises - we looked at how to identify various types of children's books by their covers, at how some children's books are structured with repetitions and rhymes to help young readers predict the story and learn to .. Read more...

Humber Mouth Reviews - Wed 12th Nov Imetexture Red Gallery By Steve Hall
	I struggle with sound art. That's not a criticism, more an admission of a little personal blind spot. You see, what I need, I think, when I'm taking in a piece of work, is narrative - some kind of key of ideas which lets me unlock the work, lets me understand where it's going, what concerns and what issues it intends to deal with. By this I don't necessarily mean spoken words, or one of those little cards galleries stick next to their paintings - Read more...

Humber Mouth Reviews - Tue 11th Nov Woza Albert! Hull Truck Theatre By Steve Hall
	Anyone leaving Monday's Audience with Joan Bakewell feeling that the event was perhaps little dry and overly controlled, will have found the perfect, explosive, high-octane antidote in Tuesday's brilliant Woza Albert! This two man production was a furious singing, dancing, spinning, shouting, spitting atomic blast of theatre, G-forcing a laughing and applauding audience from left to right in their seats with sheer power and momentum. Read more...

Reviews Humber Mouth - An Audience with Joan Bakewell, Hull Truck theatre Monday 10th Nov By Steven Hall.
	Joan Bakewell is a wonderful speaker. That should come as no surprise really, she is one of the great pioneers of TV journalism and in her time she has interviewed everyone - from Margaret Thatcher all the way to Marcel Duchamp. But knowing that someone is a great speaker and actually hearing them speak are two different things. Bakewell's tone, delivery, her pauses and her pitch were all perfectly perfect. It was great just to listen to her voice. Read more...

Reviews Humber Mouth - Jeremy Hardy vs the Israeli Army. By James Russell.
	Leila Sansour is a Palestinian. Her parent's home was destroyed during an operation carried out by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF). Jeremy Hardy is a stand-up comedian, and a long-time supporter of left-wing causes. Read more...

Reviews - Sun 9th Nov Ibsen vs. Strindberg. By Steve Hall
	By Humber Mouth Critic Steve Hall On Sunday night you go to see Ibsen vs. Strindberg at Kingston Rowing Club. Not quite knowing where the venue is, you order a taxi. Your taxi diver drives you to the end of Beresford Avenue, which ends in a line of trees and darkness. Naturally, you are confused by this. You say something like: Read more...

Reviews - Creative Afternoon with the Hull and East Yorkshire MIND Step Up and Arts in Mind projects.
	Sat 8th Nov Reviewed by Michelle Dee The Way of Things and Look at You - Look at Me! The lights went down to murmurs of excitement and expectation inside the Live Arts Space for the premier of Caroline Mendelsohn's, "The Way of Things," a captivating film exploring the idea of change. The film was made with the help of pupils from Issac Newton, Henry Cooper and Thoresby Schools. Read more...