PRESS RELEASE for immediate release June 2026
This year's intriguing Buxton Fringe Spoken Word category offers audiences the opportunity to get involved through improvisation as well as asking them to suspend belief in the face of impossible tales.
Audiences are invited to join in at several of this year's events. MissImp’s Ersatz Natterjack - Spontaneous Story Machine presents a wild, impossible story as the audience adds randomly selected words and phrases, embarking on a unique, high-energy, completely improvised storytelling adventure. Skye Lilly invites audiences to "come as you are" to The Fomo Show, a playful, poetic and interactive event blending comedy, improvisation and storytelling as it explores the distracted mind and how to cope on this impossible floating rock. Andrew Matthews reflects on life's journey inviting attendees to come with an open mind and a willingness to join in, and maybe bring some playing cards, to his event Four Score - How Was The Trip?
Three Fringe Spoken Word entrants share intensely dramatic experiences. In Stephen Porter’s The Girl Who Could Fly - a show mixing poetry and stand-up to tell an exhilarating story of despair and redemption - a man wakes up in a Manchester hospital and pieces together the reasons for his Icarus-like fall. Ian Gregory offers four short stories about Chad Parry, a deaf photographer in the 1940s in The Man with a Broken Nose. Chad has to confront a man who tried to abduct him when he was small, rescue two boys from a burning shed and confront moral dilemmas.
One for adults only is Thor's A Dick: Viking Legends Not For Kids where Sweet Productions/Stories Alive challenge today's view of the Norse gods as heroes, explaining they were full of faults and deeply human in their actions. These aren't kid-friendly stories and this is no superhero saga! Further grown-up entertainment comes from Andy Gilbert 'The UK's #1 Poetry Teacher' when he brings his hilarious, award-winning show Poems from the Daily Mail on the importance of historical poetry to Taddington. This performance contains strong language and contextual vulgarity.
Local historian Julian Cohen talks about the Intriguing Buxton Residents and Visitors featured in his book of the same title. Some were Buxton born but others came from far away. Some audiences may know but others will be a surprise. Many achieved great things.
Fifty Shades of Archaeology offers a glimpse into the rich and varied world of archaeology. Talks this year take in the castles of Derbyshire, the dynamite factory of Alfred Nobel and computer/video gaming as well answering the question: “What is community archaeology?” Meanwhile Chapel Arts Creative Writing Group marks 2026’s 100th anniversary of the first public demonstration of television with stories, poems, monologues, mini-plays and more exploring the impact of all forms of electronic entertainment, in Let Me Entertain You.
Two other local creative writing groups offer works by their members. In Story Night, Writers in the Peak are presenting a collection of original writing. Join them for an evening of fun and enjoyment listening to tales, poetry and monologues, written and performed by local writers. In addition, Buxton Spoken Words return to the Fringe with Words on a Stage!, short plays and sketches by the group’s writers. They will also be presenting their members' own selection of poems and short stories.
Last but not least, long-standing Fringe entrants The Glummer Twins return with another irreverent trawl through the fads and fashions of the eight decades that made them what they are today: old. Expect stand-up spoken word comedy and music from the Beat Generation in The Beat Goes On.
Fringe Vice Chair Carole Garner says: "The last few years have seen a growing range of exciting and varied entrants in our Spoken Word category. This year's bumper offering is even more tempting with something sure to appeal to every taste."
To find out more, Fringe-goers can pick up a programme, see www.buxtonfringe.org.uk or download the free Buxton Fringe App.
The Fringe wishes to thank High Peak Borough Council, its Fringe Friends and the town’s many Fringe supporters and venues.
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