Springboard Success

Poet Ann Atkins. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Local authors, poets, playwrights, musicians, singers and performers combined to create a marvellous week of art and cultural entertainment at the Criterion Theatre Earlsdon last month.

The Springboard Festival 2025 celebrated all that’s great about Coventry’s arts scene. Eight evenings of plays, poetry, music, the spoken word, film, literary discussion, visual art and much more provided excellent entertainment for the audiences that streamed into the Criterion Theatre throughout the week from 10 - 17 May.

Amongst the variety of musical talent were Nowhere Club, Lauren South, LiGi, Nyotaa Izeidi, Credo, Kimberley, Serena, Carol Whitworth and Rebecca Mileham.

Emilie Lauren Jones.

Poetry and the spoken word performances came from Coventry former Poet Laureate Emilie Lauren Jones who brought a host of new poets to our attention under the name Word Weavers Collective some of whom were reading their work to an audience for the very first time. Later, Emilie gave an excellent performance of her own  poetry which delighted the audience. Other poets performing over the festival week included: Coventry's Poet Laureate John Bernard, Zsofia Hacsek, Alison Manning, Shaniece, Wendy Barzetovic, Amy Rugg, Andrea Mbarushimana, Rowan McDonnell, Neslihan Ozar and Ann Atkins.

Poet, children’s author, and Chair of CovLitFest, Alison Manning, brings us this review of Ann Atkins’ show, ‘Not A Robot’:

Not a Robot - Ann Atkins

Debut Performance of Powerful Poetry Play

One of the highlights of the recent Springboard Festival at the Criterion Theatre in Coventry was Ann Atkins’ one-woman poetry play ‘Not a Robot’. Devised and produced entirely by Ann herself, this performance seamlessly interwove a scene of Ann reflecting on life and scanning old photos with eight of her poems, mainly from her book of the same name. The format worked exceptionally well and had the added visual element of the photos she was scanning being projected on to the back wall of the stage which, with Ann positioned strategically to one side, helped to further immerse us in her stories.

She certainly took us on a journey with her short show frequently moving the whole audience to laughter and, at other times, stirring several of them to tears. Ann blended wit, whimsy and insight in her poems. One of my favourites was ‘Insecure shed’ in which, after a neighbourhood watch warning about items being stolen from insecure sheds, Ann wonders:

“Is my shed insecure?

Does it even know it’s a shed at all?”

She goes on to vow to give it some love, tidy it up and maybe “buy a padlock”.

Another one very popular with the crowd was ‘Size 12 Jeans’ which hilariously personifies and gives voice to various household objects such as food, drink, a takeaway menu and the titular size 12 jeans as they each vie for attention and indulgence.

Other poems reflect on different aspects of Ann’s life, from her birth and childhood to growing up, as well as not being a robot. One of the most heartfelt ones was ‘Goats’ which nostalgically reflects on fond memories coupled with the poignancy of understated loss.

I don’t want to give too many spoilers, but if you get chance to see ‘Not a Robot’ in future don’t miss the opportunity. There was a great audience reaction to this premiere of this performance as Ann had us all enthralled, and an overall opinion that it is a show that deserves to go on tour and one that wouldn’t be out of the place at the Edinburgh Festival. If you can’t wait till her next shows are announced, you can fill the time by reading her eponymous book ‘Not a Robot’ available from  https://annatkinspoet.bigcartel.com/product/not-a-robot.

The festival also launched a number of new short plays throughout the week. Audiences saw:

The Passing by Wendy McNeilly, Aunty by Maxi Di Poet, Scapegoat by David Court, Through A Stained Glass Darkly by Anne-marie Greene, No Place Like Home by Alexandra Taylor, One Thousand and One by Camilla Whitehill, There is Always a Choice by Andrew Sharpe.

Good v Evil in David Court's Scapegoat.

Here’s author Ann Evans’ review of David Court’s debut play, Scapegoat:

Scapegoat by David Court. Directed by Dean Sheridan.

Coventry writer David Court came up with a great concept for his debut One Act play – just what would happen if Satan turned up at the local Catholic church wanting the priest to take their confession and absolve them from sin?

The priest, Father Murray played excellently by Alan Wales already had enough on his plate as he battled his own cravings with the demon drink. The last thing he needed or expected was the sudden arrival of Satan!  But not the usual red-horned depiction that we often get – but an attractive, confident, stylish female Satan played by Alice Scott.

The idea of a devil being a female brought a very different perspective to the idea of good versus evil, but she was no pushover, and poor Father Murray was no match as Satan lay the blame for all the evil of the world on the shoulders of God and the human race and continued to argue her case for him to absolve her from all her wrong doings.

David Court’s clever and witty script between a priest and the devil kept the audience hanging onto every word. But as to who got the upper hand – well, no spoilers as I’m sure David’s Scapegoat will be performed on other platforms again and again.

Discover more here: https://www.davidjcourt.co.uk/

The Springboard Festival provided a great platform for so many talented individuals. Well done to all the performers, also the backstage team and the organisers. This was an excellent festival which just gets better and better every year.

Keep up to date with news and events from The Criterion Theatre: https://criteriontheatre.co.uk/