Showing category "Nick Hennegan" (Show all posts)

Fall Back!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Sunday, October 6, 2024, In : Nick Hennegan

Or Autumn, as we call it in London. We're obviously often busy in the summer, but the Autumn is a great time in London. The leaves start turning colour and falling and there's no better time to retreat to a cosy British Pub... often by a fire.

Richard, our current writer/guide LOVES our literary Pubs. To the point where it's probably best to plan to spend the whole evening with us! Even after the pubs have closed, we are friendly with some of the private members clubs in Soho. So the night can...
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Back down The Pub with U2, Bob Marley, Amy Winehouse, Charles Dickens, et al…

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Tuesday, October 6, 2020, In : Nick Hennegan

I mentioned in my last blog in June, (yes, it does seem a long time ago!) that I’d not been to Soho or Fitzrovia to check out the pubs we visit on our London Literary Pub Crawl, since lock down in the UK in March.

Now I’m pleased to say I have! And although some of the Fitzrovia pubs are still not operating fully at the weekends, it’s great to see that most of the Soho venues are open and firing on all four cylinders, even though we have to stay two metres - six feet - apart from each ot...

The End of the beginning?

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Monday, June 29, 2020, In : Nick Hennegan

Well! Who could have seen, even at Christmas this year, what was coming down the line for Europe, the USA and, in fact, the whole world!

This time last year I was in a cottage in Wales, (for free - thank you so much, the Morris family!) writing my adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet for the Edinburgh festival in August. It was performed in daily rep with the same cast, with my original play, P.A.L.S.

They both went well in August and both shows garnered 5 * reviews. Very unusual for t...

We're on hold till the end of April. Probably.

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, March 20, 2020, In : Nick Hennegan

Well, what a start to the new year. The corona virus has taken everyone by surprise. And obviously, with the travel restrictions, bookings for our crawls have been cancelled from all over the world! If you have already booked a ticket, don't worry. As a small writers charity we're not able to do cash refunds, but your ticket will be valid for 10 years! And its transferrable so you can always gift it. Or, as lots of people are doing in the UK and the USA at the moment, you can 'gift' the ...
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Women in the world and the Women’s World Cup: extra time to reflect on the broader injustices women and girls face

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, May 31, 2019, In : Nick Hennegan

USA vs Spain in a 2019 friendly. EPA/MANUEL LORENZO

I'm preparing to take PALS and Romeo and Juliet to the Edinburgh Festival fringe this August. I want to try and redress the traditional male and female role balance a bit, particularly with Romeo and Juliet, so this article in The Conversation caught my eye...

Few events in women’s sport generate more attention than the football World Cup. Around 750m people watched the last tournament and, in June, France will host the 2019 competition, fe...

Brexit? What's that? No problem...!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Monday, April 8, 2019, In : Nick Hennegan

It looks like the UK might be exiting the European Union - So a British Exit - Brexit! I love the wordplay, if not the concept. I won't get into the politics here (nah, I don't think it's a great idea to leave, and I do remember when I was a kid we were known as the 'poor man of Europe' hence us joining the EEC, but...!) however, we have people from around the world come on our literary pub celebration, and one or two people have mentioned they'd heard stories of rationing and hoarding and w...
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The End of Edinburgh...

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Tuesday, November 27, 2018, In : Nick Hennegan

For a writer, I've not been writing on here very much! Mainly due to the creative madness that is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. I actually had THREE productions I’d written and directed at the festival this year - A Christmas Carol, Henry V - Lion of England and Hamlet - Horatio’s Tale. Yes, it was a hectic, but a glorious and intense experience. Adapting Shakespeare’s Hamlet almost sent me as mad as the gloomy Dane himself. (Or was he mad? Or gloomy? Or just pretending. How mad ...

Kizzy is King of Edinburgh. And Queen. And Prince...

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, July 27, 2018, In : Nick Hennegan

I've just realised I've not been on here since May. It's mainly the fault of my writing a new verison of Hamlet. Called, Hamlet-Horatio's Tale, it's a one-man show, played by a woman, Kizzy Dunn, pictured below. And with Sir Derek Jacobi as the voice of Old Hamlet. And I've got to get back to rehearsals now, so more later. Come and see us at the Assembly Rooms on George Street. You won't regret it. And you can buy me a drink...! x

The Snow Must Go On...!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, March 9, 2018, In : Nick Hennegan

Sorry... I mean the SHOW must go on! And it is. We've had snow in London! It doesn't really happen very often and so when it does, we're not really prepared for it. I think the last time the snow settled here was around five years ago. Our cold spell only lasted about a week, which was quite long enough, thank you very much! But now the weather has warmed up and it feels properly like Spring. The daffodils are already out. And I'm pleased to report, that in spite of the weather, the L...
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Happy Valentine's Day!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Wednesday, February 14, 2018, In : Nick Hennegan

Happy Valentine' Day.

I think Anthony Burgess, a writer we feature in our show, summed up the day perfectly in 'The Paris Review.' He wrote, "The world has so much solace to offer: love, food, music, the immense variety of race and language, literature, the pleasure of artistic creation."

Yep!

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Harry Potter and The Final Draft..!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Saturday, September 2, 2017, In : Nick Hennegan

I'm writing THE screenplay. You know, the one that is going to sell for thousands - if not millions - and means I don't have to worry about paying the rent ever again. Because I can tell you, with rents as high as they are in London, it's a very big worry indeed!

I actually wrote the story for the screenplay when I was still at school in Birmingham. That's a few years ago, believe me! It's about a boy called George, who is 12 years old and when all the adults in the world disappear, includ...

Summer in the City. Or out of it!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Monday, August 21, 2017, In : Nick Hennegan

If you are coming to London to see us, then now is a good time to come. Summers never get TOO hot in the UK - it's not like the sweltering city scape of places like New York. But us Londoners like to get out of town occasionally. We've got the Hop fields of Kent on our doorstep. A little further away, 90-odd miles north-east of London on the Suffolk coast is Southwold. It's a charming place - sometimes known as "Chelsea-on-Sea" because of the number of well-heeled Londoners that go there. ...
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We're all just writers and artists here!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Sunday, June 18, 2017, In : Nick Hennegan

It’s been a couple of months since I last posted here. But I’m trying to sort a script and music for our national tour of A Christmas Carol later in the year. I finally managed to get a group of international journalists together to come on the London Literary Pub Crawl, so we’re having our official opening 5 years after we started! I’m working on a TV script; I’m trying to negotiate with a National Trust garden to present a WW1 play in November and so spending time on this blog ...

Don't understand Shakespeare? You need Dylan Thomas Day!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Wednesday, May 3, 2017, In : Nick Hennegan

Dylan Day - a celebration of the work of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas - is a great idea for a number of reasons. Firstly it's always a good idea to celebrate art and literature. In a world full of Trump, May, Brexit, Syria and conflict, it's a very good idea to remind ourselves of the real reason we are all really here. For the sweet, satisfied moments of family, friendship, kindness, vision and imagination. I can’t remember who said a civilised society is only measured by the success of it...

20 years since we lost the Alan Ginsberg Beat, man!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Saturday, April 8, 2017, In : Nick Hennegan

Although our ‘manor’, as they say in all the best cockney gangster films, is most definitely London, there was an anniversary this week involving an American writer that I had to mention. - especially as he came to London for a while. Now, as you know, I love Americans. I’ve not met a bad ‘un yet. It’s interesting that since His Trumpness became boss of the good old US of A, there has been a huge rise in the sale of George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984. Shows you what a good ...

A Modern Dickensian Celebration this Christmas

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, December 2, 2016, In : Nick Hennegan

As you will know if you've been on the London Literary Pub Crawl, we are passionately enthusiastic about our unique bit of central London. Soho and Fitzrovia are arguably unique in the world. They are part city-centre, part artists enclave, part architectural delight and part hedonistic hot-spot.

Fitzrovia, once known as East Marylebone or North Soho, is particularly attractive to us. One hundred yards from the busiest shopping street in the world I love the fact that some Saturday afternoon...

Viva USA!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Thursday, November 17, 2016, In : Nick Hennegan

It's hard as a writer not to be effected by politics. George Orwell's life long literary mission was to make political writing an art form and he certainly achieved this. But I like to think I'm an optimist. What has happened in the USA, with the election of a reality star and businessman to the post of President, needs watching by all free thinking individuals. But we also need to understand how many in the world no longer trust 'them' - and see increasing globalisation changing their worlds...

Can Reading Fiction literally change your mind?

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Thursday, July 21, 2016, In : Nick Hennegan

As you may know, our promenade performance tour is seeped in the lives of some of the most famous writers in the world. So this article, by Gregory Currie, the Professor and Head of Department of Philosophy at the University of York is interesting. It was first published in The Conversation.

If you are committed to the pleasures of reading you may be pleased to discover that there is evidence to suggest that reading fiction is good for you. In a paper published in Trends in Cognitive Science...

Visit London -Ten Things You Should Know About the British Exit from Europe. ‘Brexit'

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, June 24, 2016, In : Nick Hennegan

1. Brexit is a word that has become used as a shorthand way of saying the UK leaving the EU - merging the words Britain and exit to get Brexit, in a same way as a Greek exit from the EU was dubbed Grexit in the past. A referendum took place in the UK on Thursday 23rd June, 2016. Everyone in the UK (almost) was eligible to vote, just like in a general election. But on the ballot paper were just two questions. Should the UK leave the EU or remain in the EU.

2. The E.U. - short for the Euro...

What makes a Film Flop?

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, January 8, 2016, In : Nick Hennegan

Soho, as you many know - and you will if you've been on our Literary Pub Crawl - is the centre of many creative industries in the UK, including the film industry. We're toying with the idea of making a feature film in 2016 and came across this blog post by Suman Ghosh. who is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at Bath Spa University.

Some films succeed, others don’t. Success comes in many forms. Some films are an instant hit from the opening night, some are slower on the uptake while others ge...

Happy Holidays!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Saturday, January 2, 2016, In : Nick Hennegan

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from us all if you celebrate the season. If you don't, have a great holiday!

See you in 2016!

Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol. in Birmingham!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, December 11, 2015, In : Nick Hennegan

It's exciting being back in Birmingham at the Old Joint Stock Pub and Theatre. And last years London sellout version of my A Christmas Carol has done just that again - this time in Birmingham. Here's what I wrote for the theatre programme.

We all know Charles Dickens' remarkable Christmas story. He wrote it in 1843, just as his fame and success as a writer was fading. The novella has not been out of print since! I first came across the book as a boy. I borrowed a children's version of the sto...

Raymond Briggs and Creative Socio-paths!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Saturday, November 21, 2015, In : Nick Hennegan

As you know, life in the arts here in Soho is a constant financial struggle and I’ve been looking at an author Crowdfunding platform called Unbound as a way of helping out. As I have both Charles Dickens AND William Shakespeare lined up to provide an introduction to my next book - more about that later perhaps - I’m thinking of using the service, if they’ll have me.
I was checking them out and came across this, from Raymond Briggs’ pitch of a book he’s hosting on the platform. For ...
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The Wind Doth Blow and the Leaves Do Fall. Lots of news.

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Thursday, October 22, 2015, In : Nick Hennegan

If we don’t do a newsletter, Maddie, Princess of Soho, (wrong sex and too young yet to be A Queen!) will shout at Nick Hennegan. Me. So, lots to share with you.

If you are in London this weekend, check out The Bloomsbury Festival. Full of great stuff, they’re back after a break. Find our podcast about it here.

In our Maverick Theatre/Literary Pub Crawl world, our sponsorship with the lovely Fitzrovia Partnership comes to an end this month. We love them and we think we h...

Autumn Events in London. And Spreadsheets. Our Friends.

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, October 2, 2015, In : Nick Hennegan

I should be writing here more often, but to be honest, running the London Literary Pub Crawl takes a chunk of time. We've done incredibly well over our first year or so, but I've decided we could do much better, so we're looking to raise £30k for marketing. It'll make us a real attraction in London and my Chinese actors stand poised, ready to go.

But we're writers, not accountants. Fortunately I've found a brilliant accountant who is able to frame my terms of reference in accounting speak ...
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We've moved! The Fitzroy Tavern closes!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, July 17, 2015, In : Nick Hennegan

The roots of the Literary Pub Crawl lie in the Fitzroy Tavern. I was doing my Masters at the University of London and looking for a cheap pint. My mate from Birmingham, filmmaker Andy Bloom, suggested I could get a cheaper pint at the Fitzroy, as the pub was run by the Sam Smiths Brewery and they were considerably cheaper than other pubs in the area. He also told me about the Writers and Artists Bar at the pub, which certainly appealed.

So I was nursing my cheap pint downstairs and couldn't ...
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Dylan Thomas Day.

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Thursday, May 7, 2015, In : Nick Hennegan

An Evening at The Wheatsheaf Pub, Rathbone Place, London, W1. 8pm

Dylan's Day is a celebration of Dylan Thomas. 14 May has been chosen because marks the day Under Milk Wood was first read in public.

We hope you can join us for what will be a memorable night. As you know, we produced Under Milk Wood on the 60th anniversary of Dylan's death and we were involved in Griff Rhys Jones' Dylan Thomas in Fitzrovia Festival, so I feel very close to the Welsh Wizard! We're planning music, poetry and a r...
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Who will be the next Dr Who...?

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Wednesday, April 8, 2015, In : Nick Hennegan

...sorry... Henry V! It only occurred to me whilst talking to a former Dr Who actor, that for our Henry V we will be recruiting the fifth actor to reincarnate the role since we first performed it back in 1992 - a bit like the famous BBC series does!

We're actively searching now for a new actor to take on the huge role! It's always been a big ask! The actor is onstage constantly for over an hour, has to play twelve characters with conviction and fight the Battle of Agincourt at the end!

Injur...
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Neville Owen, a Boy's Man! RIP.

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Saturday, March 7, 2015, In : Nick Hennegan

Forgive my indulgence. This post isn't really anything directly to do with The London Literary Pub Crawl, other than the fact I wrote the tour and the journal/diary I wrote in 1997 (How To Make a Crisis Out Of A Drama) is being released by Maverick Theatre to celebrate its 21st Birthday. Although booze plays a part, because this is about the first time I got drunk! And Neville Owen died last month and I went to his funeral, so I wanted to mark his passing. I wrote this in 1997 and I hope it ...
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That's (Animal Farm) showbiz!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Thursday, February 5, 2015, In : Nick Hennegan

Bummer! We had the rights to perform George Orwell's Animal Farm for all of 8 weeks, till the 'principle agent' changed their mind and decided to cancel our license. It probably means a commercial theatre producer has decided to try a production. Which is good for us fans of Orwell, but not so good for WE fans of Orwell.

A bit like when we performed 'Under Milk Wood' in the Wheatsheaf in Fitzrovia, London, the pub where Dylan Thomas met his wife. It was commercially stupid to mount such a...
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Review of 2014.

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Monday, January 12, 2015, In : Nick Hennegan

We started 2014 in the shadow of the previous year.

My experiment with theatre in a pub, as opposed to Pub Theatre as it's understood in London, had proved very successful in 2013. I managed to get the rights to produce Under Milk Wood on the 60th anniversary of Dylan Thomas' death. It proved a success in a number of ways, but mainly though conversations with the excellent veteran theatre director John Adams. John was not available to direct, but he recommended a former student of his who ...

Merry Christmas (Part Deux) and a Happy New Year!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Wednesday, December 31, 2014, In : Nick Hennegan

From all of us here at Lit Pub Crawl towers. May you have a happy and fulfilling Christmas and a peaceful New Year. We loves ya, you know that, don't ya...!

Nick, Katie and all the Charles Dickens' and Virginia Woolfs'
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Dylan, my Dylan.

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Saturday, November 8, 2014, In : Nick Hennegan

So the Dylan Thomas in Fitzrovia Festival is now over. Although only really on the periphery of the organisation it's been a part of my life and certainly large in my thoughts for most of this year.
Pub crawl walks were part of Griff Rhys Jones' original thinking for the festival which he conceived with Dylan's granddaughter, Hannah Ellis and actor Jason Morrell. It became far more than a tour of Dylan Thomas' Fitzrovia Pubs of course. And I have to say the final, fantastic Gala Performa...

National UK Poetry Day, by our writer and producer, Nick!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Thursday, October 2, 2014, In : Nick Hennegan

Thursday, 2 October 2014

National Poetry Day - have a go!

I've been spending a lot of time recently with the poetry of Dylan Thomas and numerous writers for the London Literary Pub Crawl and the forthcoming Dylan Thomas in Fitzrovia Weekend in London. More about that later. But in spite of the genius of Thomas, Heany and dozens of others, I've found I quite like writing poetry. I've no idea of technical form or how to do it or even why I like writing it, but it's an interesting way of encapsu...

Maverick's Summer Newsletter - Our First E-Book!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, August 22, 2014, In : Nick Hennegan

(I know... Maddie says a newsletter a month and the last one was June. But I've been busy. And now we have Katie. More about her next time!)

Norman The Brummie, Fox Hunting in Kingstanding and Lest We Forget.

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What a great summer it's been so far! Although Hyde Park was starting to resemble Australia. The grass had turned yellow and parched. But we're loving the hot weather. And we know it ain't gonna last.  

100 years ago it was also an unusual summer. We declared war on...

London Writers and Poverty. How the Lit Pub Crawl started. Part One

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, August 15, 2014, In : Nick Hennegan

It's me birthday! Thanks! Feel free to send cards. Or cash... :-)

Birthdays are often a time for reflection. When I first got the idea for the London Literary Pub Crawl, it was because I was taking my M.A. and I was flat broke. In spite of never having received a grant for education, for reasons known only to the Education Dept I had to fund everything myself. It was tough - not only the fees, but living in one of the most expensive cities in the world. But I don't think we'd have done t...
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Referee!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Sunday, July 20, 2014, In : Nick Hennegan

So the world cup is over. But here in London, things are still buzzing! The weather has been fantastic and looks like staying so. And we've been nominated as one of the Top Ten Cultural things to do in London! That's fantastic. So if you are thinking about visiting London this year, come and see us. We've been somewhat overwhelmed by demand and so we're training up some new actors and we've added extra dates. We're looking at a new box office system too. At the moment director Katie and ...
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Maverick's latest Newsletter.

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Thursday, May 29, 2014, In : Nick Hennegan

So.
 
I was in the Twelve Bar on Denmark Street in Soho with Filmaker Andy.  He used to be MyLodger Andy, then VanDriver Andy and now he's FilmMaker Andy. Of course he was always FilmMaker Andy, it's just that none of us, including Andy, realised it for some years.
 
Then in shimmies Maddy, shaking her Soho stack at the boys in the pool room. Tonight is a charity night with some very smart comical and musical talent.  It's a fund-raiser for the uber-cool London Arts radio station, Resonance 104.4...

Maverick Theatre's Latest Newsletter

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Friday, April 4, 2014, In : Nick Hennegan

So.

It was a stark, dark night in Soho. I sat in the mugg of the French House nursing a small beer.  Maddy flicked her long blonde hair and fixed me with her baby-blues.
“It’s theatre, you shmuck.” She almost snarled.  “I know publishing. And I know you’ve godda do a regular newsletter. Every month, whatever happens.  It’s the only way. You godda build your brand and you godda do it NOW.  Kapish?”
“What do you know, huh?” I muttered, taking a slug of now warm beer. “Brands? Y...

We're Crowdfunding!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Saturday, November 23, 2013, In : Nick Hennegan

We’ve started our first ever CROWDFUNDING project.

With the state of arts funding, I’ve been thinking about if for a while. I wasn’t sure if it was something we should do. It feels a bit odd asking people for money, but as we are offering rewards, I think it might be okay! I guess it's not so different to selling tickets.

Just to add to the pressure we’ve been entered into a competition this weekend. There’s a prize for the project that raises the highest percentage of their campaign...
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Under Milk Wood - The final, raw, blog. We did it!

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Wednesday, November 13, 2013, In : Nick Hennegan

Or at least the final blog of this particular production. What can I say! We’ve just finished and I’ve just got back from the last night. And the consumption of a few drinks with the cast makes this not the best time to write this, perhaps! But it became a big deal for me. As you may have gathered from the previous blogs, I had a number of concerns with this production. Although small in scale it was large in ambition and my first toe in the West End water. I only actually got to watch ...
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Under Milk Wood - Part Deux

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Wednesday, October 23, 2013, In : Nick Hennegan

This week has been quite interesting in terms of Under Milk Wood. The decision to do it as a fundraiser has been quite liberating. It means we're all in the same boat and anybody who wants to be involved with the project will be doing it for the love of the piece and the experience rather than any hard financial reward. Any funds we do raise will go to Maverick in the hope we might be able to resurrect the youth group or The Peoples' Company.

After my last blog I had a Facebook comment tha...

Diggin' the late Seamus Heaney.

Posted by Simon Plant on Saturday, August 31, 2013, In : Nick Hennegan

Seamus Heaney died yesterday. It's a loss in so many ways. Probably the finest Irish poet since Yeats, he was sometimes known as "Famous Seamus" because unlike many poets and writers, he wasn't particularly shy and retiring. He was something of a celebrity from an early age and was prepared to stick his head over the parapet to make a comment.

But I identify with Heaney the farm-boy. My folks are from the peat-bogs of Co. Mayo - he was from a Mossbawn farmhouse in County Derry, although he res...

On a trail of Dylan Thomas.

Posted by Nick Hennegan on Thursday, August 15, 2013, In : Nick Hennegan

I had the pleasure of spending a week in Wales last month. A beautiful country and the home of my childhood holidays. Most of our time had been spent around Aberdyfi and Corris, but this time we moved a little further south and rediscovered New Quay. And as I walked into town, I was greeted by an image of the boyo himself. Yep, New Quay has a Dylan Thomas Trail!

Dylan lived in many places and he is most generally associated with his Boathouse in Laugharne even further to the South, but he and...
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Dylan Thomas Returns!

Posted by Simon Plant on Monday, May 13, 2013, In : Nick Hennegan

Under Milk Wood, by Dylan Thomas

£ 15

Friday 8th November 2013 at 7.30pm

Saturday 9th November, 2013 at 2.30pm

The Wheatsheaf Pub, Rathbone Street, London, W1T 1JB

A rare, fund-raising performance of the "play for voices' given on the very day Dylan died sixty years ago.

The Maverick Theatre Company and the Literary Pub Crawl Company present this stunning vocal masterpiece in the same pub where Dylan Thomas drank and met his wife, Caitlan.

A unique, not-to-be-missed event celebrating the genius o...

Booo...!

Posted by Simon Plant on Tuesday, May 7, 2013, In : Nick Hennegan

We've been set up by the not-for-profit Maverick Theatre Company. Nick Hennegan, who created our tour, often Audio Boo's. So have a listen here - http://audioboo.fm/MaverickTheatre
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Class of '13

Posted by Simon Plant on Wednesday, April 17, 2013, In : Nick Hennegan

If you're coming to see us over the summer, the chances are you might meet one of this talented bunch of actors. If you've already been on the London Literary Pub Crawl, you may recognise the alleyway next to the Newman's Arms, George Orwell's local.

Charles and Virginia...

Posted by Simon Plant on Wednesday, April 3, 2013, In : Nick Hennegan

... are SO demanding, we've had to find more actors to 'channel' their spirit. And a rather talented bunch we've been seeing too! Watch this space.

From Soho to a Good Deal.

Posted by Simon Plant on Monday, March 18, 2013, In : Nick Hennegan

Quaintish seafront shops. Closed, of course. But it was Sunday.

This weekend we thought we'd leave the glorious hustle and bustle of Soho and London and celebrate Mickey's 40th Birthday with a trip to the coast. Mickey works on the National Theatre's production of Warhorse at the New London Theatre in Drury Lane, so he's always in town. Annie (who finished The MouseTrap last year, but lives in Sussex) used her legendary planning powers and arranged for the gang to spend the night in Deal ...

Happy 2013!

Posted by Simon Plant on Thursday, January 24, 2013, In : Nick Hennegan

Blimey, the blog below is a bit emotional. All the Christmas stuff! So here we are in a new year. We’re about to get a logo done by the talented Dave Walsh design and we are also about to start to offer some unique meal deals after the tour, so you can sop up the beer and knowledge with the finest food. And this Saturday we launch the new script and see the end of Virginia Woolf. The letter she left her husband is heartbreaking. Watch this space.

Nick Hennegan and 2012 in London

Posted by Simon Plant on Sunday, December 23, 2012, In : Nick Hennegan

Well, what a year 2012 has been. The Silver Jubilee, the Olympics and more importantly (to us anyway) the launch of the London Literary Pub Crawl. It's because we are a not-for-profit charity with no budget that the critical and audience acclaim we've received early on has been so important and so crucial... and so moving. Partly inspired by the Olympics coming to London, I felt a desire - perhaps a passion - to share what I'd found out about the struggle some of the worlds most famous wri...

Put your (Christmas) Hands in The Air...

Posted by Simon Plant on Monday, December 17, 2012, In : Nick Hennegan

The first of our Christmas tours took place on Saturday 15th, and a great time we had too. This was the scene at the end of the tour in our last pub in Soho. The songs were imminently singable and we're gong to make it a regular Saturday evening thing going forward.

Happy Christmas and we hope to see you in the New Year. Here's to 2013!

Additional Reading and writers we meet!

Posted by Simon Plant on Thursday, November 8, 2012, In : Nick Hennegan

We had a query this week from someone wondering what preparation they should make for the tour. Well, it is written assuming no previous knowledge, but works covered on the tour include A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas, 1984 by George Orwell, A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf and various Charles Dickens works. We've also some new work from the niece of Brendan Behan and we get to meet all the above, plus William Blake, Francis Bacon, Jeffrey Barnard a...
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Go Soho!

Posted by Simon Plant on Wednesday, October 31, 2012, In : Nick Hennegan

We had our first read through of the new Soho section of the scipt this week. So far, so good and I hope the demise of Virginia Woolf will be quite moving!

Soho Act Two nearly ready. Are you?

Posted by Simon Plant on Sunday, October 28, 2012, In : Nick Hennegan

If you've been on the tour, you'll know that the Fitzrovia leg is more theatrical than the Soho leg. We enact various scenes, including Anthony Burgess (Clockwork Orange, etc) meeting a knife gang in the Duke and Dylan Thomas meeting his wife at the Wheatsheaf. But then Soho becomes a more 'traditional' tour. That's about to change very soon. I've written a number of pieces around our Soho artists and writers and I hope its going to transform what we already have.

I'm very pleased with critica...
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To Ad, or not to Ad, that is the question...

Posted by Simon Plant on Wednesday, October 17, 2012, In : Nick Hennegan

We've put advertising on this site. I'm not sure we should as we want to tell you about who we are and what we do and advertising can sometimes be intrusive. But as a not-for-profit company any chance to earn a little extra revenue had to be taken. I think. But I'm not sure. It also might be because it makes us look proper and grown-up! What do you think?

Comments...

Posted by Simon Plant on Thursday, October 11, 2012, In : Nick Hennegan

... now work below! How quick was that!

I hope I am Write...

Posted by Simon Plant on Thursday, October 11, 2012, In : Nick Hennegan

It's such a privilege to be working on this tour, although quite scary in some ways. Although we started in July, for the Olympics - not that the Olympics had any relevance, it just seemed like a good time to start - and we had a brilliant write-up in The Guardian, we've already changed quite a lot. In fact I'm re-writing the whole thing. And it comes with some sense of responsibility. I've just written one of the final scenes with Virginia Woolf and realise that apart from the difficulty of ...
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About Us

Nick Hennegan

London

Hello. I'm Nick Hennegan and I started the London Literary Pub Crawl. Most of the blogs on here will be by me. I've always written but my first theatrical success was an adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Henry V' (www.HenryVPlay.com) I founded Maverick Theatre in 1994. (www.MaverickTheatreCompany.com) This pub crawl is really more a promenade theatre performance than a tour and I'm running it with a bunch of enthusiastic local actors and writers. I love sharing my passion for the area and the artists. I also present a weekly radio show, 'Literary London' on Resonance 104.4fm - London's Arts Station and a podcast on our site. If you haven't visited us in London yet, I hope you'll come soon. Have a look at my new site, www.BohemianBritain.com. And feel free to leave comments or email me at nick @ LondonLiteraryPubCrawl.com - I reply to them all and I love to hear from you.

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An Evening at The Wheatsheaf Pub, Rathbone Place, London, W1. 8pm

Thursday, 2 October 2014

National Poetry Day - have a go!

Under Milk Wood, by Dylan Thomas

£ 15

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