The Verse’s Tamara Stidwell tells us a bit about stand-up poet Rob Auton’s The Sleep Show coming to Brighton this month.
On the 23rd March at The Old Market, comedy-poet Rob Auton will be leading Brighton into an ethereal and poignant world of sleep. “An exploration of the psyche and a message of hope and encouragement” (The Upcoming), Auton uses experimental theatre to venture into realms of the mind, looking between the sheets, to ask philosophical questions about our modern day world.
York born Auton has travelled The Sleep Show around the Uk, performing it over the course of 2016 at venues and festivals including Latitude, the Roundhouse and the Soho Theatre. Starting his poetry journey in 2008, Rob says he began “saying things out loud to groups of people without wanting them to respond verbally”, sounds like the right idea. He has since created five one hour long Edinburgh Fringe shows and is currently working on his sixth one, entitled The Hair Show to go along with his other themed works; The Yellow Show, The Sky Show, The Face Show, The Water Show and alas, The Sleep Show, “every year I pick a subject that is important to me and write an hour long show about it” Rob says.
As a fan of Scroobius Pip, I came across Rob’s work when he released a clip of The Sleep Show through his record label Speech Development Records. Scroobius Pip is a lyrical hero of mine, challenging social issues through hip-hop poetry, I have had the pleasure of seeing him perform at many UK festivals (I’ve even thrown my brassiere at the stage, the security guard caught it). Anyway where were we, ah Rob, basically anyone Pip endorses is sure to be a genuine talent, and according to The Huffington Post he’s “exactly what the country needs right now.”
With all that in mind there isn’t much more to say about this eccentric young man but perhaps secrecy is the most intriguing part of his enigma.
