Why Gavin has become Greg for the Eastbourne stage

Having created multi-appearing West End hit Thunderbirds F.A.B, as well as numerous other productions and touring internationally with the British Council with his Arts Council-funded theatre shows, Eastbourne-based producer/writer Gavin Robertson has transformed into spoken word performer Greg Byron …

The show comes to The Grove in Eastbourne on November 25, long delayed after Covid.

“Call it what you will – spoken word, live literature, performance poetry – it's the direct form of address that has appealed over the years, finally coagulating into a full show with poems covering social comment, comedy, the search for scientific knowledge, memory, plastic, Daleks, life, the universe and everything! “During lockdown Greg was commissioned to write poems for the army, as well as mental health organisations, and has a podcast on iTunes etc. Greg has appeared in New Zealand, Japan, UK and USA on beaches, in forests, festivals, bookshops, tents and bars.”

Gavin explains: "I'd made two solo shows and was looking for the third – so in 2016 I went to Florida for a month and what came out was poetry about sorts of stuff. There's a wry kind of sarcasm often, and Greg has his lighter moments. Any show needs light and shade, and I'm challenging myself with the whole venture."

As for the name change, Gavin explains: “I wanted to distance this from my theatre work for one, but also Greg is my Ziggy Stardust; he's the character I feel comfortable performing the lines I write. He's more brash than me, more direct. When I write I can hear his voice speaking the rhymes.”

www.gregbyron.co.uk; www.gavinrobertson.com; www.groveeastbourne.com