Can poetry change the world? Spoken Word artist Jimmy Andrex isn’t so sure but he’s going to try anyway.
On Wednesday 28th July at the Ventnor Fringe, he will be performing Stupidity Is Not The Problem, a poetry, and music piece based on the work of Dutch writer Rutger Bregman.
Bregman’s book, Utopia for realists, proposes that adopting a Universal Basic Income (UBI) would address poverty and inequality. Not only that, but it’s been tried all over the world and seems to work.
Jimmy says:
“I started performing this piece in 2018 to try and get people talking about something that wasn’t Brexit. At that time, it was a largely non-partisan thing, with only the Green Party adopting it, but since Covid-19, people have started to think about it a lot more.”
Stupidity Is Not The Problem uses poems, stories and music to challenge people to think about solutions to some of society’s biggest problems.
Jimmy continues:
“The interesting thing about UBI is that there’s a huge amount of research been done and the evidence overwhelmingly suggests that it works. The biggest barriers are our own beliefs: People get tangled up in notions about whether people deserve it, or the belief that people will become lazy, despite the fact that study after study suggests these beliefs are groundless.”
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Jimmy’s Ventnor Fringe show, at The Arts Club, is part of a fantastic range of live events featuring such luminaries as Luke Wright and Billy Nomates, who has recently been working with cult sensations Sleaford Mods.
In addition to Stupidity Is Not The Problem, Jimmy will also be giving the live premiere of Billy Baggins There & Back, a modern version of Tolkien’s The Hobbit in medieval verse form, commissioned by Leeds Philosophical & Literary Society to commemorate the centenary of Tolkien’s first academic post at the city’s university. In it, a bungled burglary leads on to a search for redemption via the hue & cry over a missing toddler.
There will be two shows, both socially distanced, under the title Jimmy Andrex: For One Night Only. Tickets are available at https://vfringe.co.uk/whats-on/.
For more information on the best of Ventnor Fringe 2021 – check out Island Echo’s coverage of Fringe in our Events section.
