Peterborough poet Mark Grist takes two shows to Edinburgh

The show is suitable for anyone who is eight years old or over (sorry, Prince George) and takes place at the Bourbon Bar, in Frederick Street, from August 4 to 24 (with the exception of the 14th ). The show gets going at 12.15pm on these days – and it’s free!

In All Hail…, one of the UK’s most successful spoken word artists channels the spirit of Roald Dahl and serves up an avalanche of absurdity that will appeal to children of all ages (providing that age happens to be eight years old or over, just to reiterate).

The recital includes foul-smelling pirates, odes to oranges, killer pugs (obviously) and as the interactive shows reaches a climax, the chance for the audience members to throw off their shackles, rise up and overthrow their Poetic Overlord.

Now very much a veteran spoken word artist of over a decade, Mark Grist has been (deep breath) Poet Laureate of Peterborough, Chief Bard of the Fens and was Edinburgh Fringe Champion in 2010. His battling and poetry videos have garnered about 20 million YouTube views and last year he became the first English battle rapper to perform in the Philippines, against Loonie, the most viewed battle rapper in the world.

His celebrated battle against Blizzard currently has 5.3m views. His poem ‘Girl Who Reads’ has been viewed in every country in the world(!) and Ice Cube once described him as ‘epic’. Ice Cube!

Mark’s other Fringe 2018 show (which is also free!), Slacker-In-Law, takes place at the same venue on the same dates from 4-5pm.

In addition, he will be making a one-off appearance at the Banshee Labyrinth on August 20 at the nightly Raise The Bar Poetry Versus… competitive verse event, where he will take on the former World Poetry Slam champion Harry Baker.