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Wake | The Fringe Ticket


Wake is a boutique festival run by the Belfast author Peter Rollins. It draws together people from all over the world, to spend five days reflecting on the art of living into the death of our religious, political and cultural gods. It brings together the best in dissident intellectual exploration with art, music, magic, comedy, and whisky.

Here are the events,

Monday 16th - 7.00pm - Oh Yeah Music Centre - Fake ID

It's difficult to fit in when your dad sticks out like a brown thumb and even you aren't sure how to EXACTLY pronounce your surname. Growing up in a mixed-race, mixed-faith household at the height of the northern Irish troubles, writer Joseph Nawaz takes us through some old family snapshots, and his childhood years in 80s and 90s Belfast. Expect excruciating revelation, some confusion as to the actual direction of Mecca from Balmoral Avenue plus finally solving the age-old riddle of what the difference is between a Protestant Muslim and a Catholic Muslim. Running through it all, like a stick of cardamom-flavoured rock, is Joe's complicated relationship with his Pakistani father, whose sudden, untimely demise precipitated a trip to Pakistan and some surprising discoveries.

Monday 16th - 9.00pm - The Dark Horse - The Night Lewis Lost

For one night only we will recreate one of the most famous intellectual debates in the history of Oxford, which took place in 1948 between C.S. Lewis and Elizabeth Anscombe. In 1947 Lewis had published Miracles, a book which argued that Naturalism was incoherent. In response, Anscombe presented a paper to the Oxford Socratic Club where Lewis was President and argued, in the subsequent debate, that Lewis was very much mistaken. It is widely accepted that Lewis very much lost. Ironically, despite his defeat, the debate has often been seen as a blessing in disguise for Lewis as it led to the creation of classic works including The Chronicles of Narnia. In this event we will recreate the debate, (abridged) and explore its implications with Melanie Clark Pullen and Simon Maxwell recreating the roles of Anscombe and Lewis.

Tuesday 17th - 7.00pm - The Sunflower Public House - The Master Persuader

Alex Kazam is a professional magician with an interest in persuasion. He predicted Trump's win in September 2015, back when he was considered a joke candidate who wouldn't even make it through the early stages of the leadership primaries.

His prediction was not based on Trump's policies or politics. He recognised that Trump is a Master Persuader - a person with a secret arsenal of linguistic skills designed to defeat opponents and capture the imaginations of millions. In this lecture, Alex Kazam will take you through Trump's secret techniques.

Please note this venue is not accessible by wheelchair. Please contact us if you'd like to discuss if you have accessibility issues and we will do our very best to help.

Tuesday 17th - 9.00pm - Blaklist - One More Time with Feeling

A screening of the moving documentary featuring Nick Cave, with commentary from Barry Taylor. Barry is a musician, author and academic who speaks on the intersection between film, art, politics, culture and theology. He lived on the road for many years with AC/DC at the height of their fame, and is an expert on outsider culture.

Wednesday 18th - 8.00pm - Accidental Theatre - The Half Cut Cabaret

Seedhead Arts cabaret is changing… moving… evolving… but the logos the same pretty much... we’ve kept Leonie… and we still want to start a revolution.

We launch our newly formed Half Cut Cabaret with a one off midweek special in Accidental Theatre before moving to a regular monthly Friday night in the Strand and we’ve an extra awesome line up for our first show.

We’ll have music from Alana Henderson, circus from Grand Goldie, comedy from Joe Loughlin, spoken word from Claire Mitchell and magic from Irelands only professional female magician Nicola McBride. We might even have a few wee extra surprises for you.

We’re still the low-fi cabaret. We’re still channelling the angry, dirty, rebellious spirit of true cabaret and not the dressed up, elitist, expensive events that pass as cabaret these days. We’ve just lost the bap.