KIPPERFIELD TO KIPPERLING

This show may come as a shock to those who think of Sid Kipper as a simple, unlettered country boy.  For, over the years, he has assembled an impressive collection of literary gems, not least from his borrowings at the mobile library - even if his idea of borrowing is not quite the same as theirs, as it seems to lack the concept of returning.

Here Sid presents the freshest and finest of his repertoire of readings and stories.  He draws on classics such as 'David Kipperfield', songs like 'Arrivederci Cromer', and even an ancient treatise on 'ƒheep ƒhearing in ƒaint Juƒt-near-Trunch'.  There's the traditional tale of "The Tongue-Tied Two-Toed Toad', and the epic 'Scroby Dick'.

Each story and song is a stepping stone, linked to the next by a person, an idea, or - for example - a fish.  So the journey from Kipperfield to Kipperling (the latter being Sid's diminutive second-cousin Rudyard Kipper) is completed with dry feet, if not dry eyes. 

With old instruments, lively songs, and a chorus or two, this promises to be a very special evening indeed.  And, as Sid himself says: "Promises are like pie-crusts - there to keep the gravy in".

"Sid Kipper has an outer malice that conceals an inner beauty and warmth."

"Word-wangler, musician, and stand-up extraordinaire, Sid Kipper makes life a laugh by holding it up to the mirror of his own imaginings."

(Matt Holland, Swindon Festival of Literature)

A sample of David Kipperfield