A brand new production written and performed by Caribbean-British poet John Agard, winner in 2012 of the Queen’s Medal for Poetry. In this whimsical whirlwind homage to mixed race Russian poet, Alexander Pushkin, Agard transforms his famous verse novel, Eugene Onegin, into a sort of contemporary parlour production in which he plays all the parts, not just Pushkin and his alter-ego Onegin, but love interest Tatyana and the old nursemaid, Filipevna.

"Agard subverts and invents with a poet's deftness" (Times Educational Supplement)

"... an outstanding luminary of the exploding galaxy of West Indian-British troubadours, hilarious and moving by turns, with sharply satiric intelligence" (Michael Horovitz)

The performance is accompanied by live incidental music by Sophia Poznansky (accordion) & authentic Russian songs performed by cabaret chanteuse Pam Hewitt.

‘Pushkin’s Half Hour’ is directed by Mark C. Hewitt.

Multi-award-winning GCSE syllabus poet John Agard is a renowned performer who has the ability to connect with wide and diverse audiences. He worked for the Guyana Sunday Chronicle newspaper as sub-editor and feature writer before moving to England in 1977, where he became a touring lecturer for the Commonwealth Institute, travelling to schools throughout the UK to promote a better understanding of Caribbean culture. In 1993 he was appointed Writer in Residence at the Southbank Centre, London, and became Poet in Residence at the BBC in London, an appointment created as part of a scheme run by the Poetry Society. He also played a key role in the 'Windrush' season of programmes in 1998. He won the Paul Hamlyn Award for Poetry in 1997 and has travelled extensively throughout the world performing his poetry. His published poetry includes Man to Pan(1982), winner of the Casa de las Américas Prize, Limbo Dancer in Dark Glasses (1983), Mangoes and Bullets: Selected and New Poems 1972-84 (1985) and Weblines (2000).