A Canadian poetry SLAM champ, Brendan McLeod, packs a double-punch performance with the award-winning Brain and Other Stories, Friday, February 1 at 8PM, Centre Stage at Surrey City Hall, 13450 – 104 Avenue.
Brain is a hilarious, heartbreaking monologue about consciousness, mental illness, and an optimistic exploration of the importance of friendship from award-winning novelist and former Canadian poetry SLAM champ Brendan McLeod.
Winner of "Best Male Performer" at the 2015 Victoria Fringe and Pick of the Fringe at the 2015 Vancouver Fringe, this nuanced journey through the nature of thought, provides an upbeat, intense comedy about the miracle of the mind. Brain maps McLeod’s experiences with obsessive compulsive disorder – from a teenager struggling to understand his obsessions to an adult battling psychosis.
He observes that “Obsessive compulsive disorder is funny. Which is not to say I don’t take it seriously. Just that when you make yourself recite the Lord’s Prayer 300 times a day when you’re 13, you’re going to find yourself in wacky situations. Let’s talk about some of the weird situations OCD leads to, and how laughter lessens the stigma of mental illness and makes for a deeper, more empathetic understanding of it.”
McLeod changes gears in the second half of the night with Other Stories featuring his original songs, stories and poems touching on topics from family to politics, life, death, and in between. A prolific, multi-talented artist, he is the founder of The Fugitives, a folk group that tours internationally, recently winning the German Music Critic’s Award for Best Folk Album for their latest release The Promise of Strangers. The release has just been nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award for Best Vocal Group.
McLeod, an active arts educator, currently teaches storytelling, performance poetry, and songwriting through organizations such as Prologue Arts (Toronto), Vancouver Poetry House, Biennale Foundation (international), and the Alberta Writer’s Guild. He will lead a Spoken Word & SLAM Poetry workshop at the Surrey Arts Centre on February 2, 2019. For more information on the performance and the workshop visit www.surrey.ca/theatre
Tickets are $25-35, including all fees. For advance tickets call Surrey Civic Theatres Box Office at 604-501-5566 or visit tickets.surrey.ca. Tickets will also be available at the door.
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