Headingley LitFest: The Dragon Who Hates Poetry

Saturday, 7 March 2015

The Dragon Who Hates Poetry

Dominic Berry with poetry lovers Photo: Carol Downing

Carol Downing writes:
‘Tremble at my name says the fiend of fire and flame.’

The story of the dragon who hates poetry by Dominic Berry was a lively and energetic performance in the Meanwood Institute, full of energy, jokes and action, with plenty of audience participation, including the audience helping to write a poem about the dragon to make him look good.

Rhyming Rick, the hero, sets out to convince the poetry-hating dragon, who is terrifying the land, that poetry is really cool. The dragon, however, flies up above Rick’s head and burns all the clothes on Rick’s washing line. He then threatens to eat him alive! Rick is so scared he asks the dragon to be kind and not to eat him. Suzy Sue, a Farmer, suggests writing a poem about all the fantastic things a dragon can do to make him look good. Rick is not sure but everyone in the village persuades Rick to do this. So with help from the audience -

‘Dragons are fantastic

Dragons are great

I’d love a Dragon

As my mate’.

In the end Rick manages to win the dragon over, and he and the dragon become best friends, writing poems together, and even winning poetry competitions!

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LITERARY HEADINGLEY

Headingley is just the place for it! Don't expect a big circus with marquees, though: we're not at that stage yet. We're all volunteers as well.

Our venues include the HEART Centre on Bennett Road, the New Headingley Club on St Michael's Road, friendly cafés, historic local cinemas, Headingley Library, people's houses and the historic Leeds Library in Commercial Street, city centre.

Headingley's Literary Links

Headingley has strong connections with many writers:

Arthur Ransome was born in Headingley, J R R Tolkien lived at 5 Holly Bank and also at 2 Darnley Road, West Park when he was reader in English Language at the University of Leeds 1920 - 25, Alan Bennett lived over a butcher's shop opposite the Three Horseshoes, now Royale Dry Cleaners.

Lucy Newlyn has published poetry about her early life in Headingley, George Orwell stayed at 21 Estcourt Avenue with his sister Marjorie and her husband Humphrey 'Humpy' Dakin (with whom he visited the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth), T S Eliot used to visit his mother-in-law in Weetwood Lane, William Fryer Harvey was brought up in Spring Bank, Trevor Griffiths lived just off Victoria Road on Winstanley Terrace, Jon Silkin's first office of STAND magazine was his flat at 144 Otley Road, Sir Geoffrey Hill lived in Shire Oak Road, Peter Redgrove lived in Headingley between 1962 and 1965 when he was Gregory Fellow of Poetry at the University of Leeds, and playwright Kay Mellor still lives near The Hollies in Far Headingley.

Wilson Barrett, the charismatic first manager of the Grand Theatre, Leeds (a prolific playwright as well), lived in Beech Grove Terrace, Woodhouse in the 1870s. His house was a meeting place for many writers, artists and visitors to Leeds - such as W. S. Gilbert, George Grossmith and Atkinson Grimshaw.

Headingley LitFest 2020 was the thirteenth. The fourteenth will take place from March 2021 and will be adapted to the rules of the Covid pandemic. We are now a proud part of the annual Leeds Lit Fest.