Earth To Alice Poetry and Comedy fundraiser for Belfast

Belfast Samaritan volunteers joined up with Belfast based poet Alice McCullough and a host of friends for a night of laughter, music and 'Good Vibes' to lift peoples spirits with a night to show solidarity with all those who have suffered mental distress.

The main event of the evening was a powerful performance by Alice to an enthralled audience. By turns emotional, comedic, nostalgic and thought-provoking the performance takes the audience along familiar streets of Belfast (including Cypress Avenue) of Belfast and observes all of life along the way. As well as Alice there were performances from comedy legends Teresa Livingstone and Kevin McAleer and to round off the night with feel-good tunes for all those up for a dance there was the one & only "Mr Good Vibrations", Terri Hooley spinning the turntables.

Speaking before the night began, Alice said “Suicide rates are continuing to increase in Northern Ireland and at this time of year many people begin to feel more down, with depressive conditions often at their worst in the Autumn and Winter months. I am one of those people. Tuesday 6th November is the anniversary of when I was admitted to psychiatric hospital last year. I wanted to mark this milestone of recovery one year on by hosting a fundraiser for the Samaritans - an organisation that has helped me in no small way to overcome many of the challenges of living with bipolar disorder and the difficulties many of us face with managing our mental health."

Following a sell-out show in the Black Box, award-winning performance poet Alice McCullough brings her critically acclaimed one-woman show back to Accidental Theatre for this special one-night performance as part of the Samaritans fundraising night. Join Alice McCullough and a host of friends for a night of laughter, music and 'Good Vibes' to lift peoples spirits with this night of solidarity with all those who have suffered mental distress, with performances from comedy legends Teresa Livingstone and Kevin McAleer, and the one & only Terri Hooley rounding off the night with feel-good tunes for all those up for a dance! Volunteers from Belfast Samaritans will be there on the night with information and support.

Alice spoke to U105 Radio show host Frank Mitchell about the event and also shared her poem 'The Lion's Roar' : https://audioboom.com/posts/7070873-listen-belfast-samaritans-fundraising-night-to-feature-music-from-terry-hooley-comedy-from-kev

Earth To Alice is a show that tackles the stigma of mental illness head-on as Alice McCullough plays with the boundaries between spoken word, comedy, storytelling and theatre. Alice's award-winning and unconventional poems have won her a presence on local and international radio with poems commissioned for both TV (BBC The Arts Show, BBC Love In A Day) and radio (BBC Talkback, BBC Arts Extra and U105). Alice has supported talents in comedy, music and poetry including: Katherine Ryan, Duke Special, Lemn Sissay, Tony Walsh and Hollie McNish. But despite her successes, Alice struggles. In this candid performance, after a two-year break from performing that included two stays in a mental health ward, Alice shares a poetic journey through the streets of a city filled with music, memories, banter and stories, her poems dappled with references to local heroes from Van Morrisson to Terri Hooley, from CS Lewis to George Best, from the steps of Stormont to walking home from the Limelight to Wonderland and back again, expect laughter and some tears in this life-affirming re-emergence of a local talent not to be missed.