Nina Perry The Catweazle Club is a listening community with an ethos that's the antithesis of TV's X-Factor - an 'open mic-less' space where art and relationships blossom.

Open mic nights attract people of all ages, from all walks of life - united in their desire to stand up and be heard. This feature explores one such performance space, The Catweazle Club, the open mic without the mic and open to all without judgement. The first-timer performing their never previously heard poem, the regularly appearing seasoned musician and the transient bedroom minstrel are amongst those who come together to form this thriving community. We hear stories of friendship, love, artistic development, and even personal survival born from this twice weekly listening space.

In 1994 musician and songwriter Matt Sage moved onto a boat on the Oxford canal. Finding no welcoming place to perform his songs, he decided to start a performance space of his own, The Catweazle Club. Sixteen years later it's still going strong, with a younger off-shoot in London.

Resolutely a community, we hear from some of the people who pass through its doors: including 21 year old singer-songwriter Raevennan Husbandes, who's about to graduate and launch herself into the world as a professional musician; folk band 'Telling the Bees' whose members met at the Catweazle Club and forged connections both musically and romantically, and poet Sam Willetts who starting performing his poems at the club 10 years ago and has gone on to survive heroin-addiction and have his first collection of poems published to great critical-acclaim. These stories are interwoven with performances recorded over several nights at the club, composed into a virtual night.

Press

"This was a beautifully produced feature, all rich textures - voices, music, audience noise - composed into poetic layers."
- Elisabeth Mahoney, 16.06.10, The Guardian