Nine Days’ Wonder at Wolverhampton Literature Festival

The tall tale of Will Kempe’s audacious dance of over 125 miles from London to Norwich in 1599. 

Star of the London stage, Will Kempe is the sort of man who felt no shame going about town introducing himself as:

‘Cavaliero Kemp, head-master of Morrice-dauncers, high Head-borough of heighs, and only tricker of your Trill lilles, and best belshangles’.

Never afraid to upstage his peers, Kempe began his journey to raise money and publicity after he fell out with Shakespeare’s company.  From the grotty dive of London’s South Bank to the muddy potholes of the fens, Will was joined by an assortment of locals, including an unfit butcher and a country lass who kept up with him for a full mile.

Tripping lightly through history with physical comedy and extracts from Shakespeare, storyteller and academic Daisy Black pays homage to a man who followed the beat of a slightly different drum to everyone else.

The performance  is suitable for ages 10 and up.