The Full English

“It’s a bish-bosh, wish-wash, car crash mishmash!”

Ever wondered where the word hoo-ha comes from? Why there ain’t no party like a double negative party? And why bead doesn’t rhyme with bread, machine doesn’t rhyme with nine, and don’t get me started on yearly and early? From gangs of gung-ho Anglo-Saxons and smelly Vikings to Covidiots and Instagram influencers, from enormous vowel movements to katsu curries self-isolating in the Twitterverse, this one-woman show by poet, spoken word artist, former ‘A’ level English lecturer and all-round linguistics nerd, Melanie Branton, explores the fascinating history of the English language through the media of performance poetry, silly hats and dad jokes.

Melanie Branton has performed at festivals including Womad, Shindig and Valleyfest, as well as at spoken word nights the length and breadth of the country. She has also represented Bristol at three national slam finals. Her published collections are The Full English (2023), Can You See Where I’m Coming From? (Burning Eye, 2018) and My Cloth-Eared Heart (Oversteps, 2017).

“The Full English combines both entertainment and education to explore the quirky and fascinating history of our rich linguistic heritage with charisma, wit, and large dollops of expertise. Melanie’s in-depth knowledge of the English language as a lecturer on the subject ideally complements her skills as one of the country’s cleverest and most engaging performance poets, and I would highly recommend the show to anyone with an interest in our bizarre but beautiful language.“
Rob Casey

“Quite brilliant – Melanie Branton’s ability to conjure light from the darkness, comedy among the tragedy, and a magical absurdity out of the everyday.”
Brian Bilston, the Poet Laureate of Twitter

“Melanie Branton is an unexpected poetry slap. The kind that makes your face tingle and your eyebrows sky rocket. She is funny, clever, ironic, dry, gripping, needed and you won’t see her coming until she is standing in your face.”
Liv Torc