Nick Degg is a Multi Slam Winning Performance Poet, with a Comedic mouth and Rock n Roll feet. His repertoire takes in subjects as diverse as Crisps, Socialism, Allotments, Rubber, Bingo callers, and he’ll even perform a Poem without any words.
He is also passionate about his home City of Stoke on Trent, which allows his work to find the light and shade of a place that has suffered terribly in the last few decades, but he’ll address this with great tenderness and humour.
As well as the regular Poetry scene, Nick is equally at home supporting Rock bands, Festivals, Comedy clubs, Arts Centres, Schools & Colleges, Libraries, Radio, TV, Functions and even pre Match entertainment at Football games.
Rachael is an author and poet who enjoys performing with others, including Glastonbury trio Strange Sisters. She writes also self-help books, and articles in the Glastonbury Oracle.
The Word Cafe
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The Barrel House Ballroom
The Word Cafe and The Barrel House Ballroom presents The Lockdown Podcasts. Fourteen of the UK’s top poets take the guise of seven podcasts. Hosted by Matt Harvey & Julie Mullen during the lockdown of 2021.
These seven glorious poetry podcasts were created with support using public funding by Arts Council England.
The Word Café is the brainchild of the wondrous Julie Mullen. Since 2010 Julie has hosted sensational poetry and music events at an array of locations including The Cott Inn Dartington, The Landmark Arts Centre Teddington, The Pleasance Theatre London, The Rosemary Branch Theatre Islington, The Pleasance Theatre QueenDome and Bunker One Edinburgh, The Old Sorting Office Barnes & The Tea Box Richmond.
Since 2019, the home for The Word Café has been The Barrel House Ballroom Totnes, with whom this project is a collaboration.
The Word Café in the kind words of Roger Mcgough, “These are the kind of events that really bring poetry to life.”
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See What's coming up at the Barrel House Ballroom, read artist interviews and recommendations, and find out 'what's brewing at the Brew Co' in our monthly What's On guide...
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More @ The Barrel House Ballroom & Totnes Brewing Co:
Totnes Fringe Festival – Let’s Raw Culture™ Live – Comedy
Comedy
Food Influencer Connor Mann, aka The Good-Gut Groovy-Guru Guy™, brings his infectious passion for yeast onstage. With live music, drama and science learn to Ferment Your Bitterness Into Betterness™ and discover your Self-Raising Power™.
Thursday 9th July 2026 | 7:30pm
Totnes Fringe Festival – The Dream – Theatre
Theatre
Two actors. Endless characters. Shakespeare’s wildest dream bursts alive as VOX Theatre transforms A Midsummer Night’s Dream into playful, intimate chaos. Fresh from Pride and Prejudice, Bristol Old Vic-trained performers deliver storytelling, comic invention and magic.
Friday 10th July 2026 | 1pm
Totnes Fringe Festival – Searching For The Golden Nuggets – Comedy
Comedy
Part game show, part comic adventure, Grab for the Golden Nuggets invites audiences into a playful world of risk, greed and unexpected generosity. Filled with improvisation, audience participation and absurd twists, this lively performance balances chaos with warmth and delight beautifully.
Friday 10th July 2026 | 3pm
Totnes Fringe Festival – Humans in the Loop – Musical
Theatre
A fast, funny musical exploring the people driving the AI revolution. From earworms to touching solos Humans in the Loop blends satire, original music and chaos into a human story about technology, ambition and survival.
Friday 10th July 2026 | 7pm
Totnes Fringe Festival – How I Went to Every Supermarket in the World – Comedy
Comedy
For ten years, Dan has travelled the world recording prices from every supermarket in the world into a Dictaphone. From apples to cheese, this strange, funny and unexpectedly human story explores obsession, routine and global economics.
Friday 10th July 2026 | 9:30pm
Totnes Fringe Festival – Look Busy – Comedy
Comedy
When robots take our jobs, what happens next? Judie Boom blends stand-up and surreal props with Black Mirror-esque storytelling. A funny, hopeful solo show exploring AI, automation and the future of work.
Saturday 11th July 2026 | 1pm
Totnes Fringe Festival – Running Commentary – Spoken Word/Comedy
Comedy,Spoken Word/Literary
41-year-old poet P Burton-Morgan finds themselves newly single and keen to join the local running club. This solo show is a silly, sweaty, sexy romp - don’t forget to stretch first!
Saturday 11th July 2026 | 4pm
Totnes Fringe Festival – The Great Divinator – Comedy/Magic
Comedy
Fake moustache. Real mindreading. This combines outrageous comedy, impossible predictions and audience participation inside a chaotic evening of theatrical deception. Expect quick wit, unexpected revelations and playful absurdity from a performer delighting in mystery and mischief.
Saturday 11th July 2026 | 7pm
Totnes Fringe Festival – Full Frontal Mikey Mode – Comedy
Comedy
Comedian Mikey delivers a glorious hour of clowning, awkwardness and freakish charm. The show embraces vulnerability, absurdity and playful audience connection, creating comedy that feels simultaneously ridiculous, heartfelt and joyfully unpredictable from beginning to end.
Saturday 11th July 2026 | 9pm
Totnes Fringe Festival – The Skin Show – Theatre
Theatre
THE SKIN SHOW Fringe Future Winner: Part folk-horror séance, part surreal cabaret, this blends dark comedy, drag energy and unsettling storytelling into a strange theatrical ritual. Tender, eerie and funny, this performance explores identity, transformation and the things we hide beneath the surface.
Sunday 12th July 2026 | 2pm
Totnes Fringe Festival – Superstar in Therapy – Theatre
Theatre
A former pop icon confronts fame, identity and reinvention inside this intimate solo performance. Blending music, storytelling and dark humour, Superstar in Therapy explores celebrity culture, personal collapse and survival with warmth, vulnerability and emotional honesty.
Sunday 12th July 2026 | 6pm
Totnes Fringe Festival – Plain Bob – Family Show
Theatre
Plain Bob is a joyful puppet show for younger audiences, filled with humour, original music and visual storytelling. Using puppetry, mime and playfulness, this performance celebrates imagination, curiosity and the extraordinary possibilities hidden within ordinary moments.
Sunday 12th July 2026 | 11:30am
Totnes Fringe Festival – An Evening with Roberta Calamari – Comedy
Comedy
Ink-redible news! Roberta is back with her cabaret extravaganza — An Evening with Roberta Calamari! With her dazzling vocals, scandalous comedy, and sequins for days. She’ll serving enough camp to qualify as a national park! See you there, squids!
Sunday 12th July 2026 | 9:30pm
Poets and Pints Open Mic
Spoken Word/Literary
Come on down and sign up to read your poem or just relax with a pint/glass of vino/OR ginger beer for a fun evening of poetry at the mic. This month's featured poet is Collette Hurley.
Monday 13th July 2026 | 7:30pm
Free Garden Party with Mabonman + Guest DJ Anandi Rama
Club/DJs
MABONMAN is joined by guest DJ ANANDI RAMA. Expect the usual genre-bending rhythms, sunny vibes and fresh pints in the beer garden.
Friday 17th July 2026 | 7pm-11:30pm
Free Garden Party with Mabonman + Guest DJ VYTL
Club/DJs
MABONMAN is joined by guest DJ VYTL. Expect the usual genre-bending rhythms, sunny vibes and fresh pints in the beer garden.
Saturday 18th July 2025 | 7pm-11:30pm
Sing-Along-Sunday with Andy Hill
Live Music,Community
Join Andy Hill for a jolly good sing-along around the Library Bar piano. Expect popular hits from the 60s to the 90s, Disney, showtunes, Beatles, ABBA and oodles of guilty-pleasure pop
Sunday 19th July 2025 | 5pm-8pm
Chris Brain
Live Music
Chris Brain is a Yorkshire-based folk singer-songwriter whose work sits firmly in the British pastoral tradition, shaped by close attention to place, memory and emotional nuance.
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Sign up to our newsletter to be kept up to date with all the amazing entertainment coming to the Barrel House Ballroom and Totnes Brewing Co.
Plus, every month you'll automatically be entered into a draw to win a pair of free tickets to any Barrel House Ballroom gig of your choice and two free welcome drinks!
Ensure our email address is added to your address book so updates and notifications don't end up in your junk folder.
