Far from the ‘cultural wasteland’ frequently derided down south, the north east boasts a flourishing literary scene.

And so it was proven on the night of Wednesday 25 November 2009, deep within the innards of the purple-tinged glass and concrete behemoth that is Stockton’s Arc.

For it was here that Geordie stand-up poet Scott Tyrrell, self-confessed “Renaissanceman from Newcastle-upon-Tyne” Jeff Price and soft-spoken singer-guitarist Nev Clay, all under the curatorial watch of BBC Radio 4 poetess-in-residence Kate Fox, united for the year’s second helping of live literary showcase ‘Articulate’.

For all the highbrow cultural pretensions, however, the audience were clearly open to a dose of the mainstream; Fox’s ardent televisual pastime ‘Doctor Who’ providing the inspirational spine for her opening piece ‘Theory of Relativity’. Here, the night’s hostess waxed lyrical over the prospect of being Lord Tennant’s lover, Matt Smith’s sister – and, ultimately most distressingly, the Doctor’s mother. Thankfully, the tone promptly lightened; following a brief “strumming of the pink ukulele” (please don’t ask…), Fox returned to the Doctor with ‘Every Planet has a North’ – a northern identity poem inspired by an early quip of Tennant’s predecessor, Christopher Ecclestone.

Identity, speaking of which, proved a concept fundamental to the night’s following performer; member of the Poetry Vandals and former school exam invigilator, Jeff Price. And perhaps unsurprisingly, his receding hairline became a particularly pertinent subject – in his account of a chinwag with a female coffee shop employee in Newcastle, ‘Central Station Café’ – before the pervy ruminations of young men around his five daughters came under scrutiny in the scathing ‘Father’s Rules’. And finally, Price ended on a rather politically incorrect note with ‘The Racist in the Next Bed’; dispensing soundbites from a disturbingly potty-mouthed former hospital inmate.

Following a quick succession of enthralling open mike performances – including the mythically-inspired fable of Teesside University Live Literature Society chair Pamela Golden, ‘The Golden Touch’ – the stage was set for foremost Tyneside stand-up poet, Scott Tyrrell. And what an array of thrilling life experiences inspire his poetry: from dieting in the aspirational ‘Loser’ to the tribulations of flat room sex in the frenetic ‘Coitus Interruptus’. Closing his stint, meanwhile, was a tenth anniversary tribute to that mercurial symbol of North East England, the Angel of the North – poor Anthony Gormley on the receiving end of a particularly painful poetic battering.

It was approaching quarter past ten, and the night was coming to a close – but not before crooner Nev Clay, Tyneside’s “Bruce Stringsteen, except without a dodgy ‘Dancing in the Dark’ period”, trotted out several aural numbers. These included ‘Pear-shaped’, a commentary on the trials and difficulties of modern football; promptly followed by ‘Staff Room’, a chronicle of primary school bliss and a seven year old’s developing crush on his alluring teacher. Hardly a surprise, then, to see the soon-to-be-departing crowd finally erupting in applause; and hostess Kate Fox wishing the throng good night to wrap up a sterling two hours of north east literary talent.

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