Presented as part of Durham Book Festival
Following his travels across England knocking on strangers’ doors as the world’s first Door-to-Door Poet in 2019, best-selling performance poet Rowan McCabe returns to the stage with Hard Knocks, a show of comedy and spoken word about community and connection, lifting the lid on the people he met on his travels and his unconventional career path with tales of mistaken identity, odes to rebellious snails, and time-travelling public officials.
Rowan McCabe is a poet from Newcastle upon Tyne. He has written for Channel 4, BBC Radio 3’s The Verb and, in 2022, the National Trust published a collection of his poetry in honour of William Wordsworth’s 250th birthday. In September 2025, Rowan’s first full-length book, The Door-to-Door Poet, was published by Eye Books. It was featured in the Guardian, on Loose Ends, and on BBC Breakfast.
Rowan has performed across the UK, including at Glastonbury Festival and the Royal Albert Hall. He has been an associate artist at Live Theatre Newcastle and, in 2014, his one-person show, North East Rising, sold out at Northern Stage and was given four stars from the Journal.
Tickets
£10 (£9 concession), £5 livestream
