A SPECIAL performance of Clive Parker-Sharp’s show "Coneboy", adapted from his semi-autobiographical novel, will re-open the live events programme at Crediton Arts Centre on Saturday, September 25 (7.30pm).

Clive was the drummer with punk pioneers "The Members and Spizz Energi", and a founder member of “Big Country”. He has since turned to writing, "Coneboy" being his second novel after the success of “The Box”.

Elsbeth and Django’s holistic home-birthing goes badly wrong, and the resultant severely disabled progeny is likened to young "Elephant Man".

The tabloid press lap up the story, and the baby is christened "ConeBoy" due to its deformity.

Clive explains that the tale isn’t really about disability, it’s about the media.

“In a way ConeBoy is the only normal one in this kind of maelstrom that surrounds him. It’s about how he is treated by his family and is treated by the media.

"It’s a kind of comparison between then and now, what the media was like then and how the newspapers and the music papers and the printing press ruled. Now it’s social media.

"What I’m doing is I’m comparing the different generations of media and the knock on to the family. The fact is that the child ConeBoy is a sort of rock in this storm that is going off around him.”

“It’s a family story in essence,” he continues. “The child is a foil that teases out this family story and I think that’s very relevant now with what’s happening in the media. The shows that we’re putting on kind of develop that theme. The shows are a sort of Shakespearean tragedy souped up on Jeremy Kyle. They take from that kind of poetic rhythm lead narrative of Shakespeare and draw it into a very kind of mainstream media place.”

Tickets are free, but must be booked in advance due to limited numbers. Tickets can be booked at: www.ticketsource.co.uk/creditonartscentre .