Thinking of Happiness Etc with Laskey & Son

Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th September 2025 

Tickets: £18 (£15 under 18s & students)

Saturday 13th September 7.30pm

Sunday 14th September 2.30pm

Tickets available HERE , by phoning 01728 454022 or in person Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 10-12pm at the AJH corner office.

Join us for the launch of a heartening, ever-evolving collaborative theatre project – a kaleidoscope of poetry, music, dance, video, swifts…

About Thinking of Happiness Etc

Michael and Jack Laskey’s Thinking of Happiness Etc is a unique father and son collaboration.

Michael is a T S Eliot Prize shortlisted poet. Two of his collections are Poetry Book Society Recommendations.

‘Michael Laskey is one of England’s finest poets you’ve probably never heard of.’ – Sir Stephen Fry

‘Laskey is his own man – so when I compare him to Larkin and Heaney it is merely to place him in the company he deserves.’ – Craig Raine

Michael has never made a piece of theatre before. At the heart of the production, Michael will read his plain-speaking poems. A simple poem can be found below.

Michael’s poems will be accompanied by: live music, dance, projected live video, and foley sound effects. The professional experience of the ensemble working with Michael is extensive and far-reaching.

Theatre is Michael’s third son Jack’s first love. He’s directing Thinking of Happiness Etc. His intention with the production is to create some warming limelight to bathe his 80-year-old father in.

Jack is a multi-disciplinary artist. He is Artistic Director of creative arts company Spielhouse – who currently have various theatre productions in development. Jack has worked internationally as an actor for the past 22 years – after training at RADA.

‘Jack Laskey… lights up the stage.’ Michael Billington, The Guardian.

After an Arts Council England grant, Michael and Jack started collaborating on this project – with the aim of expanding the reach of Michael’s poetry. The fruits of this research and development period form part of Thinking of Happiness Etc.

All the work on the project is being recorded – so Jack can make future versions of their ever-evolving show – with his dad appearing in video projection. Jack plans to meet his father in front of audiences when he reaches 80 himself.

In 2026 Michael and Jack hope to mount an East Anglian tour of the show – followed by a small National Tour in 2027. They are also in discussions about a run of some weeks at a theatre.

Central to the touring project are creative community workshops – which begin in Spring next year. Eventually there will be a touring exhibition – co-created by workshop participants, Michael, Jack and the Thinking of Happiness Etc ensemble.

Alongside his own writing, Michael Laskey a ‘champion of contemporary poetry’ – teacher, mentor, workshop leader, editor.

In 2015 he was awarded the British Empire Medal for Services to Poetry.

Almost all Michael’s work life has been on a voluntary basis – including founding and directing The Aldeburgh International Poetry Festival, which ran for 26 years – 23 of which were at the Jubilee Hall – making the hall the logical and best place for the Thinking Of Happiness Etc project to launch from.

Michael lives Suffolk with his wife, who was a GP. He was mainly responsible for looking after their three sons when they were growing up.

Please support this project via their Crowd Funder HERE

Sample Poem
From The Tightrope Wedding, Michael Laskey, 1999

The Last Swim

September, October… one thing
you don’t know at the time is when
you’ve had your last swim: the weather
may hold, may keep nudging you in.
Only afterwards, sometimes days on,
it dawns on you that you’ve done:
just the thought of undressing outdoors,
exposing bare skin, makes you wince.
And that’s best, to have gone on swimming
easily to the end: your crawl
full of itself, and the future
no further than your folded towel.

 

Doors open half an hour before the performance starts.