Spoken Word

Storytelling

I love getting in front of an audience to tell folktales from around the world. Though I can deliver a wide range of moods and styles, I do have a preference for the darker stories…

I have performed at festivals, in bookshops and even in a tower. I’ve given talks to schoolchildren on folklore and storytelling, and held workshops for adults with Space for Storytelling on creating a one-person spoken word show.

While I can spin a yarn with nothing but myself on stage, I’ve also collaborated with experimental sound artist Sinister Masterplan for evenings of multisensory fun.

“Loizou has the most masterful
pacing to his stories”

Stephen Walker, Buxton Fringe

Performing at the Tell Yours showcase in 2018. Photo by Tomáš D’Aradia.

You can watch me tell one of my favourite horrible little stories: The Fairy Follower.

Beware those good folk…

Island of Love

NOMINEE: Spoken Word and New Writing
(Buxton Fringe 2024)

Cyprus. Birthplace of Aphrodite. An island of beauty, divided by war. Buxton Fringe New Writing Award-winner Polis Loizou presents an intimate new show, weaving biographical storytelling with mythology and folklore to explore his identity, his family and his complex motherland.

Beginning with the birth of the country’s infamous goddess, ‘Island Of Love’ takes the audience on a journey of love, desire, sexuality… and war. From tales of outlaws and bridal kidnappings to fatness and French nutriotionists, holy houses and conversion therapy to nationalism and division, the various faces of Cyprus are revealed.

  • “A fascinating, carefully constructed story, told in Polis’s warm, mellifluous tones. […] Accessible, inclusive, personal and touching, a warm hug of a theatrical experience.”

    Buxton Fringe review

  • “Intelligent, imaginative, thoughtful and illuminating.”

    Just Saw This…

Inn Crowd Commission

In 2020 I was commissioned to write a biographical storytelling show as part of Inn Crowd – a great initiative to tour pieces to rural pub venues. And if it seems familiar, that’s because it was the early iteration of what become the more complex Island of Love (above).

Polis Loizou’s Love Island

Life feels a bit like a movie when you grow up on The Island of Love. Especially when there is a vendetta being waged around you, brides are kidnapped from their homes under cover of night, and you find you have suspiciously famous ancestors. This is the Cyprus of Polis Loizou’s childhood, and he weaves it into an hour of funny, surprising, and unforgettable storytelling.

Past Performances

31st March, The Art Bank, Shepton Mallet
1st April, The Black Swan, Langport
28th May, The White Lion, Selling
18th June, First Light Festival, Lowestoft

Photo by Neil Munro

Awards & Nominations

  • NEW WRITING (NOMINATED): And Other Creatures (Buxton Fringe 2025)

  • SPOKEN WORD (NOMINATED): And Other Creatures (Buxton Fringe 2025)

  • NEW WRITING (NOMINATED): Island of Love (Buxton Fringe 2024)

  • SPOKEN WORD (NOMINATED): Island of Love (Buxton Fringe 2024)

Poetry

Photo by Bridie Squires

In 2021, I joined Nottingham’s GOBS Collective – a group of spoken word artists who offer exciting events and workshops. I was selected for their 12-week development programme, which culminated with a showcase. My piece was This, a video poem.

We then went on to create Full Moon, a collaborative spoken word performance, staged during Nottingham Poetry Festival in 2022.

I’ve only shared a few of my poems at local events (Spraybox at Hockley Hustle, and SMUT! Verbal Burlesque), but Full Moon gave me a taste of multimedia-based perofrmance poetry.