THEATRE Royal Stratford East presents an innovative artistic experiment next week. Spoke-Lab has been developing for more than a year and involves spoken word artists exploring how their chosen art-form might fuse with theatre to create a new wave of expr

THEATRE Royal Stratford East presents an innovative artistic experiment next week.

Spoke-Lab has been developing for more than a year and involves spoken word artists exploring how their chosen art-form might fuse with theatre to create a new wave of expression.

Now, three of the artists involved will share the results of their work so far.

Performed over three consecutive nights (one on each night) World Poetry Slam Champion Kat Francois, emerging artist Nick Makoha and poetry veteran Roger Robinson each bring us new work of a thought-provoking, and sometimes deeply personal, nature.

In Raising Lazarus, on Thursday, September 10, 7.30pm, Kat tells the true story of her great-grandfather's cousin, Lazarus Francois, a World War One soldier who, in 1915, left Grenada to fight for England.

Raising Lazarus takes listeners on a journey through stories lost and found, weaving a tale of broken hearts, memorable characters, mystery, racism and finally the ultimate sacrifice.

It's a unique snapshot of a time in history which had all but been buried and forgotten.

My Father & Other Superheroes, on Friday, September 11, 7.30pm, is Nick's honest revelation of how pop culture raised him in the absence of his father.

He looks back on his childhood through the mirror of nostalgia.

Over the Dune, on Saturday, September 12, at 7.30pm is Roger's poignant tale of a soldier returning from Iraq, who in trying to dissuade a young misfit from joining the army, reveals his own guilty contribution to the conflict.

As topical as it is moving, Over the Dune asks soul-wrenching questions about whose job it is to make final moral judgments.

Spoke-Lab is directed by Dawn Reid and will be performed in the studio space at the theatre in Gerry Raffles Square, Stratford.