Performance poet and author Jackie Morrey-Grace has brought together a team of creatives to stage an immersive theatre show blending her poetic performance with music, movement, masks and magic.

Anabelle’s Adventures celebrates the official book launch of Jackie’s first collection, ‘There are Worse Places to Hide than Inside Secrets’, featuring more than 60 performance pieces, all of which are tied together by the character of Anabelle.

Alongside Jackie, the theatrical show on Friday, March 8 will feature Amy Howse’s Soundology, musicians Virgil and Luna, and dancer Owen Atkinson.

Art therapist Fern Callister will also be helping with the masks and former ballerina Olwen Maurer is the show’s artistic director.

Jackie told Island Life: ‘Over the last few years, I’ve been blessed to receive Arts Council funding to help me create four books and so tie up all my poetic work to date.

‘There are Worse Places to Hide than Inside Secrets is the third of these but my first collection.

‘However, as a performer and multimedia artist, I wanted the book to encompass more than just poetry.

‘It was from this, that alongside QR codes to various videos and recordings, my ink illustrations developed into a character I named Anabelle.’

The book is dedicated to Without Wings, a Manx charity which seeks to support people living with autoimmune conditions that affect the joints.

As a result, Anabelle was originally supposed to be a dancer to represent the concept of movement as a privilege but instead she developed her own story.

Jackie said: ‘It is this which guides the reader through the various sections of the book as Anabelle explores the transformative - and occasionally mischievous - power of creativity in the face of challenge.’

She described the show and official book launch both as an extension of this story and ‘an opportunity to do something wildly collaborative and exciting, a show designed to seamlessly blend my own poetic performance with music, movement, masks and magic’.

Jackie said: ‘As a jazz trained musician, I selected the whole team for their ability to work interactively and intuitively to create a full immersive experience for our audience, who will also receive an extra treat during the show from which we’ll create Penny’s Pocketful of Secrets’ poem.

‘Despite my musical training, it took severe health trauma for my own creative portal to truly open – leading to slam wins and festival stages and taking my life in directions I never knew possible.

‘Anabelle’s Adventures is therefore ultimately about the intrinsic value of human creativity and how creative process, when undertaken in the spirit of authenticity and collaboration, as opposed to competition and comparison, can gift people the freedom to face practically any challenge.’

A Penny Production, Anabelle’s Adventures will take place at the Erin Arts Centre, in Port Erin, on Friday, March 8, at 7.30pm.

Tickets cost £12 and are available from www.erinartscentre.com

Follow @pennyproductionsiom for more events, including spoken word club and open mics.