Category Archives: Blog

Ladies in Lavender – Grange Players, Walsall

Posted on March 21, 2017 by garylongden

*****   Although a successful film release at the cinema in 2004, the stage adaptation is recent (2012) . This has the disadvantage that it is unfamiliar, but  the advantage that it provides a pretty blank canvas for a Director. … Continue reading →

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A Streetcar Named Desire – Sutton Arts Theatre

Posted on March 15, 2017 by garylongden

****   This multiple prize winning drama from Tennessee Williams rightly remains a favourite with audiences and theatrical companies alike. It is also hugely challenging. Its reputation guarantees a good house, but the roster of actors who have taken parts, … Continue reading →

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What Do Serious Poets Do?

Posted on February 8, 2017 by garylongden

I am fortunate. I have been Staffordshire Poet Laureate, I curate the long running Poetry Alight in Lichfield and my poetry has taken me from  Malvern to Stornoway, from Shrewsbury to Leicester. Along the way I have met some fabulous … Continue reading →

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The Problem With Poetry

Posted on February 8, 2017 by garylongden

I like poetry. I like it best read aloud, maybe in a pub or café. Sometimes I enjoy reading it when I am alone. Yet I hear, and read, much poetry that I do not care for much. I don’t … Continue reading →

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A Letter on America

Posted on January 20, 2017 by garylongden

  I have always felt a relationship with America. As a child I lived in the USA, as an adult I have holidayed there. As an Englishman living in the United Kingdom, the effect of America culturally and politically has … Continue reading →

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The 40th Anniversary of David Bowie’s “Low”

Posted on January 15, 2017 by garylongden

  Today is the 40th anniversary of the release of an album now regarded as being seminal in the popular music cannon, but which was divided opinion on its release. I thought it deserved a reflection.  I remember well purchasing … Continue reading →

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Simon Scarrow

Posted on October 7, 2016 by garylongden

As a schoolboy I was very fortunate to study Latin to O level. Even then, in the 1970’s, as a subject it was on the edge of the curriculum, with a reputation for being arcane, and dry. The caricature of … Continue reading →

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BBC Bowie at the Proms

Posted on August 14, 2016 by garylongden

I was, and am, a huge David Bowie fan. I caught the sound of  Mick Ronson ’s guitar solo on “Moonage Daydream” drifting from my friend’s bedroom window in the summer of 73, had to find out who it was, … Continue reading →

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Top Twenty Symphonies

Posted on August 14, 2016 by garylongden

My relationship with classical music has been erratic. As a young child I was aware of the textural glories of the sound, but the burgeoning, accessible, immediate pop sounds all around me resulted in my abandoning any interest. As adulthood … Continue reading →

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Inspirational Writing Workshop – Longton Church

Posted on August 9, 2016 by garylongden

  I have run writing and poetry workshops in a wide variety of venues to a wide variety of audiences, including children,  prisoners, and pensioners, to the committed, and curious. This was my first workshop at Longton, it was open to Church … Continue reading →

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