Joanna Skelt

Posted on March 27, 2018 by garylongden

 

Joanna

Joanna accepting her Laureateship Award

 

One of the unattractive aspects of growing older is that increasing numbers of people whom you know die. I was saddened today to learn of the death of a past Birmingham Poet Laureate, Joanna Skelt. I did not know her well, but we met on several occasions, during which she was free and generous with her time, and impressed with her intellect and poetic craft. She was one who eluded me for “Poetry Alight”, she was never available for when I had a slot, due to work and child care commitments.

 
The following obituary from The Guardian is an eloquent appreciation by her friend, Mandy Ross:

My friend Joanna Skelt, who has died of cancer aged 49, explored writing as an expression of conflict and identity. As Birmingham’s poet laureate in 2013-14, she found inspiration in the city’s diversity and restless energy.

 
She brought the electric excitement of the Blackpool illuminations to a live-poetry Christmas lights switch-on in Stirchley, ran writing workshops that linked schools from Freetown, Sierra Leone, with the city, and worked with musicians from Symphony Hall. In Connected Journeys, the title poem of her 2014 collection, she wrote of Birmingham:

 

The city a kaleidoscope, a daring embroidery
Spread out like spokes, a web, itself a giant wheel
each of us carrying
Wrapped inside ourselves
Our own threads and journeys
Each of us an infinitesimal part
Such that every wrong, tear or break is ours too
Stitched into the very tapestry of us.

 
Born in Staffordshire, to Diana (nee Hankey) and Ralph Skelt, a science teacher, Jo spent her early childhood in Cornwall. They moved to Great Gransden, Cambridgeshire, for her father’s work and Jo went to Longsands college, St Neots (1979-84), then Cambridge College of Art and Technology (1984-86) before studying politics at Hull University.

 
After graduation in 1990 she returned to Cambridge to work as a project officer for the International Extension College, which supported educational initiatives in developing countries. In 1997 she travelled to Freetown to research peace education following the civil war there, for her MA thesis at University of Kent the same year.

 
She continued to work in this area, with projects in youth and community work, writing and training, both home and abroad. In 2003 she set up Arena for Change International, a small NGO to promote social participation as a means of preventing conflict.

 
In 2014 she completed the PhD on the social function of writing in postwar Sierra Leone that she undertook at Birmingham University, and two years later returned to its department of African studies and anthropology as a teaching fellow. She also wrote social studies and citizenships books for schools in countries including Jamaica, Ethopia, Ghana and Sierra Leone for Macmillan Education.

 
She was poet-in-residence in eight schools in Freetown and in Birmingham (2009-10). While in Sierra Leone, she also established a writers’ network and, as an amateur saxophonist, played jazz with local musicians.

 
A solo parent with a young daughter, Jo had a gift for gathering friends. She bought a caravan she named Dotty, for weekends out of the city and found community with the Unitarians.

 
Jo was treated for breast cancer in 2015. When it returned in November 2017, she began a blog, describing writing as a form of agency, “re-tessellating pain … into something which contains beauty (if only in broken shards)”.

 
Jo is survived by her daughter, her parents, and her brother.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/mar/25/joanna-skelt-obituary

 

Posted in Blog | Leave a comment

My Ten Favourite Albums

Posted on March 19, 2018 by garylongden

Mal Dewhirst has been promoting “My ten favourite albums of all time”, along with Gary Carr and Jayne Stanton. Just ten was agonising. Favourite? But there are so many. How coud I leave out David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust” and “Low”, or Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” or Dylan’s “Blood on the Tracks”, to name but a few. One a day? Can’t be bothered with that. No explanation? I’m a writer. But I liked the idea, so here goes:

Crosby Stills Nash & Young – Déjà vu

The first album I ever bought, and it still sounds fresh today. Four hugely talented musicians, peerless harmonies, great songs. Stephen Stills claims that it took 800 hours of recording time as each session was recorded independently by each musician. Stand out track? “Carry on.”

The Who – Quadrophenia

Most “concept” rock albums fail. This does not. It genuinely takes the listener on a rock operatic joyrney, easily eclipsing its more famous younger sibling “Tommy”. Stand out track? Love Reign O’er Me

Deaf School – Second Honeymoon

Every top ten needs an off- beat inclusion. This is mine. Deaf School were brilliant. Arty, clever, innovative, supremely talented, but thwarted by their rise coinciding with Punk, which swamped them. I saw then live, they were terrific. Band members Winstanley and Langer made a fortune producing the likes of Elvis Costello and Madness. Stand out track? “Get Set Ready Go”

Pink Floyd- Dark Side of the Moon

Amongst the first pop albums that deserved to be listened to as an entity. Everyone had a copy. No-one was quite sure what it all meant, but we all knew that we liked it. The 45m copies sold worldwide would more of less given every person in the UK a copy at that time- and it felt as though every person had bought it! Stand out track? “Us and Them”

Elvis Costello & The Attractions – This Year’s Model

Elvis was a Stiff. This was his second album, but the first with the Attractions, it bristles with short, sharp, catchy songs, and witty lyrics. Stand out track? “No Action”

Thin Lizzy – Live & Dangerous

One of the best ever live albums despite the fact that not all of it may have been live takes. But that does not matter. Not only does it capture the essence of a Lizzy show, it captures the essence of a live rock show. And may not have ben bettered as such. Stand out track? “Don’t Believe a Word”

Primal Scream- Screamadelica

A perfect acid house album cohesive, and always best listened to from start to finish, the band I have seen live the most times. Their syncretic approach to music can delight and irritate in equal measure, but here, the balance is just right Stand out track? Higher than the Sun

Suede – Dog Man Star

The last record with Bernard Butler’s guitar and song writing, this is a magnificent, textured album, dramatic, ambitious and lush. As a band they careered between indie, hip, commercial and pop. Stand out track? Asphalt World.

Duffy – Rockferry

Essentially a Duffy/ Bernard Butler collaboration, the latter produced and co wrote for the album. Languid, louche, and husky, Duffy breathes her way through the songs, oozing lament and hiraeth . Stand out track “Rockferry”

The Verve – Urban Hymns

Singer songwriter Richard Ashcroft is a self -confident, arrogant, twat. But when you have this much talent you can afford to be. His ambition of a collection of urban hymns is realised in one of the great albums of all time. Stand out track? Lucky Man.

Posted in Blog | Leave a comment

Trump, Brexit & Beyond – Paul Francis

Posted on March 18, 2018 by garylongden

book cover

Paul Francis is an inveterate, irrepressible, poet. His content and preferred topics are contemporary, his choice of form traditional. His poems are conversational in style, it is as though you are sitting down in a pub with him. “So Paul, what do you think of Trump/ Brexit?” And out pops a poem. The rhyme is deceptive, the invective sweetened, he skewers his targets with a smile.

 

paul

Paul Francis

 

We are treated to twenty four poems covering three chapters, Trump, Brexit ,and Beyond, using the discipline of the likes of ballads, villanelles and sonnets. I am waiting for him to use a rondeaux redouble for a Macron poem. The politics is left of centre, but not slavishly so. His barbs claw under the flesh for their veritas, he eschews a soft target, a cheap shot. A friend used to declare; “There are two things I hate, firstly unjustified criticism, and secondly unjustified criticism which might be justified.” It is the latter which makes Paul’s work so effective and enjoyable, whatever your personal politics, whoever the target.

 

Nigel-Farage

Brexiteer in Chief – Nigel Farage

 

From the first, Brexit,  chapter “The Ballad of Jo Cox” struck me. Ballads are wonderful for telling a story, their insistent rhythm carrying the listener along, the easy rhyming couplets providing continuity.

“The campaign’s getting nasty, there’s poison in the air
And some of it is lodging in the head of Thomas Mair
God knows just what he’s thinking as he’s lying there in wait
But she’s the perfect target, the love he has to hate”

These four lines illustrate his style so well, it is from the oral tradition. Abbreviation is fine, shorthand like “getting”, instead of becoming, work because this is a living story, not an epitaph in stone.

 

trump 1

Mr Modesty – Donald Trump

 

In the second chapter, Paul attempts a first person address from Trump himself, and pulls it off with, “The President Speaks to the Nation”. A montage of sound bites, mercilessly assembled, some real, some fake, to create an authentic tableau of real and fake news. As I read the poem I heard Trump’s voice, not Paul’s.

Beyond

 

The Beyond chapter is a catch- all for everything else, but no less interesting.  In “Bonfire of the Certainties” lampoons the media’s lampooning of Corbyn, offering a rather welcome optimistic note for the future in the hands of the young.

At thirty- five pages, plus notes, this is a comfortable one session read. It is also probably best read in one chunk too. It is a mood piece. Paul puts the message first, the narrative presides over the form, you never have the feeling that the words are a slave to the form. This is no crepuscular dirge, it is quite cheerful and bright in its dissection of the great and not so good.

To buy: http://www.paulfranciswrites.co.uk/

 

Posted in Blog | Tagged | Leave a comment

Inspired in Caersws FESTIVAL – Mid Wales, 21/22nd April 2018

Posted on March 15, 2018 by garylongden

MWAC-large-free-off-road-parking-400x266

I want to do a feature on this forthcoming wonderful festival. Gregory Leadbetter was one of the star turns of Lichfield’s Poetry Alight in 2017, David Calcutt and Keith Chandler, who are appearing on July 2nd and May 22nd respectively, have similar promise for 2018. All three appear at this festival.

http://fairacrepress.co.uk/inspired-in-caersws-festival/

Mid Wales Arts
Inspired in Caersws FESTIVAL : Ysbrydoledig yng Nghaersws
WHAT? A poetry, music and art festival – co-hosted by Fair Acre Press with Mid Wales Arts
WHEN? 21 – 22 April 2018
WHERE? Mid Wales Arts, Maesmawr, Caersws, Newtown SY17 5SB It is, if coming from Newtown, on the right – directly off the A470 and just after you have crossed the railway line. Free plentiful parking.
WHY? Cathy Knapp set up Mid Wales Arts ten years ago. It is also the weekend of the death of John Ceiriog Hughes – whose desire for “simplicity of diction & emotional sincerity” has been the cornerstone for this festival’s programming
WHAT? Workshops, Performances (both in English and Welsh), Open Mike, and on the 20th April a Children’s workshop and performance at the local primary school
WHO? David Calcutt, Keith Chandler, Diane Drummond, Menna Elfyn, Marlis Jones, Gill Lambert, Gregory Leadbetter, Robert Minhinnick, Delma Thomas, Andrew Warren, Casia William and You
HOW? We are so grateful to the Arts Council Wales whose support through public funding has made this festival possible, allowed us to keep the ticket prices low while paying the workshop leaders and performers a fair wage
PROGRAMME
Saturday 21st April, 2018
15:00 – 17:00 (3 to 5 pm) Poetry Workshop with Gill Lambert £6
19:30 – 22:00 (7:30 to 10pm) Robert Minhinnick, Menna Elfyn, Diane Drummond and band £12
Sunday 22nd April, 2018
11:00 – 13:000 (11 am to 1pm) Poetry Workshop with Gregory Leadbetter £6
14:00 – 14:30 (2 to 2:30pm) CERDD A CHAN – A celebration of John ‘Ceiriog’ Hughes £3
15:00 – 17:00 (3 to 5pm)David Calcutt, Keith Chandler & Gregory £6
17:30 – 19:00 (5:30 to 7pm) OPEN MIKE – You £Free

ACCESSIBLE? Mid Wales Arts has been inspected and deemed fully accessible. However they are currently converting a barn where all the readings and open mike will take place. If all goes well with the building work – this will be wheelchair-accessible and will have hearing loop system installed in time for this festival but please do check if either of these are essential for your enjoyment by contacting Nadia at fairacrepress@gmail.com Thanks
PARKING? There will be free plentiful parking – including some Disabled Parking spaces
TRAIN? There is a train station in Caersws
WHAT SHOULD YOU BRING? Appropriate clothing for whatever April sends our way. Maybe a cushion for the chairs which are firm. There will be homemade food, hot and cold drinks, cakes, and alcohol-in-the-evening for sale – but bring what else you want.
A notebook, your poems, and we will provide the inspiration! Oh and some cash in case you want to buy any books! (though we can probably cope with cheques and cards)

One of Mid Wales Arts’ workshop and exhibition
WELCOME !! CROESO !!
Below you will find the details of our INSPIRED IN CAERSWS Festival
(pronounce Caersws – Cire-soos)
A festival of poetry, art & music – for english speakers with some welsh language
John ‘Ceiriog’ Hughes
There will be readings, live music, participatory workshops, art viewings, and plenty of time to share ideas. The festival will be held in the galleries and new barn conversion at Mid Wales Arts.
Refreshments will be on sale and there will be a couple of stalls, including a bookstall.
This festival builds on the local interest in the nineteenth-century poet and lyricist John ‘Ceiriog’ Hughes who was station master at Caersws for the last 19 years of his life. In 2017 local teenagers and adults worked with ceramicists at Mid Wales Arts to create a full-size clay sculpture of him as part of their Sculpteen programme. This sculpture will be unveiled during the weekend, forming another part of the festival’s permanent legacy, alongside live-to-digital podcast recordings of the performances
Local children attending Mid Wales Arts’ pottery club have made figures from Welsh legends, which will be exhibited at the festival.
A professional group art exhibition, by artists from the Borderlands Visual Arts Group, titled ‘Nexus’; and a sculpture trail will form the backdrop and inspiration to activities.
There will be an Open Mike (bilingual), a ‘Ceiriog’ event (Cymraeg), and the Saturday evening event (bilingual) will certainly be a highlight as it features T.S. Eliot shortlisted Robert Minhinnick, the wonderful Bloodaxe Welsh language Menna Elfyn, and the stunning, accompanied, voice of Diane Drummond.

If you go to The Mid Wales Arts Centre’s website they will help you find campsites and B&Bs, and local eateries – as you may well be interested in staying over and enjoying the local landscape. You will also see some of the amazing activities, exhibitions and events that Cathy has made happen in the past ten years. She has most definitely enriched my life and so many others… but bear with her.. she is in the middle of turning the big barn into a wonderful performance arena so she may be a little slow getting this information up for you x

THE PROGRAMME
Saturday 21st April, 2018
15:00 – 17:00 (3 to 5 pm) NEXUS – THE NUB OF IT Poetry Workshop with Gill Lambert

Suitable for all levels.
A workshop using the exhibition ‘Nexus’ as inspiration. You will be examining the connections between poetry and art.
Gill has run many workshops with various titles and with many groups in education and community settings. She will ‘warm you up’ with some examples of poems based on and inspired by a piece of visual art and then set you loose – calling you back, too soon I imagine, to make certain the workshopping doesn’t end here. The workshop will be a supportive and encouraging space in which to respond to the different examples of art that will be available to you. There will be time at the end of the workshop to read your work if you want to.
(in English)
£6 plus eventbrite charges. 20 spaces.

19:30 – 22:00 (7:30 to 10pm) DON’T JUST HEAR, LISTEN – Robert Minhinnick, Menna Elfyn, Diane Drummond and band

Robert Minhinnick

Menna Elfyn
Readings by T.S.Eliot shortlisted Robert Minhinnick, Welsh language Menna Elfyn who Robert has translated, and the extraordinary voice and presence of Diane Drummond – with friends.
Ian McMillan missed not just his own train stop when reading The Diary of the Last Man – Robert Minhinnick’s 2017 TS Eliot-shortlisted book, but several. I can understand that. I could hardly breathe reading his poetry – which is spare with its language but filled with imagery and profound truths.
He is one of Menna Elfyn’s regular translators too so we will have the privilege of hearing both poet and translator read some of Menna’s poetry as well as Menna herself read English translations.
Menna Elfyn is an award winning poet and playwright and the most translated and travelled of all Welsh poets . She has written plays for television and radio and is the author of over 20 books. She is the first woman to be made Professor of Poetry & Creative Writing at University of Wales, Trinity Saint David; and is Honorary President of Wales PEN Cymru. Again – a master of words and truths and images you will dive right into.

Diane Drummond
Diane Drummond has the most amazing voice, and a generosity in her performance that you will be able to relax into – but not for long – you may cry, you may dance, and if you are like me you will most certainly whoop!
Joined by fellow musicians Peter Ryan on bass guitar and Marc Estibero on acoustic guitar. All 3 are accomplished musicians, sharing a love of their own personal styles added to their favourite songs.
The band plays and sings contemporary jazz, blues, gospel, soul, folk and all in between.
Diane’s voice has been described as a fine smooth and velvet chocolate with her own added notes in between.

“Don’t just hear, listen” – their motto but one I have purloined, with their permission, for the title of this whole event

£12 full price plus eventbrite charges
£8 concessions plus eventbrite charges

Sunday 22nd April, 2018
11:00 – 13:000 (11 am to 1pm) ‘THE PATH OF THE SOUND THROUGH THE AIR’ (S.T. Coleridge) Poetry Workshop with Gregory Leadbetter

Gregory Leadbetter

What can the contemporary poet learn from Samuel Taylor Coleridge?
In this workshop, poet and Coleridge scholar Dr Gregory Leadbetter will introduce you to key elements of Coleridge’s practice and thought as a poet, bringing to life the rich insights of a major poet and enabling you to apply techniques and principles drawn from Coleridge in poems of your own.
I am very excited about this workshop – as I personally find it hard to connect with the great dead poets and know that Greg’s extensive knowledge and practiced University teaching will inspire.
Suitable for all levels.
(in English)
£6 plus eventbrite charges. 20 spaces.

14:00 – 14:30 (2 to 2:30pm) CERDD A CHAN – A celebration of John ‘Ceiriog’ Hughes

Marlis Jones, Delma Thomas, Andy Warren

Delma Thomas and Marlis Jones yn darllen rhai o hoff gerddi Ceriog i gyfeiliant Andy Warren ar y ffliwt.

‘Poems and Airs’ – Delma Thomas and Marlis Jones reading some of their favourites poems by Ceiriog accompanied by Andy Warren on the flute.

(Bilingual Cymraeg/English)
£3 plus eventbrite charges

15:00 – 17:00 (3 to 5pm) Poetry in the Afternoon – David Calcutt, Keith Chandler & Gregory Leadbetter
Three of my favourite poets will read from their recent works. If you don’t know their poetry yet – I hope that you too will be as taken by it as I am. Three very different poetic approaches and voices – but each in keeping with ‘Ceriog’s desire for “simplicity of diction and emotional sincerity”

David Calcutt and The last of the light is not the last of the light
Keith Chandler and The Goldsmith’s Apprentice
“A wonderful and generous book. The poems welcome you in and hold your attention with their deftness, attentiveness and joy-in-making.” – David Morley
Gregory Leadbetter and The Fetch
“A collection full of quiet intent, testifying to “the overwhelming importance of love.”’ – Jo Bell

£6 plus eventbrite charges

17:30 – 19:00 (5:30 to 7pm) OPEN MIKE – You

 

the main house at Mid Wales Arts

A sharing of poems that you have written, this weekend or before, or poems by other people that you love.
No need to book a place beforehand just let me know from 5:15pm on the day
I (Nadia Kingsley) will host and can’t wait to hear your “offerings”
Am hoping to hear how inspired you have been in Caersws 🙂

Free entry.

BIOGS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER

David Calcutt

David Calcutt was born and lives in the West Midlands.
He has written many plays for both theatre and radio and published several novels and stories for children, as well as four pamphlets of poetry: Outlaws, Road Kill, Through the Woods, and The Old Man in the House of Bone.
The last of the light is not the last of the light (Fair Acre Press, 2018) is David Calcutt’s first full poetry collection. Not published until July 2nd, 2018 – it will be in print and available at this festival.

Keith Chandler

 

Keith Chandler moved to Bridgnorth from Norfolk seven years ago. Since being selected for Ten English Poets (Carcanet) in 1977, his poetry has been published in four collections: Kett’s Rebellion (Carcanet, 1982), A Passing Trade (OUP, 1991), A Different Kind of Smoke (Redbeck, 2001) and The English Civil War Part 2 (Peterloo Poets, 2009). A new collection, The Goldsmith’s Apprentice (Fair Acre Press), is published on April 28th, 2018 and is being launched at this festival.
After 40 years in East Anglia, where no one knows how to sing, Keith is looking forward to returning to Wales where his grandfather, James James, worked for over 40 years in the slate mines.

Diane Drummond

 

Diane Drummond is a “decorative” vocalist who provides diversity in the songs and sounds she delivers. Joined by fellow musicians Peter Ryan on bass guitar and Marc Estibero on acoustic guitar. All 3 are accomplished musicians, sharing a love of their own personal styles added to their favourite songs. The band performs in an engaging manner that entertains, dazzles and decisively wins over audiences. The band can be seen at commemorative events, corporate events, singing contemporary jazz, blues, gospel, soul, folk and all in between. Diane’s voice has been described as a fine smooth and velvet chocolate with her own added notes in between. They clearly share a love of music with an appreciation of the songwriters who’s songs they sensitively cover with their own decorative musical style.

Menna Elfyn © Marian Delyth
Menna Elfyn is one of the foremost Welsh-language writers. As well as being an award- winning poet, she has published plays, libretti and children’s novels, and co-edited The Bloodaxe Book of Modern Welsh Poetry (2003) with John Rowlands. Her books include two bilingual selections, Eucalyptus: Detholiad o Gerddi / Selected Poems 1978-1994 (Gomer Press, 1995), and Perfect Blemish: New & Selected Poems / Perffaith Nam: Dau Ddetholiad & Cherddi Newydd 1995-2007 (Bloodaxe Books, 2007), a Welsh-only selection Merch Perygl: Cerddi 1976-2011 (Gomer Press, 2011), and two later dual language collections from Bloodaxe, Murmur (2012), a Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation, and Bondo (October 2017). Her literary memoir Llyfr Menna Elfyn / Menna Elfyn’s Book will be published by Barddas in March 2018. Menna Elfyn was Wales’s National Children’s Laureate in 2002, and was made President of Wales PEN Cymru in 2014. She was, until 2016, Creative Director in the School of Cultural Studies at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David; she is also Professor of Poetry and Creative Writing. When not travelling the world for readings and residencies, she lives in Carmarthen.
Menna Elfyn yw un o feirdd mwyaf blaenllaw Cymru. Ar wahân i ennill gwobrau am ei barddoniaeth, y mae wedi cyhoeddi libretti, nofelau i blant ac wedi golygu ar y cyd gyda’r diweddar John Rowlands, The Bloodaxe Book of Modern Welsh Poetry (2003). Cyhoeddwyd dwy gyfrol ddwyieithog Eucalyptus: Detholiad o Gerddi/Selected Poems 1978-1994 ( Gwasg Gomer. 1995) a Perfect Blemish: New & Selected Poems/ Perffaith Nam:Dau Ddetholiad a Cherddi Newydd 1995- 2007 (Bloodaxe Books, 2007), cyfrol Gymraeg Merch Perygl: Cerddi 1976-2011 ( Gwasg Gomer, 2011), a dwy gyfrol ddwyieithog arall o wasg Bloodaxe, Murmur (2012) , a enillodd gymeradwyaeth Cymdeithas Llyfrau Barddoniaeth, a Bondo, ( Hydref 2017). Bydd ei LLên Gofiant, LLyfr Menna Elfyn yn ymddangos o Wasg Barddas ym mis Mawrth 2018. Bu’n Fardd Plant Cymru yn 2002 a’i dewis yn Llywydd Wales PEN Cymru yn 2014. Tan 2016, roedd yn Gyfarwyddwr Creadigol Ysgol Astudiaethau Diwylliannol Prifysgol Cymru, Y Drindod Dewi Sant ac yn Athro Barddoniaeth ac Ysgrifennu Creadigo ynol. Pan nad yw’n teithio’r byd i ddarlleniadau a phreswyliadau, mae’n byw yng Nghaerfyrddin.

Giancarlo Facchinetti

 

Giancarlo Facchinetti is a musician & multi instrumentalist, home recordist, visual & sound artist; and more recently the podcast editor/ producer for Fair Acre Press. He has orchestrated & performed with an astrophysicist and two poets in a mobile planetarium dome in e-x-p-a-n-d-i-n-g: The History of the Universe in 45 Minutes. His artwork is in the Painting by Pixels exhibition in Qube gallery, Shropshire, throughout August 2018. He is in charge of sound at the festival and will be recording the readings and creating live-to-digital podcasts as a free long-term online legacy – thanks to the kind permissions of the poets and their publishers.

Marlis Jones

Marlis Jones was born and brought up in Bethesda, a quarrying village in Caernarfonshire. After following a Teachers’ Training course in Bangor Normal College, she taught at Llandudno. She moved to Mid Wales with her husband in 1971 where they had a sheep farm. She writes short stories and has two collections in Welsh published. Some of her English stories have been published in anthologies. She contributes regularly to Seren Hafren, the Welsh Local paper and is supportive all things Welsh in the locality. She was Administrative Druid of Eisteddfod Powys and is a member of The Powys Gorsedd of Bards.
Ganed a magwyd Marlis ym Methesda, un o bentrefi chwarel lechi Sir Gaernarfon. Wedi dilyn cwrs dysgu yng Ngholeg y Normal Bangor, bu’n athrawes yn Llandudno. Symudodd gyda’i gŵr i fferm ddefaid yn 1971. Mae’n ysgrifennu storiâu byrion a chanddi ddwy gyfrol wedi eu cyhoeddi gydag ambell un Saesneg wedi eu cynnwys mewn casgliadau. Mae’n cyfrannu’n fisol i Seren Hafren, y papur lleol Cymraeg ac yn gefnogol i bob gweithgaredd Cymreig yn yr ardal. Bu’n Dderwydd Gweinyddol Eisteddfod Powys ac mae’n aelod o Orsedd Beirdd Powys.

Nadia Kingsley © Isaac 2017

Nadia Kingsley is director/ editor of Fair Acre Press. She is currently project-managing her fourth Arts Council England-funded project “Painting by Pixels in which she is being mentored in disability and mental health training; and will be the workshop assistant to fellow visual artist Paul Kielty in workshops at Designs in Mind, Oswestry and Derwen College, Gobowen – as well as showing her artwork in a group exhibition at Qube gallery in August 2018. She is a poet. She has, in print, 2 poetry pamphlets with David Calcutt – Road Kill and Through the Woods; Lawn Lore in which she collaborated with grasses expert John Handley; and A Year in Herbs pamphlet with herbalist Jayne Palmer and twelve visual artists. She has collaborated with visual artist Sue Challis and the resulting poetry-art collaboration is shown at VAN gallery late March, 2018. She organised and M.C.ed a poetry and nature day at Merefest, 2017; and organised an afternoon of poetry and music at Mid Wales Arts in April 2017.

Cathy Knapp

 

Cathy Knapp: Maesmawr (the main house at MWAC) dates back to 1526 and was originally a Welsh longhouse that grew into a successful farm. Much of the original structure remains. In 1820 the imposing Georgian front was added.

Cathy Knapp saw that the spacious interior and grounds had potential for a gallery and sculpture park as well as a centre for learning and encouraging the arts. With a background in Arts Education she is keen to foster talent and promote interest in the arts. Her late husband the internationally renowned enamellist and sculptor Stefan Knapp left a unique collection of paintings and sculpture which are on display in the house and grounds. Her son Ivan Knapp also has a studio, with work on display. This area of Mid Wales, says Cathy, has fostered a wealth of artists, who have been able to find the space they need for their work and recognised the magical beauty of the area.

Mid Wales Arts is a not-for-profit company with charitable status and Mid Wales Arts attracts around 10,000 visitors each year. Current activities include: permanent collections, fine art gallery with a rotating programme promoting contemporary Welsh artists; Sculpture hall and trail; courses and workshops for adults and young people; after-school and holiday clubs; poetry open-mic evenings and music events. Art workshops include painting, pottery, enamelling, sculpture, blacksmithing.

Mid Wales Arts is run on a mainly voluntary basis by a dedicated co-operative team of artists and supporters.

Gill Lambert

 

Gill Lambert is a poet and teacher from Yorkshire and she has been published widely both online and in print. She won the 2016 Ilkley Literature Festival Open mic competition and runs the poetry night ‘Shaken in Sheeptown’ in Skipton. She is a creative writing facilitator , working with many different groups and in various settings. Gill’s debut pamphlet, ‘Uninvited Guests’ was published by Indigo Dreams in September 2017 and her first full collection will be published next year with Stairwell Books.

Gregory Leadbetter

Gregory Leadbetter is the author of two poetry collections: The Fetch (Nine Arches Press, 2016) and the pamphlet The Body in the Well (HappenStance Press, 2007). His poems have appeared in The Poetry Review, Poetry London, The North, Magma, The Rialto, on BBC Radio 4, And Other Poems, and in CAST: The Poetry Business Book of New Contemporary Poets(Smith/Doorstop, 2014), as well as other journals and anthologies. His book of literary criticism, Coleridge and the Daemonic Imagination (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) won the University English Book Prize 2012, and he has published essays on Wordsworth, Keats, Charles Lamb, and Ted Hughes. He has written radio drama for the BBC, and was awarded a Hawthornden Fellowship in 2013. In 2016 he was Poet in Residence at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage for Stratford-upon-Avon Poetry Festival. He currently teaches at Birmingham City University, where he is Reader in Literature and Creative Writing. http://www.gregoryleadbetter.blogspot.co.uk

Robert Minhinnick © Peter Morgan

 

Robert Minhinnick’s ‘Diary of the Last Man’ (Carcanet) appeared in 2017 and was shortlisted for the TS Eliot prize, 2018. Seren publishes his novels, short stories and essays, including ‘Limestone Man’, ‘The Keys of Babylon’ and ‘Island of Lightning’. Carcanet published his ‘The Adulterer’s Tongue’, translations of six modern Welsh language poets, in 2003. He was editor of ‘Poetry Wales’ 1997 – 2008 and is an advisor to the charity, ’Sustainable Wales’ http://www.sustainablewales.org.uk He lives in Porthcawl and published ‘Fairground Music: the World of Porthcawl Funfair’ (Gomer) in 2010. He is collaborating with Park6 films on a film of ‘Diary of the Last Man’, to be screened in Hay, Stratford-on-Avon and Edge festivals this year.

Delma Thomas
Delma Thomas was born in Carmarthenshire South Wales, but moved at the age of four, over the river to Pembrokeshire. She was educated at Glandwr Primary School and Preseli High School. Then went to college in Swansea where she qualified as a teacher. She came to Montgomeryshire firstly to Clatter Primary School and then Caersws Primary School. After over twenty years in the classroom, she joined the Powys Welsh Peripatetic Team.
Having been interested in Welsh things over the years she works hard to keep the language alive and used in the area. She organizes Welsh language activities for Welsh speakers and Learners in the area. and also gives Welsh “taster” sessions to non Welsh speakers who are interested in the language.
Delma also works every month to get Seren Hafren the local Welsh Paper to the press and to the shelves of our shops. She is a member of the National Eisteddfod Gorsedd of Bards.

Ganed Delma yn Sir Gaerfyrddin, ond symudodd pan yn bedair oed i Sir Benfro. Mynychodd Ysgol Glandŵr ac Ysgol Uwchradd y Preseli, yna aeth i’r Coleg i Abertawe lle cymhwysodd yn athrawes. Daeth i Sir Drefaldwyn yn athrawes i Ysgol Clatter yn gyntaf ac yna ysgol Caersws. Wedi ugain mlynedd yn yr ystafell ddosbarth, daeth yn athrawes Bro.
Gyda’i diddordeb ym mhob peth Cymreig dros y blynyddoedd mae’n gweithio’n ddygn i gadw’r iaith yn fyw yn yr ardal. Mae’n trefnu gweithgareddau Cymreig i siaradwyr Cymraeg a Dysgwyr yn yr ardal, a hefyd yn rhoi sesiynau profi i’r di-gymraeg sydd â diddordeb yn yr iaith.
Mae’n gweithio’n ddyfal bob mis i ddod â Seren Hafren, y papur lleol Cymraeg i’r wasg ac i’r siopau. Mae’n aelod o Orsedd y Beirdd yn Genedlaethol a Gorsedd Beirdd Powys.

Andy Warren

 

Andy Warren is a potter and a musician. You will find his beautiful functional pottery in Mid Wales Arts. He runs pottery workshops there too. He collaborated with Marlis and Delma on a similar event last year and was so well received I have booked the three of them again

Casia Wiliam
Casia Wiliam yw Bardd Plant Cymru 2017–19. Mae cynllun Bardd Plant Cymru yn sicrhau fod plant ym mhob cwr o Gymru yn cael y cyfle i arbrofi â geiriau. Drwy weithdai, perfformiadau a gweithgareddau mae’r cynllun yn cyflwyno llenyddiaeth i blant mewn modd bywiog, deinamig a chyffrous. Mae Casia yn 29 oed a daw’n wreiddiol o Nefyn ym Mhen Llŷn, ond mae bellach yn byw yng Nghaerdydd. Mae wedi cyhoeddi nifer o lyfrau gwreiddiol i blant – Clywch Ni’n Rhuo Nawr!, Arthur yn Achub y Byd a Pedrig y Pysgodyn Pengaled (Carreg Gwalch) a Sgrech y Môr (Y Lolfa), ac wedi addasu dwy o nofelau Michael Morpurgo i’r Gymraeg, sef Ceffyl Rhyfel ac Y Llew Pilipala (Carreg Gwalch). Mae hi hefyd yn aelod o dîm Y Ffoaduriaid ar y gyfres radio Talwrn y Beirdd. Hi yw Swyddog Cyfryngau a Chyfathrebu Oxfam Cymru.
Casia Wiliam is the Welsh Children’s Laureate 2017–19. The Welsh Children’s Laureate scheme aims to ensure that children throughout Wales get the opportunity to play with words. Originally from Nefyn on the Llŷn Peninsula, Casia now lives in Cardiff with her family. She has published numerous original books for children – Clywch Ni’n Rhuo Nawr!, Arthur yn Achub y Byd, Pedrig y Pysgodyn Pengaled (Carreg Gwalch) and Sgrech y Môr (Y Lolfa), and has adapted two of Michael Morpurgo’s stories into Welsh, Ceffyl Rhyfel and Y Llew Pilipala (Carreg Gwalch). She is also a member of Y Ffoaduriaid, a team of poets on the popular radio series Talwrn y Beirdd. She is the Media and Communications Officer for Oxfam Cymru.

Posted in Blog | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Kite Runner – Birmingham Rep

Posted on March 14, 2018 by garylongden

kite runner
****
First told as a novel, now retold for the stage, Khaled Hosseini’s 2003 book has sold 31.5m copies in 60 languages. It was adapted for film in 2007, this stage adaptation is by Mathew Spangler, first appearing in America in 2008, and Nottingham in the UK, in 2013. Its ambition is considerable, embracing themes of family ties in the Shakespearean tradition, whilst echoing the more modern stage variations on the theme realised by Willy Russells’ Blood Brothers.

KR book
Returning to the Rep after a successful West End run, a full house, notable for being both predominantly young and ethnically diverse, reflected the more affordable ticketing policy of the Rep, after the controversy of £100 tickets for the production in London. The Rep is a fabulous auditorium, with 825 steeply raked single tier seats ensuring there is not a bad view in the house. A simple set features wood strip flooring and vertical planks which double as skyscrapers in San Fransisco, and more modest accommodation in Kabul. An elaborate butterfly wing /kite screen, which descends from the ceiling, is particularly effective for scene and mood changes. On stage, Hanif Khan’s tabla-playing, sat on a mat, adds mood, musical pulse, and authenticity, augmented by Tibetan singing bowls and Schwirrbogen.

The-Kite-Runner-2018-4-RAJ-GHATAK-Amir-and-castPhoto-Betty-Zapata.jpg
Raj Ghatak is the star of the show as main protagonist and narrator Amir. On one level this is a story about two young Afghan boys, kite runners, whose lives spectacularly diverge. On another, this is a love story, the love between a father and son, and about friendship, betrayal, guilt, atonement and redemption. Jo Ben Ayed is wonderful as Amir’s childhood friend and fellow kite runner Hassan, son of his father’s servant, and brother-like figure. He is an essential, downtrodden foil to Amir’s success story. Every tragedy needs its villain, Soroosh Lavasini is exquisitely leering sneering and vicious as street thug Assef. When in America, Amir remarks that there is no Afghan word for sociopath.

The-Kite-Runner-2018-9-GARY-PILLAI-Baba-a-nds-RAJ-GHATAK-Amir-Photo-Betty-Zapata-.jpg
The Taleban, Russian Army, Sunni / Shia rivalry and American immigration service throw up various obstacles along the way, with modern Afghan history the backcloth to this human tragedy. Gary Pillai is outstanding as Amir’s father Baba. He is an imposing, traditional figure, with a selective interpretation of religious demands, and a moral frailty, revealed in the second act, which motivates his largesse to his servant. Amiera Darwish plays Amir’s wife Soraya, in the only principal female role, with a confident beauty. Early on, Amir remarks that he thought that John Wayne was Iranian, as he spoke in dubbed Farsi on his imported Westerns, a gentle, amusing aside. But theatre goers should be warned that there is a pivotal, but gruesome, male rape scene in which a young boy takes an unexpected backdoor delivery.

The-KJite-Runnere-2018-12-The-wedding-scene-the-company-Photo-Betty-Zapata-.jpg
Inevitably a stage production cannot match the detail of the original book, nor the dramatic panoramic landscapes of film. But what this production does have in spades is energy and drive. The obvious Afghan/ American culture clash is understated, the visceral culture clash between Amir as Pashtun (Sunni) and Hassan as Hazara (Shi’a) dominates proceedings. In an era of British isolationism through Brexit, and an uncertain Trump led America, the Kite Runner is a beautiful, searing, modern human personal tragedy, uplifting and humorous, but unforgiving of the brutality of human shortcomings, universal in its outlook and appeal.

The-Kite-Runner-2018-7-The-Cast-Photo-Betty-Zapata

The narrated account of Amir’s family’s flight from Afghanistan, courtesy of a passage in an airless, empty fuel tanker, awash with vomit, excrement and urine, so bad that it induces some passengers to commit suicide, cannot fail to move. Touchingly, the delight on the faces of the audience, many of whom rose to their feet to applaud at the end, was mirrored by the delight of the actors who had given their all in a memorable production.
Runs until the 24th March and continues on tour.
Gary Longden

Posted in Behind the Arras Reviews | Tagged , | Leave a comment

World of Sport Wrestling

Posted on March 12, 2018 by garylongden

w1

I was in Derby market, sitting down for a cup of tea when I Iooked up at the walls. To my surprise and delight, they were covered in framed posters of wrestling bouts at the Derby Assembly Rooms in the 1970’s. It took me back to the days of World of Sport, Dickie Davies, Saturday afternoons, 4pm. The names came flooding back; Mick McManus, Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Jackie Pallo and Kendo Nagasaki. They were household names, and they came into your living room every Saturday afternoon.

w2
My Dad was normally a reserved man. But at 4pm he would be like a man possessed as we watched the good guys beat the bad guys, the cheats try it on, until justice was done. You could smell the sweat. As a child it didn’t seem fixed, and to the ringside live audience it was real, with middle aged women happy to dish out some restorative justice with their handbags or brollies if any of the villains happened to tumble out of the ring. My younger brother was four years my junior, and I always used to re-enact the greatest moments on the living room floor, with me winning.

w3
Big Daddy, Shirley Crabtree, was the big draw. He seemed old, He really only had one move, “the splash”, but that was invariably all it took to flatten, literally, an opponent. Giant Haystacks was his some tie arch rival, some time tag team partner, but he was so big that I never saw a serious contender to take him on- apart from Big Daddy.

w5
Kendo Nagasaki, was my favourite, a masked man, supposedly from Japan, but really from Stoke. Every week you knew that his opponent would try to unmask him, and every week they would fail.

w6
Bobby Barnes and Adrian Street had a gay act, and would frequently be pitched against Catweasel who would become outraged when they tried to touch him up.
Mick McManus was the Chief Baddy, a pantomime villain whose appearance was the highlight of every week. I miss him. Saturday afternoons have never been the same.

mick_mcmanus_poster_01

 

The Final Fall

That moment when he was counted out, forever
When neither bell chime,
Nor wet towel ,
Could raise his life on the canvas, it was time.
Not just for him, but for an era.
The wrestling holds he taught, on each World of Sport, were broken
No more,
And I paused smiled and stopped
Just like I did at four o’clock,
Every Saturday afternoon.
From New Cross, he made grannies irate,
At their Saturday date, by the ringside or fireside,
Their handbags close, and heavily packed, just in case they had to act,
Trusty possessions, to avenge any of Mick’s minor transgressions.
Trumpet fanfare, Dickie Davies’ grin
Then let battle begin.
Who would win was decided in advance
It was not chance
But pre-ordained fate
On our Saturday date
With Giant Haystacks and big Daddy
I’d watch it, with my dad and brother ,on ITV.
The bad guy, slippery and sly
A pantomime villain not as bad as he was painted
As he grappled and feignted
In his battles with Jackie Pallo who knew his worst fears
Mick pleaded with the ref “Not my ears not my ears”
Relishing the crowds anger and hate
On our Saturday date
Even after 92 years
You can still hear the cheers
The battles the hopes

But , this time, no return from the ropes.

mcmanus

 

Posted in Blog | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

An Audience With Martin Kemp – Derby Theatre

Posted on March 12, 2018 by garylongden

AN AUDEIENCE

I was a punk fan. I was also a music fan. As punk splintered into New Wave, which in turn spawned the New Romantic movement, Spandau Ballet stood out alongside Duran Duran. They were cool, they looked different, borrowing the make-up and androgynous mores of Glam and Bowie. They also had some good, strong, danceable songs. On a Mother’s Day Sunday evening, I was not the only one to treat a mum to an evening with her eighties heartthrob ( Martin, not me, obviously).

 

nme

The NME Cover that launched a lifetime of success

The cool, hip, phase was quite fleeting, no more than the first two albums, but it was enough to establish them before they found a commercial pop groove which defined their success. Tony Hadley was the voice of the band, Gary Kemp the song smith. As his brother Martin talked about his career he admitted to not being the best bass player, but instead wanting to be in the band, for which the only available place was bass player. It characterised his self- effacing style. What was apparent as the evening wore on was his clear vision for, and understanding of, success.

 

 

martin_kemp

Relaxed, assured, and confident

 
Puling around 300 people simply to hear you talk at £25 a head is a measure of that success. Martin walked onto the set of “Two”, a bar, to be interview by a local DJ, but we could easily have been in the bar at the Queen Vic. Relaxed, assured and confident. He commanded the stage from the start to take us on a trip down memory lane. His childhood, the Spandau years, and East Enders was familiar territory, but his anecdotes about the making of the Krays film, then his personal battles with brain tumours ratcheted up the content from the routine to the extraordinary.

 

The-Krays--Gary-Kemp-Billie-Whitelaw-Martin-Kemp

The “Krays” with “mum” – Billie Whitelaw

 
Inevitably the first half of around three quarters of an hour was scripted and prepared, and not the worse for that. The second half was questions from the audience, a format that can go wrong if the performer is not fleet of foot, and if the questions clunk and grate. Fortunately neither eventuality was realised. Apart from the selfie and hug requests from the predominantly female audience, the questions were interesting, the response direct and full. We did squeeze out of him that a replacement vocalist for Spandau had been identified, but not yet announced.

 

mk a mitchell

Phil Mitchell probably offering to “sort it” for Steve Owen

Despite the bitter internal feuding and court case on song writing royalties, which Gary won, Martin was surprisingly generous towards the other band members including Hadley. No-one present could not help but be won over by his easy manner, and fluid stories. The two hours, including interval flew by. A show with no frills, props or music could have left him exposed, instead it revealed a genuinely engaging man, with some good tales to tell.

 

 

MARTIN KEMP SPANDAU

Brothers in arms in Spandau Ballet

There was so much more I would have liked to have heard about his friendship with George Michael, and there was zero title tattle from East Enders, nor was there any explanation as to the rapprochement between Gary and the other band members bar Tony Hadley such that they were able to tour again together ( I suspect a probable  seven figure pay cheque helped). Yet therein lies Martins skill, discrete, yet open, warm, but not naïve. An evening I can recommend for all music fans , East Enders fans and Krays fans.

 

Posted in Blog | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

NME – RIP

Posted on March 7, 2018 by garylongden

1977_05_28_pistols_front_cover_NME

Another time, another place. At its peak, in the 70’s, it could sell as many as a quarter of a million copies an edition. The Guardian and the FT would be pleased with that today. This Friday will be its last ever print edition, a free sheet. In the end they could not give it away.

 
I first became aware of the music press triumvirate in the early 1970’s. Melody Maker (MM) dominated as the voice of the music establishment, founded in 1926. Sounds was born as the difficult sibling in 1970 championing Prog Rock, in 1952 NME was founded as the first UK music paper to include a singles chart reflecting Billboard’s success in the USA. Record Mirror and Disc brought up the sales rear totalling five weekly popular music papers.

 
This was a time when Top of the Pops, and Radio One ruled. There were only four TV stations and every teenager was watching TOTP’s on a Thursday night devouring the chart sounds. The Old Grey Whistle Test launched on BBC2 in 1971 to reflect the broader pop scene, but its late evening slot was beyond the bedtimes of most schoolchildren, and too niche to pull older teenagers from the pub. The music scene was burgeoning with talent and interest, the mainstream media had neither the space, nor interest, to capitalise on it.

 
In those first years of the 1970’s, I read the MM as the bible of popular music. But there was a problem. It was boring. It also felt like an old hippy paper. As prog rock bit, so the self-indulgence of MMs writing became bloated. Jazz was still covered, the technical prowess of the likes of Yes, Mike Oldfield, Pink Floyd and their ilk revered. It was not what a young teenager wanted to read. For me, Bowie was when the pendulum swung forever. MM covered Ziggy, but NME understood it, and their coverage of Bowie’s Wembley concerts in 76 was superb. NME was as burdened by the rock monolith as MM but was the first to recognise it. In 1972 , in the face of declining sales, and closure, a new editor , deputy editor and writers were brought in. They quadrupled sales.

bowie 6
NME staff writers were rock stars in their own right. Frank Zappa famously argued “Rock journalism is people who can’t write, interviewing people who can’t talk, in order to provide articles for people who can’t read”, but the new wave of British music journalists in the 1970s changed all of that. Alan Smith and Nick Logan recruited the cream of the underground press, Nick Kent, Charles Shaar Murray, Tony Tyler, Chrissie Hynde and Ian McDonald followed by enfants terrible Tony Parsons and Julie Burchill as punk broke. Mick Farren, Danny Baker and Paul Morley also contributed to a formidable writing roster.

 

kent_and_Hynde_1271168780_crop_400x525

Chrissie Hynde and Nick Kent compete for most beautiful human being

 

 

It was exciting. It was hip. Although initially not in the vanguard of punk, it understood that the first phase of rock was over. Its influence is impossible to overstate. If you wanted to know who was playing anywhere in the UK, news of new tours, band break ups, band reunions, record releases and gossip, NME had it every week. It was an essential weekly purchase. The writing was terrific for a time, with the writers strapped to the pulse of what was happening, and an esoteric vocabulary I still use today. In the end the writing did eat itself. Reviews that did not mention the artist or songs, but were instead a platform for the journalist, became a quirky badge of honour. But we loved them for it.

 
It was also political; anti- fascist, pro Anti -Nazi league and Rock Against Racism, socialist by nature, anti- nuke, pro- Greenham Common protests. It mattered to teenagers. I learned about new bands from them. I certainly saw live acts simply on their recommendation, I bought, and didn’t buy, singles and albums on the basis of their imprimatur. The Clash and the Slits were in, the Kursaal Flyers were not.

strimmer

 

Punk / New wave was perfect for them. The sheer volume of new acts and new releases meant that an informed opinion was vital – and for a time, NME was that vehicle. Of course it couldn’t last and with the New Romantics came The Face , Smash Hits, and MTV carving out space, together with the tabloids and broadsheets increasingly giving editorial , review and gig news room in their publications. Their stylistic and factual hegemony on popular music was at an end.

1995_08_12_misc_NME_blurvsoasis_p1_72
It did have subsequent flurries, most notably with Brit pop, but the landscape had changed irrevocably, the glories of the 70’s would never return. Sixty-six years is a good run for any publication. It has had a good run. The cycle is over, the wheel has turned, but the impression it has left on the fortunes of pop culture endures.

 

Posted in Blog | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Two – Derby Theatre

Posted on March 7, 2018 by garylongden

Two derby

 

*****

Playwright Jim Cartwright created this little theatrical gem in 1989, almost thirty years on, he was in the audience to see how it was faring, and no doubt to personally check the bums on seats versus the royalty payments!

 

Jim Cartwright

Jim Cartwright

 

jim sig

Jim Cartwright’s message to actor Sean McKenzie after the performance

 

 

It has been performed professionally, and by amateur theatre, ever since. It is to actors, what the Olympic Decathlon is to athletes, and what Everest is to climbers. It requires two actors to assume fourteen different characters, as a night in a pub unfolds. As such it is hugely demanding of, and wholly dependent upon, the skills of the two actors who take the parts of, initially, the pub landlord and his wife, and then a succession of strangely familiar pub regulars. In this production Sean McKenzie and Jo Mousley assume those roles.

 

2 poster

Sean McKenzie and Jo Mousley

 

As a veteran of pubs in that era I can confirm the authenticity of the bar room set, accurate and atmospheric. It provided the perfect visual backdrop. But for this production it was more than a backdrop, with seats being sold in the bar itself onstage. I was fortunate to have one such seat as close to the action as it was possible to get, and on occasion was part of it, as the actors ad-libbed around their customers.

set from a distance

McKenzie and Mousley are both superb. Neither tries to outdo the other, instead complementing each other wonderfully for the greater good. They bookend the production as landlord and landlady. Between, we are treated to a whirlwind of character, costume, accent, and age changes, as various pub characters reveal themselves. Cartwright is strong on dialogue, but the inevitably brief appearances of the characters mean that the actors have to throw their all into the physicality, as well as the spirit, of their roles. They do.

 

2 mouse

Jo Mousley

 

The creative inspiration for this production is Sarah Brigham, the Director, Julia Thomas. The decision to make the audience part of the production by having them on stage with a working bar serving specially brewed Dancing Duck ale from the eponymous local brewery is a masterstroke, creating an immediate intimacy. Although set in the 1980’s, and with an eighties soundtrack, what struck me was how contemporary the people felt. This was no period nostalgia piece. The temptation to pump up the 1980’s songs at every opportunity is wisely eschewed in favour of the real stars, McKenzie and Mousley, playing out their craft. Superficially, the play is a series of comic-tragic vignettes, stitched together by the same actors. But as the drama unfolds, it becomes apparent that we are not watching a smorgasbord of random incidents, but instead neatly sliced portions of the universal human experience.

 

2 mac

Sean McKenzie

 

There was so much to enjoy that it seems invidious to choose highlights, yet it would be remiss not to mention McKenzie’s terrific old man, whose weary, laconic demeanour and creaking movement competed with every word he spoke, or Mousley’s heart -warming, chirpy, “liver bird”. Because of the onerous demands upon the two actors, this play is much loved by drama schools, because of the small cast it is much loved by amateur companies. Yet it is a fiendishly difficult piece to pull off well. Clunky physical, and character, shifts can destroy a production. However here, the opportunities are seized, the pitfalls side-stepped, for what is the best production of “Two” I have ever seen.

 

2 on set

On set. And Jo Mousley liked my jumper!

 

The incendiary, visceral, denouement in the final fifteen minutes is outstanding, as the tragic secret past of the couple is revealed drawing deserved cheers and enthusiastic applause at the end. “Two” runs until Sat 24th March, if you can, book a stage seat to enhance your enjoyment of the evening to the maximum.
Gary Longden

Posted in Behind the Arras Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Jolene – Dolly Parton, An Appreciation

Posted on March 3, 2018 by garylongden

 

When this song was released I was a teenage boy. Apart from a magnificent bust, there was nothing about Dolly Parton that interested me. There are not many good things about growing older, but one of them is the ability to reassess songs of the past which have already been distilled through time’s harsh filter. “Jolene” is one of those songs.

The premise for the song is pure country, and not to be found normally in pop and rock. It is the tale of an ordinary woman who fears her husband is obsessed with a prettier rival, who will take her man “just because (she) can”. Parton claims that the idea was based on a true experience, an attractive bank teller who flirted with her husband when he called in. At two minutes forty- two seconds it is an astonishing recording.

Sung beautifully, the lyric is perfect, with easy, seductive rhymes and an insistent rhythm which suggests an inevitability that she will lose her man – but she is imploring Jolene to spare her the anguish of that outcome. It is a fabulous song for a woman to sing because it is awash with emotion; jealousy, despair, love, fear, hope, envy and agony. She does not do her rival down, instead, she laments her own perceived inferiority.

Widely covered, but never bettered, most new singers manage to extract something new from the song. Parton also likes to duet on it, sometimes with god daughter Miley Cyrus. But once again, she is always the boss in the singing stakes. I am not a fan of the bulk of American C&W which I find generally maudlin, introspective, deeply conservative, and irritating. But at its best, it celebrates the best of the Folk tradition. “Jolene” is just such a song.

Posted in Blog | 1 Comment