Back at Waterside, the sun glinting bravely on the reservoir, the woods on the marshes stirred by a lively autumn breeze.
At the back-end of August I travelled in the North, visiting friends and relations. I stayed with niece Francesca at Skelton-on-Ure, a North Yorkshire village on the Newby Hall estate.
And lo! The night I visited, came there from the faraway Thames river-bank players from Shakespeare’s Globe, bringing a splendid “fit-up” version of “As You Like It”, acted on the lawns before the great house. All through the day the rain had POURED from the skies, but from breakfast on the BBC weather website had insisted that in North Yorkshire the skies would be clear from 6 to 10 pm – and, on cue at 6 out came the sun….
Not only that, as the merry story unfolded, the sun set, a big harvest moon drifted into the sky, and the wood behind the stage slipped into the role of the Forest of Arden, with local owls, woodcock and pheasant supplying the sound-track. The Globe actors rose wonderfully to the occasion, and a greatly versatile bunch they were, singing tunefully and lustfully to their own instruments, with robust acting from the likes of Deirdre Mullins and John O’Mahoney. They’ve now returned for a home run at Bankside – highly recommended if you’re in London, though alas there won’t be any Yorkshire owls….
During the same trip I spent some time at my friend Lois’s family home in Shropshire. I’d forgotten what a glorious county it is. I hadn’t been back there since playing the Ludlow Festival many years ago, and found the country breathtaking, the towns – like Montgomery, where I bought petrol from a pump outside the hardware shop – places of quiet magic.
And so southwards, and to work. We have our first students working through the on-line Foundation Course at www.teachyourselfacting.com in NewYork and London – and meanwhile a new crop of “studies abroad” students has arrived in Bloomsbury from New York University Tisch School of the Arts. I had to gear myself up for the arduous task of going with them to see shows in London – it’s a tough job, but then, dammit, what is life without a challenge? The high-spots so far have been a joyous, sun-filled afternoon watching yet more Globe actors, this time at Bankside, delivering a crisply-paced, sure-footed “Taming of the Shrew” with bold work from Samantha Spiro and Simon Paisley Day, and a quite special “Hindle Wakes” at the Finborough. This welcome revival of a great northern classic has a fine cast, including a smashing duo from Richard Durden and Susan Penhaligon.
I took time off two weekends ago to travel again, this time westwards to Devon, to celebrate a joint 140th birthday for the distinguished actor Richard Johnson and his wife Lynne. Richard has been a long-serving member of the RADA Council, and Lynne’s son, Paris Arrowsmith, is a very gifted actor and singer who came through RADA during my time. The party was held at the lovely home of the director Paul Jepson and his wife Iona, and was a stunning event, with a “Shakesperian or What You Will” dress-code. Again the weather was kind, and we sipped champagne in our hired outfits in the garden as a brief, witty Shakespearian entertainment was led by Richard, Paris and Lynne…. 
….then repaired to a marquee for supper and dancing to a jazz-band, with enticing singing from Richard’s daughter, the multi-talented Sukey Parnell, who’s brilliant behind either a microphone or an SLR camera.
The next day I drove slowly through the wondrous Devon country side, calling in at Totnes – where a Morris Dancing Festival was in full swing – and at Ottery St Mary, birthplace of a great literary hero.
The monument in Ottery St Mary churchyard is actually to Coleridge’s father, who was a celebrated headmaster of the local school. The profile of STC in the plaque on the wall gives him a grim and dour look – but then, I guess all those years of brandy and drugs took their toll, even without too much sex and rock and roll…