JULY 20TH THE NEWS AND THE WEATHER

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At a time when each day the world seems to hold ever more horror, I tend to close my eyes during the BBC news, and open them just for the weather forecast. Thomas Shafernaker and his merry band have been so determined this week that thousands of Apocalyptic Storms would be shaking our sceptered isle to its roots, that it’s a bit disappointing to report that, at least so far in E17 – while we did have one night of flashes and bangs – most of the time we’ve had warm, humid unspectacular sunshine. Mind you, for this amateur lensman the brooding evening skies over the marshes have triggered several fits of feverish clicking…

This blog doesn’t usually get involved in World Events, well not serious ones, but the dreadful happenings in Gaza, and the wicked, wicked shelling of an airliner over the Ukraine can’t just drift by unremarked. I may be utterly naive, but I am genuinely puzzled by an aspect of the Gaza crisis, and since I can’t find an answer on the BBC or on the Web, I put out a question this week on Twitter and repeat it here. Hamas is the Palestinian group who are firing rockets at Israel. Rockets are very expensive, and are hard to obtain unless you have wealthy backers and willing suppliers. Yet the Palestinian inhabitants of Gaza are notoriously amongst the most miserably poverty-stricken people on the planet, so where do they get their expensive rockets? It seems that the Americans, and thus presumably the Israeli government, are totally convinced that the principal supplier is Iran. So why is Israel not making much more of a public fuss about Iran? Why is she not aiming reprisals at Tehran, instead of slaughtering Palestinian families?

The catastrophic attack on the airliner over the Ukraine struck home for me – readers of this blog during Christmas last will remember I was on a flight to the Far East which was diverted to land at Kiev – presumably taking the exact same route as Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17. There seems little doubt that this tragic plane was brought down by those scary pro-Russian ruffians we now see waving their Kalishnikovs at the EU investigators. A friend who is a keen student of the First World War points out disturbing parallels with July events a century ago: an unstable corner of Eastern Europe, where violent events are manipulated and exploited by a major country with imperial ambitions and a small, insecure dictatorial leader, anxious to prove his machismo on the international stage…

When crisis looms, there is often comfort in song. A joyous occasion for me this week has been a book-launch at French’s store in Fitzroy St. “Singing On Stage” is written jointly by two expert former colleagues from RADA, Jane Streeton and Philip Raymond.

Not everyone who wants to act feels they have natural singing ability – lucky you if you do – but almost every single one of us can sing, and once you’ve found your singing voice, boy does it add to your confidence! Every single acting student on the main course at RADA has a personal singing tutor, and here are two of the best, setting out in clear, well-ordered chapters where to look for material, clearly explained basic exercises, and how to look after and develop your instrument once you’ve found it. There’s a picture on the front of our award-winning grad Bertie Carvel starring in “Matilda”, and the book is endorsed by Jonathan Pryce and Gemma Arterton (starring this autumn in the musical “Made in Dagenham“). It’s published by the celebrated “Harry Potter” firm Bloomsbury, so go buy it from them – there’s a useful link below.

Talking of “HP”, there were echoes of Hogwarts this week at Bath Abbey, where I was Proud Dad at my daughter Cressida’s graduation from Bath Spa University.

House points all round to the production team – Bath Spa has a terrific music department, and a fine orchestra played student-composed music underscoring the procession of academics in gowns and caps, enriching a truly gay (briefly to reclaim that word for its traditional function) occasion. I loved the moment when the Chair of the Governors declared the graduation complete, and invited the grads to raise their hats, producing a flock of mortar-boards spinning uptowards the soaring, wondrous perpendicular abbey ceiling!

From family joys to a tale of family sadness. Given the price of West End Theatre tickets these days, we London theatre addicts thank our lucky stars for the “fringe” – local theatres, where often tickets for good value shows can be bought at sensible prices.

One of the best in West London is the Finborough Theatre, where last week I caught “The Dream of Perfect Sleep”, a play with a theme unlikely to be a big commercial West End draw, that of dementia in the elderly. A strong cast led by Susan Tracy and Martin Wimbush played to a full house the night I was there, in a tight production of a play whose content sparked lots of conversation in the bar afterwards. The fringe doing its stuff, and doing it well.

Links: SINGING ON STAGE http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/singing-on-stage-9781408145470/

Finborough Theatre: http://www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk

Bath Spa University: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUU2ZCQISPc

(Here are two Bath Spa grads, only one of whom is my daughter…)

P.S. The good news from Waltham Forest is that the Council has indeed voted to apply for a compulsory purchase order with regard to the old Walthamstow Granada Cinema, and that thus the way is now open for plans for a new two-auditorium arts centre to start to move forward. Many a slip may yet occur, and there is of course the little matter of funding, but we theatre folk are dedicated Micawberists, and it’s very cheering to think that in the place where the young William Morris found inspiration, the spirit of cultural enlightenment still flourishes.

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