A bonus of living in the marshes is a wondrous supply of self-seeding wild flowers. The first to arrive at this time of the year are the poppies:
First come the Flanders fields variety, and soon we’ll have hosts of the big purple ones – watch this space.
Radagrad news has been percolating down the M4. Having exhorted you to catch Jamie Parker as “Henry V” on tour last week at Bath, I suddenly see large adverts in tube stations announcing the show’s arrival at Shakespeare’s Globe next week – so we must all hasten to the South Bank…
Meanwhile, Ed Bennett, not content with a season of langorous dalliance in “Lovesong” at Hammersmith is now performing in a sexy new play at the Bath Ustinov Studio, Sarah Ruhl’s “The Next Room or The Vibrator Play”.
This production has had rapturous reviews.
Richard Loftus wrote
“Katie Lightfoot, as the lonesome housewife Catherine, commands Ruhl’s playful and poetic script with her colourful delivery and witty characterisation….. As Leo Irving,
Edward Bennett humorously penetrates Catherine’s loneliness…”
Taking a break from humorously penetrating female loneliness Ed has texted me to say the reviews have all been fantastic, and the show is now likely to transfer to London later in the year. Again, watch this space.
My stepson, the artist Tom G Adriani, has linked me up with a pal of his, Michael Anthony Bond, who’s become Events Manager at the Hoxton Hall Theatre. Often a forgotten corner of London’s ancient theatre-land, this lovely Victorian music hall is currently being refurbished and re-energised by its Quaker owners and Hackney Council.
Michael gave me a tour of it on Monday, and he has lots of ideas for using the many spaces around the building for shows, exhibitions and events. I found the whole place really exciting, and hope to be able to create some work there in association with www.teachyourselfacting.com I will report back when we’re a bit further down the line.
Yesterday I had a highly enjoyable walk over Hampstead Heath with an old friend, the writer, historian and producer Colin Shindler, with whom and for whom I worked a lot in my television acting days. Colin has produced twenty books over the last decade, the most recent two of which have just been published. One is a timely collection of reminiscences from that now inevitably dwindling generation of men who in the 1950’s spent two years of their life in National Service.
Lots of young people today probably won’t know that in those days every British male of 18 would receive in the post his compulsory “call-up papers”, and be whisked off to join the army, the navy or the RAF. The Second World war was over, but we were still involved in many conflicts, in places like Aden, Korea, Egypt and Cyprus, and the MOD needed lots of recruits.
I escaped it by several years, but I remember friends’ older brothers being trucked off to places like Catterick Camp, and returning several months later thin and fit, with brutal “short-back-and sides” haircuts. The antidote to these was of course the arrival of Elvis, with his sleek long black hair and wondrous quiff – but then Uncle Sam nabbed him into the “draft”, the American version of the “call-up”, and Elvis was shuttled off to an army camp in Germany and given a crew-cut!
Colin’s other new work is the follow-up to his extremely successful autobiographical book, “Manchester United Ruined My Life”, cunningly called “Manchester City Ruined My Life”.
The sheer brilliance of the titles is stunning. Colin is of course a life-long “Blues” supporter, but what an inspired way to create a readership across the fan-base of two major football clubs! Try as I might, as a Hull City supporter I can think of no equivalent way to engage the followers of the Tigers and say, Scunthorpe United…
The book’s reviews have been great. The Daily Mail said it was “…skilful, entertaining and heading for the top of the league” and the Manchester Evening News declared “This could still be the most important football book since Fever Pitch…”
Jubilee Weekend is almost upon us. Have a good one, ma’am…
