"Some Quick Scribblings"

I've neglected Blog again....but I'm now having a few quick scribblings on the keys again!

Earlier this week, I went to the Theatre Club* for its annual "Play Tasting"; the directors talk about their play choices for next season. And again, there's a wide mix, including David Hare's "Amy's view", "Ladies Day" by Amanda Whittington ( in Victoria Wood vein, perhaps??) and Noel Coward's "Hay fever"....which its director clearly adores......AND like all the Theatre Club directors, her enthusiasm will be extremely contagious to cast and audience alike.

SO THAT'S just three of the six plays and they're fabulous contrasts. And the Little Theatre goes from strength to strength; most performances are swiftly booked up and the audiences provide positive feedback which is usually highly complementary.....

AND A BIG PLUS IS: the lovely mix of actors ages...

Last week's vivid performance of Noel Coward's " Relative Values" included ( amongst others, my husband, who shall remain ageless) pretty Zoe, just 16, in the midst of her GCSE, some lively 30 somethings ( including red head Sophie, who superbly played a brilliantly loopy actress ) and a very stately " Admiral" ....who collects his pension as well as his dramatic accolades...

AND they all appear to gel so well!

ALSO recently: I had another visit to "Zest!" ( Gill McEvoy and friends poetry bash) at a local bar; this session, we were entertained by John Lindley ( an ex Cheshire Poet Laureate) and Jo Bell ( 2007) plus many folk from the floor. Again, there were talented teenagers as well as the seriously mature...and the breadth/depth of the poetry is enormous, which gives everyone a chance to "share", to be encouraged, enjoyed. I hope this little city appreciates Zest.....because it's fun and this time, three distinct themes emerged: gardens, grandfathers and cats!

SO PERHAPS some talented poet can link all three into one clever poem....

* http://www.chestertheatreclub.co.uk/

"Things I Have Been Doing Lately" ***( With thanks to the wonderful Alan Ahlberg)

But first, before all that : Here's Yoko Ono on her recent visit to Liverpool, when she appeared at the newly furbished Bluecoat Centre, 40 years after her original visit. She's pictured in the Bluecoat's courtyard, standing beside a tree of swishing, glittering lilacs....except, no, it ISN'T lilac, it's small pieces of paper adorned with messages and wishes made and written by numerous Liverpudlians. A lovely idea, and I read some, and they were moving, humourous, tragic, heart warming; you got the lot ( rather like the myriad of peoples of this famous old city...)

Last week, a friend and I enjoyed a Jolly to L'pool. Our first stop WAS the Bluecoat, where we perused galleries, admired the refurbishment. The Bluecoat's now a super arts space, with open areas, small, informal ones; it'll suit exhibitions, meetings, it will cater for all sorts. And yes, lunch WAS delicious ( always a priority) served in a classy top floor bar/restaurant with wooden floors, dark decor....by a pretty ginger haired waitress with posh voice (bright as lemons)...who made us feel like visiting film stars.

And after the Bluecoat, we took a stroll to the Walker, where we saw the "Art in the Age of Steam" Ex; it's there til Aug 10th.
I'd expected dryness, I'd expected boredom...but in each room, we woke memories.... and sometimes we celebrated. Often we stared at characters peopling fabulous stories and sometimes we glimpsed the history of an essential mode of transport steaming through Britain, Europe, Asia, the Americas.
We saw paintings by Monet ( swirling smoke, St Lazaire).... by Manet ( girl, peering through railings, also St Lazaire).... we saw Frith's crowds at Paddington, their faces telling countless stories.....so that in Liverpool, in 2008, we peered hard into the picture, imagined we recognised people we knew........and then we saw Honore Daumier's 3rd Class carriage, where three dowdy women travelled in gloom, where life itself was depicted as the sad cycle of generations, journeying on and on ...
But sometimes the images were glorious, they sang of optimism, then sometimes they were merely a whisper....but always, they moved us, .....and that night when I was sleeping, I heard the whistle of a train hurtling through a dream and I was very glad I'd been....

**** The title of this piece refers to Ahlberg's poem " Things I have been doing lately". He lists lots of stuff his 10 yr old self has been up to....stuff like " Eating my own cheeks from the inside" OR " Keeping a good dream going" OR " Picking a scab on my elbow" OR even "Saving the best to last"... I've "done" adult versions with my writing groups ( you can imagine the results!!) but today I was just going to list stuff I've done since last blogging...BUT ( Hmm) as usual, I got carried away and have only had time for just ONE thing ....More later (hopefully/perhaps..)

"A Little Peep"

I've just returned to have a glimpse at my blog (and of course, at all participating bloggers!)
I'm not sure when I'll be "properly" back; blogging takes a little more time than a non-blogger would ever imagine....but it IS fun and I've enjoyed it hugely.
Time will tell, as "they" say..... "they" probably being my late Aunty Ruby......

"A Strange and Shivery Season"

IF , like me and family, you'd stalked our City Walls at 11o'clock last night*( six frozen Ghosts of Hamlet's Father, staggering forth on the Elsinore ramparts.)....you'd have been forgiven for thinking you'd landed in Siberia.

BUT stay, illusion!...Since yesterday it's officially been Spring. And this morning there's azzzzure sky, although the milkman still wears his beanie ( a fetching Peruvian patterned one, with swinging platts) and his thick red mittens... and his breath makes more patterns on the garden wall than you could ever either imagine or shake an icy stick at. The cats won't budge from the house, a corgi just strolled past in a quilted coat (accompanied by guy wearing purple balaclava) ... and I've just pulled on the thickest of socks ( "Fatface" ones, of course) over my shivering blue toes.

AND so Blog (who was brought up to believe we in the UK have 4 distinct Seasons) is now utterly confused and has decided to have a week or two in hibernation.
Hopefully when Blog next emerges , the cats will be frolicking under willow trees and I'll be wearing my Teva sandals...
Look forward to seeing you then.

* After meal at excellent Brasserie Chez Gerard, nominated Best Newcomer in the 2008 local Food/Drink Awards. ( Well deserved)

**AND particularly good to hear Ms. RF in NZ scans m'blog occassionally...

"All You Need Is:..£17,000 per day!!"

It's become a bit of a family anthem...

My father, closing his Father Of The Bride toast at our wedding ( YRS ago!) suddenly burst into it...and everyone else followed.

Donkey's yrs later, my husband, closing his Father of the Groom toast ( months ago!) at second son's wedding, suddenly burst into it...and everyone else followed.

A fortnight ago, the D.J, closing the lively disco celebrating the joint Special Birthday of my brother and sisterinlaw, played it as their friends/family stood in a happy midnight circle..

"All you need is love": that's the song and that's what Paul McCartney thought, all those yrs ago. Then he married Heather. Each day of that marriage (according to her Divorce Settlement yesterday) earned her £17,000.

She should've been eavesdropping at our family celebrations over the years....and no doubt at quite a few others throughout the land...

"Behind Closed Doors..."

Caroline Smailes is pretty, she's bright and at thirty-something, she clearly has a big writing future. Very recently, she called in to chat with one of my writing groups. I'd never met her in person...merely chatted through emails and http://www.carolinesmailes.co.uk/ but it was a treat to meet her and I know my class agreed. We had a great morning.

Strangely enough, when Caroline arrived, we were looking at an extract from Jeannette Winterson's " Oranges are not the only fruit" (the main character telling of her mother's "daily household preoccupation" with The Heathen next door, :"Put some clothes on...Next Door's at it again..")

We then worked on List poems, each line starting " Next door...", then listing ( "creatively", of course!) stuff Next door got up to...( great results: funny, moving, lyrical...we got the lot!) so THIS was all very (accidentally) relevant....

Because:

Caroline's second book is an ebook novella. "Disraeli Avenue" tells of a street of similar houses, where no household is really the same, where folk hide secrets which ( I'm cliche-ing; but cliches are cliches because they're SO very accurate, e.g: "make your blood boil", "your toes curl")...and as Caroline says, the book gives you "a mosaic of working class life".

It's a crisp idea; characters who were lightly featured in Caroline's first book ("In search of Adam", published by The Friday Project)... are given voice and their stories more vividly told...

Caroline's book can be downloaded free from her website ( see address above) All that's asked is a donation for a hardworking Charity ( " One in Four" ) which offers support for folk experiencing sexual abuse and violence.

By joining in, you're helping a great cause AND you'll enjoy a writer of whom we'll hear more...

Thankyou Caroline for coming to see us!

But Now For Something Completely Different:

Yesterday, I spotted a lovely old fellow sitting by the chemist counter in our local supermarket; Mr P 's been a neighbour for years and he must be 90. He was awaiting a prescription and the reason was obvious; his eyes were piggy-small and red and they streamed with cold.....but on seeing me, Mr P grinned, then asked after me, my family...and on saying goodbye, he touched his cap, yep, he touched his cap ( a deerstalker , something my long-gone dad would've described as " nifty" or even possibly " natty") ...then as I backed away with my wire basker swinging madly, he raised said deerstalker in gentlemanly salute.

I was touched, deeply. No-one's touched their cap at me for years, let alone " doffed" it. Doffed?

Does anyone under 40 even know what "doffed" means??!

I think the "trying-to-look scary" Hoodies who hang out on scary bikes outside the supermarket should do some doffing...lift up their hoodies occassionally, smile broadly...and we'd all feel a lot better.

OK, I'm easily pleased, but Mr P ( at 90-something) made m'day!

" Scandalous Doings at The Royal Exchange"

I took a trip on Saturday...yes, literally, a trip.

Hm: not THAT kind of trip but a trip over an invisible matchbox ( or scrap of shopping list) on a pavement outside a Manchester nightclub. I'd been watching two big-boy Bouncers who were watching a dusky-skinned girl ( legs:gazelle-like, mini dress:leopard-print) and I'd been wondering JUST how many clubbers that night had sidled in on freebies ...while the Big Bouncers gorged themselves on passing street beauties..

And then I'd landed in the gore of said street, one arm in a puddle, my bag in a muddle...

We'd been to a matinee ( visiting the M/Ch Exchange Theatre, in itself a treat) to Sarah Frankcomb's production:" The Children's Hour"; this is Lillian Hellmann's 1934 play,which has a gay theme, once eminently shockable. The play was banned in Chicago, Boston, London, New York...finally shown in France, but with a new title:" The Innocents". And later, in 1961, the film appeared, starring Audrey Hepburn, Shirley Maclaine ( see above) with James Garner.

The story is set in a girl's Scottish boarding school. There are schoolgirls, who whisper and giggle ( often sitting, almost in the audience, around the edge of Exchange's circular stage) ...girls who make friends, gang up, tell tales...(the usual girly stuff ) and there are teachers, two in particular who started the school, who have a friendship teetering on the brink of something else, and then there is schoolgirl Mary, who picks out her victims, who blackmails, who terrifies...Mary, whose final dreadful lie carries everyone into disaster...

It's a great production: the snatches of music, the set with its swirling chairs, the perfect placing of characters on the circular stage, the costumes..

Maxine Peake with Charlotte Emmerson gave us strong and moving pictures of the teachers.

BUT STAR OF THE PLAY was Kate O'Flynn as Mary. At school, we met girls who "stir", who "scare" ( a tad) ..but O'Flynn ignited Mary's character; her takeover of both this evil young character AND the production was superb.

*** " The Children's Hour" is at Manchester Royal Exchange until April 5th.

OTHER fun stuff:

On Monday, to 1st Birthday celebrations of Zest! ...

Zest! is the poetry-child of 3 local women poets, including Gill McEvoy. They meet every few weeks at Alexander's, a friendly, cosy bar in our city, where an intriguing band of folk share a vast variety of poetry. Good fun, with some pretty wonderful contributions. These included poems from 2 ex-Cheshire Poet Laureates, John Lindley and Andrew Rudd.

On Wednesday, to Chester Theatre Club at the Little Theatre: Margery Alexander's production of Bob Larbey's " A Month Of Sundays". It sounds gloomy ( set in a nursing home) but the two main characters, Cooper ( John Turner) and Aylott ( Tony Kemp) provided humour along with much food for thought....which reminds me to mention the talented Barbara Jemmett, who as Nurse Wilson, provided tears, cuddles and curling-at-edge sandwiches! A fine evening out!