Sporty type

I spent nearly all of Sunday (except for a break late afternoon for fresh air and to enjoy the sights and sounds of nature) and most of Monday glued to the Test Match coverage against India. England almost did it and I was really impressed by the new attack of Anderson, Sidebottom, Tremlett and Panesar. It was the weather that did for the game but morally we were 1-0 up. However we start again this week but will need to fit it in with the Asia Trophy Final on Friday afternoon.

I was delighted to be able to watch Pompey play and beat Fulham narrowly yesterday. Last season both home and away Pompey and Fulham came away with 1-1 draws. Yesterday's match was decided by a late goal in the first half by Benjani. For much of the game I thought Pompey's approach work was definitely the classier of the two and we still have one of the meanest defences around. Sol Campbell was man of the match and complained when he was substituted before the end. He certainly qualifies as a man mountain. Primus will once again have to work really hard for a place if he is to dislodge Distin. However talk of a three man back line would suit Linvoy working with Campbell and Distin. I still don't feel - and I know this is still early days - that the side has real teeth up front. Benjani and Nugent strike me as somewhat similar in that they will work really hard upfront as leading striker. However neither are the finished product as a scoring machine. There is still room for a Fredi Kanoute and definitely for a Defoe (both would be great!). We didn't get chance to see the torpedo, John Uttaka, in action and perhaps we will against Liverpool on Friday. My personal feelings are that we still need a wide player and SWP would be a personal choice.

I am enjoying my Friday sessions with Debbie Hobbs (Best Beloved even came with me last week) and have signed up for the Leisure Centre gym as a result. Debbie said 15 miles a week over a year would lose a stone without resorting to diets. So this is my target and the gym's treadmill will allow me to round off 15 miles if not achieved during the week, especially if the weather is inclement. I don't mind rain but find mud a drag.

Debbie's group also produces a newsletter, from which I extract the following story (my thanks to Liz, the newsletter editor). Mike, an 82 year old man, is potted walking down the street by his doctor. Mike has a gorgeous young woman on his arm. The doctor stops him and asks what he is doing. "Following your instructions," replies Mike. " I have got me a red hot mama and I am being cheerful."
"No, Mike," said the doctor. " I said you have a heart murmur and you should be careful!"

A Hearty Fart

A hearty fart relieves the heart

And gives the belly ease.

It warms the bed on a frosty night

And suffocates the fleas !

I am much obliged to Terry Cattermole for the above ditty. It is heart warming and fart inducing to know that someone such as Terry is taking the trouble to read my blog. I know he is because he asked for my blog address yesterday. He must have then read my blog and noticed that in a previous entry I had mentioned asking Terrry to provide me with the words for the very same ditty. The power of the Internet is shown once more.

Terry also asked about the outcome of the Best Beloved's submission of a possible production for the Bench Theatre, which I left hanging tantalisingly in the air on a previous blog. I am delighted to say that the company voted her production of "Bronte" in as the April 2008 main house Bench play. I haven't actually read the play yet but the Best Beloved is much excited by the prospect. It is a Shared Experience script recommended by Kitten and promises a different approach to the usual style of Bench production, which is why I was hired as movement director. I am still working on this aspect so can't field too many questions yet but would like to run a Club Night based on my findings in the not too distant future. I will, however, be following the work of Michael Ashcroft at the RSC for one and hopefully pressing him for more details. The other exciting thing that happened at the company voting session was the choice of Martin Crimp's "Attempts on Her Life" for February 2008. Again this is another very interesting choice both for the company and for the audience. Nathan Chapman, the natty chap, is the director for this one and a link to his blog can be found on this page. He does a very interesting insight into his own submission. The play "Attempts on Her Life" is not your usual either so the company is in for a sustained period of extended experimentation in how to approach a script and a production. Hurrah!

We had an interesting visit from a garden designer yesterday morning. I expected to remain interested for about twenty minutes but three hours later was still fully involved and engaged in the discussions. The designer will now go away and produce a quotation for her design work and if we accept the quotation will begin to draw up a draft plan. It was intriguing to find that Ingrid likes fuzzy curves in the garden and I like symmetrical straight lines. Those who have seen me at work in the classroom or on stage will know I am a minimalist with an overwhelming urge to plump for symmetry. Ingrid prefers asymmetry because it's more interesting she says but it does tend to make me twitchy. Don't get me wrong, I like curves in the garden but am not necessarily talking about garden beds or lawn edges here.

I plan to walk the Wayfarers Walk in stages this summer and autumn. There are about twenty circular walks based on pubs along the Way. I intend tackling these first in no particular order. After that I hope to tackle the whole 70 mile length. Probably this won't be in one go but I have yet top decide how much I can reasonably do at one stretch. Seven lots of 10 miles or 14 lots of five miles might be the order of the day but I am working on my fitness with the help of Debbie Hobbs, a physiotherapist who has devised Phase 4 for cardiac rehab. When we do the full length walks Ingrid will probably come with me as the idea would be to take two cars (carbon footprint be blowed). We would park one car at the end of the walk, before we drive both of us to the start of the walk in the second car. At the end of the walk we would drive back to collect the car waiting at the start of the walk. Not very green ethically, but you have to admire the symmetry!

"Dead Funny", Terry Johnson's play, directed by Jacquie Penrose and starring Nathan and Kitten starts on Thursday and runs through to Saturday 28th July. If you are in the vicinity of the Havant Arts Centre, I would highly recommend you get a ticket. It is very funny!

More Acting

I am grateful to today's Guardian for recounting the theatrical legend of the first night performance of "Bouncers" by John Godber. This is now a mainstay of British Theatre but its opening was far from auspicious. The four bouncers onstage opened to an audience of two. ( My rule of thumb has always been we will play to any size of audience but not if the cast outnumber them. This story shows how much I know!)
One of the audience was a critic reviewing the show who left before the end. The other was a drunk so taken by the verisimilitude of what was being portrayed before him that he joined in the performance.
I must look more closely at the work of John Godber and his Hull Truck company.

Acting

The best Beloved and I spent five days en Picardie under canvas (sous la tente). The weather wasn't great but the only rain we had was during one night. We had a lovely time and talked about many things including one of our favourite topics: being an actor.

I also bought a Daily Telegraph on the Saturday. Don't always read newspapers on holiday but the Saturday morning ritual at home with the Saturday Guardian is one of life's eternal pleasures. I couldn't get the Guardian at the campsite and they were a day behind so I was reading the edition of Friday July 6. After the sports page, I turned to the Friday reviews and in the Film on Friday reviews found an interview with a French film star. Romain Duris is one of the "hottest of a new generation of actors". At the moment he is starring in "Moliere", a French film, but is working on "Afterwards" opposite John Malkovich and Evangeline Lilly. It was some of his thoughts on acting that attracted my attention as they backed up some of the conclusions Ingrid and I had reached. The article was written by Sheila Johnston.
In one scene in "Moliere" he impersonates different breeds of horses. He says, "You have to get close to being ridiculous and your commitment then saves you. If you become afraid, suddenly you're inhibited and it doesn't work at all. I didn't go to acting school and can't fall back on a method. So it's always both mind-blowing and enjoyable."
" I play characters who ask themselves questions, are seeking something, are somehow unfinished, or immature."
"I don't know. Maybe I take emotions too much to heart.I'm never happy with what I do. ..... Doubt i s there constantly - the main thing is not to let it eat you up."
The last quote is the one that resonates most loudly with me. "I have a horror of career strategies or programmes. Even in my personal life, I hate making plans. Perhaps I should Interrogate myself more" (Another pause) "Or maybe not. Actors shouldn't have that kind of distance."

Anecdote

We had lunch with the Batstones at the Brushmakers Arms in Upham on Thursday. John is an excellent raconteur but the following anecdote came from his wife, Margaret, a lady with a dry sense of humour.

Margaret had taken a trip without John to see the painted monasteries of Romania. She is a keen observer of humanity. She observed the following encounter . One of those ebullient, somewhat patronising men, professional background but self made, had taken upon himself to socialise and to spread himself around the group at meals and stops. He found himself next to a frail old lady who everyone knew to be a Dame and to whom they referred to with her title.
He began the conversation by asking the very English question, "What do you do?"

I read an article quite recently about this question. The English are prone to judging people by what they do rather than by what they are. Perhaps a left over from the class system? I am upper class and I look down on the middle class who looks down on the working class. We jockey for position and establish a pecking order by what work we do.

In a very quiet voice the Dame informed him that she had retired. Not to be put off at his first attempt, the man asked the supplementary question, "What did she do?"

In an even quieter voice, The Dame said, "I was a High Court Judge!"

That is a five card trick which is pretty difficult to top and I would love to have seen the man's face.

One of the outcomes of the delightful lunch and conversation is that I have become interested in a master's degree. I am still mulling on this one and will use my blog to tease out some salient points - especially as I have two daughters who are Course Adminstrators at Portsmouth University!