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!