Wild Duck goes into performance

Last night was the final dress rehearsal of "The Wild Duck", which begins a run of eight performances at the Arts Centre tonight. Kitten the director expressed herself satisfied with the end result and was looking forward to seeing the audience reaction to it. She was certainly more upbeat than she had been at the end of the Tuesday dress rehearsal, which had technically been a slog through cold porridge and the acting reflected it. Tuesday was one of those moments as a director when you look at the result of months of preparation and rehearsal and think "Have I been wasting my time?" Hopefully these moments are swiftly followed by dress rehearsal like last night when you think all this show needs now is an audience.

Last night I dried on my line "The forest... the forest you see... the forest (He drinks)...is the forest." As you can see it is not a line that has much semantic meaning as written on the page but is one of those lines that should resound in performance and is the key to Old Ekdahl, the character I am playing. The fact that I dried and forgot it, is not a surprise because it is a line I have found difficult to memorise. In fact this sequence of three or four pages has always been a problem area for line learning. There is another line about wearing my cap. I knew the line like I do the forest line above but they arrive from nowhere like non-sequiters. The trouble is they are seminal and essential lines for the characterisation. Kitten has worked hard at eliminating some of my over used mannerisms on stage and it is probably time someone did. However I have lost some of the devices whereby I find a character through investigation, sometimes disappearing down cul de sacs, and sometimes by over-acting. What I haven't discovered is Old Ekdahl's fear of the forest and the sense of shame and humiliation he has out in public. Both these deep feelings are assuaged by the wonderland created in the loft. Both Ekdahl and his son Hjalamar are dreamers hiding from real life, which unfortunately for them as a nasty habit of creeping up on you and biting you in the arse.

I have produced a highly technical and adept performance which will get me through the play and probably service the plot very well. As an actor however I feel a little cheated of the depth of feeling that could be found in the character. One of the reasons for this state of affairs has been the strange hybrid role as Movement Director. This has been something of an adventure into the unknown - I have some thoughts about the role and the impact it should have - I am not sure I possess the necessary qualifications and skills to help the actors as much as I should. I know that instinctively and intuitively I have the skills as a director to create stage pictures, and am very interested in actors' body language on stage and in character. I am sure I can do the former but am worried that it crosses into the territory of the director. I am very interested in body language and can tell when it is wrong but am unsure how best to help. I think this production was a tough one to start with as some of the actors seemed to start from a low opinion of themselves as physical beings able to interpret characterisation through their bodies. The old adage about Bench actors being good from the neck up is not entirely without a basis of truth.

What being Movement Director, whilst playing a part, did for me was to make me more aware objectively of what was going on around me, whereas I am a subjective sort of actor who only cares about others as they impact upon the character. I describe myself as a non team player but in reality I tend to specialise in a role and leave the wider vision to others. In football analogy, I am the striker who thinks "Ball....kick....back of net...goal" and wheels away in triumph.

I think the production has opened up my eyes to a number of theatrical quandrums that I need to think through more carefully both as an actor and as a Movement Director and as a director.

I saw "Stockholm" by Frantic Assembly at Chichester Minerva Theatre yesterday afternoon (not perhaps best preparation for a dress rehearsal in the evening). It is on till the 17th so if you live in the vicinity I would recommend you get over there and see the show. It is a terrific 70 minutes of high powered physical theatre examining a relationship through text (brilliant script by Byony Lavery), dance and movement. The production ideas are ingenious and some of the theatrical solutions are mind boggling. I hop eto write a more considerd review in my next posting. However for now I am going back to look at the part of Old Ekdahl in "The Wild Duck" and consider how to achieve the performance without upsetting the dynamics and the other actors - a loving surprise for them rather than a rude shock might be the better approach.

Remembrance Sunday

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month is Remembrance. One of the very few things I was proud of as teacher was the insistence that we gathered as a school on the playground at this time annually and observed a two minute silence. We did not fill the children's heads with ideas of war but rather the duty of a citizen to remember those who had gone before and to participate in a simple but powerful ceremony happening throughout the land. I once attended Britten's War requiem and was accosted by anti war protesters outside. I asked them whether they knew the content of the piece against which they were obviously demonstrating as they can be very few pieces of music as anti war as that of Britten. We do sometimes suffer from knee jerk reactions rather than sufficient consideration - again the death of common sense! This is one of the Americanisms I detest as it threatens the admittedly stodgy British response or restraint, but which I much prefer to over dramatic emotionalisation.

Twenty nine years ago, we baptised our Firstborn on Remembrance Sunday at Hulbert Road Methodist Church. Now our Firstborn wasn't the best baby for sleeping especially in those first few months. The number of times we had to put her in the pram and walk the streets with her or if that didn't work put her in the car and go for a drive - somehow the motion of travel would do the trick! Anyway she looked beautiful wrapped up in her baptismal outfit and shawl. She was also blissfully asleep throughout the entire service and only stirred gently as we approached the font. She beamed at the minister and gazed around in rapt attention. The baptism went off wonderfully and then of course the service ended with the Boys Brigade buglers playing "The Last Post". All I can say is that the Firstborn virtually drowned out the buglers and certainly hit those top notes along with them. She certainly took some considerable time to calm down, I can tell you.

I find the commemoration at the Cenotaph moving and so dignified. "They shall not be forgotten..."

New outlet

I attend the Cardiac Rehab Phase 4 exercise classes run by Debbie Hobbs at Langstone Hotel and the Mountbatten Centre on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. These provide my three minimum exercise requirement for the week so that any other form of exercise I do under my own steam is on top of this basic. I found that I needed this disciplined approach provided by Debbie and her groups. I had intended walks to be the main form of exercise but lacked the self discipline necessary to make them happen regularly enough to fulfil health requirements. I do walk into Havant during the daytime rather than use the car, but evening rehearsals see me fall back on the car as means of transport for me and the director.

Liz, who attends the same classes at the Mountbatten Centre, runs the group newsletter. Debbie has been putting pressure on the group to provide material for the newsletter and as I have used the group to publicise theatrical endeavours she said I should write them up for the newsletter.

As per usual I shall use the blog as a draft means of expression and then transfer the material to Liz for inclusion in the newsletter. I might also self publicise my blog and thereby gain more readers.

I was politely but firmly harangued by Alan, another member of Debbie's group, because I had let the performances of "Measure for Measure" slip past him and he had been looking forward to seeing the Shakespeare. Oh the responsibility of being the oracle in this way!

Another member, Martin, surprised me this week by saying I had potential as a salesman. He trains people as salesman so speaks with some authority. I had always considered myself as being naff at selling anything but he started my brain working.

Still I love writing and am looking for some way to express myself in other literary forms such as fiction and poetry (so watch out blog readers).

The British Heart Foundation is looking for co-ordinators, speakers, memoriam secretaries and fund raisers locally. Co-ordinators visit schools and oversee fund-raising activities as well as promoting the foundation's heart health messages to children and teachers. Speakers are needed to thank supporters who have raised funds and tell them how their money will help. In memoriam secretaries liaise with funeral directors to encourage their support for the charity. Fund-raisers assist in promoting and organising events as well as encouraging other individuals and businesses to organise their own events. I could do any or all of those roles for the BHF and will telephone the local organiser this week to offer my services or visit bhf.org.uk/volunteer.

Railways

I am very grateful to Trevor Hare for his comment on "Winter is upon us", a previous posting. He writes or, as he puts it, "rants" at length about my suggestion of rail renationalisation. The points he makes, however, are really good ones and certainly made me rethink my own woolly ideas.

I don't wish to return to bad old ways of British Rail but do feel the present system of free market rail transport has not given us much of an improvement. I endorse Trevor's idea of a 51 percent national stake in a railway company. Being a Francophile I approve the idea of allying closely with a European rail operator for management expertise. Now does anyone know how I can go about getting some action on this idea? I could try the e-petitions at the Downing Street website or try putting pressure on the prospective leadership candidates for the Liberal Democrat party.

I read Matt Grimshaw's excellent article in a recent Guardian, "The Liberal Democrats are at risk of obliteration", and this re-awakened some of the political zeal I have lost over the years. Readers of my previous postings will know I was considered as a possible Liberal Democrat councillor candidate earlier this year. I backed out on ill health but the County LibDem councillor won the borough seat, which was a "good thing" all around.

Anyway I would describe myself as a Socialist Democrat or a democratic socialist or whatever influenced by ideas of John Stuart Mills. Once upon a time I might have described myself as a Labour supporter in honour of my coal working ancestors on my mother's side of the family. However New Labour are vying with the Tories to "steal each other's policies, principles and voters" (Matt Grimshaw). Matt Grimshaw advocates leaving the middle ground to the two parties already there and to use the Ross Perot tactic of 1992 to attack the "Self interest of the ....political elite." Grimshaw goes on to say the LibDems should forget the 5% of voters lost to Cameron but concentrate instead on the 40% of voters who no longer bother to vote. "They must articulate a new vision of liberal democracy that creates new dividing lines in British politics". He agrees with my own thoughts that the best man for the job currently was Ming Campbell, whereas in Huhne and Clegg, the new contenders, we have more of the Cameron/Blair effect. Gordon Brown had the chance of moving away from the same effect but seems to be muffing his opportunity. Don't they see that voters are put off by "the prevailing political wind" and need something of substance rather than style from their democratic leaders?

Politically I felt and still feel a hatred towards Thatcherite policy and the free market approach to national institutions. How are we ever going to get a green transport policy when we are in the hands of freebooters and entrepreneurs? I live near Portsmouth, a city drowning in traffic. It is ideally built on an island and could find solutions to many of its problems, but not if it has to rely upon private enterprise for public transport. Buses should revert to some form of public ownership and we should be exploring other means of large scale transit systems. I cannot believe that a LRT system would not be suited to Portsmouth and bridges/tunnels built as means of access. How would I pay for such schemes? Come in, Trevor, more help needed on this one!

As You Like It

We have reached 1977 in these personal reminiscences of the Bench Theatre history. I need to reiterate that these "Notes from the Green Room" are written entirely from personal memory and may include factual errors and highly subjective viewpoints.

By 1977 the Best Beloved and I had been married two years, I was giving up smoking and I was chairman of the Bench Theatre. These three facts may have contributed to the somewhat stressful three years I was chairman, but also the fact that our time at the Old Magistrates' Court and Police station was coming to an end. The Bench would need to find a new home.

In February 1977, the Best Beloved mounted only the second Shakespeare staged by the Bench, "As You Like It". The first Shakespeare play had been my production of "Richard III", which I described in detail in previous Notes from the Green Room (Ingrid and I were married off by the News in a publicity article and so we decided this was an indication from a higher authority and made it a fact). This was a major production and therefore as usual in these circumstances the Bench company had to expand in order to be able to mount the play. We do this at quite regular intervals, such as for "His dark Materials" in 2006, but always seem surprised by the need to so do. This expansion usually has great benefits for the company and it certainly was so in 1977.

I was cast in the contrasting roles of Charles the Wrestler (more believable now in my present bulky state but I was quite willowy in 1977) and Jacques. The latter is one of the great parts in Shakespeare, possessed of a hopelessly melancholy disposition, Jacques stands on the sidelines of life watching and judging the actions of others. He delivers the soliloquy, "The seven ages of Man". Later, after our performances at the Bench Theatre, we were invited to do a performance at the Nuffield Theatre as part of a Showcase of Hampshire Theatre (the Bench was considered one of the leading exponents in the county). I still have very strong and good memories standing on the Nuffield Stage delivering that speech (Much later, I was also dragged onstage by Granville Saxton for the Nuffield Panto based on Robin Hood but that is another story entirely!)

Rosalind was Jill Sawyer, a member of Tim Mahoney's Langstone Children's Theatre. Tim himself played Touchstone, the comedian, and Audrey, a simpleminded goatherd who agrees to marry Touchstone, despite the fact that she understands very little of what he says, was played by Janet Simpson (a Bench doyenne of beloved memory). Janet's performance was enhanced by her eating a raw onion onstage, by which the rest of us were mightily impressed in every sense.

Spokey Wheeler and Jenny Jones played Silvius and Phoebe, the shepherd and shepherdess. who are the love sub plot in "As You Like It". Again they were recruits found by Tim and who became stalwarts of the company; Spokey became chairman of both the Bench and later the Arts Centre.

The problem role was Orlando, the handsome young lord, the hero of the piece who proves himself a fitting mate for Rosalind. Charles the wrestler, my secondary role (see above) does not want to injure the young man and thereby lose favor among the nobles who support him. Charles's concern for Orlando proves unwarranted when Orlando beats him senseless. Please note that last bit! Orlando beats Charles senseless! How times have not changed - I was the Polar Bear King beaten in combat in "His Dark Materials" and had my heart eaten onstage by my victorious opponent!

In my previous piece I explained how Tim had laboured long and hard to get the Havant College drama lecturer on board in both the Langstone Children's Theatre and possibly with the Bench. His wish was about to be granted. Mike had been replaced as drama lecturer at Havant College by a sallow youth called David Penrose. Yes this was the Bench debut of David Penrose as Orlando! Later as Tim faded out as the unappointed Artistic Director of the Bench Theatre through age and ill health (and a wish for a slightly quieter life perhaps), it was David who became the unappointed Artistic Director of the Bench Theatre - Tim must have known something more than the rest of us.

Anyway "As You Like It" was a great success and occasioned an almost annual Shakespeare production in the early 1980s.

1977 also saw the debut of Jacquie Penrose in "Tonight at 8.30" in June of that year. Later that same year we saw the final Bench production in the Old Magistrates' Court, "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg" starring one David Penrose in October. And in November, having rehearsed simultaneously, we saw the Bench open the new Havant Arts Centre with "Habeas Corpus" directed by yours truly.

The next Notes from the Green Room will look at Autumn 1977, when the Bench left its old home and moved to its new. Yours truly was Chairman and director of the first production ever at the Arts Centre - there was no Jacques like standing on the side lines but I think I may have wished for a solitary and contemplative life in a monastery by Christmas 1977!

Stuart Matthew Price

Yesterday five of us went to see "Parade" at the Donmar in London. Four of us are retired and the fifth was Kitten, who took a day off work. "Parade" is a musical by Jason Robert Brown, who I rate quite highly as his work is in the Spielberg mode of controversial subject matter allied with intelligent music. I bought the CD years ago in "Dress Circle" in Monmouth Street and therefore leaped at the chance to see and hear the musical at my favourite London theatre.

The musical is based on a true factual story. On Confederate Memorial Day, 1913, a 13 year old child labourer named Mary Phagan was strangled to death in the Atlanta, Georgia, pencil factory where she worked. The chief suspect was Leo Frank, a Yankee Jew, who worked as the plant superintendent. Alfred Uhry, who wrote the book for the musical, is a native Atlantan.

The District Attorney, with political ambitions to replace the state governor, decides against charging a black suspect and decides top stage a showcase trial against the Jewish Yankee.

Bertie Carvel playing Leo Frank presents us with a cold and unfeeling character, who deliberately keeps our sympathies at bay. In the showcase trial he is beset by the state's star witness, Jim Conley (powerfully sung by Shaun Escoffery), who avoids suspicion falling upon himself by helping the district attorney build up a case against the Jewish outsider. We never learn who killed Mary Phagan and it indeed could have been Leo Frank. However the trial is so obviously biased and based on circumstantial evidence that our sympathy is won over to the defendant, not because we like him any more but because we can see how stacked how the dice being rolled against him. The memorable moment of the first half is "It's Hard to Speak My Heart", which is Leo Frank's closing testimony to the jury (In Georgian state law the defendant is not cross-examined but can make a closing testimony if so wished). He sings it primarily to his Georgian born wife, Lucille Frank, and is a wonderfully moving solo delivered impeccably by Bertie Carvel. Leo Frank is extremely nervous, aloof from Atlantan society, and externally cold and unfeeling. The song lets us inside this carapace but without ever selling out the characterisation. The trial ends with a death sentence and a triumphant barn dance as the citizens of Atlanta celebrate the decision. We ate our interval ice creams in muted silence pondering the fate of Leo Frank.

In the second half we see the relationship between Leo and Lucille grow to full fruition and she becomes a major campaigner in the battle to get the sentence commuted to life imprisonment rather than death. She is backed by the chief rabbi of the Atlantan synagogue, who travels to New York to enlist Yankee help in fighting the Frank case. Lara Pulver (who we last saw in Jason Robert Brown's "The Last Five Years" at the Menier last year) and Bertie Carvel sing the love duet, "All the Wasted Time", which is a bitter sweet reminiscence of the missed opportunities in their marriage and lives up to that point. The heart strings are tugged and Leo Frank has become someone with whom the audience have a greater understanding. The sentence becomes life imprisonment and the campaign moves on to the next phase of trying to secure his release. However dark forces are at work in Atlanta led by bible thumping minister Tom Watson (Norman Bowman, last seen as Billie Bigelow in "Carousel" at Chichester last year) and the musical ends in a gut wrenching finale.

We were surprised that the first person we saw and heard on stage was Stuart Matthew Price, a good looking blonde slender high tenor with a great voice and look. Our surprise was that we knew Stuart from Bedhampton and his parents Bill and Shelley were Methodists at the Hulbert Road Church when I was senior steward there. Ingrid had taught Stuart at Bidbury Junior as his talent shone from an early age in school musicals. Alice knew him from Sunday School. We knew he had been with the Musical Youth Theatre and had chosen to make the stage his profession. He was a knockout in "Parade" and it was a real delight to talk with him after the show in the Donmar foyer. Young Stuart also writes musicals and won the Stoll Moss Theatres Award for Most Promising Under 18s Musical Writer. I think Stuart will do well as both performer and as a writer in the profession he has chosen.

The standards at the Donmar are excellent and "Parade" joins the pantheon of outstanding productions seen there. I can't wait now for Natty Chap's thirtieth birthday, when we are all going to see "Othello" at the Donmar, with another young and up and coming actor playing Iago, one Ewan McGregor.

Winter is upon us

Just realised that my last blog was the first of October and that we are now in November. I am not sure what caused the loss of communication there. Just finished three performances of "Measure for Measure" with Bare Bards. I enjoyed the experience enormously although seem to have needed naps to keep going. Bare Bards refers to the fact that it was a Shakespeare relying almost totally upon the text - no reference to nude actors whatsoever. Learning Shakespeare is not as difficult as it might appear - the old lad had a way with words - and does seem to have written his scripts to make it easy for actors to assimilate. Some modern playwrights could do with paying attention to some of the techniques used. A notable exception being Bryony Lavery, whom the Best Beloved assures me was a joy to learn.
We are now into the final fortnight of runthroughs of "The Wild Duck" being directed by the Kitten. I am enjoying myself playing a doddery grandfather. Working with so many of the Bare Bards company who are also in "The Wild Duck" has been a little surreal at times but it is a joy working with Martin and Charley.
I did begin a draft blog reviewing the Supernova process, which was also intended as a Benchpress article. However I ran out of time and the deadline arrived before I was ready. I suspect the opportunity has now come and gone for this particular article but will get stuck into the next episode of the personal reminiscences of the Bench Theatre history in good time for the next edition of Benchpress.
I like the writing lark and I am also getting the directing bug back so perhaps we can explore both avenues more thoroughly in 2008.
The new Pompey stadium looks like it may be built on Horsea Island. I would refer you back to a much earlier blog of mine extolling the views of a stranger entering Portsmouth with the new stadium and Portchester Castle in the same shot of Portsmouth Harbour on the right going in.
I have also picked up a bit of politics. I am very interested in the concept of "civic autonomy", rail renationalisation and a new role for the third political party when the two main parties seem to be carbon copies of each other vying for the same middle ground. I feel a series of expounding blogs coming on. Thanks for your patience, gentle reader, and it will be repaid in bucketloads. I was hoping for a Shakespearian couplet there but it is harder than it looks, chucks.

Granada

We arrived in Granada ysterday, the last Sunday in September, and bugger me if the entire town didn´t turn out to welcome us!
Apparently the Virgien (a pieta of enormous size if not as beautiful as the one in St Peter´s) makes a journey from her church around the town calling in at the cathedral as a midway break. She is accompanied by Catholic knights in evening suits and white elather gloves who carry her in teams through the streets. The teams have to change very often after short distances because believe me this is one big lady. The Catholic knights are accompanied by men in medieval dress, the city council, police and emergency chiefs in full dress uniform (lots of plumes), an escort of carabiniere and a platoon of goose stepping soldiers plus thousands of citizens carrying long thin candles.Interspersed every so often were various bands of the brass and marching varieties. They all, every one of them, came up the narrow alley behind our hotel (beneath the terraced balcony outside our room). The nusic was terrific and raised the hairs on the back of the neck. I drank several beers and loudly applauded teh passing of the Virgien but particularly the gut straining effeort of the elderly men attemnpting to carry her a few metres up the alley.
Today we saw the Alhambra and it is one heck of a wonderful highlight. We managed to get there just 10 minutes before our scheduled appointment in the Palacio - and still left the barclaycard I used to buy tickets in the UK back in the hotel room - still we were allowed in on time. Afterwards we had lunch under a vine covered open air table. We asked the waiter why he was so happy in his job and he replied that "the summer was over!"
We have had a magnificent holiday and we are looking forward to meeting up with Kitten on Wednesday and perhaps seeing Firstborn on the weekend. First we have to get the train back to Seville and then on to Madrid for night train to Paris, before Eurostar to Waterloo and home.

Cordoba

Today we are travelling by AVE Preferente *Spanish TG first class to Cordoba about 40 minutes by rail. Our hotel is the Conquistadores opposite the Mesquita. the must see in Cordoba. Unsure whether new hotel will hae same internet facilities but here is hoping eh!
We spend two days in Cordoba before traelling on Sunday to Granada,where we see the Alhambara on Monday.
Must remember to report to European Rail about the need to trael light especially on the sleeper train.
Gonna look for pottery over next few days and probably have it sent home to help decorate new dining room.

Seville Cathedral

Today we hae visited the cathedral here in Seville. By heck, it is a big un! It is third largest church after St Peter in Rome *which I saw for the first time last summer, and after St Paul in London,which I haven t been inside for ages.
The cathedral is big with columns and vaulted roofs and the guy who started it said we are going to build something so big that people will think we are madmen. Well, those guys were real loonies! I won t go into too many details as you can look the place up on google etc but it is certainly worth a visit. Today is World Tourism Day so we got in free which appeals strongly to the Yorkshireman in me and certainly to Ingrid.
When we came out we went in search of a cafe caled Ingrid before looking for somewhere to eat for lunch. Cafe Ingrid wasn t up to too much except a photo opportunity so a further search was needed. I found a recommended restaurant called Enrique Beccera but the prices were too high for Ingy so we found a nearby bodega. We had a good lunch for 46 Euros and the landlord gave us a port gratis at the end. We also gave an American couple advice on prawns in garlic for a good tapas or starter. They asked so we volunteered the information.
Back at hotel for shower and siesta before final night in Seville. Tomorrow we are off to Cordoba and the Mesquita. Still have n t sen the corrida and we may buy Spanish pottery in Granada and hae it sent on home afterwards. We have a new dining room to decorate next year.

Seville

I am working on the internet keyboard at my hotel in Seville. The keyboard doesn, like the letter v and is organised differently from my one at home. This restricts my creativity.
Seville is wonderful. We eat a big meal at lunchtime around two or two thirty just before siesta. We spend the evenings touring the tapas bars and drinking wine. The heat here is very hot but dry.
We are in the barrio santa cruz, a warren of streets in higgedly piggedly order. The taxi drier on Tuesday when we arrived had to ask his mates how to get into the barrio to drop us at our hotel, the Petit Palace, which it is and high tech as well.
Today we went to the Alcazar, which is a magnificent mixture of Moorish and Christian architecture. It is mind bogglingly tremendous and the gardens are a haen of peace and repose like nowhere I have ever been before. I would recommend Seville as a romantic destination for any young or not so young couple. Ideal for a honetmoon I would hae thought although probably not in the height of summer. This time of year is just perfect. Tomorrow we go shopping and do the cathedral before lunch and more tapas. Oh bliss.
Lovely to keep in touch with Kitten cross the distance and we love her blog. We are intrigued by Mrs W,s offer of a re enactment job back in the UK. Send it on. Feel so healthy and capable of anything.

Respite

My posting today comprises of two pieces by other people. However they are so apt I just felt it was necessary to include them.

The first was the "Wyse Word" by Pascal Wyse from Saturday's Guardian. I have raved before about "Wise Words" but this one seemed so pertinent as even the amateur drama world in Portsmouth awaits agog for the Guide Awards. So to all you nominees from the Bench out there, It is time to start practising your "Grince".

Grince One of the most challenging faces an actor has to pull, used at ceremonies when another performer wins an award for which you were nominated. It masks violent disappointment with an air of relief that the judges made, of course, the right decision. The other guy really deserves and needs it.

The second piece comes from my mother in law, Enid Caddy. Enid is a bit of a poet and produces the occasional ode. "Respite" is particularly topical as Ingrid (Best Beloved) and Zoe (Firstborn) are seeing her established in Belmont Castle for the next ten days while we are away in Spain.

Respite


I’m going to go into ‘Respite’
Respite from what I’m not sure.
Perhaps it’s because they don’t trust me,
That I won’t eat or fall on the floor –
I like all my favourite things round me,
Like puzzles and eye drops and pens,
Strepsils and make-up and papers
And tissues that have to be ‘mens’.
The telephone, mirror and timer
That rings when I’ve fallen asleep.
Not that it makes any difference,
I never can hear it go beep.
Then there’s the knife for opening my letters,
The water for taking my pills,
My helping-hand with its long handle
That helps me recover my spills.
My earpiece that connects to the telly,
The bleeper I press if I fall.
The neighbours who pop in to see me
And dear Ingrid who’s always on call.
But my life style will have to different
So they have peace of mind while away,
And I’m sure I shall like being pampered.
So two weeks in ‘Respite’ – OK.

Enid Caddy
Sept 2007

See you all when we get back unless I am prompted to do a Kitten while I am away. Adios, amigos.

Spanish Itinerary

I am publishing our Spanish itinerary, ostensibly so our family can keep up with us and excitedly to show off!

24 September
Havant dep 10.04 London Waterloo arr 1134
Eurostar booking in at 1300 (This is to remind Firstborn of a previous occasion when she had to rush to London with our forgotten passports)
Eurostar dep. 1341 Paris Nord arr. 1723
Transfer across Paris from Nord to Austerlitz
Paris Austerlitz dep. 1943 Madrid Chamartin arr. 0913

25 September
Transfer across Madrid from Chamartin to Atocha
Madrid Atocha dep. 1100 Sevilla Santa Justa arr. 1330
Stay in Seville at Petit Palace Santa Cruz for 3 nights

28 September
AVE train from Sevilla Santa Justa dep 11.00 Cordoba Central arr. 1142
Stay in Cordoba at Conquistador for 2 nights

30 September
AVE train from Cordoba Central dep 1052 Sevilla Santa Justa arr. 1135
Sevilla Santa Justa depl 1150 Granada arr. 1459
Stay in Granada at Dauro II for 2 nights

2 October
Granada dep 1133 Seville Santa Justa arr. 1430
Seville Santa Justa dep. 1500 Madrid Atocha arr. 1730
Transfer across Madrid from Atocha to Chamartin
Madrid Chamartin dep 1900 Paris Austerlitz arr. 0827

3 October
Transfer across Paris from Austerlitz for Nord
Eurostar dep 1113 London Waterloo arr. 1257
London Waterloo to Havant whenever! After a good lunch up in town no doubt!

I received a lovely comment by Trevor Hare (see "1975") about "Habeas Corpus", the first ever production staged at the Havant Arts Centre. Thank you, Trevor.

The Golden Compass

Taking my cue from the Natty Chap and Alice the Kitten, I went on The Golden Compass website and tried out finding my own daemon. It turned out to be a gibbon by the name of Calista. I am inordinately pleased with myself and with the fact that I managed to download it on to my blog as can be seen below. The Bench did "His Dark Materials" in December 2006 and it was the last major theatrical event before I retired. It has now been made into a film, the first part is called "The Golden Compass" (starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig), and is due for release on December 7th, whether this is US or UK , I don't know. The trailer on the website is great and is narrated by Jim Carter, who also plays John Faa, the character I played in the stage production - how cool is that!
I am appearing in Supernova this week, researching the early days of photography for "The Wild Duck" and rehearsing "Measure for Measure". I am also learning the rudiments of Spanish so I can go on holiday next week and introduce myself. Buenos dias, me llamo Senor Pedro Corrigan. Tengo dos ninos, Zoe and Alice. Mi hermano es Andrew Corrigan and mi mujer es Ingrid. Me pone un cafe, por favor. (Hello, I am Mr Peter Corrigan. I have two children, Zoe and Alice. My brother is Andrew Corrigan - told you, you'd get a mention, bro - and my wife is Ingrid. I'll have a black coffee, please.)

Expanding the Bench Season

At the Bench Theatre Annual General Meeting back in 2006, I was obviously garrulous from the number of times my name appeared in the minutes. One of the items I raised was about the prospect of the Bench touring one or more productions away from the Arts Centre. I attended a meeting this summer with the Executive Committee and the Artistic Panel at which I was asked to firm up some ideas for presentation at the Annual General Meeting this year, 2007. I didn’t really have the opportunity to develop my ideas fully and, on reflection, I am not sure that the AGM was the appropriate venue. Please note these ideas are my own and not official Bench policy. What I hope will happen is that people will respond and that we have something of a debate/discussion in these pages. Hopefully this may then lead to the formulation of a plan of action or a policy by the Company.

Firstly, I have been through the stage of grandiose plans or ideas and have ultimately rejected them on closer and more careful reflection. What I have arrived at are more organic or evolutionary ways of expanding the Bench season.

Why expand the season? The Company has grown and more opportunities are needed to keep everyone gainfully employed. The five productions at the Arts Centre are the mainstay of our operations but it is very unlikely that we will be able to increase the number of productions we do there. We could, of course, do larger scale productions five times a year, thereby extending the number of acting opportunities. However, large-scale productions cannot offer all the cast equal opportunity to develop or extend acting skills and explore depth of characterisation. In addition, one of the strengths of the bench is the variety and range of its productions. I know this is prompted mainly by the wishes of the directors – we are a director led company rather than an acting one. I wouldn’t wish to see the company’s choice restricted by constraints imposed by finding large cast plays every time.

There are two issues, which come up time and again throughout any thinking about expanding the season; these are funding and rehearsal space. I am not in a position to give definitive answers to the problems raised by these issues. I do believe that where there is a will, there is a way. If the company decided to adopt some of my ideas, we would be able to find some solutions.

To put my toe in the water, I would suggest we first consider taking a more active part in the Havant May Festival. At the moment, this is an annual event and is co-ordinated through the Arts Centre but is borough wide (if it survives in its present format or indeed if it survives at all). A long time ago we did the Community Play (written by our own Jacquie Penrose) so this is not entirely new territory. Tim Taylor mounted a touring production of “Shakers” a few years back, which again means we have had some experience of this sort of activity.

The Bench would need to work out a structure to enable us to participate before we even begin to think about what artistic endeavour we were going to present. Our participation in the Havant Festival would also have an impact on the April and July main house slots at the Arts Centre. This would have to be taken into consideration when the Company selected these two slots and the Havant Festival slot.

I am not proposing that we angle for another slot at the Arts Centre as part of the Havant Festival but rather that we find other venues in the borough. These venues would hopefully be willing to be part of the Havant Festival so I am not talking hiring here. These venues would need to be carefully chosen, vetted and approached. My first thoughts would be Bedhampton Social / Community Hall (not the Bedhampton Arts Centre), two venues within Leigh Park (church halls perhaps) and one in Waterlooville.

The Bench would have to involve itself in marketing the shows but hopefully would be aided by the venues and the general Festival. Sales and marketing of Bench shows generally needs a whole debate on its own and Derek Callam did raise this issue again at the Annual General Meeting.

The venues would dictate to a great degree the sort of material we could offer audiences. Practically also we would keep the number of venues low and the time scale of performances within the Festival’s nine days. In lots of ways I am proposing a local version of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe approach – another bank of experience we have within the company.

Another idea would be to tie us in with a particular venue, such as the Staunton Country Park. We could either perform a commercial piece within their environs or if we wanted to be really creative, produce a site-specific production using the old library or the stableyards there, for example. We could at future festivals find other venues suitable for different site-specific presentations.

The second thought led me on to thinking about outdoor productions generally especially Shakespeare perhaps. I did think about the space outside the Civic Centre and admit this would need the creation of a suitable acting and seating arena but could prove worth the effort in terms of kudos and presence. Alternatively, we could do a Havant version of the RSC and do a performance in the Leisure Centre. We could do all of these ideas in different years of the Festival.

The bolder and more public ideas could be supported by sponsorship in money or materials although the Bench itself would need to finance initially and without too much hope of profit making.

A more difficult and pressing problem, which arises now, and would be even more so, if we expanded the season, is rehearsal space. The Arts Centre simply bulges at the seams on occasions and can make it difficult for even our main house productions to rehearse anywhere in the building, let alone in the theatre. It seems to me that the Company has an urgent need to find another rehearsal space.

The room at Nineveh, kindly donated by the Dawes family, is great for readthroughs (although it was a bit of a squeeze for “Wild Duck”) or for two hander rehearsals. The Company needs to rehearse in a space, which is the equivalent of the acting area at the Arts Centre. If this space could also accommodate some of our storage needs even better. It could also be a space shared with HumDrum, as their rehearsal patterns are so different from our own and should cause no clashes. An industrial work unit might provide the answer but of course would add to the funding problem.

I have raised two issues here for debate, the expansion of our current season to include the Havant Festival, and the need for rehearsal space. I am not yet in a position to offer solutions but will give it some considerable thought.

Contributions to the debate should be sent to the editor at benchpress@bench.co.uk or to me at peter.corrigan@frostymarsh.co.uk or here on my blog as a comment.

1975

The Best Beloved and I married on 23rd August 1975 (Our Kid was my Best Man – you see, I said I would try to keep his interest in reading my blog). We had two days at a bed and breakfast in the Cotswolds for our honeymoon. On the first Thursday in September 1975, after three years’ membership and at the tender age of 28, I became the Bench Chairman. My tenure lasted three years until the arrival of the Firstborn in August 1978.

Ingrid and I had first met as members of the Langstone Children’s Theatre Company. This was the brainchild of Tim Mahoney, who as I have explained in previous "Notes from the Green Room", was to all intents and purposes the artistic director of the Bench in everything but title. It was he who laid down the way we approach plays and the sorts of plays we believe we should be doing. The professional attitude the Bench has towards the production of plays began with Tim.

Another aspect of Tim was his socialism. He believed that if people wouldn’t or couldn’t come to the theatre, then theatre was obliged to go to them. Tim taught at what was then Broomfield Secondary School as a Craft Teacher. He believed that Leigh Park was a cause worth working for. To this end, he established the Langstone Children’s Theatre (although I must confess I don’t really know where that name came from and it always struck me as being a bit out of place).

The LCT was a semi-professional group and was manned by drama teachers in the area. Tim would listen on the grapevine for new ones arriving each academic year. There was a big turnover of such and Tim would be there to greet them and invite them to join the LCT. In fact he wouldn’t go away until you had agreed!

I was considered good recruitment material, having turned up for a part in Tim’s Bench production of “The Entertainer”. The rare exception to Tim’s recruiting drive was Mike Arbour, the Havant College Drama Tutor. This was a source of some personal annoyance to Tim as he could see the potential that the College could offer the Bench. This state of affairs was soon to be rectified to the satisfaction of Tim, but I mustn’t run ahead of my narrative.

Anyway, Langstone Children’s Theatre and its company of drama teachers would rehearse productions for taking around and performing in Leigh Park primary schools. We were at that time mainly secondary schoolteachers so primary schools in themselves were a refreshing experience for us all. Tim would make bookings with the schools and we would turn up at the end of a school day to perform to a class, a section or even sometimes the entire school. Those were the days when teachers could get away at 3.30 p.m.

The connection between LCT and the Bench, in the main embodied by the person of Tim Mahoney, has meant that the academic year and teachers have helped create some of the Bench traditions such as the dark that is August. Langstone Children’s Theatre’s next artistic director was Alan Lines, who offered me a room to live in at Netherfield Close, which was populated mostly by the LCT company, including one Ingrid Caddy. I am sure you can join the dots yourself to arrive at the event with which I began above. Interestingly enough, the third and final artistic director of the Langstone Children’s theatre was…….. but that is the subject of the next “Notes from the Green Room”.
The following productions were those presented under my chairmanship. Bold font indicates where I was personally involved as actor or director.

The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov (October 1975)
A Delicate Balance, Edward Albee (March 1976)
Andorra, Max Fri sch (May 1976)
All Things Bright and Beautiful, Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall (October 1976)

The production of “As You Like It” in 1977 will be the subject of my next edition of the “Notes from the Green Room”.
As You Like It, William Shakespeare (February 1977)
Tonight at 830, Noel Coward (June 1977)
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Peter Nichols (October 1977)

Looking even further ahead, November 1977 marks the date when we did the first Bench production, and indeed the first ever production of any kind was staged, at the Havant Arts Centre. I will devote another “Notes from the Green Room” to this aspect of Bench history.

Habeas Corpus, Alan Bennett (Nov 1977)
A Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare (March 1978)
The Philanthropist, Christopher Hampton (May 1978)
The Sea, Edward Bond (July 1978)

It was at this stage we became a family with the arrival of the Firstborn in August 1978. The Kitten arrived in December 1979. I decided professionally to upgrade my Teaching Certificate to a degree whilst still working full time as a teacher. It was tough for the next three years but we never lost contact with the Bench and our girls became Bench babies.

Our Kid

Family..the we of me (Carson McCullers)

Our Kid, Andrew Patrick Corrigan, came to stay with us this week. He complained that he hasn't been included in a posting ever despite being a regular reader of the blog. This posting is,therefore, some compensation for that fact and a determination to add him to future postings so he continues to read them.

Our Kid is two years my younger and as head of the dwindling Corrigan family I have my work cut out at times remembering that fact. He had intended to come down to the Kitten's wedding (see Alice's Adventure in Blogland link) but when that fell through, he came down anyway. The girls all like Uncle Andrew because he is a gentleman and because he loves them. He can be blunt in speech but this tends to disguise a sensitive and empathetic nature. He is also very intuitive and yet thinks situations through carefully. This is not a paradox - he trusts his gut reaction and works out the reasoning behind such a reaction.

I lean on him heavily to remind me of some of the values, especially where family is concerned, that I have lost sight of or have allowed to be buried under layers of "sophistication", "culture" or "civilisation".

We certainly needed his strength, both of character and physical, this last week. MuleBoy and Kitten have parted and this week saw the ending of their tenancy of the house they shared for the last two or three years. This aspect has been as messy as the breakdown in relationship has been overall. Generally Kitten has been very down and any attempt at clarification has been misinterpreted as pressure. Yet I hate working in a vacuum and not knowing the details - I am a control freak in lots of ways - if I can't play in my way, I will take my ball home and not play at all. Trying to find out what was going on has been difficult - not because of any deliberate obfuscation - but poor communication and poor organisation. Suffice it to say, we ended up hiring a transit van for 24 hours and for about 48 hours our front drive and garage looked like the set for the Steptoe and Son yard. We cleared beds, settees, furniture, gadgets and personal belongings galore from the house. Our Kid was a tower of strength in this and moved a number of heavy items himself. I am much fitter than I was in heart and lungs but lifting heavy objects is still not on my list of recommended activities. Without Our Kid we could not have done what we did in the time we did it. Once we got the stuff back home, we had to organise charity collections of unwanted large items, storage of wanted large items and disposal of rubbish at the tip. On another occasion, I must write about the sheer busyness of the local tip and its lack of real organisation. Besides his physical strength, Our Kid was also an inspirational leader and organiser. When emotion was getting in the way of work, he chivvied us up and along.

Kitten is established in her own room surrounded by her own furniture and possessions. She doesn't want to be back with her parents but as I said last Saturday, "I may have lost money but I have gained a daughter." She has almost cleared herself of financial commitment to the house and is in negotiation with the landlord on that point. She has expert help available if she needs it.

She is looking forward to her American adventure in two weeks time. And we to our Spanish adventure in three weeks time - a visit to La Tasco, a tapas bar, in Gunwharf, was a rehearsal for our stay in Seville.

Our Kid, meanwhile, has flown back to Bradford from Southampton airport. He did manage to leave behind a pair of jeans, which we will now have to post on to him. We, Best Beloved and I, are hoping to spend time with him in November or December. Hopefully we can persuade him to spend Christmas with us if his work schedule will permit.

The next couple of postings are 1975 and As You Like It. They deal with periods of history of the Bench Theatre and are intended to be published in the Benchpress newsletter under the "Notes from the Green Room" column.

New outlets

There is a two year full time master's degree in theatre directing (MFA) developed by Birkbeck College and NCDT, ACE, Equity and TMA. There are ten places each year and November sees applications begin for September 2008. www.bbk.ac.uk

The Actor's Yearbook 2008 ISBN 9780713684711 Paperback £14.99 edited by Andrew Piper and Simon Dunmore is published by A&C Black next week, August 31st.

Name dropping

The Best Beloved and I celebrated thirty two years of married life yesterday.

I spent the morning with friend Jasper having a coffee, collecting three garden chairs left there after a recent garden party and behaving like two grumpy old men. We would have Chief Constables in publicly elected posts for a start. I suggested elected Mayors as well but Jasper wondered what powers mayors would have so I must investigate this aspect.

Meanwhile Best Beloved was in Petersfield being interviewed by the Registrar there. She will hear next week whether she has a part time job as a Support Officer. It will keep her occupied and keep me in the circumstances to which I have become accustomed.

When we were reunited we went for a meal at Woodies next to the New Place Cinema in Chichester. We thoroughly enjoyed the meal and afterwards decided to go to the cinema instead of our planned boat trip. The weather was more cinema than open boat. We bought tickets for the Simpson Movie. We waited in the cafe for the auditorium to open as the eight people congregated to see the performance. Amongst the people waiting was James Bolam and Susan Jameson. Luckily they were there. They sat just behind us and I was grateful otherwise it would just have been me in there laughing like a drain. I have been told off on previous occasions for laughing too loud in a theatre by other patrons. Anyway James and I laughed at virtually all the same gags and the film is certainly replete with those. As we left the cinema, both couples having sat through to the every end of the credits as was obligatory with such a film, we congratulated each other on being there and sharing the laughter load so equitably.

Feeling very satisfied with our encounter with the world of celebrity, we set off for the town centre and Waterstones with its cafe. We were in Chichester to see the opening of I am Shakespeare at the Minerva. However the cafe was closed so we set off in the general direction of the Festival Theatre to call in at the George and Dragon for a pot of tea. Nearly there, Roger Allam passed us going in the other direction towards the Market Cross. He saw that we recognised him but continued on his way hurriedly before I could call out how much I had enjoyed his performance in Blackbird and in the Old Vic panto.

Eventually we arrived at the Minerva a little earlier than we would normally have liked so had to seat reading the programme in the downstairs foyer. While we were there. Patrick Stewart came down the stairs from the theatre and crossed over to the main theatre. Alan Finch, the joint director, came in to meet up with Matthew Warchus, the director of I am Shakespeare. I said hello to Alan and he very nicely said hello back and asked if I was okay. Obviously not an actor or he would have developed the loook away stare and the blanked expression.

Anyway we were still sat there waiting for the auditorium to open, when in came Jenny Seagrove and Michael Barrymore, who were obviously coming in to see the play.

I am Shakespeare was written and devised by Mark Rylance and is an intelligent and humourous investigation into the authorship of Shakespeare's plays. Mark Rylance's character, Frank Charlton, is visited, thanks to circumstances beyond his control (marvellous set), by William Shakspar, Francis Bacon, Edward de Vere and Mary Sidney - all claimants to the authorship question. Sean Foley is there (The Play What I Wrote fame) to help or rather hinder. There is a great deal of audience participation and a police sergeant and his twin brother! It is a good evening if a little long at three hours. There are some longeurs which are mainly counteracted by some frantic action in the second half. It would have been difficult to maintain the pace of the first half. I learned a lot about Shakespeare and his works in a light hearted manner. Recommended viewing for everyone but especially those with an interest in the theatre.

So we had a lovely day to celebrate our thirty two years together but this is a game of two halves so here's to the next thirty two years!

32 today

It is the 32nd wedding anniversary of Best Beloved and I this very day.

I am reassured by something she said when we were working together on my newly revamped study/bedroom. It was my study but is now a study/bedroom - the bed arrives tomorrow and my brother arrives on Sunday to inaugurate the study/bedroom.

She said, "I don't like leaving a job unfinished." As she has spent 32 years trying to smooth my rough edges and hasn't succeeded yet, I am taking that as a commitment to another 32 years.

Another aspect of the Saturday Guardian I love (see previous postings) is "Wyse Words" by Pascal Wyse, in which strange definitions are applied to strange words. The following was gleefully brought to my attention by the Best Beloved. I will leave you to draw your own conclusions as to why she thought it was hilarious, or of pertinence to yours truly.

Saturday Guardian August 18 2007

"Nerrwinnies: People who believe that, when faced with a point in an argument that completely destroys their position and drowns them in a vat of their own wrongness, they somehow still come out victorious if they just repeat the clinching idea back to their opponent in a silly voice, waggling their head."

My favourite response to clever arguments is "SHUT IT."

Film Extra Agent

I have been signed up by an agency, www.elliottagency.co.uk, as a film extra. You go to home page and click on "artistes by name" and then on [C] before you see my name in an alphabetical list. The photographs are courtesy of Penny Plimmer but the physical details are all mine.

I am quite excited and want to thank Amanda Holden for taking a punt on me. I now await a first job and hope it doesn't clash with the Spanish holiday - which would be my sort of luck!

I am told a shooting day usually lasts 10 hours with an additional hour for lunch and usually starts very early! I am OK at waiting around and will obviously take play scripts with me to read!

Ah stop Peter - running before you have started to walk!

Boanerges

This is Greek for "loud voiced orator", which I thought was pretty apt for yours truly. I came across it in my divinity diploma and I wonder how many people know I possess one of those. The trouble with Boanerges in blogging circles is that it is a fairly common nom-de-plume and not as distinctive as I would have hoped.

Readthrough of "The Neighbour" by Roger Goldsmith, one of the contributors to Supernova 2007, is tonight and should signal a little flurry of theatrical activity from now to the middle of September. I have but five lines in the play and appear at the very end. I get to watch David and Ingrid at work so that is some consolation. I quite like the play for it's Pinteresque aspirations. One of the very first plays I ever appeared in some 42 years ago now was "The Room" by Harold Pinter and Roger Goldsmith's piece owes a debt to the early Pinter.

Readthrough of "The Wild Duck" is next Wednesday and then rehearsals for that should take us neatly through to November. Muleboy and Kitten have separated as a couple (see Alice in Blogland link) but are still co-directing the production together. Kitten feels that Muleboy's approach complements her own and fills some of the gaps such as rehearsal scheduling and keeping to deadlines. Kitten is creative and Muleboy is technical. I am involved as Old Ekdahl and, hopefully, my debut as movement director.

Jasper and I can do the first two lines of "Measure for Measure" and are now awaiting the rehearsal schedule from the director. Damon is tying that in with Supernova and Wild Duck but as a professional production he will have a greater call on midweek rehearsals during the day. His difficulty is access to Isabella is limited at the moment to Sundays.

Loved Natty Chap's latest blog about the value of friends and a social event held in their garden as a party for our Firstborn. He also pays her a great but accurate compliment. She makes socialising look easy and people do warm to her instinctively. She takes after her mother, the Best Beloved, there. The Best Beloved is a lovely warm inviting hostess and usually the one who organises our social events whilst I grudgingly take part. I enjoy them while they are happening but feel my contribution is somewhat limited and that without the Best Beloved the event wouldn't happen. It was interesting at a recent church garden party held in our garden how even the Best Beloved was at a loss to make the event go with a sparkle and verve - there was a lack of conversation makers - not a problem often encountered on Bench events.

The Best Beloved is going to use her social skills by becoming the Bench Hostess for new members attending club nights. She does this instinctively anyway so this is just a formalisation of what she would do anyway. I try to do it if they are young and pretty but my intentions are often deliberately and cruelly misunderstood by the rest of the assembled membership. The Best Beloved is even going further to help induct newcomers into the group. She will help them rehearse and then perform a small piece at a future Club Night. This is not an audition as such but a way for newcomers to break into the consciousness of the whole group and Ingrid is ideal protector of people's feelings. The only way to break into the Bench is persistence and a determination to be there. Are we clique-y? Probably but we have many friendships which are forged in the fear and terror that is sometimes theatre. I have known the Penroses for example over thirty years and my marriage approaches thirty two years this Thursday, the 23rd August. Both these facts will be explored over the next few postings. The advent of the Penroses into the Bench will form one posting which will also become a "Note from the Green Room" for the Benchpress distributed to a wider audience of Members and Backbenchers. A second posting will be a celebration of thirty two years of marriage to the Best Beloved.

The French

I read Ian Wylie in the Saturday Guardian of 11th August. The Saturday Guardian is a wonderful institution in our house. It arrives early and I break the back of the Sport Guardian and Guide before getting up. The rest of the paper and supplements are then read more slowly over the rest of the weekend. The Travel Supplement has become very important to me (see previous blog) but I do enjoy the other supplements such as Work, which is where I found the article by Ian Wylie.

His opening paragraph caught my attention:"I'm a relatively simple bloke who prefers routine and finds summer holidays a little bit unsettling. July and August are hazy days of uncertainty..."

That certainly neatly sums up me as well. He goes on, though, to talk about life and holidays in France. Now the Best Beloved and I (with the two girls when they were younger) used to do annual camping pilgrimages to France. There was a time when I toyed with the idea of a holiday home or even moving to France to live - greatly encouraged by the example of our good friends, the Cattermoles. However, in the end, I decided I couldn't live without the Bench theatre, London theatre (and Chichester has much improved in recent years under Jonathan Church in particular) and the cinema. The Best Beloved said we could emigrate if we could take everyone we loved to live together in the same village.

Back to Ian Wylie's article, where he says (France has) "a civilised culture, which encourages people to work sensible hours, eat meals without haste and spend time with their families. The law forbids employees to work more than 35 hours a week. Overtime is flatly forbidden and French workers are guaranteed mandatory holidays of up to six weeks."

This "economic suicide" or resistance to globalisation is being demolished by the new president, Nicholas Sarkozy, who is much taken by the Tony Blair/George Bush look or approach.

However "a new study of working hours .........offers statistical evidence that working fewer hours makes the French happier, despite the loss of income."

It seems to me that we constantly harp on about the unhappy state of our society in this country and yet we go along with the dictats of global business which cares not a toss about the social fabric of our nation or any other. Our government(s) are weak and lily livered when it comes to action and spend too much time faffing around with the small detail rather than looking at the basic issue. Our leaders seek others to blame rather than real and lasting solutions.

Another Saturday Guardian article (this week's edition) was a plea by an IT professor for greater thought and care to be taken over the development and use of autonomous weapons or robot soldiers if you like. We are getting to the situation where these creations will be independent of a human operator. The professor says that these autonomous weapons are not bright enough to be even called stupid. I would love to have been able to use that in some of the reports I have had to write over the years - not bright enough to be called stupid. Yet these robot soldiers will be used in the not too distant future perhaps to ease the number of body bags coming out of situations like Iraq and Afghanistan - but what hearts and minds will be won in the besieged countries then?

Final thought for the moment on Afghanistan. Don't politicians or military leaders read history? The British Empire had more than one or two bloody encounters with the Afghans. The Empire was the technological heavy weight of its time but was unable to subdue that region. History proves that nothing has changed - and nothing has been learned!

Rostand

A man is not old as long as he is seeking something. (Jean Rostand)

I love quotes such as the one above. I seek them out and for a while they steer my thinking and actions before I forget them again or another new one comes along.

It ties in neatly with my previous post about doldrums and I have been doing some serious thinking about that. I found yesterday's Guardian most helpful in this respect especially the Travel Supplement and its Gap Year Special. (As a completely random side issue, I love the fact that one of the key characters in "The Bourne Ultimatum" is a Guardian reporter played by Paddy Consindine - brilliant film heartily recommended)

The Gap Year Special deals with a number of age groups rather than wasting all its ideas on youth and the duration is not always a year or twelve months. My eye and mind was caught by a number of items. Best Beloved has said she can't contemplate some of the longer ones at the present time because of her commitments to her elderly mother. The latter has certainly becoming more demanding of Ingrid's time and effort but without any noticeable increase in gratitude it seems to me. The old lady did suggest getting a dog was not a good idea because the responsibility for one would be a "hindrance". I feel it is all a matter of scale really.

Idea #1 A three month stay with MondoChallenge (www.mondochallenge.org) costs £1200. One 66 year old participant spent her three months working as a volunteer English teacher in a primary school in a village just outside Darjeeling in India. She stayed with the headmaster. She is considering going back to do another project in India but may also head to Romania. "The best advice (she) could give is don't think about it, just do it. (She) didn't want to reach 75, look back and wish (she)'d done more with (her) life."

Don't think about it, just do it!

That sounds good advice to me as I regularly talk myself out of projects that my heart yearns to do because I listen to the good sense of other people or my protestant upbringing determine the idea is fanciful and self indulgent or I am daft enough to allow my gut reaction to be over ruled because others know "better" than I do.

Idea#2 (Best Beloved is keen on this idea as well as she thinks she can get away for the fortnight required) is Learn a Language. A two week course costs £321 (www.applelanguages.com). The example quoted is the company's Spanish language school in Malaga. A full programme of social and cultural activities is provided: Spanish cookery lessons, visits to the botanical gardens, the central market, and the Alcazaba fortress and lunch with teachers. Accommodation can be arranged with host families or on campus.

Idea#3 is similar to #2. You enjoy a weekend in the Spanish countryside while helping Spanish professionals to master conversational English. A deserted village is stocked with native English speakers who through games and activities help Spanish participants to speak English with confidence. Private rooms are provided free of charge in a four star hotel with views. Programmes run all year round (www.vaughntown.com) Make your own way to Madrid and all other costs are covered.

Idea#4 is Raleigh International (www.raleighinternational.org). I nearly joined Raleigh when I was at college in the late 60's but decided to apply for a teaching job in Hampshire instead (the rest is history as they say). However this project is to be a volunteer manager such as running a school in a remote village with a team of young people under my wing. There are other projects such as transforming a former prison island into a wildlife refuge, scuba diving or mountain climbing. The school idea would tie more neatly into the skills i have acquired - although those same skills might also work on prison island into wildlife refuge (only kidding!).

There are a couple of more ideas which could be possibles rather than probables. One is a two week panda conservation excursion (www.i-to-i.com) costing £1195 plus £300 for each additional week. The example quoted is of a 58 year old woman volunteer who worked in the Qinling Mountains about an hour from Xi'an. She worked with two pandas in a reserve there and also taught the keepers, their wives and children how to speak English. She was provided with a house shared with other volunteers in Xi'an. In her spare time she visited museums and pagodas. The second possible rather than probable idea is working on the island of San Cristobal in the Galapagos helping to preserve the natural habitat and introduce organic farming methods. You plant crops, assist with light building activities, or help to maintain trails around the island. Those who know my practical abilities or rather limitations may scoff at my ability to help with such activities. Local staff lead hikes to lagoons, forest, beaches and villages. Two to ten week placements are available from £1025 (www.i-to-i.com).

I love the idea of doing something practical and worthwhile instead of just being a tourist to these places.

Roses - cut back dead or fading flowers to prominent bud or new shoot; usually about four leaves down. This will stimulate more growth and provide flowers later in the year. Continue to check roses for the presence of suckers and cut or pull off from the point of origin on the rootstock.

The roses item and the following words of wisdom come from the "happy heart" newsletter from the Phase IV cardiac rehab programme run by Debbie Hobbs (newsletter editor is Liz Marriott).

Under no circumstances take a laxative and a sleeping pill on the same night.

Doldrums

This is a very bitty post as I am in a period of doldrums. These come on me every now and then but especially during August. It may be a direct result of all those years of teaching. It isn't helped at the moment by the rain and bad weather. I can usually survive August because in the past we went away on holiday - usually camping in France. It also helps if the weather is very hot and it is impracticable to do a great deal other than sit sweltering in the shade. Most of the time in the shade is spent reading. DVDs are mainly kept for indoors in the inclement weather of autumn/winter.



I know a great deal of this year's doldrums are heightened by what happened earlier in the year but knowing is not quite the same as combating the feeling.



I am always impressed by the way the Best Beloved manages to read while having and tackling dozens of other projects. She has resurrected our garden shed from its extended period of neglect and disuse. When the weather permits she tackles the garden. I love a rose and would willingly gaze at it for a long time, just drinking in its look and scent. I have toyed with the idea of rose cultivation and am certain I and the rose would get a great deal out of it. However this is just another area where the doldrums sit heavily upon me and I need to find a way of breaking out.



Returning to reading, the Best Beloved can pick up a book and read it in sections. She can even read a bit at bedtime, in the night and in the early hours of the morning. This means reading a book extends over days, weeks and even months. She is also able to retain great deal of the plot and feeling for the book. It must be something to do with memory and retention as this approach most definitely doesn't work for me. I read Archimedes' blog (see links) with great pleasure daily as he is a very clever cat and his two human acolytes are interesting contributors as well. A recent post had Robin talking about reading and I found myself in such agreement with her viewpoint that it prompted this rambling response. I am best if I can begin reading in the morning and continue through until the book is finished some time that day or next day. This used to be impossible in workdays but you would think should be more possible in these halcyon days of retirement. I do manage it occasionally with playscripts as I do like to read these through in one go and it is usually possible to do so. However reading fiction in this way runs into two obstacles. When reading, I am oblivious to everything - I certainly cannot multitask in any way. Other people, the Best Beloved in particular, sometimes find this alienating and her strong protestant work ethic finds it indulgent in the extreme and makes it difficult for her to understand. (I am putting words into her mouth but she will intervene when I am reading and doesn't react well when greeted with a grunt or inaction to a request to do something simple or domestic). Like Robin, I find non-fiction easier to tackle in digestible bites because I need to think over bits and sections, especially if the concept challenges my present thinking or small brain.

Elling

I saw "Elling" at the Trafalgar Studios on Wednesday during my solo trip up to London. It was excellent. Besides being very funny, I thought it was quite insightful into modern living. John Simms is all the rage at the moment but he is deservedly so on the evidence of his stage work in "Elling". He plays the eponymous character who we first meet sharing a room with another inmate in a Norwegian asylum. Elling is a "mother's boy", who was placed in the asylum shortly after his mother died and it is soon obvious how much he relied upon her for everything - especially contact with the outside world. With his man mountain side kick he is relocated to an apartment in Oslo by the social services. Under the supervision of Frank, their care worker, they have to prove they can cope or else be shipped back to the asylum. We watch their efforts to do so with amusement at first and then growing empathy as we will them to succeed. The play takes place on a single set with two beds, a wardrobe and a table with three chairs. Clever lighting is used to suggest a multitude of other places outside of the apartment but the apartment is as important a character as the odd couple who inhabit it. All the other characters are played by three actors and yet we get a good account of Oslo as they are all kept busy. As usual, I think this play is well within the compass of the Bench Theatre and I will get hold of a script as soon as possible. However it would take an extraordinary actor to match the performance of John Simms.

I signed a petition and emailed my M.P. yesterday. I did so on behalf of the Iraqi translators who have risked their lives and those of their families to help the British Armed Forces in that unhappy country. It is obvious that the British have retreated to their main base in Basra somewhat prematurely as the area surrounding the base is not fully under their control or that of the fledgling Iraqi army. This means the insurgents can lay ambushes and roadside bombs at leisure. Anyway the retreat in Basra marks the start of a full scale withdrawal in the New Year. There is some discussion as to whether the 91 Iraqi translators and their families should be given British status and allowed to emigrate to the U.K. I strongly feel that there should be no debate these people have risked all for us and we are indebted to them. It would be a betrayal and dishonour to abandon them to what would be a dreadful fate once we have left.

I enjoy CSI programmes and watch unflinchingly as they investigate the human body. Last night though I was watching "House", a medical drama. I was taken aback as I realised I was watching open heart surgery on a young man. Except for the youth of the patient, I realised I could be watching a copy of the experience I underwent on February 2nd (six months anniversary just passed) and it made me pause for thought.

Yesterday I paid for the 10 days in Andalucia Tour organised for me by Debbie at European Rail. The Best Beloved and I depart the last week in September and travel on the way down to southern Spain (and hopefully back) by train. I now need to book the train from Havant to Waterloo and a return 10 days later without Debbie's help.

The holiday comes in the middle of rehearsals for Measure for Measure and The Wild Duck. I have parts in both productions. The former is a professional production by the Bare Bards and the latter is being directed by my Kitten for the Bench Theatre. The end of the year is looking more cheerful theatrically after a barren one generally in theatrical terms.

Hendiadys

I finished "1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare" by James Shapiro and published by Faber (2005) yesterday. It has taken me some time to read but I have enjoyed a great deal of it. I especially enjoyed the chapters concerning Hamlet, which Shakespeare wrote in 1599. Hamlet is a production long in mental preparation for the Bench Theatre. For 2008 I am torn between offering Hamlet or Love and Money by Dennis Kelly. The latter appeals because after the two plays scheduled for February and April 2008, which are very much ensemble plays, the Dennis Kelly play definitely isn't an ensemble piece.
Anyway, returning to Professor James Shapiro, who teaches at Columbia University in New York (how confusing is that?), he identifies an old verbal trick used by Shakespeare. This trick is called "hendiadys" - I can't work out why it isn't called hendiadies as it is plural. It means "one by means of two", a single idea conveyed through a pairing of nouns linked by "and". For those who know my literary style, verbose and longwinded, I am prone to using hendiadys although up until now I didn't know that was what they were.

The following examples come from Hamlet:

"Angels and ministers of grace defend us" (I,iv,39);
"the book and volume of my brain" (I, v, 103)
"a fantasy and trick of fame" (IV, iv, 61)

I love Shapiro's conclusion: (page 322) "The destabilizing effect of how these words play off each other is slightly and temporarily unnerving. It's only on reflection - which is, of course, Hamlet's problem - that we trip."

I recommend Shapiro's book to any interested in theatre and Shakespeare and especially my son in law, the Natty Chap.

I will return to Hamlet and a possible production idea in this blog.

Iraqi Partition

I keep thinking about this problem and would like to share my thoughts.

Apparently when a survey was held of the Iraqi people in 2005, I think, the verdict was in favour of federalism. The coalition decided to go ahead against this opinion and build a new united democratic Iraq.

Now I realise my ideas are simplistic and don't take into account viability of statehood and the odd political clashes with neighbouring states but anyway here they are for what they are worth.

There are 5 million Kurds in Iraq and there are 3 Kurd provinces which form an autonomous region in northern Iraq. Why not form a new state of Kurdistan? The Kurds are Sunni Muslims in the main. The difficulty is that there are 15 million Kurds in Turkey, 6 million in Iran and 1.5 million in Syria. There are also nearly a million in Europe and about 10.000 in the USA. I am not sure whether the three provinces could cope with an enormous influx or whether Turkey would be prepared to have a new state on its southern border or whether indeed Turkey would let some of its southern territory become part of the new Kurdistan for the same reason. However there would seem to be some mileage in the formation of a new state called Kurdistan despite the historical and geopolitical baggage associated with such an idea.

There are 9 Shia provinces in the south of Iraq and the majority of the population are Shia muslims. Why aren't these provinces acceded to Shia Iran and become part of that nation's territory and responsibility?

This would leave 6 Sunni Muslim provinces probably in the west and south west of the present Iraq. These would have a political and religious connection to Turkey through the historical Sunni Ottoman empire since the 1500s. Perhaps this territory should form the new Iraq with a new name even. The coalition's first duty would be to protect its borders while internal security and form of government was left to the Sunni Muslims. The idea of a secular Western supportive state may have to be shelved if that is not the wish of the inhabitants.

I have wandered away from federalism and into three different states. I think this is a pragmatic recognition of the forces on the ground. It seems to me the coalition is in for a sustained round of head banging if it attempts to hold the dissenting and antagonistic forces together.