Stardust, carnage, and song

'When you see those laughing couples casting off into the sea of matrimony, you say to yourself, they have no idea, poor things, they just have no idea...'  Two sedately-married couples set out to deal with their offsprings' dispute with impeccable civility in God of Carnage, Yasmina Reza's 2006 'comedy of manners', in which manners wear thin to reveal rifts and ultimately chasms between everyone involved. There's some clever social satire as entente deteriorates but ultimately & slightly disappointingly the script falls back on that old standby, alcohol, to bring confrontations to a climax. Platform 8 Productions at Bath's Mission Theatre did a grand job though an elaborate set worked against the claustrophobia of confined hostilities: Jeremy Fowlds was strong as ruthless lawyer Alain with Alexia Jones his exasperated wife Anette, with Chris Constantine and Hayley Fenton as Michel and Veronique.

Feet First Theatre has been on the move again this week - up north to Shropshire, to Carding Mill Valley. Being an adamant southerner I knew nothing of this National Trust park but it's immensely popular with walkers, cyclists, families and ~ luckily for us ~ also visitors curious about a promenade theatre show about the story of the world in a thousand paces.
After a day to recce the paths, Annabelle and I were in role as guides on the Time Walk on Sunday for Arts Alive, and audiences gave us really encouraging feedback: 'absolutely fascinating... better than anything you'd get from books - and such fun!'  We had a ball too, staying in a delightful B&B in Church Stretton and enjoying the friendly community and fantastic landscape.



Back to Frome for the final note from this post, from Katey Brooks who wowed the Grain Bar Roots session with her 'voice to melt glaciers' and intensely passionate songs. Katey liked this picture of her enough to feature it in a b&w version on her page ~ always great to see my images used by musicians.