Wicked queens, naughty nuns, and more lights & music

I don’t go so often to Tobacco Factory Theatre since the whole area became a permit-parking-only zone, and the promotion image for this version of Snow White didn’t entice me, but luckily a friend tipped me off I was missing a treat so on a dark and icy afternoon I plodded the 40 minute trek from Temple Meads Station and was opulently rewarded. This is a fabulous production - not, though there is fair bit of audience interaction, a pantomime but a great classic story, spiced gently and entertainingly with environmental and social values. New International Encounter, here in collaboration with Cambridge Junction as well as Tobacco Factory Theatres, has a reputation for superb, accessible, story-telling - inventive, succinct, and with lively musicality. The four musicians are on stage throughout: they carry the narrative thread, create the spirit of the magic mirror, and enact the seven dwarves with (mis)calculating insistence about their number. This happy band of social misfits have all left stressful jobs to live an alternative life-style, growing seven kinds of onions and serving vegan stew in a non-gender way. They do their incompetent best to take care of Snow White, but the wiles of the wicked Queen initially wobbles the community into frightened calls for "locks, keys, fence, wall - 42 feet high, with barbed wire! and a buzzer… We’ve got to take back control!" Luckily they quickly decide,  No - this is not us. Love is what matters - an open heart.  But clear personal boundaries! 
All this is fun but doesn't distract from the Grimm focus in the tale on the wicked queen and her terrible plans.  Stefanie Mueller in this role is absolutely fantastic, swinging from near-recognisable family stuff at the start - the exasperation over teenage defiant fibs - to demonic obsession with her appearance and evil plots to kill her step-daughter (I got the blame for that, actually - one of the dubious delights of a front seat in an interactive show!) But even she is allowed a small, thought-provoking, voice when she laments, I was told I had to be 'the fairest,' nobody told me that just 'fair' would be enough. Multi-talented Ms Mueller also designed the set and costumes. This is genuinely an all-age show and it's on till 19th January - a great antidote for dark days ahead. Images Mark Dawson.

Meanwhile 700 years ago in the real world no-one was having a good time in a society dominated by the draconian rules of sex-starved, sex-obsessed church officials. Based (surprisingly closely, though the dummy left for burial probably wasn't a mop&bucket) on the true story of a nun on the run, Breach theatre created Joan of Leeds - a lusty end-of-year romp with mirth, bawdiness and song, in keeping with the Yorkshire Medieval Players they claim to be, which sounded like a fun idea and worth a trip to New Diorama Theatre although central London isn't my patch for reviews. Medieval texts abound with explicit imagery of nuns involved in all kinds of activities not associated these days with holy orders - the penis-gatherer here is at least demurely clad - and Breach seized the opportunity provided by erotic visions for much scurrilous activity and scandalous costume. There was a short unconvincing attempt to evoke a parallel with the social struggle of lesbians in the last century, but the best bits by far were the lusty erotica and hysterical absurdity.


Another evening prowl in search of festive illumination, this time to Stourhead, didn't reward nearly as well as Longleat: the concept of blasting heavy colour on specific buildings and trees benefitted neither, and the elegant vista of the lake on arrival was obliterated by oscillating vividly-coloured bobbles. You don't have to be a cantankerous dendrophile like me to recognise that Stourhead is an elegant example its era's respect for the grandeurs of antiquity and the concept of beauty in nature, and fierce floodlights detract rather than embellish.

A blast of music now:
The 'Last Bones Gig of the Year' was at the The George at Nunney,  courtesy of manager Tania, and with the massed instruments & voices of the entire village, it seemed, especially for the finale version of Fairy Tale of New York which Bones leader Paul Kirtley reckons as good the original...  certainly more celebratory. I also liked the the guitar solos on Come on Baby Light My Fire, but it was all enjoyable - big appreciation to both Frome and Nunney gangs for a great gig, to the customers who contributed to Paul's charity bucket, and of course to the man of every Bones match, Paul himself. The sound was fantastic but historic buildings don't cope well with biblical-scale downpours so my images caught the convivial atmosphere rather than the event.

Back in Frome, we've had a goldrush of brilliant bands: amazing Purple Fish bringing classic rock to the Cornerhouse on Saturday, followed next night by the utterly awesome Pete Gage band with Craig Crofton on saxophone.. two sensational events from passionate professional performers - Frome pubs must lead the world for treating their customers to great gigs like these.

The Three Swans took over to fill the gap on Sunday afternoon with an all-afternoon session from the massed forces of several local bands as traditional folk musicians from various traditions joined up with singers and players in a variety of styles from swampy funk to 80's pop. This was a real party event, with all ages crammed into the upstairs room amid the rococo furniture and startlingly retro wall adornments.

Happy celebrations whatever you choose to do - see you after the flack has settled on a new year.

Sunny daze as festival season nears

Sunny days have tentatively arrived again, in time for festival season so it may seem ungracious to point out that the nights are already lengthening now we're past the magic solstice, celebrated with a massive music jam at the Artisan for Paul Kirtley's Bare to the Bones ongoing charity collection. This session enjoyed only the Bones regulars but two other Frome bands, The Decades and Hello Hopeville, plus washboard virtuoso Alexandra and mellifluous flutist Shehzad, resulting in something of a challenge for sound man Steve and four hours of varied medleys... great fun though not ideal for cameras - here's Paul leading a melange of regulars and visitors in All You Need Is Love...

Saturday continued the supply of music from great local bands, with an excellent 'Sofa Session' on Catherine Hill in the afternoon from Crossing the Rockies followed in the evening by sensational Rebel Heroes, local brilliant Bowie tribute band playing with passion and real authenticity... another great dancing night at the Cornerhouse.


Sunday focus was on the youngsters, with Frome Children's Festival offering a host of activities from graffiti, games, and performance skills to pump track action and a zip wire across the river - face-painting and street bands naturally obligatory - a very popular event and big credit to the dedicated organisers and talented contributors.

Children were on the menu in Bath too, with the Forest of Imagination in Sydney Gardens and Holburne Museum - 'a series of multi-sensory pop up events and installations along the theme of 'lifelong inspiration from nature'. I especially liked the egg of the Giant Ogulon, and the amazing clay creatures created by excited young participants.

Roots Session on Wednesday featured Harbottle & Jonas, a young husband and wife team who seem to have redefined folk music, writing and performance vibrant and exciting real-life tales with superb harmonies. Their current album is all about the sea, with a range of true tales like the shipwreck rescue by Grace Darling in 1838, the cocklers' tragedy on the Morecambe shore in 2004,  the lost village of Hallsands and, a favourite for me, the movingly imagined final night in 1912 of Scott in the Antarctic Was it You?  I like this picture, though it's not the best of either of this couple, because it has something of the powerful-seeming rapport between them throughout their set.

Over at the Cornerhouse, the Saturday night session was a Pink Floyd mini-spectacular from James Hollingsworth, who impressively recreates that iconic sound solo using loop technology with live percussion, voice, harmonica and guitar to build complex arrangements in real time.

 And on a balmy Sunday afternoon, what could be better than a stroll along the abundantly floral riverbank into Bath and fetch up at The Bell listening to Alamo Leel's sensational 'lunchtime session' blues featuring, as well as guest singer & saxophonist, Frome giants Pete Gage on keyboard and Paul Hartshorn on guitar.

Moving to theatre now, where on the still-warm Sunday night, ECOS amphitheatre was filled with sounds of thunder as Illyria Open Air Theatre company evoked sea-storms and the fantastical world of The Tempest. What you get from Oliver Gray, who directs these small-cast re-envisionings of Shakespeare's plays, is a script largely-uncut and conscientiously edited,  masses of costume changes with a proliferation of increasingly bizarre hats, and at least one episode of audience-invasion for picnic-basket raiding. With a cast of only five some liberties are inevitable, and this production went further and redefined the exiled duke & sorcerer Prospero as not Miranda's father but her mother, Prospera, who has the seething self-certainty and strong address-style of an ex-headmistress, & thus comes across as pretty scary. As the programme points out, this alters the relationship to a single-mother issue, though on a remote island with potato-peeling the focus of their shared mum/daughter time and only a dancing sprite and a chained monster for company, there’s not much option to explore the sociological impact of this shift. However as always, it's all very well done, with a strong cast and action pitched perfectly for outdoor enjoyment. Shakespeare laced this dark script with pantomime humour in the drunken butler scenes, and the cast made much of these, also added their own touches of mirth from the start as buckets of water drenched the shipwrecked sailors. Ferdinand and Miranda’s whirlwind Love Island romance is charming, Ariel’s final flight is a triumph to flare in the mind forever, and - in short - once again the intrepid Illyrians (despite unexpected realism in one of the fights: big respect to David Sayers for maintaining role as the blood visibly dripped down his face) have definitely pulled it off.

Meanwhile, preparations for Frome Festival intensify and Frome Writers Collective has already set the glitter-ball rolling with their Writers in Residence event - thirteen scribes in cafes and shops around the town, all equipped on Saturday morning with a surprise topic on which to create a story in four hours...  here's long-hander Tim Bates nicely settled in The Settle with scones and favourite pen, and on the other side of town Suzy Howlett teching it up at Black Swan. The resulting scripts have been collected for prize allocation and there will be a night of shared readings in September.

So now with less than a week to go, tickets are flying from Cheese & Grain Box Office and Where the Fault Lies, our Nevertheless Pub Theatre production on Wednesday, sold out completely and after hasty discussions with the Cornerhouse and the Frome Actors Network team, there will be second performance later in the evening - so seats for the 9.30 showing are now on sale - and early grabbing is recommended. Oh, and Frome Festival Poetry Cafe has achieved the highest echelons of esteem - we are in the LIST RECOMMENDS! If you're anywhere in or near Frome on Monday 8th July, I hope to see you at the Garden Cafe...

Let the festivities commence - some highlights ahead

July's Independent Market, perhaps due to temperatures touching 30º again, was slightly quieter than usual, and all the more pleasant for it, with space to admire the ingenious craft on the hill which tends often to be lost in a slow-moving crush of limbs and dog-leads.
Thankfully most of Frome's cynophilistic population had heeded the messages on social media - or maybe their own common-sense - and weren't dragging their heavily-furred, bare-footed, creatures along in conditions that would fry an egg.  As always, great sounds from the busking stage - here's Crossing the Rockies rocking the crowd with songs & airs in the celtic tradition: this local band also played in the balconied upstairs room of The George later that evening at Ann Harrison-Broninski's launch party for her Frome Festival Sketchbook exhibition - here's a sample of the Ann's lively in-the-moment sketching. There's currently a Festival exhibition in Black Swan Cafe too, with Frome Wessex Camera Club displaying some favourite shots. David Chedgy chose this memorable moment from our 2015 Nevertheless site-specific production Midsummer Dusk in the Dissenters Cemetery: Frome actor Oliver Wright as WW1 soldier George Case.

Before Frome Festival hits this blog with the force of a Harry Kane goal kick -(yes I know this is an arts blog but there was an England match on when I wrote this bit) - a theatrical digression to Wiltshire, to Cleeve House in Seend, which was the setting for a lively performance of The Merry Wives of Windsor from Shakespeare Live.
The 36-strong all-age cast presented Shakespeare's comedy of seduction and retribution in an entertaining production visually impressive throughout - a beautiful garden setting for the company's lavish costumes and magical lighting effects. There were many great moments - Rod Moor-Bardell Falstaff is terrific, his pond-weed return from the ditch where the merry wives' trickery dumped him is a high spot (image Owen Benson). Strong performances too from Jeremy Fowlds' genial George Page and Laurence Parnell's jealous Frank Ford, with Django Lewis-Clarke and Phoebe Wood-Wheelhouse absolutely delightful as the lovers. Overall this was a superb example of community theatre - vibrant, fun, with everything the discerning outdoor theatre-goer might require: Pimms, prosecco, and portaloos.

Grain Bar Roots Session was packed despite a hot night for Wednesday's excellent double bill: Al O'Kane & band, with Ben Hutcheson support - amazing talents and fantastic performance energy - I think my wide-angle lens had heat-stroke, the images really don't do justice to the acts.

Frome Festival officially begins today - Friday 6th - so this week has also been a flurry of final preparations and rehearsals.
Yesterday afternoon was our rehearsal for In the Footsteps of Siegfried Sassoon, the poetry walk around Mells devised by John Payne and Martin Bax, a three mile stroll along gorgeous wild flower trails around stone buildings soaked in history and sunshine under a sky of unblemished cobalt blue - I took only a bottle of water & my script so can't show you any snaps but it was honestly awesome.
I was home just in time the penultimate rehearsal of The Meddling of Mrs Harris, on Tuesday - definitely the most unusual event of this year's festival as Peter Clark takes on the role of Mark Twain who is taking on the role of Leopold II of Belgium, the most monstrous monarch ever, even in our long history of tyrants and psychopaths. His treatment of the Congolese people was so atrocious that reports were deemed unbelievable in the early 1900s, until the wife of an English missionary set about recording the evidence and then travelled around Europe and America with 60 slides of her photographs, taken on one of the world's first cameras. This irrefutable proof brought the end of Leopold's empire in Africa, and the woman who took the pictures has been hailed as the Mother of Human Rights by the Anti-Slavery campaign. Her name is still virtually unknown, even in her home-town - which is Frome - so come along to Rook Lane and hear all about what Alice Seeley Harris found in the Congo under Leopold, as presented in this 1905 satirical 'self-defence' by the king, with a Q&A session afterwards. There's a bar too, if you need a stiff drink after hearing some of the things that Alice saw...

Other events to look out for: Well I'll be going to all the music I can - and tomorrow - Saturday - is the Small Publishers Fair at Silk Mill, hosted by the indefatigable committee of the Frome Writers Collective, at which I'm thrilled to say I'll be lurking about by the Hobnob stall, signing and I hope selling copies of my book Frome Unzipped - from Prehistory to Post-Punk.

I'd also like to put a word in for the Poetry Cafe, which will actually be in the garden of the Garden Cafe on Monday - always our aim but not always an option - with Rob "not-only-clever-but-very-funny" Barratt as special guest, and the Open Mic quest for 2018 Festival Poet Laureate. Last year's theme worked so well we're doing it again - poems on Frankenstein, this year's festival choice.
There's poetry too on Thursday when Liv Torc does her wonderful Hip Yak Slam at the Archangel, and on Wednesday, the Friends of Palestine are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the death of Mahmoud Darwish, with an evening of poetry and music and a middle Eastern buffet. Darwish was six when Israeli forces expelled family and took his village: his poems express not only the suffering of a displaced people, but their hopes and dreams too. I'm very privileged to be one of the readers.

Now I'm off to visit some art openings...