End of May celebrations...

Bristol's little Wardrobe Theatre is always a delight to visit. For one thing, the Valentine bridge behind Temple Meads railway station, which takes you to it in ten minutes, is a thing of beauty so you arrive saturated with river views and the image of the Eye against a smoulderingly blue sky...   And the productions in this punching-above-its-weight fringe studio theatre are usually brilliant, as on Tuesday's magic-realistic drama How My Light Is Spent,one of Bristol Old Vic's Director's Cuts to showcase graduate work. Director Nikhil Vyas chose this Bruntwood Prize short-listed story of disaffected lives somehow connecting, and Robin Davis designed the clever abstract arena of their dual narration. Jonathan Oldfield and Eva O'Hara give beautifully nuanced performances as the adult chatline worker, the donut server, and all those with whom their lives collide. It's a confident and clever production, beautifully performed - in fact the last time I saw so delightful and touching a love story was David Grieg's Midsummer, but this was more magical and remained unexpected right to the end.

"You've never seen a production of Macbeth like this before" promised Anubis Productions of their gothic reinterpretation 'set amongst a druid wilderness... dark powerful and blood-thirsty, combining traditional theatre, mult-media, spell-binding, physical theatre, and stage combat.' Georgina Nelson-Troy directed this unusual production on the Merlin stage with an adapted script, backdrop imagery and interpretive dance. Drug-fuelled witches took a high profile role and there was much blood. Six multi-tasking players supported the murderous Macbeths in their tragic downward spiral: congratulations to all especially young Caian Gregory, a heart-breaker as the fated son of Macduff in a powerful scene with Georgina as his mother.

And before moving from drama to music, a sneak preview of the Nevertheless Pub Theatre production for the upcoming Frome Festival: for one night only, Where The Fault Lies,a quartet of quirky short plays by me and Rosie Finnegan, performed by Frome Actors Network in the upstairs room of The Cornerhouse on 10 July (tickets only £5 but essential as the venue is what's technically termed 'intimate'.)

My main music events this week were outside town. On Friday, the Three Horseshoes in Bradford on Avon hosted two terrific Frome bands: Back Of The Bus feisty purveyors of post-punk pop - with attitude, and the incomparable high-energy foursome The Raggedy Men, classic 70s punk with panache. Both bands are massively popular, and there were probably more Fromies there dancing than in the audience for Question Time recorded at the Merlin a couple of nights earlier. The ambience was atmospheric rather than lucent, but you can just about make out the bands.

The end-of-May bank holiday inspired a plethora of terrific free entertainment options locally: deciding which to support was tough but on a day of dazzling sunshine, the Packhorse Fair, all along Bruton's lovely riverside green, turned out to be the perfect choice, with great music at both the acoustic tent and the main stage. Fantastic funky Cut Capers never disappoint, but hiphopera was a novel experience for me, as Josephine and the Artizans blended extraordinary arias with rap to marvellous effect. Local heroes Ditto concluded the afternoon - congratulations Bruton on a day of delights in a fantastic atmosphere.


Meanwhile Frome had been enjoying a Rhythm and Blues Festival with some impressive names - here's Nick Lowe with Los Straitjackets on the final night at the Cheese & Grain.  Festival season starts early in the southwest!

Two swinging time-treks & artsy happenings now

  Frome Art Society exhibitions in Black Swan Arts always offer a wide diversity of styles and subjects, and this year the society has impressively reached their Ruby Anniversary which if artists' and marital years are the same means the society has been thriving for an impressive four decades. The work will all be on display until 25th May: here's the evocative painting titled Hospitalisation by Vanessa Taylor (which won second prize) and Alan Overton's blissful Riverside Walk.

Words at the Black Swan regular workshop in response to each exhibition was led by Louise Green,  who encouraged us to note the watery element in many of the images.

Poetry is in the frame at the moment, with an upcoming Frome Poetry Cafe, last week's Frome FM radio Poetry Special (broadcast link 3 May) - and a focus on poets at the Frome Writers Collective evening social at Three Swans too: Here I was again  joined by Rosie Jackson and Bob Hull to talk about poetry and read some of our own, with an informal open mic after the break.  Thanks Gill Harry for the image & write-up.
As well as a friendly and enjoyable evening, this meant another outing for my reading dress, which brings me neatly on to Tuesday's trip London.
It's over half a century since Mary Quant followed the Beatles, David Hockney and David Bailey into the hall of trend, but her name still chimes whenever trailblazers of the '60s are celebrated. Most people at the Victoria & Albert's exhibition seemed, like me, of her generation when I visited with my friend Helen last Tuesday. We had a great day out in the sunshine of South Kensington, but agreed that the iconic designer wasn't quite as mind-blowingly groundbreaking as she seems now revered to be. After all, since the late '50s we'd been rolling up our school skirts to detention-risking heights, raiding mens' shops for big buckled belts, and spurning the generous 'room-to-grow' of our mothers' economising philosophies. What Mary Quant was brilliant at was self-promotion: she looked gorgeous, she was well-connected, and she had mastered the art of the soundbite. A girl, she said, should have 3 reasons for her outfit- to be noticed, to look sexy, and to feel good. I did have one Quant item at college - that cinnamon pinafore-dress from the Ginger Group collection (though not the hat paired with it in the exhibition!) - but I was designing my own attire too. 
Here's me in 1964, and some of my sketches. The dress with 'pantaloon sleeves' is pretty much exact to my drawing for it but the trouser suit was actually jade green not turquoise, with purple contrast - still a favourite colour-combo of mine today, though colour in the snaps has altered beyond retrieval - and my multi-talented mother created both these treasured outfits despite her reservations.  For me, the design outlet that's taken over now in terms of colour and theatricality is Desigual, so it was great to discover this week that GAFF in Bath is an Aladdin's Cavern of these gorgeously bizarre Spanish styles. Thanks Mo Behradmehr for providing coffee - and discount!

Moving on now after this plunge into self-indulgence, via other colourful costumes and flamboyant personalities, to Cut Capers at the SWX on Friday - funk & ska from this explosive 9-piece Bristol band so sensationally successful they're now signed up by Freshly Squeezed Music and will be touring all summer - dates here.
A mood swing to soul with lovely Emma Harris on Saturday at the Cornerhouse, then gear-shift to outrageous for the story of Farrokh Bulsara aka Freddy Mercury at the open-air screening of Bohemian Rhapsody at Frome Cricket Club as the moon rose after a sun-filled Sunday.
With wild garlic and cow parsley thick along the verges and hawthorn blossom dense in the hedges, the 3 mile walk to Nunney is part of the enjoyment of the wonderful Nunney Acoustic Cafe on Sunday. Benjamin Hardy-Phillips ably took the guest spot, with 17 other acts! (though a couple were duos and one was an acapella sextet) A lively and convivial afternoon, with refreshments, and two of the singers, courtesy of Events Horizon. Here's Ben and, also from Frome, Paul Kirtley & David Goodman from the We Don't Scare Easy crew, and Nunney regulars Maia Fry and host Francis Hayden. And as this bulletin is already late, that's probably enough for one week...