From azure & gold to mainly grey..

How dark and cluttered England alway seems after an absence: pale pleated sky hanging low over endlessly cluttered terrain on the drive home from Plymouth. In Spain masks are mandatory for all public places, and after a month with this sense of safety, the 14-day requirement to withdraw was actually a relief while readjusting to the on-off policy that England allows. But Frome is all about community so I've attempted a skim-catch-up on how the enterprising townsfolk have maintained their creativity... and of course, the answer is: impressively. 

Words first: here's a link to Andy Wrintmore's Giant Pod  interview with Chris Bucklow, artist and art historian in which, as Andy says, 'We go down a rabbit hole of Chris’s complex and captivating theories about how his subconscious communicates with him via dreams, how we can learn to derive or interpret lessons about ourselves and get a better read on where our heads might be at.' Eleanor Talbot too has created several Variations on a Theme - interviews with a difference. Her recent themes were healing, hair, and 'sexy connections'. 

Hunting Raven Bookshop is maintaining its reputation for innovative energy, with a socially-distanced book sale at the Silk Mill this weekend. with two more planned.  

Frome Writers Collective is maintaining active support for an increasing membership, with a virtual writing workshop, story contest, and monthly meetings continuing on Zoom, with historian Peter Clark giving a talk on his new book, Churchill's Britain.

And - not from this patch, but poet Steve Pottinger is so well-liked in Frome that he's allowable - do check out Come to me now,, a reflection on nature and how life is always 'a moment you pluck between finger and thumb, a just-ripe moment...

Obedient self-isolation similarly precludes any report on this weekend's exhibition of visual artworks made by people in Frome during lockdown, Creation from Isolation, curated by the Edventure students, but there's a virtual tour here. North Somerset Arts group took a different online approach, with members' work posted in their Virtual Art Exhibition throughout the weekend. Masses of high quality work, in a wide range of media - here's a painting by Gail Mason, from 'imaginary 'Emotional Landscapes,' places that I would like to be, and memories of how it feels to be in nature.' - because I miss these colours. 

I narrowly missed the 6x6 exhibition at the WHY Gallery, selling cores of tiny masterpieces  donated in support of the charity counselling service that Jill Miller founded - particularly poignant in the month of the first anniversary of her death. 

The amazing Frome Street Bandits have responded to lockdown with a massively impressive display by the full clan of 'semi-autonomous anarchic syndicalist' instrumentalists in a piece they call Ca Fait Pas Mal (compilation credit Jez le Fevre). Premiered October 19th - a fullscreen must-watch, here.

Frome's individual musicians have been prolific in their online posts on facebook, both on their own pages and on the public group Open Micsolate (with an impressive 6,600 members, none of whom seem any more keen to retrain than Fatima...) - here's Guru in a Camper Van from Paul Kirtley and Shoreline by Jane Langley and friends, both original works. And there's a new album out any minute now from Phil Cooper: here's Over My Head, one of the tracks on These Revelation Games. 

And now as autumn arrives although the world still feels nowhere near normal, there are reasons to be cheerful: my pre-ordered copy of Staying Human from Bloodaxe Books (edited by Neil Astley) has arrived and hedges are spurting with vivid, glamorous, reassuringly ordinary, bunches of berries. 

  

 

A mixed bag: Nazis, novels, birdsong, and bands.

Drama first, as Vienna 1934 - Munich 1938  written, directed by, and featuring, Vanessa Redgrave, is showing at the Ustinov Studio in Bath until August 3rd. If this seems a strange name for a play, that’s because it is not a play, it is a scrapbook - a family album, its creator calls it.  Vanessa Redgrave, a stately and sparkling 82 year old, arrives on stage from the start to steer us through her collection of photographs of family and friends projected on screen behind her. Some then become animated and arrive onstage to speak for themselves, in scripts devised by Vanessa from journals, poems, and memories. She watches these cameos for much of the time.

Her support team - Robert Boulter a charming Stephen Spender, Lucy Doyle delightful as feisty anti-Nazi Muriel Gardiner, and Paul Hilton mesmerising in all his roles (unforgettable as Koloman Wallisch at execution and Thomas Mann indicting England's collusion with Fascism) - all help to create the lost world of Europe before Hitler’s war.  It's a time of political struggle but still hope. Socialism is the language of all these people - poets and subversives, who all live to work for, and express the need for, all people to be free. ‘Everyone my father knew was a socialist’ says Vanessa in her programme notes. It is another world and, despite the atrocities, an innocent one.  

The detailed events make this a hard story to follow, even with programme notes - and don’t go if you want indulgent memories of theatre in the ‘40s and ‘50s. Go instead to see what they never told you at school, even if you studied history, as I did right through university.  There is so much here that we all need to understand, even with hindsight, about the misdirections of national leaders and the courage of individuals. Image Nobby Clark

Back in Frome, life is settling down after the festival but not without words and music. Hunting Raven Books had one of their highly enjoyable 'Author Events', this time at the Town Hall (with sandwiches!) where manager Tina Gaisford-Waller was in conversation with fiction writer David Nicholls. Hard to believe it's ten years since One Day was the backdrop to summer for just about everyone I knew, copies past from hand to hand on beaches and poolsides everywhere - I still feel hot and sandy just looking at the cover. His new novel Sweet Sorrow looks set to be massively popular too. David was an actor before he became a novelist and screenwriter, so he knows how to hold an audience, and as Tina shares this skill the discussion was highly enjoyable, giving fascinating insight into the craft of structuring storyline and creating credible character.

On Friday Black Swan Arts hosted an exhibition launch to celebrate their 'LISTEN - Summer of Sound' project, which will involve a wide range of audial treats at the gallery and beyond. Singing the World: The Dawn Chorus is the contribution from painter Mike Collier, who was inspired by birdsong heard early one May morning. The processes devised to move the sonograms to coloured paintings are complex and intriguing: even more fascinating is the complete set of neumatic notations filling one wall. Bennett Hogg's music accompanies the art. The LISTEN event continues in the Black Swan and various venues around town until September 1st - I'll be involved a talking-walk at the end of August, (and also have a presence on the 'Playlist' scheduled for Thursday July 25th, just before I head for the azure skies over Greece...) 

Only a small music section this week, as I didn't get to several gigs I'd intended to see. 'Bare to the Bones' reincarnated again at the Artisan on Friday, this time with four bands and several solo performers joining in: Hello Hopeville, The Decades and Hoodoos all enriched a regular mix that starts and ends with Paul Kirtley's famous jam sessions - totally unrehearsed, he always reminds us, and we believe him! It's a good fun night, and has so far raised around £3,000 for Paul's chosen cancer charity. Here's The Hoodoos, and a typical glimpse of our 'stage'...

On Saturday night 23 Bath Street was overrun with percussion, as Frome Street Bandits gave a fabulously flamboyant demo of their urban gypsy / funky ska style:  this was followed by 25-strong Carnival Collective, but my functioning week ended at that point so no report on that, or the protest song event A Change is Gonna Come at BOV on Sunday as I had to forgo that too. Fingers crossed for return to health in time to travel to Skyros next weekend...

Savage families & cats, plus lucent celebrations

The new play at Ustinov Studio Theatre in Bath, The Open House by Will Eno, is a suitable tale for the season: a family reunion that absolutely no-one is enjoying - in fact the dog has outright legged it. Prepare for bullying aggression from father (Greg Hicks), passive-aggression from mother (Teresa Banham),  mute resentment from both grudge-bearing children (Ralph Davis & Lindsey Campbell), and an atmosphere of unmitigated wretchedness that even dark humour wouldn't sustain for 90 minutes... and happily it doesn't have to, though I can't tell you why not (or show in imagery) because it's so unexpected, and clever, and satisfying, you have to go & see for yourself. Please do, it's on till 23 December.  Michael Boyd directs, the costumes (Madeleine Girling) and set (Tom Piper) are both great ~ again, image-hints would spoil.  Forget story arc, or inciting incident, or any of the rules of drama you learnt, simply sit back and enjoy.

Wardrobe Theatre in Bristol is also offering alternative entertainment for the festive season, and after Rocky: A Horror Show (which was great) and Goldilock, Stock, and Three Smoking Bears (which was fantastic), I had high hopes of Reservoir Mogs, a girly re-envisaging of the macho-thug genre plus massacre of Lloyd-Webber cuteness. The audience clearly had similar expectations: there's a kind of party atmosphere in the non-ticketed seating ~ it's tiered like a proper theatre, but you're stamped to go in like a festival ~ and response was enthusiastic. For me the first half was a bit too much like St Trinians girls, immaculately costumed & face-painted, being wickedly naughty to entertain their teachers (or perhaps vice versa) but after the interval I was converted, when all pretence of narrative thread was abandoned in favour of audience abuse and an amazing multiple death scene... well cats do have nine lives so it takes some time to demolish them all... No apologies for spoilers, they can't stop you enjoying a show at this great little theatre.

Moving to things more sensible, Bath Short Story Award, a prestigious international writing contest for short fiction, put on their usual splendid event in Mr B's, a bookshop so compellingly wonderful it's hard to leave with just the book you came for: in this case the 2017 Winners Anthology. Short readings from winners and others included in this impressive collection gave a taster of the high standard from which literary agent Euan Thorneycroft of A M Heath, had to pick! Congratulations to organisers Jude Higgins, Anna Schlesinger & Jane Riekemann ~ and good to meet up with friends from Bath literary scene including Debby Holt.


Meanwhile Frome is gearing up for all things festive, which means many crafty-arty events with mulled wine and stollen, and even more music than usual. Here's Frome Street Bandits giving a lively performance on Friday after the big event of the week: on a clear night with a bright moon ~ and after removal of the screens around the market cross renovations ~ the Tree-Lights-Switch-On! This year the honour went to 10-year-old Ted Lewis-Clark who designed the santa-stamp for the Post Office (our own main box has been painted blue and starry in his honour). All fun and much enjoyed by the massive crowd, as was the singing and the stalls, but the real delight of the night was the lantern procession: hundreds of lanterns all made by their carriers, led by drumming bands from each end of the town to create an unforgettably magical scene ~ huge credit to Mel Day and Aliss Vaas for the long hours of many workshops, thanks to the town council for sponsoring, and total appreciation to the people of Frome and around, for joining in and making this amazing night happen.

Is it Art or junk... answers here

Whistler (according to Ruskin) flung a pot of paint in the public’s face, Duchamps offered it a urinal, so is slinging mud at a wall Art ~ as long as you’re wealthy enough to have a cleaner to wipe it off? You may find yourself musing on such deep questions after the new play at Bath's Ustinov Studio by  Marius von Mayenburg, which opens their highly-anticipated German season. The title PLASTIC, combined with a programme image of a splatter of spaghetti, didn't inspire high hopes though I was intrigued to see two fight directors required, but actually this is a stylish production brilliantly acted, with brittle humour and sometimes unexpectedly moving.

It’s a story about a girl who cleans but without the predictable Cinderella ending ~ in fact there's not much to say without risking spoilers ~ it's a cross between contemporary parable and outright parody: there's a relationship in jeopardy, an ongoing critique of conceptual art, and as much bleak humour as you can have with yellow rubber gloves on. Some of the details are great ~ like the silent arrival of pan-faced gallery visitors, who linger onstage equally impassively as voyeurs of the following private scene, and the music & visual props are nicely chosen.  I particularly enjoyed the clip of Big Bang Theory as Vincent struggles with maths homework, effortlessly explained by cleaner Jessica. Ria Zmitrowicz is superb as the laconic girl who becomes the focus of everyone's need for a confidant, comforter, or muse. Steve John Shepherd brings presence and energy to the 2-dimensional part of the artist, Charlotte Randle and Jonathan Slinger are terrific as the warring couple and Brenock O'Connor is their unfortunate son.

Jean Chan's set supports the artsy theme and is superbly lit by Richard Howell - in fact the visuals provide one of the main pleasures of a play which focuses so much on fakery that even the conflict has a custard-pie feel. Don't go expecting a satisfactory resolution but go anyway for superb acting and memorable visuals. I left feeling structural experimentation is good but, unlike that Banksy maxim‘art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable’, this one may well leave 'the comfortable' feeling quite smug. On till 25 March.

The new production at Bristol Old Vic, in dramatic contrast, is a play that wears its golden heart on its sleeve: JUNKYARD, conceived and scripted by Jack Thorne, is a mostly-true story about Lockleaze Adventure Playground. It starts a bit like those conferences where a group of 'real service users' are asked to describe the initiative they’ve experienced, and in some ways this case-study undercurrent never completely goes, but Erin Doherty as narrator and heroine Fiz gives a totally gripping performance and is supported by an immensely talented team - Josef Davies as bovva-boy Ginger and Enyi Okoronkwo as gentle Talc are outstanding. The set designed by Chiara Stephenson is marvellously chaotic, allowing for dynamic physical action and impressive lighting (Jack Knowles), with Stephen Warbeck's upbeat soundtrack integrated with the dialogue by a lively trio of on-stage musicians.  Calum Callaghan is endearing as hippyish Rick, the idealistic teacher inspired by the current (this is late 1970s) Adventure Playground movement into coaxing cooperation from a motley crew of self-defined 'kids no-one knows what to do with'.  Kevin McMonagle is great too as the Head who would really rather have a Maths block than a wreck from random fantasies; in fact there's not a single weak performance, and no bad characters either and it would have been interesting to see ~ without turning it into Lord of the Flies obviously ~ more diversity among the teens' responses, especially in the slower-moving second half. That quibble apart, as someone who worked in London in the 1980s with teenage boys with severe behavioural difficulties (predating that definition we were simply called a 'last-chance' resource) I found this true-life feel-good story credible and moving as well as entertaining. Critics are loving it - in Bristol till March 18th, then moving to Theatre Clwyd.

Back in Frome there's been the usual fantastic Smörgåsbord of live music, with an extra sparkle on Friday for James Bartholomew's exhibition launch of photos of Frome at Night at the Cornerhouse (here's Glitter on the Mattress belting out Love Shack like you've never heard...) Also on Friday I wandered into the most extraordinary banquet since Alice fell down the rabbit hole: deli specialist Benoit Clavet filled his open house on every storey with glorious platters on tables that made the phrase 'groaning with food' seem puny ~ amazing conviviality and hospitality and a happy alternative to the sold-out Reggae event at Cheese & Grain.
The reggae theme continues on Saturday with another sell-out show and Frome Street Bandits' parade bringing ska to the streets. And as March decides to come in like a lion, sadly the first Independent Market of 2017 is postponed until April. 

Anarchic drama, music, dancing ~ and a bit of poetry

Highlight of this week is Bristol Old Vic's stunning new production The Grinning Man. Based on a story by Victor Hugo, re-written by Carl Grose of Dead Dog in a Suitcase (about which I also raved), this 'macabre musical' is immensely effective and affecting. I left the theatre feeling I’d spent three hours at a freaky Tim Burtonesque carnival inside a Terry Gilliam head with Pete Townsend's Tommy ~ but you need to see this for yourself, there are so many strands in this re-envisioning of the original tale and so much topical relevance in the re-conceiving of Bristol as the setting for this extraordinary story of a lost and damaged child who takes on a Messianic role for a lost and damaged society ~ “A story so terrible it could only be true”
Music and lyrics (by Tim Phillips & Mark Teitler) are amazing, not only giving heart to individual characters but also creating a crazy world that darkly mirrors our own ("If you think a change of king -will change the mess you’re living in - learn the rules - you stupid fools")
The cast are all fantastic ~ I was especially impressed with Julian Bleach as the jester and Sean Kingsley as Ursus, the children's adoptive father. And there's more to relish: the skilfully-animated puppets of the children and the wolf, the extraordinary set with its leering grins and snare-like cavities, the wonderland-world costumes, that terrifying grin finally revealed, and the glorious moment when these two beautiful disfigured lovers finally run from the stage, stepping over the heads of the audience as though we were only a part of their dream. Director Tom Morris has made something really great happen here. On till 13 November, drop everything and book right now.

Back in the real world where suffering children don't have such a happy ending, if The Sun newspaper has anything to do with it, RAISE (Refugee Action In Somerset East) put on a gig at Frome's Silk Mill to raise money for refugees in Calais. Popular local band Back Wood Redeemers gave us a great set of their 'songs of misery, debauchery, and religious fervour' and ~ despite demise of Flounder's banjo ~ they did, as promised, get the joint jumping.


Wells Festival of Literature  was on throughout last week and though autumn sunshine made it hard to abandon the Bishops Palace Gardens I did make it to the marquee for Write Up Speak Up. This participatory event was organised by Bee Brook and compered by gorgeous Liv Torc whose brilliant opening set lifted the bar to the roof.
Also unforgettable was near-nonagenarian Jane Williams with a spirited rap 'Getting old is shit' which practically brought the house down, bar and all. I would say I was proud to be in their company, but actually it was a bit humbling. Here's a photo of the full moon that night, anyway.

Terribly sad news in Frome this week was the death of Griff Daniels, initiator of the Roots Grain Bar Sessions and many other events, guitarist and singer with iconic bands like The Critters, The Valley, Dempseys, as well as the popular duo Nicki & Griff. He was a friend to everyone and an all-round wonderful man.







Finally: Take a look at this short (3.59 mins) movie of the amazing Frome Street Bandits created from the darkly anarchic mind of & genius skills of Howard Vause: it's called The Wood The Brass And The Funky and it's brilliant. 

Our revels now are ended....

Day Ten has come & gone in Frome Festival and all the festivallers are knackered. In previous years I've reported throughout the week ~ daily, even, one year ~ and now there's far too much to mention everything that was exciting or delightful or for varied reasons simply splendid,  so I'll just pick out a few personal highlights ~ there's a much more extensive album on my facebook page.

MUSIC was amazing throughout. The Frome Street Bandits provided a superb opening for the first big open-air event, parading through the sunny evening streets to perform in the market yard for the Food Feast, and Pete Gage Band gave a storming session at The Cornerhouse on the final day.  I absolutely loved Al O'Kane's Magical Folk Garden at Archangel, four nights of superb folk-rock performances in a mesmerically decorated environment, where I was stunned by the Bookshop Band, overwhelmed by the Cedar, entranced by the lively Pigeons, and enchanted by Emma Shoosmith & Al O'Kane himself. There was music everywhere in town throughout the week, from really great little folk, country, & jazz bands in pub courtyards & gardens to memorable sell-out sessions at the Cheese & Grain like the marvellous Billy Bragg.
  VISUAL ARTS enhanced the festival vibe everywhere too, with over fifty artists in the Open Studios trail and other small events too ~ I especially liked Mutartis Boswell's weird pieces in the Cellar, Robert Lee's strange things in boxes, and Ciara Nolan's big black&white photographs of Humans of Frome at the Silk Mill- a good place to pause between events for tasty Peruvian tapas in the courtyard and wine...

DRAMA is always a major interest for me, though as with all festivals, clashes are inevitable. Nevertheless Fringe Theatre had to be my priority: our production Time Slides was on for two nights, the second of which sold out completely so we had to send walkups away as over forty people squeezed into the upstairs room at the Cornerhouse to enjoy our three excellent young actors, Gabrielle Finnegan, Tiffany Rhodes & Matt Harrison, with Patrick Dunn adding atmospheric live music. There's a great review in the Fine Times Recorder which explains what's going on better than I can, even though I wrote the play... and the feedback is all on our Nevertheless page ~"Very good acting and intriguing thought-provoking script" sums up the general view, I'm happy to report.

The other stand-out production for me was Legends of Frome, an 'immersive theatre' piece devised by the Edventure creative arts course and performed at Sun Street Chapel. Taking as starting point the older traditions of town life like weaving and baking, and using a range of interactive devices involving masks, mime, song and storytelling, this young team involved us as audience, in small groups, in a journey of sensual experiences so that gradually we all became participant performers in the living story of our town. An amazingly ambitious piece that worked extremely well.

WORDS are always a strong element in the festival, and Frome Writers Collective organised some excellent events for prose writers: the first weekend saw Writers in Residence in cafes and pubs throughout the town with a busy Small Publishers' Fair at the Silk Mill, and for the final Sunday there were workshops and a talk from literary agent Jane Judd at the library.  For poets & poetry lovers,  Liv Tork hosted a terrific Hip Yak Poetry Slam at the Archangel and my Festival Poetry Cafe at the Garden Cafe was also a great evening and a full house. Here's our superb guest Steve Pottinger (his scathing satiric poem Stabberjocky has since gone viral) with our new 'Festival Poet Laureate' John Christopher Wood, who will revisit us later in the year as a guest himself, hopefully with more strange odes.

Frome Festival more than any other I've known is a real community celebration, with so many free events for everyone to join in ~ pubs like the Archangel and the Artisan have hosted childrens' activities by day as well as evening music, and the Childrens' Festival in the market yard was amazing.  There's an 'open garden' trail too, although I didn't have time this year, and so much more ~ I shall keep thinking of people & acts this post hasn't mentioned as I fly off, now, to Greece for a week in Atsitsa Bay on Skyros island...
Have a lovely time, Frome, basking in the afterglow of another really good festival...