Strange days indeed...

Let's avoid the politics of realtime and open with the treat-of-the-week for lockdown theatre fans as National Theatre streamed their 2012 production This House, written by James Graham, directed by Jeremy Herrin:   2 hours & 40 minutes of fast-moving, well scripted, engagingly acted, brilliant drama - funny and edge-of-chair tense by turns, entirely set in and around the Whips offices in the Houses of Parliament. As well as a gripping account of the turbulent five years of government in a hung parliament from 1974 until the draconian years of Thatcher, the play shows the mini-dramas and learning curves of each character, and what stays with me most of all is the final moral dilemma: would you sacrifice your party's future to save a man's life, probably only for one more day? Is retaining your human compassion more important than loyalty to your political tribe - even if it will mean they lose power and the entire nation will suffer when the self-seeking opposition with their harpy leader take the helm... ? It's a tough call.

With hindsight, though at the time she shocked me, I tend to agree with the most ruthless Whip of all, Ann Taylor, (Lauren O'Neill) who favoured calling in the sick MP to make up their essential numbers in the vote, and snapped back at appeal 'He'll die!' from Bob Mellish (Phil Daniels) with 'He'll die happy.' Strong comedy scenes too, with some reminiscent of the Riot Club in POSH - the public-schoolboy-mentality satire, as the Mace is hauled from place and swung around like a caber in an inter-party brawl.

Miracle Theatre also dug into its 2012 archives for this month's Monday streaming for The Importance of Being Earnest and I wish they hadn't: it's impossible to improve on Oscar Wilde's elegant wit in this satire of society manners and values. Making key characters clumsily buffoonish, transposing speech from master to servant, and decorating the action with silly dances and yoga poses is a directorial misjudgement, even for an Open Air Theatre Company with an eye on the kids in the audience, which perhaps explains Ben Dyson's unusually unimposing performance as Aunt Augusta.

 BBC Radio 4 programme The Spark, where 'Leading thinkers posit solutions to the structural problems of our age', featured Frome's Peter Macfadyen last week, discussing the impact of the 'Independents for Frome' invasion of the town council in 2011 with a brief to revitalise local politics.
'I've never been a member of a political party,' Peter explained, '- they clearly don't work. They create an environment of conflict and a system that's dysfunctional. We just wanted to do something that would work.' Once Peter's motley group of wanna-be game-changers had taken every ward in the town, they were able to start changing the status quo, abolishing sub-committees and generally making procedures more informal and understandable. In a very honest summary, Peter remembers problems and regrets as well as successes and the growing interest, in UK and abroad, in the Flat-pack Democracy ideal. Here's Peter in one of the home-made chains of office donated to him as Mayor - so many and so diverse they featured in an exhibition at the end of his year in office - here's just one.


Also words: with no live audiences available, indefatigable poet Liv Torc has created a poem for the Radio Somerset website: You Make A Difference. As mentioned last week, Liv continues to collect and compile 'haiflu' reflecting feelings about lockdown, posting a film of a selection at the end of each week ( Week 10  here).

With literally months of lockdown dominating life, it seems weird to now report on a music event in real time. In an ingenious feat of engineering and after consultation with his neighbours, soundman Steve Tomkinson set up a trio of Frome's musicians to perform at the front of his house to a - social-distance-meticulous - live audience. Paul Kirtley's version of Tom Petty's famous Breakdown song as Lockdown and Bob Dylan's You Ain't Going Nowhere (with a few pithy comments about Durham) were supported by fabulous guitar riffs from David Goodman and Carl Sutterby's evocative harmonica. A blast of normal energy in our strange, static world.

And after a weekend of solid sunshine touching 28 C here in Frome  - that's 82.4F to you Mo - these May bulletins will end with some glimpses of the scandalously lovely scenery around Frome last week: the proliferation of birds, bees, butterflies, sunshine and serenity, all contrasting irreconcilably with the 'reality' on our TVs and phones in these strange days. 'Stay well' is the new goodbye.

Looking forward, looking back, and looking down...

This week several projects which were bubbling along nicely have started coming to the boil, which means I've now got various fabulous flyers and posters to distribute. Muffin Man is returning to the Cornerhouse for two nights in June with a sequel devised with impro from the cast: talented twosome Ross Scott and Fleur Hanby-Holmes. The show comprises a reprise of the original short play ~ which gave me the title Bard of Frome 2014 in the Frome Festival comedy play contest, a title I hand on in July to the next winning contestant ~  and an original song and stand-up comedy routine as well as the new play The Morning After.   
Looking ahead to the festival, as we do now the box office is open and tickets selling fast, our guest at the Poetry Café, hotfoot from Hackney's Hammer & Tongue, is 'Angry Sam' Berkson and a special open-mic on that Monday night will include selection of 'Festival Poet Laureate'. That's at the Garden Cafe and we're hoping, if it's a fine night, to be actually in the garden.

Midsummer Dusk is the festival offering from Nevertheless Productions ~ our first site-specific event, directed by Rosie Finnegan with my script and our newly-formed acting company. First read through last week confirmed this quintet of 'Star Players' are well-named: this promises to be a fantastic show and, since it's only on for two nights (Thursday & Friday) we expect to sell out early.

Black Swan is showing paintings by Dan Hampson inspired by the notion of exploration, and it's the most exciting exhibition I've seen for ages. Dan was at the launch and spoke tentatively and intriguingly about these cultural icons ~ Stanley, Livingstone, Captain Cook etc ~ as 'trying to be heroic but things are spiralling out of control because they're incomprehensible.' I can't wait to explore further myself at the Words at the Black Swan writers' workshop on Sunday 7th.

Reverberations of the Independents for Frome recent election success continue with a feature article in The Guardian on 'How Flatpack Democracy beat the old parties in the People's Republic of Frome', with a great picture of our joyful mob rulers and the story of their amazing triumph. And the week ended exuberantly with Frome Street Bandits and Orkestra del Sol in a dance-fest extraordinaire at the Cheese&Grain.

One of the quirks of writing a blog about what's on in and around Frome is the diversity sometimes leads to strange juxtapositions. Here's one of them: We Are Many directed by Amir Amirani ~ on general release from May 22nd  ~ had a special showing at 90 cinemas on Thursday, one of which was the Little Theatre in Bath. I had been one of the thousands who lost hope after that 2003 massive global protest when the largest mobilisation in the history of the world met with derisive dismissal from that reptilian pair of conspirators Bush & Blair. I went with Jill Miller on the march, and we went together a year later to see David Hare's play Stuff Happens expose the lies that were seeping out by now ~ the fait accompli timing, the dodgy dossier, the tricking of Blix. So now we all know this was an illegal war that needlessly killed millions and cost trillions, why does Jon Snow (who led the live Q&A) hail this movie as as 'a huge achievement which has exceeded all expectations"?
I've already seen querulous comments on facebook about the protest being worthless, but I still find it heartening to hear people like Tony Benn, Nelson Mandela, Ken Loach and Mark Rylance speaking so powerfully, and to see the Women for Peace calling out the war criminals and the Iraq veterans hurling their medals, and to know unequivocally that history shows 'the "deranged lefties" were absolutely right and the governments were wrong.'
But this movie offers more hope than Auden's lament Time will say nothing but I told you so.  There's been a seismic shift since the day 35 million people in 789 cities in 72 countries across the world said together 'Not In My Name.'  When Cameron in 2013 tried the same old rhetoric, his call to war was, for the first time ever in an English parliament, defeated. And in Egypt the seeds of the democracy movement that became know as the Arab Spring were sown.

A lighter end to this posting: I've yearned to go up in a balloon since watching Ashton Court fiesta, and my sons gave me a trip which for reasons mainly climatic was delayed until today. So at 7a.m. here I am floating over the fields beyond Bath on a champagne flight with Bristol Balloons.  A stunningly beautiful tapestry of sunny fields and dramatic shadows scrolls below a sky of searing blue as the Royal Crescent dwindles and for a delicious hour we watch field patterns unfold, deer running & cows meandering, ending after 14 miles at 2000 feet in a field in Nunney.  What can I say but Recommended.

The P word

I can't really avoid it, since everything human is political, even shopping, and certainly arts: not in an overt sense necessarily, but by making the world we want to live in, entertaining & connective as well as socially aware. But this post is uniquely political, because on Saturday something almost incredible and totally fantastic occurred: Frome eliminated party politics from the town council. Independents for Frome consolidated four years of strong presence by taking every one of the 17 seats available, despite opposition from 32 party-line candidates ~ Conservatives, Lib-Dems, Ukip & Labour, not one got a single seat.
 So here's the start of a long night of partying as the news filtered through (fittingly starting at the Cornerhouse, where the dream first took shape) and here's me incredibly happy to be living in the Independent State of Frome. As Macauley might have writ:

And still their names will sound stirring
Unto the men & women of Frome,
As the trumpet-blast that cries to them
To charge the politicians home;
And we will all still pray to Juno
For boys & girls with hearts as bold
As these who kept the town so well
In the brave days of old.

The Mayor's do and other bashes

Alison Clink, founder of the Frome Festival Short Story Competition, was at Hunting Raven Books on Thursday evening for the launch of her new book The Man Who Didn't Go To Newcastle, a personal memoir based on her journals at the time of her brother's death seven years ago while also drawing on a lifetime's memories of their close relationship. In our interview we talked about aspects of the writing, and I asked too if she found the process healing. No, was the answer, but it helps you to cope. And to any writer with difficult experiences Alison advises: 'you have to expose yourself ~ no matter how painful it is, just do it, even if you're crying.'  Don't let the sombre aspect deter you, there's humour too in this ultimately life-affirming story.

It's been a musical weekend for Independents for Frome folk, with a flashmob singing Welcome Home to the Friday night commuters as they arrived at the station, followed by the Mayor's Charity Bash at the Silk Mill.

Frome Street Bandits start the party and No-Shit Simone and the Flunch Nonchalent supporting Captain Cactus and the Screaming Harlots get everyone dancing quicker than you can say both band names, probably as we're all disinhibited by looking fairly bonkers in our charity shop outfits ~ prizes awarded to the most bizarre. Mayor Peter Macfadyen was present in multiples, not only in his current pompom chain but in a series of portraits around the walls, showing the inventive diversity of the institutions of the town in devising mayoral chains for every occasion.



Ending the week, the Pete Gage Quartet were rocking in the Cornerhouse and Frome Jazz Club celebrated its grand reopening at the Grain Bar with a fantastic set from the John Law Trio (plus sax)  ~ his version of My one and only love was breath-taking.




This blog began life as a writer's journey and, although extolling the delights of Frome increasingly and effervescently, I do like to maintain a link with matters literary and linguistic, so I'm ending with a few words: Epexegesis is one I discovered last week. It means extended explanation, and one who is epexegetical is prone to garrulous converse... And take comfort next time you forget a word and randomly invent a substitute, that you are ~ as Shakespeare did and children still do ~  creating a neologism.  For those fascinated by the archaic, here's a list of fifty forgotten words which we really could use in these days of crambo-clank and eedle-doddles. 

Forth and back: unblocked writers, time travel, and electioneering Frome-stylee

Cheltenham Spa on Saturday sparkled in sunshine with pink blossom floating dreamily, mythic sculpture, (that's a hare and a minataur in somewhat intimidating-looking embrace on the Promenade) lively busking and even a small carousel, all confounding all my expectations of a stiff, horsey, kind of town. I was there to reunite with a writers' group which formed after sharing a weekend course at The Grange six years ago and still meets twice a year, members converging from all over the UK. It was delightful sharing an afternoon session with this friendly quintet which clearly thrives through a supportive ethos as well as great writing - and there's room for two more in their scribing circle so if that could be you, contact organiser Claire via a comment on her fascinating travel blog.

A superb day on Friday too, as Annabelle and I took several families on our cosmic Time Walk, telling the story of earth in a thousand paces. Here we are in costume in the superb gardens of the American Museum in Bath where despite distractions from primroses and birdsong, and an inquisitive rabbit, the children were encouragingly fascinated and charmingly responsive.  Even though the dinosaurs did take nearly four and a half billion years to reach, and disappeared forever a few paces later.

Back in Frome on Sunday, Democracy Day began ~ late afternoon, in fact ~ with a massive meeting with all five parliamentary candidates at Cheese&Grain and ended with a party for IfF ~ independents for Frome ~ candidates standing for council election. Following four successful years since the indies supplanted the party-politicians, and with nationwide interest in how they did it (see Flatpack Democracy) it's vital to maintain, and boost, support.

As this is Frome, music and creativity is inevitably involved, with Al O'Kane telling the story of IfF policies in a brilliant song which Howard Vause has made into a fabulous must-watch video. Live music from Al too, fresh from the Lamer Tree Music Awards final, with Tess Wakeling and Fasian Al'fasir Fharrad Farrer. Talent practically oozing out the walls - which revellers found on leaving were illuminated by more than moonlight...

I'm concluding this post with Poldark (which I don't watch) on the specious pretext that adulation of (insert lascivious adjective of your choice) Aidan Turner means a second series, and it's produced in Bristol. As was the brilliant Being Human (which I did watch) in which Aidan did for vampires what Colin Firth did for wet shirts with frothy cuffs. For a  bite-size chunk of Poldark action, click here. (spoiler alert, it's a spoof. Very funny too.)

Bliss it was to be alive,
but to be a bit less ill was very heaven, as Wordsworth might have mused in East Woodlands bluebell woods at dusk and a new moon rising. Thanks Emily, thanks everyone. And more reason to be cheerful in the inspirational success of Frome Independents in the town council election - sweeping in with 10 out of the 17 seats. As world-travelling writer Roger says, Tunis, Egypt, Frome.... maybe hope for all of us - although, with the dejecting news our nation sees no point a fairer voting system, maybe not.

To brighter thoughts:

NIE is the wonderfully innovative theatre group that knocked my socks off last year with their promenade show Everything Falls Apart, so I was avid to see their new production Tales from a Sea Journey at the Tobacco Factory as part of Mayfest. Like all their shows, it's fast-paced, high-energy, and hugely entertaining, using live music and intermingling various cultures and languages to create a colourful patchwork of emotional experiences. Their inspiration this time is a real sea voyage taken by the group in 2009, embellished with tales both encountered and invented. These range from ferociously funny black comedy to moving domestic cameos, and combine to create an exciting show that despite its random elements feels satisfyingly complete.