Dragonfly days, gone too soon... and downpour drama

A dramatic start to this week's blog, with A Midsummer Night's Dream as presented on the ECOS open-air stage in Frome by wonderful Illyria outdoor theatre company, uncut despite thunderous rain throughout the second act, and with a stunning rainbow overhead for the finale.  

As Oliver Gray, director and inspirational genius behind these Illyrian creations, notes in the programme, it requires a lot of hard work to create a full production of Shakespeare's triple-layered fantasy with a cast of five, all quick-changing from nobles to fairies to workmen, with complex timing required for the hi-energy physical interaction and slapstick humour of the staging.  The cast are all excellent: Sarah Coyne as a Scots Puck as well as a delightful Hermia, Lily Carter proving 6 ft 3 is no impediment to playing queen of the fairies, with Chris Laishley, Nathan Richard Smith and Richard Blackman also effectively multitasking.  Wonderful to see again this great drama about love winning through despite folly and confusion, in these destructive days when it can seem Puck's words will be humanity's epitaph: What fools these mortals be. 

Music next, with the return of fabulous Rosco Shakes to Bar Lotte, creating something of a street party with the spillage of their sensational boogie-woogie R&B sounds -  Josh, Dom, Ned, and Tim all on top form, with Dom adding a touch of flamenco to the blues from time to time. (Steve on sax joined later too.) The lads are playing Glastonbury, at the Croissant Neuf - where Cut Capers are headlining so definitely the venue to head for if you're going.

Now poetry: And, with due sympathy for anyone who suffered, those lockdowns did encourage - as well as less pollution, increased wildlife, and time for personal creativity - the connection facility of zoom for poetry workshops and performances.  This week, Bristol-based  Flight of the Dragonflies on Tuesday evening hosted an excellent poetry event featuring guest poet John McCullough 

John's collection Reckless Paper Birds won not only the Hawthornden prize for literature but also their award for best UK book of the year, so quite a large group joined host Darren J Beaney to enjoy this session.  The poems weren't Spoken Word as a slam poet would know it, so it was helpful to have the shared screen facility giving a view of the text during the poet's reading.  Among the excellent contributing poets I especially enjoyed Michael Sindler zooming in from the USA (screenshot), and Damien Donnelly in Ireland.

As this was the week that summer made a brief appearance, before quitting abruptly at the weekend, I'm treasuring the memory with a couple of snaps taken on those idyllic hot midweek days: the pantheon at Stourhead and some of the myriad pyramid orchids in the long grass...

 ... and Friday afternoon at Marston pond - no swans, but a large brood of baby ducklings, out with mama. Hopefully summer will return next week.

Fantasy, form, fables, futures - and fun

With June just a breath away, here in the southwest Open Air Theatre season has already begun: Frome hosted the endlessly inventive Illyria company on Sunday as their touring version of Peter Pan arrived on the ECOS amphitheatre in the afternoon to delight a mixed age audience.  The company boasts that this is the first production to include real flying, and while strictly speaking an offstage rig isn't actually quite the same thing as 'real', this complex apparatus contrived several brilliant stage effects - especially Peter's flamboyant fight scene, and the under-water life of the mermaid (with bubbles...) 

Director Oliver Grey, the founder & godfather of Illyria, points out in his programme notes that the entire story of Peter Pan is rooted in psychology of its author - as JM Barry himself observed, later in life. And as much of the book's action is problematic for live representation, his directorial decision has been to focus on, and explore, the author's idea that 'everything in this story is a game played by children...' and their nursery is always present on this set.  'After all, what is an adventure if not a trip into the imagination?'

This show is so much an ensemble production it's difficult to highlight individuals, but Nicholas Lee (Wendy's brother John, & Tootles) and Elizabeth Robin (Mrs Darling, Tinker Bell & Slightly) especially have great stage presence and dramatic energy.  The croc, and Tinkebell, deserve special mention too. Basically, the whole show is a delight. 

Music focus of the week, leading neatly into art spot, goes to simpsonharrisonbenjamin, at the opening of Hauser & Wirth's exhibition on Friday evening. Sharing Form - an impressive collection of works by Henry Moore that could not have opened on a more lovely evening, with blue-sky-sunshine to enhance all the amazing artefacts in the fabulous gardens, while indoors the rooms were full of thought-provoking 'investigative' pieces. You really need to visit if you can: it's superbly curated and this comment from the exhibition guide effectively says it all: "a rich and often surprising visual biography of Moore's relentless interrogation of form and our shared comprehension of it."

Bit of a wild card now: a historical trip to the wilds of Wales, to explore a Roman settlement in Caerleon - well, the amphitheatre and the toilets anyway, though there was probably more going on in 1st Century AD - and, even more excitingly, the discovery in the unpretentious little church of St Cadocs in Llancarfan that beneath centuries of limewash the walls are covered with amazing medieval paintings, not only extraordinary as examples of 15th Century art but also as a record of the moral and emotional thinking of that era. Expert recovery has revealed the seven cardinal sins, the 'dance of death' and, the most strongly narrative story and at the present time best restored, the wondrousness of St George, dragon-slayer and warrior saint.  Incredible, in so many ways, to witness this tribute to the legends that were vivid in the lives of this community more than 500 years ago.

Back in south-west England, Novel Nights meeting at Burdell's Yard in Bath on Wednesday provided a fascinating evening as the theme was 'climate change' and the session featured not only Maggie Gee talking about her new novel on that theme, but also readings from three upcoming novelists - two of whom were Frome writers Nicky Lloyd and Alison Clink - pictured - plus Bath writer Richard Kemp.

 and this week's final note is a booky one too: the poetry collection with the impossible name (What'sItLikeFor You+DanceForThoseWho'dRatherNot) (with pictures by Mel Day) will be launching itself on the world, ready or not, on June 6th at Three Swans, upstairs. Grab a drink & come on up. 

A cornucopia of a week: drama, bands, ramblings, art - & my new book now on sale!

This week's bulletin once again begins with a performance in Frome's Merlin amphitheatre: HMS Pinafore, Gilbert & Sullivan's comic opera of class pretensions, as interpreted and presented by another of the illustrious casts of Illyria Outdoor Theatre.  (There's also a childrens' show or two from this stable going round this summer, so hopefully this wonderful company will survive the dramatic hiatus caused by plague.)

There's a certain poignant irony in some of the parodic songs - in spite of all temptations, to belong to other nations, he remains an Englishman, for example - but a great set, tight direction, and the talented cast all combine to create an entertaining evening: "Pantomime for grownups!" as one delighted audience member summed up.

This week has been particularly rich in musical entertainment.  Nesta Yurt Camping, unknown to me until quite recently although it's only a 20 minute walk down the lanes from my house, for various reasons last week became almost a second home. The food here is amazing - vegan menu with delicacies like banana-blossom 'fish' and chips - there's a friendly, casual but well-equipped, tent site and visitors from town are welcomed at the undercover evening entertainment. On Wednesday the band stage featured Rosco Shakes, a fantastic funky local trio comprising Dom on guitar, Ned on drums & vocals, and Tim on crazy honky-tonking piano.

Music too in Frome's Victoria Park, where a sunny Saturday saw families & friends sprawled on rugs or - for the more organised - settled on garden chairs to listen to live music from the bandstand all afternoon.  Frome's fabulously funky quintet The Valley, joined by Colin on cajon, led off and other excellent local musicians followed, including brilliant bluesy duo Roger & Annie Davenport. Great sounds, brilliant atmosphere, reminding us all what summers can be like here...

This August hasn't been the kind of summer we longed for during the winter months, but there has been some sunshine and abatement in the downpours and blustering winds. Tuesday's respite gave me a chance to visit Rodden Nature Reserve - one of Frome's best kept secrets, largely because it's closed during the long breeding season for the many rare birds who find this a safe haven. Paths of desire are kept clear between wetland areas, and the entire wildlife park is brimming with autumnal flowers, bushes, reeds and trees - and dense with insect life plus tiny mammals & frogs. 

Art & Lit corner now: Frome Art Society opened its annual exhibition in the Round Tower of Black Swan Arts on Friday: an eclectic display with much to enjoy - though it isn't always easy to avoid window reflections on the glass of the paintings - and a chance for all visitors to vote for their favourite piece. This evocative view of the  river is by Kristen Vincent. 

And my personal big news is the arrival of copies for sale of my new book: Déjà  Lu is a collection of 37 short stories, most of which have been previously published in journals & anthologies or broadcast on BBC4, and now for the first time readable together in all their strange diversity. Suzy Howlett, author, thespian, and reviewer, has summed up delightfully: "This collection, stylishly presented with cover artwork by David Moss, is a delight in the same way that a selection box of hand-made chocolates is: you can select and taste the soft-centres, the nutty, the rich and dark, the hard-boiled, the sweet, the fruity and the plain gorgeous. They are all delicious!"  My first delivery is already all sold or committed, but please contact me if you'd like a copy from the second box, due next week! Thanks Patrick Dunn for the - genuinely spontaneous - picture! 

 Ending this week's bulletin with an image from the fields around Frome, where autumn is already arriving...

Illyrian romps, a posse of bibliophiles, & a splash of music

Outdoor theatre is again the feature of the week: Illyria, active again after a difficult summer last year, has several productions on tour and on Thursday a multi-tasking quintet arrived at Frome's ECOS venue to take on Much Ado About Nothing.  The amphitheatre was virtually full for this production, impressively set and lit, with all 20 of the play's characters vividly created by three men and two women. As Elizabethan productions were single-sex, Chris Wills as a hirsute lady's maid sort-of followed tradition, but Nicola Foxfield taking on jilted Claudio as well as feisty Beatrice was impressive. Rachel O'Hare as Hero, the insulted bride, also portrayed her elderly uncle, and Chris Laishley enacted evil Don John as well as the benign Governor of Messina, where the action occurs in a party atmosphere following a successful campaign.

Nobody could call Shakespeare's comedies anodyne. The seventeen plays placed in that category include themes of antisemitism, domestic abuse, assault, abandonment, betrayal and murder, so in this drama Claudio's savage rejection of Hero on their wedding day is fairly mild, although his initial indifference to her demise does suggest some lack of empathy.  Fortunately there's no time to worry about that as the action moves on to another popular theme of the bard's: the looney-tune lower-classes, and Illyria delivers their antics with extra relish.  The focus is on laughter: David Sayers relishes the affectations of Benedick as much as the antics of the Watch who chaotically foil the dastardly plot.  Oliver Gray's production cleverly established a convention of imaginary directional space in the opening moments of the play, and made the most of the absurdity of the garden scene where the match-making plot to bring Beatrice and Benedict together is hatched. Basically, there's much to enjoy whether or not the plotline always emerges, and the company's excellent programme gives a clear synopsis. Much Ado has been claimed by Hollywood as the original screwball romantic comedy, and it's always a pleasure to see different emphases in a stage production.

As a personal postcript: In the days when a 'standing seat' bought on the door for 2/- at London's Old Vic meant you could take any seat still vacant at curtain up, in 1965 I saw Franco Zeffirelli's production of this play with a cast including Ian McKellen, Albert Finney, Derek Jacobi, Maggie Smith and Lynn Redgrave... the garden scene, when even the ornamental sculptures shimmered forward to eavesdrop on the love-plot, is probably one of the reasons for my enduring passion for live theatre.

Sadly, the English summer couldn't manage more than a few pleasant days this week, and by the weekend had swapped summer showers for downright deluges. On Friday evening we defied the elements in search of live music at Critchill Manor Estate, a fairly new camping site on the southern outskirts offering a tented bar with a band open to drop-ins, and on Sunday the heavens opened again for the Frome Lions Summer Fete in Victoria Park: the big chutes and and bouncy apparatus continued to be splashily popular with the saturated children while their elders clustered under trees with hot drinks.

Sunday evening saw the return to (fortunately dry) real space of Proof Pudding Club, the inspired innovation  of Hunting Raven Books' manager Tina Gaisford-Waller, originally meeting monthly at the Cornerhouse to discuss upcoming titles and for the last year continuing on zoom. Our new venue is River House, in its new location at Black Swan Arts. Spreading across the courtyard as well as the indoor cafe, about thirty volunteers appraised new titles and chatted with coffee and cake in animated small groups, reporting back at the end of the evening. Here's my group: Liz, Naomie, and Nicki, deciding that Silent Earth by Dave Goulson, a warning of imminent insect apocalypse, was our pick of the night.

Ending with thanks to etymologist Susie Dent for providing a word that explains and excuses my morning indolence in a week of disappointingly non-seasonal weather: Hurkle-durkling: 19th-century Scots for lounging in bed long after it’s time to get up.

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...

Street life with castle, beach, murder-mystery & more...

Nunney Street Fayre on Saturday, as you'd expect from the spelling, is an extravaganza of stalls selling cakes and summer-festival style attire, interrupted at intervals by cider & prosecco bars and ice-cream vans - but with a magnificent USP: ruined Nunney Castle, in the centre of the village and surrounded by a moat. Here the awesome Acoustic Cafe team gave us a day-long stream of live music, on two stages so no set-up breaks, and you could lounge on the grass listening to fabulous folk, blues, and punk classics for hours... I was there for five, fortified by fizz, leaving then for a theatre date. Here's the punky Raggedy Men but I also really enjoyed the other bands and individual artists, especially Splat the Rat ranging from In Hell I'll Be In Good Company to gentle Bees Wing... (thanks Stephen for the snap)
So a swift bike-ride home got me back in time to de-hippify for the rather posher environs of Corsley Manor, to join friends for the Illyria production of The Hound of the Baskervilles.  Oliver Gray, who designs and directs the summer season, warns in programme notes that four actors on a tiny stage in a complex tale involving multiple characters is 'ridiculous' but of course it's the ridiculousness of this clever quartet we love. Liv Spencer's haughty Holmes, Nick Taylor's broad-Yorkshire Watson, Rachel O-Hare and Lee Peck in multiple roles were all hilarious, even in the scariest moments as the unlikely story unravelled. With the villain finally triumphantly identified, Dr Watson - not unreasonably - asks what the motive could conceivably have been. 'That is of no concern to me,' the great detective huffs, 'I am only interested in problems of the present and the past, not those of the future.' Not just a riotous romp, a sly critique of genre detective stories too...

Next day was the first Sunday in August so Frome had its monthly Independent Market - the seaside one, with a beach and donkey rides in the marketplace, and Mojo Moves from Rare Species street theatre leading a startling-energetic aerobics session - think human-glitter-ball in shocking-pink lycra romping like a baby hippo on speed.
For calmer enjoyment, there was the Busking Stage - here's Kevin Brown and Duncan Kingston playing blues.
Sunday early evening jazz is back at Cornerhouse: Simon Sax and friends gave a great jam session, with songs from Nicki Maskell & Graham Dent on piano. Midweek highlight was Lazy Daze, a charismatic trio - great rapport & fabulous original songs superbly played.

Ending this busy post with an update from Frome Unzipped, with my first serious, with-a-reading style, launch on Tuesday at Hunting Raven Books where lovely Tina set the bar high in her introduction but audience response was brilliant:  questions good and comments fabulous. (Thanks Tina for the sneaky shot of me holding forth.) I've been delighted by all the feedback, on facebook ('a cracking read'- thanks Mike Grenville) and from people I meet around - like, 'I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I am!'... I do hope everyone who buys it feels that way...
And Pete Lawrence has just posted a chat we had for the Campfire Convention: you can listen to the 'Firecast' here: