Setting out to Ithika and other marvellous journeys

Nobody's Home, developed in California by Theatre Témoin & Grafted Cede Theatre, workshopped with war veterans, greeted on Broadway with 5-star reviews as the sort of masterpiece which deserves not to go undiscovered, is now touring UK and came to Salisbury Playhouse this week. You might think anyone choosing a play billed as 'a moving exploration of post-traumatic stress disorder in a modern retelling of Homer's Odyssey' would expect some fairly gritty imagery and action, but six people walked out (we were in the Salberg Studio so their exit was not discreet) as the ex-soldier wrestled with epic perils and living nightmares.
Set in and around a bath, with brilliant lighting & sound and two terrific performers, this sixty-minute drama is a fantastic piece of theatre. Will Pinchin as Grant graphically shows the nightmare of his war and the terrible place it has left him, and Dorrie Kinnear is superbly chameleon as his helpless wife, the monsters & foes he faces, and even - in an exquisite final tableau - as the billowing sails of his final journey home. There was an after-show talk too but we were too wrung-out & overawed to stay. I may feel squeamish about my next bath though, and won't be eating watermelon for a while.

Last Tree Dreaming has been on a long journey too, since Frome artist Barry Cooper found this 250 year old fallen oak in Stourhead, realised it could once have been part of Selwood forest, and conceived the idea of a heritage project creating art from & around the tree. This community project has involved talks, story-telling, carving, drawing, and other activities, and the outcome is currently on display at Frome Museum. I saw the first work in situ last year, then at the Community Day last November, with Helen Moore & Azeema Caffoor, Julian Hight and others. The current exhibition has even more contributions - carvings by Anthony Rogers, video from Howard Vause, and a great display of all these elements with a social history of the times by Anthony Lacny and Helen Langford.  Massive credit to everyone else involved too - there were many. "I wanted the project to have enough room for everyone to have their own personal experience" Barry told me - actually while the picture above was taken (thanks Helen Moore.)

Wednesday was a busy night, with not only the exhibition preview but the Roots Session at the Grain Bar where three-woman band Velvet & Stone - two great guitar/vocalists and an exquisite violinist - were simply superb, and also the inauguration of a new mayor: for those who follow the progress of the Peoples' Republic of Frome, this year we welcome Back Wood Redeemer Toby Eliot (guitar, mouthorgan, vocals), seen here with lovely Lady Mayoress Rosie of Nevertheless fame.

Bruton Poetry Platform, a new initiative for Bruton Festival of Arts organised by Bryony Brook, had its inaugural session on Saturday with slam queen Liv Tork as compere & performer.  I was privileged to be a judge as in the elegant setting of At the Chapel, 18 readers shared poems on the theme of 'Life'. First prize winner was Megan O'Neill, here receiving Liv's congratulations on an impressive debut performance.

Back again in Frome, rehearsals for the Nevertheless Fringe Theatre festival production Time Slides are now firmly underway, with updated cast (Tiffany Burr now joining Gabrielle Finnegan and Matt Harrison) and integrated live music designed by Patrick Dunn.
And finally this week,  Frome Writers Collective website now includes a short video of me in conversation with Gill Harry Tdiscussing the writing scene and our town's renaissance over the last twenty years, with help from the festival and an inspirational community spirit. Literally scores of people are named and acclaimed throughout the story: it was fun to pull out all the old flyers and amazing to recall how we did so much on a shoestring, and somehow made a truth of the myth that  Frome boasts more creative artists than any other small town in the country...

Urban myths and rural idylls: Bedminster Bigfoot & Last Tree Dreaming

After the legendary Bedminster crocodile, another urban myth arises from Bristol’s river and woodland: a wild and powerful goddess to give the city’s dispossessed what their human leaders deny them – humanity, and care.  Mark Breckon’s new play The Bedminster Bigfoot is a magical fantasy told with fast-paced humour and reality-based anger, a Charlie-Brooker-sharp political parody and an absolute must-see show. The twilight world of the countless ‘have-nots' in peril of hunger and homelessness (‘life’s natural victims, weaker stock who deserve oppression’ to the ‘haves’ in control) – is vividly evoked with verbatim quotes, media clips, & politician face-masks, but there’s never a drab moment in this kaleidoscope of dramatic cameos moving swiftly between savagely funny satire and powerfully moving drama. 

Director Marc Geoffrey has a terrific team – set, lighting, and sound brilliantly enhance the show – and all four actors are superb: Paul Currier as the callous Job Centre manager  ('It’s about reaching targets and the target that matters now is sanctions'),  Joanna Smith as the tenant penalised by her kindness, Ben Crispin fantastic as the ex-soldier at war with the entire system ('No decent country runs a forced labour scheme!') and Adam Lloyd-James as the boy who sets off on this very modern hero’s journey.  It’s on at the Alma Tavern until the end of the month – go if you can, tell your friends to go if you can’t. 

Mythical creatures with magical powers must be the zeitgeist this autumn: Kingdom of the Icebear, from the Theatre West season of plays by local writers, was on at  Bath's nice little Rondo theatre. Adam Cridland plays the boy who longs for this beast and there are evocative poetic monologue moments in this saga of a Somerset family failing to put aside their differences on Carnival night. Moving to the Hen & Chicken in Bristol after the weekend till the end of the month.

Now back to Frome for a quintessentially Fromie celebration as two new benches arrived in Rodden Meadow last week inscribed with thoughtful adages: cider & sausage rolls for all and brief speeches from Charlie Oldham the generous bench-carver and wordsmiths John Payne & Tim O'Connor.  Epigrams on benches, as Tim reminded us, are often about loss so it's nice to have one encouraging a look around at what's happening now.

On then to Vallis Vale woods for the Last Tree Dreaming Community Day, an idyllic event with  Helen Moore of Shared Earth Learning introducing us to a range of forestry activities from spoon carving to storytelling & poetry, with soup on the campfire and marshmallows for the children to toast.  Julian Hight was there to show his fabulous new book World Tree Story with amazing tales from 39  countries - Julian rates himself as a cottage industry now as publication was entirely crowd-funded through the Heritage Lottery.  His official Frome launch will be 11.30 next Independent Market Sunday, at Hunting Raven Books.

Musical finale this week comes from The Griffin, where Blue Midnight shared their 'space-folk-dub-brass-fiesta' sound, showing why they regard themselves as a"musical Monty Python" ~ a fabulous set from a band we should hear more often: buy their album White Moon to see why.