The week when freedom arrived and nobody noticed

Starting, unusually, with a weather report: over 30°C all week until the dramatic storm in the early hours of Saturday morning. As I was born in a German air-raid over London, this seemed a very appropriate start for my birthday, although sadly other celebrations were either rained-off or plagued-off.  But the long hot days were perfect for walking along the river path, and the glorious evenings lovely for a sunset trip to Marston Park.

Friday's trip was a jaunt to Hauser & Wirth, where Green councillor and environmental activist Theo Simon was giving a short talk in the cloisters to chime with the impressive exhibition of works by Spanish pacifist & artist Eduardo Chillida. Theo's personal eco-activism started in '92, inspired by Swampy and the Twyford Down M3 protest: his tales of past action were entertaining but he reminded us that the situation now requires urgent mass direct action.  Theo's also the  songwriter/singer leader of Seize the Day and brought his djembe so his talk was top n tailed with a song. And then to the galleries and the magnificent garden! 

Returning again to the topic of my birthday, celebrations while small were perfectly spaced:  a trip to the cocktail bar with Eleanor Talbot, whose weekly online programme Variations on a Theme is always smorgasbord of tasty talk & tracks, and a garden get-together with two close friends. Sadly my family's visit had to be cancelled - a scenario that many in similar situations will recognise. 

An upbeat note to end this week: Frome's popular new Mayor Andy Wrintmore, featured weekly in the Frome Times, was interviewed by Kerrang under the banner “They kicked party politics out of town”: Spending the day with the punk rock mayor of Frome.

It's a good read, and a particular pleasure for Andy who for years avidly followed Kerrang - "The world's greatest metal / punk / hardcore / rock music publication." Andy's Giant Pod has a new edition too, and his latest Mayoral column in Frome Times (p.25) reflects powerfully on the serious loss to the town centre of the Co-op - and of course Andy is interviewed as a musician in Frome Unzipped - from Prehistory to Post-Punk (pages 186-188) which has it's own page here, with regular updates.

Midwinter high spirits in times of sleet and glitter

A Christmas Carol at Bristol Old Vic was never going to end with Tiny Tim saying God Bless Us Every One - like L.P. Hartley's past, they do things differently there. Yet despite burlesque overtones and operatic narration, this irresistibly engaging production stays close to the spirit of the storyline, though with the occasional intrusion of foodbanks and shopping trolleys, and even closer to the spirit of Dickens.  All the principle characters of the story are here: embittered Scrooge, his patient nephew, his loyal clerk with a small sick son, the warning ghosts and phantom-memories of loves and losses... but they're all a little bit unexpected. Bob Cratchit is a chubby deaf mute - so, uncoincidentally, is Mrs Fezziwig (Stephen Collins delightful in both roles) - and Tiny Tim and Ebenezer when very young are played by two children extracted for this purpose from the audience. This is particularly entertaining when Scrooge, observing ethnic diversity between himself and the shiny-eyed happy child he used to be, comments 'It's me! I remember the flat-top.' Our anti-hero's flair for impro is especially useful in the final scene, when he begs the audience to tell him how to make amends: on the night I was there, suggestions were focussed around drinks for all at the bar, until 'Come on you lot, this is the immersive bit!' was rewarded with the suggestion of a turkey, and the drama could move to its happy conclusion.
John Hopkins is tremendous in this central role, terrifyingly nasty until the ghosts take him in hand and the poignancy of his memories evokes a moving grief. Tom Morris's adaptation skilfully enhances the parallels with Dicken's own experiences, subtly emphasising how treatment of the poor and weak in Victorian days is emulated in our own society: it's significant that Ebenezer learnt his contempt for 'lower orders' and his desire to amass wealth when he was sent away to school, as so many of our current political leaders have been.
Historical and social relevance is fascinating but this is above all a strong story retold in a fantastically entertaining style, with great musicality, weird effects and scary puppets, funky costumes, lashings of humour and some weepy moments - everything you want from your favourite morality tale in fact. Massive credit to director Lee Lyford, designer Tom Rogers, musical director/composer/lyricist Gwyneth Herbert, and the ten superb actors - enthusiastically recommended for all ages, on till January 12th. (Images Geraint Lewis)
And another 'winter special' opened this week: Cinderella at the Merlin Theatre in Frome, also impressively re-envisaged, and also presented with masses of music and spectacular effects. Claudia Pepler, who writes and directs these shows, goes back to Grimm's tales - and indeed these original authors control the plot in their manifestation as pigeons, thanks to superb balletic comedy duo Dillon Berry and Pete White, who tell us 'We are the brothers, the brothers Grimm, we're story tellers, or disrupters, if you will - we fly from tale to tale...'
Here's the charming prince (Ben Jenkins) and his adorable Ella (Amy Maughan) watched by her wonderfully dreadful sisters (Tabitha Cox and Abi Holmes), with Victoria May as the stepmother tricked by land-grabbing Dave Merritt. This kind of plot embellishment, as well as Ella's environmental passion, brings the classic tale cleverly up-to-date while losing none of the fairytale quality - in fact Howard Vause's pumpkin-to-coach animation sequence is one of the highlights of a glittering show. This production is up for the Somerset Fellowship of Drama Cinderella Trophy, and so it should be!
(Images: Dave Merritt)
And now for something rather less visual: Writers on Radio, presented by Frome Writers' Collective, is broadcast monthly on Frome FM.  Each programme is a miscellany of information and entertainment on writerly topics, with a dash of music. The upcoming show also includes my short personal tribute to Jill Miller.  Jill will always be remembered for the cancer charity she founded but she was a writer too, and I was invited to share this aspect of her life. Here's the team at the end of the recording: Suzy Howlett, Jules Garvey-Welch, Sian Williams and Lisa Kenwright, with techie PJ - the show goes out Friday Dec 13 and is online here.

Next day saw me back at the studio for the On Air Book Group, broadcast live and online soon, a convivial session with Sheila Hedges at the helm: Books-as-gifts was our seasonal theme, with an overview from Tina Gaisford-Waller, queen of Hunting Raven Books, and a range of ideas from charity shop browsing to splendid editions, like Britain's Forest Story by Frome's Julian Hight. My other recommendations included the marvellous Etymologicon by Mark Forsyth - rapid-fire witty word-loops connecting origins with torrents of historical anecdote - Frome's bookshop will order you a copy for the logophile in your life!  Here's me with Tina and Pat Taylor talking to hosts Karen Stewart and James Ellis with Sheila Hedges - thanks Terry Stewart for the picture of us all. Our chat is online now here - number 37 (06/12/19)


Music report this week is thinner than usual, due to so much else going on: The Back Wood Redeemers at theCornerhouse on Saturday gave their usual stonking selection of dark specialities like Give Them A Good Death in a performance even darker than usual as the light bulb had been removed. So here's a snatched shot of fantastic Eddie Young abandoning his double bass and invading the dance floor - I forget what he was singing but it was awesome...

And a look back now at two ongoing projects in Frome both celebrating successful conclusion: Black Swan's boundary-breaking Listen - a Summer of Sound Art successfully signed off its final programme in a wide-ranging list of events and although contact with the town council and Frome FM to maintain new initiatives will continue, a wrap party seemed appropriate. So Sunday afternoon saw a very pleasant cava and cake party at Black Swan cafe, with a final word from organisers Mel Day and Helen Ottaway, pictured here with sound-wizard Michael Ormiston.

Finally for this week: way back in summer sunshine, a group of Vicki Burke's Fromie friends assembled with her in Rodden Meadow to dance around the big oak as part of Vicki Burke's Magic Money Tree - a campaign video for the project PIPPA (People in Positive Politics Association) filmed by Howard Vause. The preview was on Sunday at Frome's Granary, and as multi-talented Vicki is also a band member in Seize the Day, we had a rebel-rousing introduction to the showing too.
I'll leave you now to the contemplation of your hopes and trepidations for the week ahead...

Sounds, words, art - all you need to start the month.

Listen - A summer of sound is the concept of composer Helen Ottaway, fusing sensual appreciation to include not only music but sounds found in nature, in speech, and in our lives generally - the 'strange and lovely' sounds of the world around us. Black Swan Arts has embraced the idea and from July 20th till 1st September there will be a range of sound-related events to experience. Last Thursday was the launch of a crowdfunder to raise funds to commission more aural events to 'feed the voracious appetite of Frome's creative community', with Helen's sample soundtrack, taken from the streets of Sri Lanka, installed in the corridor. Here's Mel Day from the programming committee with Helen.
This initiative also includes Poetry in Motion - local walks with readings of poems related to the terrain, organised by John Payne and Martin Bax - and thus ties in nicely with the Frome Writers Collective current focus on poetry. The FWC regular programme on Frome FM Writers on Radio (broadcast May 3rd, online link here) featured interviews with three local writers with an interest in writing poetry: I was one, along with Robert Hull and Rosie Jackson, whose collaborative collection with Graham Burchell on the art of Stanley Spencer and his wife Hilda, Two Girls and a Beehive, will be published next April by Two Rivers Press. Suzy Howlett, here with co-presenter Lisa Kenright, spoke of the benefits of learning poems by heart in childhood which triggered all our favourites: personally I can't walk over any bridge in London without declaiming Wordsworth, and will chunter chunks of Keats, Coleridge and Wilfred Owen mercilessly at the least provocation. The programme was immaculately hosted by Sara Scholefield.

From poetry to prose: really great to have my tale of Mrs Rosoman's Dilemma picked for  Story Friday, Clare Reddaway's popular short-prose reading event in Bath's delightful performance venue Burdalls Yard, an invitingly cavernous venue on this occasion authentically decked for the current theme of 'The Garden'- and with real cucumber sandwiches. Six of our submissions were lucky enough to join Clare in reading, and our horticultural imaginations varied from animals' nocturnal exploits to jam mining and Eve's take on what Eden was really like, with some thought-provoking as well as entertaining tales. There's a link here so you can listen to all or any of our tales!

And still with the words, Nevertheless Pub Theatre's festival production, Where the Fault Lies, is being steadily buffed up by our four dedicated actors. I dropped in on the rehearsal for Under the Duvet - a bit of a twisty mystery with a sinister streak - and found them suitably moody... If you're in the Frome area during festival week, do get a ticket & come along to The Cornerhouse on 10th July- with four talented and energetic actors, we're confident this will be a great show. There's a link here, so you can listen to any or all of the stories.

Time for music, and masses of it, to take all our minds off the fudges and follies that climaxed on May 2nd, though they weren't far from our minds when Seize the Day featured at a TUC organised event in Bath last Saturday. Theo Simon and Shannon Smy lead this inspirational protest band which has a big following for its rousing performances as well as political commitment.  The Bell Inn garden's 'back bar' provided a perfect venue for a great afternoon. Here's a quite old version of one of their anthems No-one's Slave and No-one's Master - it sounds as good, and as relevant, today.
Back in Frome, the May weekend had an even-more-fantastic-than-usual range (do I say this every week? It sometimes seems that way.., ) of brilliant bands: The Peaky Blinders Family Friendly Music Event at 23 Bath Street gave us a long afternoon of superb performers: Rodney Branigan set the bar high with Radiohead's Creep played on two guitars simultaneously, followed by the Screaming Harlots, then Frome's new hottest band the HooDoos - they give St James Infirmary Blues the resurrection treatment - and sultry Bonne Nouvelle - then another talented composite group, JAMD.

Here's the Hoodoos (with apologies to two more talented members missing from the shot), lovely Coralie from Bonne Nouvelle, and the party atmosphere that greeted JAMD.

Then a dance night at The Cornerhouse with high-energy ska/punk band the wonderful One Tones to end the day, so what more could anyone want from a bank holiday Saturday? 

There's Sunday too, of course, and as it's the first of the month the Frome Independent market took over the town with stalls and its usual Mayday theme of fresh floral headbands. I was outside Hunting Raven Books for most of this time, promoting Frome Unzipped, (thanks Tom for the snap)
but I did catch the HooDoos' excellent set on the busking stage - though sadly missing Straight Fits, an up-and-coming young band of whom you will hear more.

Impossible to leave May bank holiday weekend without referencing the art, which burst around the town like the wild garlic and cow-parsley that have been grabbing every pathside space:

 The Round Tower is hosting Black Swan Guild's stunning exhibition of paintings, pottery,  jewellery and other craft: I was particularly impressed with Dan Morley's delicate, exact, paintings in the series of ephemeral fragments in the Sonnets series, but there's much to admire - it's on till 25 May.

And for two days only, May 4&5, Frome Art Fair took over the Long Gallery, the Silk Mill, and Rook Lane too with an extraordinarily high standard display of work by the artists and craftsfolk of Frome. Here's just one of the many striking pieces of work in each venue, by from Melanie Deegan, at Rook Lane. 

Attentive readers may note a bit of a blip time-wise in the middle of this bulletin: this is because your usually-dedicated chronicler grabbed a four-day sabbatical and celebrated Beltane in Dublin - in Howth, to be precise, a peninsular at the north end of the city entirely surrounded by seagulls.
Here I was hosted by my university-days-flatmate Jenny Sweeney (author of Encounter Ireland) so we talked of Irish poets and legends and walked the promenade, beach, cliff-tops and in the old Deer Park where Gráinne Mhaol the Pirate Queen put the garlic curse on the inhospitable St Lawrence family for closing the gates against her so even now their land is thick as snow with garlic flowers, and the Earl now always has a place laid ready in case she calls again...
and if you're ever in Howth and feeling peckish, do drop into The Bloody Stream, a fabulous fish restaurant named after the environmental consequence of a 12th century battle below its walls. It's underneath the railway station: five-star food and a centre for Irish music too. So this multi-coloured bulletin concludes here with the green headlands thick-rimmed with the molten gold of the gorse all around the bay.

Much Ado, Ukulele frenzy, and more...

Setting Much Ado About Nothing in the aftermath of WW2, when victors returned to celebrate and claim their women, has been done before - (viz. an excellent community production at Bath's Rondo in 2017) and Northern Broadsides + New Vic make good use of the volatile emotions of that era in their production at Salisbury Playhouse till March 23. There's a nod to Dads Army in the comedy as land girls cavort around, and hints of comic capers early-movie style, but the brutality of the bard's plot is not sugar-coated.  Claudio's sadism is always difficult to reconcile with comedy, but casting him as younger than his pals, and less self-assured, did help with this, and it worked too that Benedict and Beatrice are middle-aged and hence defensive about their single status. Robin Simpson and Isobel Middleton in these roles bring robust snottiness to their banter rather than the ironic elegance of a Darcy and Lizzie, but that makes the terrible command to 'Kill Claudio!' even more impressive. This show has been touring for a couple of months and, while never flagging, doesn't seem in its first bloom of exuberance, but with a strong cast plus on-stage music there's much to enjoy. Images: Nobby Clark

Hat Tricks, occasional variety night hosted by Jane Flood and David Tanner at The Three Swans was back on Thursday with a range of short spoken word and musical acts, some thoughtful and many extremely entertaining. Here's Jane in her role as story-teller, and Jud Relf as charming songstress Charlene.

Moving now to live music, always popular in Frome venues, and last week proliferating even more than usual. On Friday the marvellous Pete Gage blues band filled the Cornerhouse with dancers, while next night Seize the Day came to the Big Green Gig at 23 Bath Street with their powerful protest songs. If you thought environmental folk songs tend to be worthy but weedy, you really should hear their drum-fuelled anthemic Child of the Universe - I can call this 'sacred song' written by band leader Theo Simon "unforgettable" with confidence, because I still remember it from first hearing in 1987, when I first came to Somerset. Theo is now the Green Party candidate in Somerton and Frome, but the band is still radical & thrilling .

Frome town is ukulele-friendly in the way some pubs are dog-friendly, a devotion that found energetic expression in the first Frome Ukulele Festival  also on Saturday, which took place in six different venues throughout the day & evening. Rook Lane Chapel was the hub, with open-mic sessions, jams, and other events all day, and four pubs hosted other events: viz the workshops & band heats for the epic 'Battle of the Bands' in Cheese & Grain hall in the evening. The festival attracted hundreds and was impressively well organised by Malcolm Lloyd and the Mighty Frukes, with tireless tuition to enthusiasts of all ages from Sam Widdows & Roger Southard among others. Participants arriving throughout the morning were greeting with tea & cakes, a range of stalls with uke-related merchandise - including of course actual ukuleles - and the impressive timetable in a welcoming programme with a customised illustrated town map. Profits go to Fair Frome and Frome's Missing Links. And the trophy winners were... The Motherpluckers, a lively sextet of young mums who delighted everyone, though I have to say I also loved the Ukerjaks, for their theatrical repertoire & great teeshirts.

And to end the week: jazz at the Cornerhouse, this time an internationally-acclaimed duo dropping by on tour: Pete Oxley and Nicholas Meier, who with a mere ten guitars between them offer an impressive programme - here's the 7-string and 11-string guitars doing a bit of dualling in one of their lively instrumentals.

Final footnote this week goes back to the world of theatre, or more precisely to Theatre World, a long-running, now defunct, reviewing magazine. Plays International, for whom I have the privilege of reviewing productions in Southwest England, has in their new edition published an article I was commissioned to write about my father, theatre critic Harold Matthews, who contributed reviews of London shows to that monthly periodical from the end of the war to the late 1960s, during the Angry Young Men era and the impact of Brecht, sharing with me as an impressionable teenager the excitement of Old Vic productions featuring legends of the future like Judy Dench and Franco Zeffirelli... The piece is one of their features: he would have liked that.  

in which I manage not to mention the election

Not so much an embarrassment of riches as a frustration of lures this bank holiday weekend, with SAFE at the Merlin, an amazing dance performance based on the 1930 construction of the Empire State Building & sadly the final date in their acclaimed tour, Blah's Big Weekend in Bristol, and the Larkhall festival in Bath. Speakeasy for Lyricism in Larkhall won, as Rosie was a challenger for the home team: here she is causing mayhem and hysteria in the Rose & Crown back-room with Domestic Goddess, to quote the opposition team leader "a 6-word blow-out that will go down in history."

 Still with a spotlight still on poets, the Frome Writers Collective presented another eccentric chain to our regalia-collecting Mayor Peter, this one composed of verses, at an informal celebration at the Three Swans.

An unusual mayor once thought 

Formal chains could be fun, and he sought 

Various versions 

 To suit his excursions 

Could haiku work too? so we thought...

At a more serious event in Bath, Claire Crowther launched her intriguing new anthology On Narrowness, sharing the stage with Carrie Etter who read from her Ted-Hughes-shortlisted collection Imagined Sons. Great to be there with the Frome poetry posse and new friends too.

A new month, another Independent Market Sunday, with a poetry workshop for Words at the Black Swan led by Rosie Jackson. And street-stall strollers may have been surprised to find popular band Seize the Day on the buskers' stage. Theo Simon, songwriter & lead singer, is a candidate for Somerton and Frome: I won't name the party as all reference to the election was prohibited. Including opinions & issues. As Theo says, this is difficult as their songs are all political. He did try, with as much success as Basil Faulty not mentioning the war. But their set drew a massive crowd all either cheering or dancing or both by the end of their final number No Man's Slave.
Plenty more music & street entertainment and all the usual quirky paraphernalia & food sampling. Here's funky Honk Monster, and marvellous Simon's Jazz at the Cornerhouse to end the day.

Ending with a look ahead at pub drama, as Muffin Man returns to the Cornerhouse next month. The talented duo who took on the roles in my short play about a random meeting leading to unlikely liaison (which won me the glorious title Bard of Frome) were keen to bring a sequel to the world. Muffin Man 2, the Morning After is a similar bitter-sweet comedy, this time written collaboratively as a devised drama together with the actors, Fleur Hanby-Holmes and Ross Scott. It's hilarious. Expect dates very soon! Meanwhile, filming of Muffin Man (1) is going ahead in Bristol, here's a still from work in progress.