Some of the bright bits, as January shuffles out...

There seems no limit to the ingenuity of creatives and communicators when finding ways to wriggle under the wire of isolation. Terminus, created by Frome Drama Club, is a brilliant example: a drama auditioned, cast, & rehearsed on zoom, then recorded on zoom in the actors' own homes against a virtual background. The entire project from concept to realisation is superb: acting, production, every aspect of design, and the complex interwoven script co-written by director John Palmer. The setting is a fast train to Norwich. 

On board are seven of the cast - including the driver - with one waiting for the stop at Diss, one at the the end of the line, and another slowly reading the letter that will explains all.  It's clear from early on that these peoples' lives will all be revealed as intertwined by the time the journey terminates - and it becomes increasingly clear that this will not be Love-Actually style.  To keep the unravelling saga fast-moving, many of the screens show multiple images of the travellers, each immersed in their own dialogues. All the cast were convincing in their roles but one whose performance was particularly memorable is Tabitha Lamb as the little girl travelling in the cab to join her mother.

Poetry now, in another Zoomed 'Speakeasy' night, this time promoted by Theatre Orchard in Weston-super-Mare and hosted by Bob Walton, with an open mic session and Rebecca Tantony as guest. 

Bob was a popular visitor to Frome Poetry Cafe shortly after the publication of his first collection, Sax Burglar Blues, and he opened this Speakeasy with a powerful poem in response to a retaliation attack after the toppling of Colston's statue in Bristol. The gravestone of Scipio Africanus, a slave who died aged 18 in 1720, had become a Grade II listed monument: it was discovered hammered apart with a scrawled warning 'NOW LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO - PUT COLSTON'S STATUE  BACK' beside it. Bob didn't show this shocking image but he evoked it so strongly it seems relevant to share here.

The 15 open-mic poets also offered plenty to contemplate, plus a good splash of humour and, thanks to the internationality of zoom, transatlantic contributions too: Sunshine Lombre, calling in from 2pm Chicago, was simply fabulous.   And referencing American performers leads neatly to The Bijou Theatre in Tennessee which has a fascinating history dating from 1801 including vaudeville & cinema, and was narrowly saved for posterity as a theatre in 2005, so I was keen to see The Enid performed there on Saturday night. This was streamed on Youtube and actually turned out to be not a show but a British prog-rock band - a good one, though, with an enthusiastic international audience and exciting lighting effects. 

The Poetry Place is a monthly Sunday afternoon show on West Wilts Radio which is introduced and co-ordinated by Dawn Gorman who, when life allowed, ran the excellent 'Words & Ears' regular sessions in Bradford on Avon. This month's radio show features Dawn & Rosie Jackson discussing their new pamphlet, a strong open mic - including Frome's Moira Andrew on losing her sight (rather more good-humouredly than Milton) - and a splendid set from Martin Malone who lives in NE Scotland but is trapped in Hartlepool by current regulations. The programme will remain available, apparently forever, on the station's Play-Again page. 

And another in my 'occasional' series of random FB music recommendations: Postmodern Jukebox offers 'a vintage filter on today's hits' as performed with 'the style and craftsmanship of another era.' They promise a new video every Friday - try this one: Don't stop believing - a mini-movie with a glamorous old-movie feel.

 

As this week ushers out a long January with a flurry of snow,  flooded river banks and paths, and unsympathetic developments inching closer to the fringes and the heart of our town despite the best efforts of our hard-working representatives, Frome enjoyed a visitation of smiling snowmen, all 2 metres apart.  

Finally, a catching-on initiative created by Rare Species Theatre Company - Dress Up Fridays. Strut your stuff & post a pic on the facebook page, free fun for all.  Anything quirky to lift our lock-down spirits has to be worth a try!

Dreaming of midsummer and after...

And now, for anyone missing the Midsummer Night's Dream theme thriving in early June, there's another version of the streamed-theatre's favourite play: this one from National Theatre at The Bridge, and the most exciting, innovative, and enjoyable of the three. Much of the delight in this interpretation came from the unusual way the two sets of rulers, mortal and fairy, are merged: this is the usual policy in casting, for dramatic reasons as well as convenience, since the conflicts of both royal couples echo each other, but the master-stroke in this production is the reversal of the storylines for Titania and Oberon: not only is it irresistibly funny to see the besotted fairy king sharing a bubblebath with Bottom the ass, but this 'taming' of a domineering lord by his angry lady also works better for relationship between Theseus and Hippolyta. There's witty, but not over-milked, impro among the 'mechanicals', there's trapeze swinging for the fairies, audience involvement, and the soundtrack - from Beyonce, Florence & the Machine and Dizzee Rascal to the London Symphony Orchestra - is great. Nick Hytner directing this 2019 production emphasises the 'dream' aspect of the story and makes sense of the extremes of emotion in the forest by a set with floating beds as the four lovers imagine their own passions becoming confused - it's odd, but it works.

When Luke Wright's solo poetry-play What I learned from Johnny Bevan was staged in 2016 it won awards for both writing and performance and was hailed by critics as a 'blistering story of our times.' Back then, Rosie Finnegan - the inspiration behind our co-directed pub theatre production company Nevertheless - joined me in  Soho Theatre to see this powerful personal parable of hope and political disillusion and we were both overawed by the combination of drama, poetry, and polemic. Applauded at the time for its questioning of the developing values of both the main UK parties, four years on Luke's online revival is even more pertinent, and his intimate, informal, performance on Wednesday lost none of the impact.  (And Luke still looks like he'd get questioned trying to buy alcohol... an enviable problem. )

Liv Tork's inspirational weekly posting of haiflu - haiku sent to her from round the country and beyond, to chronicle lockdown - is now compiled into a 40 minute film of still shots - all poignant, not all sombre, some breathtakingly moving. The photographs paired with them are superb and stunningly well chosen - this really is an amazing pulse-beat record of this summer.

And in other word-related news: The enterprising team at Frome Writers Collective have managed to fulfil one popular Frome Festival feature despite lockdown, by organising their annual Writers in Residence contest as an 'At Home Challenge', within the usual time constraint between receiving the title and handing in the finished piece. Prizes and zoom presentation will be on July 11th. And for those missing live readings: The Poetry Place on West Wilts Radio, hosted by Dawn Gorman with Peter O'Grady, offers recorded shows featuring guest poets - Frome's Claire Crowther is one - available on 'Play Again' here. This month's show on Sunday had an excellent quartet of guests including eco-poet Helen Moore.  If you have poems of your own you'd like to share and are mourning the cancellation of the July Poetry Cafe (postponed, like the rest of the Frome Festival programme in entirety, until 2021) then do consider posting your piece on the Frome Poetry Cafe page - not as much fun as seeing the audience's faces, but you can add an image and your words will be preserved! (but don't do this if you plan to submit for publication,obvs.)   Prose workshops from Story Friday organiser and skilled practitioner Clare Reddaway are running online throughout July - contact her for dates - and, still loosely on a theme of story-telling, if you missed the social history show Three Acres and a Cow (as sadly I did, though I have seen this excellent show live) then do dip into their resources - a salutary story still hugely relevant today.

Little to say about music... you've probably all got your favourite sites and connections, and if not just put on the tele for Glastonbury (very tactful of the weather to provide rain this weekend to console us to this loss) where, from a 2017 set by Frome's most famous fans the Foo Fighters to a documentary  on the history of the John Peel stage, you can enjoy the whole experience barring the aromas and the merch. Enjoy the slowly ebbing summer, everyone!