Wednesday 28th February – Sunday 4th March 2018

Crossing between illusion and theatre, Philipp Oberlohr’s thrilling new production Das Fest is the surreal sequel to his interactive Das Spiel, which premiered at Ovalhouse and sold out at VAULT Festival in 2016 winning the People’s Choice Award.

Das Fest meaningfully engages audiences, delving into their beliefs, memories and realities.

So, how does this work?

Das Fest is a mindreading experience, celebrating the past and the future of the attendees. Oberlohr could select anyone from the audience – he doesn’t know who will be chosen or what memories they will bring.  It could be anybody.  This mind-blowing production combines new methods of storytelling, live art, clowning, physical theatre and illusions in a way that will knock you off your feet.

Described as Austria’s Derren Brown (The Independent) and Vienna’s Master Illusionist (Metro), illusionist and performer Philipp Oberlohr creates experiences that border between theatre and performance art.

Oberlohr comments, In Das Fest, I want to create a visual prediction, creating images that describe memories of the audience, before they even decide on one.  The audience gets this experience of being seen.  It is quite something to have somebody take a look at you and describe one of your childhood memories; this is something that I consider a human need, the need to be seen by others. I’m working on Das Fest in the best environment possible: VAULT Festival. They don’t allow me to be conservative. Only conservative of the good things.

Das Fest has been made possible with support from The Austrian Cultural Forum London.

Performance Dates  Wednesday 28th February – Sunday 4th March 2018     Wednesday – Sunday, 7.45pm     Saturday matinee, 3.15pm

Running Time   60 minutes

Location   VAULT Festival, The Vaults, Leake Street, London SE1 7NN   How to get there The Vaults are located underneath Waterloo station (on the Northern, Bakerloo and Jubilee lines).  Leave Waterloo Station via Exit 1.  Turn right onto Station Road Approach and keep on the right hand side of the road.  Walk all the way to the bottom of the road and go down the first set of stairs you come to and turn right at the bottom of the stairs.  The entrance to the VAULT Festival is 10 meters down the graffiti tunnel on the right hand side.

Box Office  Tickets are available priced £13 from www.vaultfestival.com

Twitter    @PhilippOberlohr, #DasFestShow

Really, it is apparently so.

A University study proves dating increases heart rate to the same level as skydiving.

Well, if we grannies who run our charity: Words for the Wounded had known that, we’d have tried the date, rather than leap out of a plane to raise funds for our veterans…

So, what’s this all about – on Valentine’s Day?

Apparently Lovelorn Brits find the thrill of a first date as adrenaline inducing as jumping out of a plane, according to scientific research.

The Bear Grylls Adventure in partnership with the University of Wolverhampton found that the average heart rate while indoor skydiving was 111 BPM, almost identical to that of a blind date experience, 106 BPM – proving that the excitement of a romantic encounter is the same as freefalling.

The research by the university cardiology department put participants through a number of experiences including indoor skydiving, a zip wire course, and a first date while wearing heart rate monitors to measure pulse fluctuations.

In support, a survey of 2,000 UK adults found more than half (54%) of Brits consider going on a first date a thrilling experience, and 1 in 6 confessed to enjoying the rush of the initial encounter.

The survey of the nation’s daters also found a third of Brits had considered leaving or not turning up to a date due to nerves, and 45% have stuttered and lost their trail of thought. Ooops.

General Manager, James Thomas said: “First dates sure are a thrilling experience, the fear of the unknown in any circumstance gets the heart racing, and the heart rate research we’ve undertaken backs this up. The results of our research proved that the UK is a nation of thrill seekers who want to be pushed to the limit and the attraction is set to test just that.

“The Bear Grylls Adventure has been designed to encourage people to test their boundaries, overcome their fears and experience some of the world’s most thrilling experiences all in one place.”

Bear Grylls said: “Facing our fears is the only way to truly conquer them. Our heart rates fall the more we undertake different challenges, as we know what to expect and we have overcome the initial leap. Avoiding fears only makes them bigger and causes them to root themselves even deeper.’

One of our Words for the Wounded grannies had a total fear of heights, and it changed her to have to actually a) go up in a tiny plane, and b) jump from it. Arghhhh. However, she strode away, looking very much as though she could kick ass, if a future situation ever warranted it.

Dr Martin Khechera, Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Science at the University of Wolverhampton, said: “…When approaching a nerve-racking experience, our bodies usually experience a ‘fight or flight’ response, whereby we notice a rapid increase in heart rate due to an adrenaline rush. Once the initial thrill has taken place, heart rates start to steady, and this is when we get a chance to enjoy and improve our skydiving and even dating skills. The more we get used to pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone the better we get in handling stressful situations. It’s valid to conclude that the more we push ourselves out of our comfort zone by skydiving or taking on heights or even the exhilarating rush of a zip line the better we get in dating.

The adventure park which opens in Birmingham in 2018 will replicate some of Bear Gryll’s most incredible adventures, including skydiving, rock climbing, military ropes course and diving.

I’m beginning to wonder if the grannies should be launching themselves along a zip wire in the autumn, instead of walking Hadrian’s Wall. Much quicker and if it equals the excitement of a first date, bring it on.

For more information please visit www.beargryllsadventure.com

www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk for details of our writing award, LitFest, and in due course, Hadrian’s Wall, or will it be something else… We’ve done a military assault course, sky diving… zip zip perhaps.

I can’t wait any longer to give you the answer – it’s the fabulous Anton Du Beke.

Isn’t Strictly Come Dancing marvellous? We gawp as some celebrities morph into graceful swans, whilst others splash and sink into the mire of Craig’s scorn.

Ballroom and latin dancing is beautiful to watch –exquisite dresses, sparkling Swarovski crystals, glamorous make-up, stunning hair-styles, all showcasing the graceful fusion of two people gliding across the dance floor as one.

But it is an illusion, which melts like the stage makeup when cold cream is applied (now I am showing my age), once the performance is over.

As an amateur dancer  myself I can assure you that there is a very different world behind the glamour – a world of alliances, politics and sometimes, foul play.  I know of a world champion who regularly had her bra stolen from the changing room whilst she was competing –and that was in the days when au natural was definitely not fashionable.

So I for one am waiting with unashamed excitement for the debut novel of the fabulous Anton Du Beke, who has hung up his Werner Kerns at least long enough to pour his creativity onto pages instead of the dance floor.

His novel, entitled One Enchanted Evening, will be set around a London hotel ballroom in the lead up to World War II and is set to publish in Autumn 2018 by Bonnier Zaffre. Will he let us into some secrets of the real ballroom world? Oh, I think so …

One Enchanted Evening: pub Bonnier Zaffre. Autumn 2018.

From Both Ends of the Stethoscope by award winning author, Dr Kathleen Thompson

The Story of our Lives by Helen Warner, a fabulously readable novel, was launched at the prestigious 5th View Cocktail Bar at Waterstones, Piccadilly on 8th February.

Helen Warner with The Story of Our Lives

It was indeed a star-studded evening including Judge Robert Rinder, Rachel Riley, and the stars of Loose Women. We know that Frost Magazine’s Contributing Editor Margaret Graham, is a great fan of Judge Rinder’s, having seen him at Blackpool’s Strictly Come Dancing, when he was extraordinarily concerned that all the audience should see properly; bless the man.

TV stars Eamonn Holmes and Kate Garraway were enthusiastic in their praise of Helen, both as a colleague and an author, which merely reflected the general warmth and appreciation for Helen, and her novel, that was swirling around all evening.

Loose women – Nadia Sawalha, Kaye Adams and Jane Moore, corralled for the photograph.

It was a real family affair, with Helen’s mother, siblings, husband and children buzzing with pride, plus her literary agent and representatives of her publishers, Harper Collins.

Rob Warner, Kate Garraway and Helen’s lovely mum.

As for ‘The Story of Our Lives by Helen Warner’: Frost Magazine found it just as Sharon Osborne wrote, ‘A moving and compelling journey through the highs and lows of female friendship’.  It is well structured, with characters that grip you by the throat and won’t let go. We can empathise with each and every one.  Especially the secrets, that like the black cat in  Vernon Scannell’s poem A Case of Murder, get bigger and bigger until they burst out of the metaphorical cupboard under the stairs.

But just how much damage can secrets revealed do to a group of friends? Ah, read it and see, you won’t regret a moment.

Helen Warner is  former Head of Daytime at both ITV and Channel 4 where she was responsible for a variety of TV shows including Come Dine With Me, Loose Women, Good Morning Britain and Judge Rinder.

Rachel Reilly and Kathleen Thompson

Like a few of us, Helen writes her novels where she happens to be, on a train, bus, or plane, and sometimes tra- la actually at a desk. Most of Helen’s are written on the train to work in London from her home in Essex, which she shares with her husband Rob, and two children.

Frost Magazine wishes her every success with the latest  of her novels – all of which we enjoyed enormously.

The Story of Our Lives by Helen Warner. Pub Harper Collins. hb £12.99

*Dr Kathleen Thompson: Author of the acclaimed award winning From Both Ends of the Stethoscope.

Sue Lake at one of Frost Magazine’s favourite bookshop, the award winning White Rose BookCafe, Thirsk, was thrilled when publishers, Pan Macmillan confirmed that the international bestselling author, Joanna Trollope agreed to attend this event at St Mary’s Church, Thirsk on:

 Wednesday 21 February 2018.

She said ‘We are thrilled to be hosting this event at St Mary’s Church, and so excited that those attending can purchase the new book before its official national release date.”  She continued “as well as raising funds for our beautiful church, which as well as a magnificent place of worship is also a great venue for this event”

It will be a chance for those attending to meet this acclaimed author and get a personally signed copy of her new book ‘An Unsuitable Match’.   ‘Nobody writes about family tensions better than Joanna Trollope’ Good Housekeeping.

‘An Unsuitable Match’ by number one bestselling author Joanna Trollope, is an uplifting story of love, family and second chances. Two families, one proposal, a decision that could pull them apart. The much-anticipated novel from the Number One Bestselling author of City of Friends.  Joanna Trollope will engage in light hearted chat and interesting book discussion during the evening.

Sue Lake is also pleased to be supporting the local church, by holding the event at the atmospheric Grade 1 listed, St Mary’s Church in Thirsk, which took 50 years to build and was completed in 1480, so for 538 years the church has served the needs of Thirsk and its worshipping community.   The daily running or St Mary’s is organised by a small number of regular attenders who organise the maintenance, repairs, outreach and other financial outgoings to keep the church in working order.  They have no support from outside agencies, and the costs are not met by the Church Commissioners, and it costs around £1,000 per month to run St Mary’s.  With this in mind the church committee are keen to have the wonderful building used for more public events to raise funds and awareness.

 ‘Nobody writes about family tensions better than Joanna Trollope’ Good Housekeeping

Tickets are on sale now from White Rose BookCafe, 79-81 Market Place, Thirsk, YO7 1ET tel: 01845 524353 or e-mail: sales@whiterosebooks.co.uk. The cost per ticket is £10 which will be redeemed against the cost of the new book on the night. For further information please telephone White Rose BookCafe.

My mum always said ‘a bit of what you fancy does you good.’ And I love Pinot Grigio but have not associated Romania with this wine. A bad mistake, because here at Frost Magazine we’ve been sampling again. Tough job but someone has to do it.

To mark Valentine’s Day, Cramele Recas, the booming Romanian winery, has chosen a selection of wines from its portfolio as the perfect way to celebrate. Whether to serve at that special dinner yum yum – or to give as a gift, not quite so yum yum, these wines are well worth considering.

There is an  ancient Romanian spring tradition, Martisor, where men offer the women that they love a gift to mark their respect and admiration. A custom that started 8000 years ago, the gift was often two twisted threads of wool, one colored red and one white with a trinket attached that woman wore as a bracelet, often for the whole month of March. So yes, give a bracelet but drape it over Cramele Recas’s new Pinot Grigio.

Cramele Recas’s new Pinot Grigio has a delicate salmon pink colour which hints at the flavour of fresh pear with a crisp acidity. This is an elegant  Pinot Grigio Rosé and pairs well with a romantic seafood pasta dish.

RRP £6.00

Martisor Pinto Grigio Dedicated to the romantic tradition, the Martisor Pinot Grigio is available to purchase now at Waitrose nationwide, (RRP £7.49). With a touch of light peach, the Martisor Pinot Grigio has a scent  of melons, figs and peaches.

The wine’s dry palate with gentle flavours of peach and red apple gives the wine appreciable richness and substance – but with sufficient acidity to provide vitality and freshness.

Incanta Pinot Noir has all of the classic bright fruit flavours and spicy notes that are associated with this iconic grape.  The nose has delicate aromas of cherry and raspberry and these flavours are matched on the palate with the addition of hints of flowers and sweet spice.

A smooth finish to this wine, and with a modern, floral label to highlight the wine’s qualities it makes a nice gift.

Available from Majestic Wines, (RRP £6.49), this wine is ideally paired with cured meats and cheeses.

Milly Adams is the bestselling author of The Waterway Girls. pub Arrow.

There’s a bit of Italian in all of us – don’t you think? Who of us hasn’t felt a little flutter at an Italian waiter’s wink, or, maybe an attractive Latin lady’s smile? Italy is sunshine, laughter, family values, beautiful people and the Mafia. Richard Walmsley’s series of crime/thrillers capture all of this, perhaps because he spent several years teaching English at Lecce University Southern Italy.

The  Commissario Beppe Stancato series: The Case of the Sleeping Beauty, A Close Encounter With Mushrooms and The Vanishing Physicist are set in Abbruzzo, whilst the others are set in Puglia.

The books are all written in a typical and attractive Italian style – reminiscent of Giovanni Guareschi, for those familiar with Don Camillo, and with just a touch of Montalbano. The plots are clever with surprising twists and the books are downright funny as we experience life in rural Italy. Some of the (very likeable) characters reappear in the different books – Rosaria and family in the Puglia books and Beppe and his police team in the others, however each book can be read independently.

If you feel like a really good read – give them a try. Personally Leonardo’s Trouble With Molecules is my favourite.

Others in the series:

Dancing to the Pizzica

The Demise of Judge Grassi

Leonardo’s Trouble With Molecules

Dr K Thompson, author of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope: Getting through breast cancer – by a doctor who knows

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A7DM42Q http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A7DM42Q

http://faitobooks.co,uk

I thought this Bath Gem Spa Light was fun. It is actually shaped like a gem and ‘the beloved’ floats it in the bath, but it needs  3 x 1.5v AAA batteries so make sure you buy those too. It floats on the surface and projects a light display across the bottom of the bath.

You can select various modes, from relaxing to all singing all dancing. It’s fun.

£12.00 from Hawkins Bazaar shops or www.hawkin.com

For those who’ve come a cropper, Valentine’s Day can be a gut grinding time, so be a friend, buy her/him The Ladybird Book of The Ex. Go on, raise a smile.

It’s £7.99 from Hawkin’s Bazaar shops or www.hawkin.com

A brilliant book by Rory Clements – CORPUS, could be a winner for anyone who loves Robert Harris, and who doesn’t. This is as good, of course it is, it’s Rory Clements after all, the award-winning Sunday Times bestselling author.

It’s 1936, the war has already begun and in Berlin a young Englishwoman evades the Gestapo to deliver vital papers to a Jewish scientist. She is found dead a few weeks later…

This is the first of a series: the atmospheric tension is superb, the research and imaginative range impressive. Loved it. So will ‘the beloved’ if they like this sort of book.

Corpus by Rory Clements. Hardback pub Zaffre: £12.99

The Story of our Lives by Helen Warner

I am preoccupied with friendship at the moment, after seeing someone I know being looked after by teams of her friends; meals cooked, people keeping her company to help her through the gruelling treatment. Unasked, but there for her.

Helen Warner has written a novel about the highs and lows of female friendship as she follows four inspirational women over the course of twenty years of friendship. But of course, that’s not all. There is a lie which could tear them apart – but does it? Read it and see.

Warner writes a pacey thoughtful exploration of friendship: whoever receives it will enjoy it.

The Story of our Lives by Helen Warner. Pub HQ on 8^th February. Hardback/ebook/audio