Last year I reviewed the first two books in The Dartmoor Chronicles trilogy and finished up by saying I was looking forward to reading the third book in the series. So I’m happy to see that Evie’s Victory by Kitty Danton (published by Orion) will now be available in hardback priced at £19.99 from 6 April 2017.

As I said before if you like the idea of reading about everyday life in a small Devon village during the second world war, then you need look no further than this trilogy. Kitty Danton was born and grew up in Devon, knows the location well and captures the atmosphere of village life brilliantly. Her portrayal of life on the home front with its deprivations, its highs and lows, and its small victories is also well done.

Again as I said before, I’m less convinced by the author’s need to detail every last thought process, decision and action of the main character Evie. Less would definitely be more in this book, as in the previous two. And yet, it is so easy to identify with Evie, to wish her well and to want to read to the end to see whether everything works out or not.

Evie’s Victory, like its predecessors Evie’s War and Evie’s Allies is a heartwarming read and full of nostalgia for a period which is not far short of 80 years ago.

Evie’s Victory by Kitty Danton (published by Orion) £19.99.

And not just food! Plays and poetry, in playwright David Edgar’s opinion, are natural bedfellows and I would agree, as for this article I’m deserting my preferred area of poetry for plays, in particular the community play. And where I live we are not short of excellent examples.

Having just been at a NODA awards dinner, where the Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis, won a regional award for its 2016 community production of The Tempest of Lyme, I’d say the amdram world is very much alive and high kicking.

The community play owes a debt to Ann Jellicoe, actor, writer and director, who inspired the community play concept in London before moving to Lyme Regis with her artist husband Roger Mayne. For Jellicoe, the community play had to be the result of a long period of research with the chosen community in order to artistically embed the subject matter of the play, with the people who were to perform it and in the location. And the female perspective is often central, as in her play Western Women, which looked at the role of women in the Siege of Lyme during the Civil War.

At this very moment, cast members from Dorchester: to Lyme, taking in Bridport on the way, are at some stage in production for three community plays, a scene no doubt repeated around the country. The Lyme Regis and Dorchester plays are using community histories as their starting points. For Lyme’s Marine Theatre this is to be the Monmouth Rebellion, a pivotal period in West Country history especially in Devon, Dorset and Somerset, and one which still lingers in folk memory and in place names. A lot of scene setting is being done beforehand, both for the theatre community and the potential audience through talks, workshops and other theatre-based events which allow funds to be raised as well as raising a wider awareness of the play. And the local press are helping to get the town in the “mood” by running a series of food related columns devoted to 17^th century recipes.

The Bridport play has taken as its story the idea of a flea circus led by Madame Celine and has ukuleles at the musical heart showing how varied the subject matter can be for a community play but all sharing community as the starting point. For more information about these three community plays look on their websites. And come to all if you can.

www.crowdfunder.co.uk/monmouth-lyme-regis-community-play-2017

www. ukuleleopera.org.uk

www.dorchestercommunityplay.org.uk
 

“ Why don’t I like it? I’m with Chandler…”

There’s a scene in Friends where Chandler finds himself alone in the front row of a fringe theatre, wondering where all the others are. Just before he leaves, the lights go dark and an actress walks on stage and yells ‘Why don’t you like me?’ He stays, too embarrassed to exit.

Big Guns is not as bad as Why Don’t You Like Me? but there were some moments early on when Chandler’s predicament kept rushing to my mind.

[Debra Baker and Jessye Romeo in Big Guns]

The two characters in the play – conveniently called One and Two – although that is irrelevant because they never name each other – tell a story in the second person. An event has occurred and they have witnessed it – ‘we’ have witnessed it – and we are told what we think and what we do. The whole piece/script is in the form of poetry, a kind of Beatnik performance that I assumed no one actually did anymore.

That and the image of Chandler kept making me smile – inappropriately, given the intent of the story. We’ve been watching things, trawling the internet, communicating with the world from the safety of our home. But we see something. Or, rather, it is about the happen and the anticipation, the stress is unbearable. A video (or is it live? Is it real?) where a man with a gun enters a room. There’s violence. We can’t look away. There are sounds and visions we will never forget. The gruesome event has lodged into our mind. We are scared and alone.

[Debra Baker in Big Guns]

What is fantastic about Big Guns is the premise, the setting (the Yard Theatre has a great atmosphere), the staging (strong design by Rosie Elnile), the lighting (courtesy of Katherine Williams) and the sound (from Kieran Lucas). Especially the sound.

I found the play itself to be flawed in its approach and style. The horror simply didn’t affect me. Slopping a pink milkshake onto the stage, I assume to resemble blood, simply comes across as a childish attempt at gore and effect. Some of Dan Hutton’s directorial vision works – the use of long blackouts to great effect. But I found much of the production lacking in flow, it being at the one intense level for over an hour.

[Jessye Romeo in Big Guns]

The cast, Jessye Romeo plays One and Debra Baker as Two, have more lines to learn than your average Beckett two-hander. They perform randomly with microphones and without, hurling popcorn and fast food around the stage, with gusto and a confidence far superior to the material.

It is a concept so full of promise that falls flat for me because of the cliched performance style. And also because I simply cannot agree with the vision of the world as this bleak and mundane. On the other hand, the friendly audience seemed to like it. Maybe it’s me? Why don’t I like it? I’m with Chandler…

[Jessye Romeo and Debra Baker in Big Guns]

Review by Paul Vates.

Photographs: Mark Douet

Venue: The Yard Theatre, Unit 2a, Queen’s Yard, White Post Lane, Hackney Wick, London E9 5EN

Venue Contact: www.theyardtheatre.co.uk 020 3111 0570

Performances: Until Saturday 8th April 2017. Monday to Saturday 8pm.

Running Time: 70 minutes (no interval)

Facebook: /The Yard

Twitter: @YardTheatre #BIGGUNS

Last week marked the ninth anniversary of the day when John Thornton and David Marsh were tragically killed in Afghanistan while serving with 40 Commando Royal Marines.

Four years ago today the publication of John’s Afghanistan diaries in the book entitled ‘Helmand: Diaries of Front-Line Soldiers’ was officially announced.

John can no longer stand shoulder to shoulder with his brother, Ian Thornton, and fellow Royal Marines whose diaries came together in this ‘vivid portrait of life on the front-line.  Their recollections are however united in one volume, side by side and will endure as an important insight into the life that our soldiers lead on operational deployment.

In honour of John Thornton, his family established the John Thornton Young Achievers Foundation. John achieved so much in his short life and to emulate this, the Foundation (based in Dorset) provides opportunities for local young people to achieve their ambitions and potential.

Since its formation the charity has made awards totally over £480,000 to almost 1250 young people. A legacy that his family know John would be both  amazed by and proud of.

Ian Thornton talked at the Words for the Wounded LitFest last week in High Wycombe and we’ll write more about this shortly, in the review of a fabulous day.

To learn more about JTYAF: www.jtyaf.org

Trafalgar Studios, 14 Whitehall, London SW1A 2DY Tuesday 2nd May – Saturday 3rd June 2017


Out with the diaries, please. Following a sell-out, award-nominated run at the White Bear Theatre, Keith Stevenson’s comedy Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd. transfers to Trafalgar Studios this May.

Things could not get any worse for Mitchell, who just lost his girlfriend, his apartment, and his job. With nowhere to go, he answers an ad for a roommate and finds himself in a West Virginia countryside motel with JD, an affable hillbilly of mysterious origins. Soon JD’s neighbours – curmudgeonly Flip, meth-head Marlene, and her hot-headed boyfriend Tommy – have all but taken over the tiny room. When the zany group find themselves in a hostage situation, Mitchell must decide to save himself or join this dysfunctional family and let his freak-flag fly.

Writer and actor Keith Stevenson comments, It warms my heart that this little story set in Appalachia has received a universal response from people of all colours and creeds in places like London and Los Angeles. They come to the theatre and a little over an hour later they walk out feeling better than they did coming in. They’re buoyed by a fortified hope that goodness and kindness still have a shot.

Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd. became a cult hit amongst fans following its six month highly acclaimed run at the Pacific Resident Theatre in Los Angeles in 2012 – audience members returned again and again to watch the show. Fried Meat re-opened later that year with the festive sequel A Fried Meat Christmas. Then, in the summer of 2014, Stevenson thrilled audiences yet again with the third part in the series, The Unfryable Meatness of Being.

The three plays were revived in December 2014 and December 2015 as The Fried Meat Trilogy. Stevenson who originated the role of JD in Los Angeles, hails from Keyser in West Virginia – the hometown of the actual Fried Meat Ridge Road.

Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd. is the first ever show to transform Trafalgar Studios 2 into an end-on space.

Out There On Fried Meat Ridge Rd.

Tuesday 2nd May – Saturday 3rd June 2017 Monday – Saturday 7.45pm
Thursday and Saturday matinees 3pm

@TrafStudios, #FriedMeatRidge @FriedMeatRidgeRdLondon https://www.friedmeat.co.uk/

Trafalgar Studios, 14 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2DY

www.atgtickets.com/venues/trafalgar-studios

Tickets are available for £30, £25, £20 from the Trafalgar Studios Box Office and http://www.atgtickets.com, 0844 871 7632

I have just written of the Spanish Civil War in A House Divided so know its brutality and hardship, but also the ‘mateship’ of the International Brigades.

So this play is of interest to me, and probably to you.

Following a successful UK tour marking the 80th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War, Dare Devil Rides To Jarama comes to Tara Theatre for a limited run. Based on the experiences of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War and the powerful political forces that engulfed 1930s Europe, Dare Devil Rides to Jarama asks why so many ordinary people made the extraordinary choice to leave family and livelihoods and fight in a brutal war so far from home.

When Spaniards rose up to resist General Franco’s military rebellion in 1936, it was an inspiration to millions of people worldwide. Their heroic struggle alerted the rest of the world to the threat of fascism. Dare Devil Rides To Jarama commemorates and celebrates the contribution and sacrifice of the Volunteer International Brigades, including two and a half thousand from Britain and Ireland.

Compelling and humorous, Dare Devil Rides To Jarama focuses on the contrasting lives of Clem Beckett, a Lancashire blacksmith and famous star of the speedway track, and Christopher Caudwell, a renowned writer, poet and philosopher. Both men were killed together at Jarama in February 1937, having become friends as members of the British battalion’s machine-gun company.

Through stirring song, poetry, movement and dance, Dare Devil Rides To Jarama captures the raw passions and emotions of the time. Musical direction is from acclaimed folk singer and squeeze box player John Kirkpatrick.

Dare Devil Rides To Jarama

Ages 11+

Tara Theatre, 356 Garratt Lane, Earlsfield, London SW18 4ES

Tickets are available from www.tara-arts.com or 020 8333 4457 at £13.50.

@townsendprod, #DareDevil

Saturday 15th April – Saturday 5th August 2017
 7.30pm – The Cruising Association, 1 Northey Street, Limehouse Basin, London E14 8BT

2017 marks the 75th anniversary of The Idle Women – the nickname for the women who manned the working boats during WWII. Now, 21st century ‘Idle Women’ – former Worcestershire Poet Laureate Heather Wastie and writer/performer Kate Saffin – will be recreating their journey, from London to Birmingham and back to London via the Coventry coalfields.

I’m definitely going to this because a novel of mine on just this subject will be published in September, so I know a lot about their fascinating stories.

Stories?

This double bill tells of the young women who took on the challenge to manage a pair of boats and 50 tons of cargo. Isobel’s War is a solo play written and performed by Kate Saffin based on the experiences of the wartime trainees. Isobel doesn’t think that rolling bandages and serving tea in the leafy suburbs of Oxford counts as proper war work, then she spots an advertisement and encounters a world she didn’t know existed. Idle Women and Judies is written and performed by Heather Wastie – it started as an audio piece (commissioned by the Canal & River Trust) based on the wartime memories of three women. Wastie has now added a collection of short poems and songs celebrating the work and adventures of the women.

By the beginning of WWII, the inland waterways were in decline. However, the war brought a brief renaissance as boats were a more economical means of moving war materials and supplies. But, whilst there were plenty of boats, there weren’t enough good crews. The Women’s Training Scheme taught young women the basics of boating over two three-week round trips (London-Birmingham- Coventry-London). These women then did their best to replace the men who had been called up.

On completion of their training they received their national service badge imprinted with the letters IW – Inland Waterways. After the war they were nicknamed the Idle Women and they have been known as such ever since.

Saturday 15th April – Saturday 5th August 2017
 – The Cruising Association, 1 Northey Street, Limehouse Basin, London E14 8BT

Tour dates

@alarum_theatre, #TheIdleWomen

Check out ‘2017 Dates’ on http://www.alarumtheatre.co.uk/

A leading representative of the Russian avant-garde, Alexander Rodchenko (1891– 1956), revolutionized the world of graphic art, design and photography. There are more than 250 illustrations featured in this volume and it is this fulsome range that helped me to grasp the force of this innovator. In fact, I devoured it.

It is more than  a collection of his work. As Rodchenko’s camera captured images, he didn’t just experiment with interesting angles, with light and shade, but also captured the Soviet World and its inhabitants. He drew back the curtain on a fascinating era. I feel one could call him a photo journalist. I had a sense that it wasn’t just the image that was important for him, but that which he was photographing. He was interested in the world – did he also want to modernize that, as well as the world of photographic images?

All of this, for me, gives the book an important and emphatic depth.

Rodchenko’s works bear witness to his many collaborations and friendships, evoking not just the image of a brilliantly creative personality but a unique phase in twentieth-century history. I kept turning the pages, admiring his brave perspectives and aware that I was examining the advance guard of photography today.

Complementing the volume are contributions by Olga Sviblova, the director of the House of Photography / Multimedia Art Museum of Moscow, by the grandson of the artist and leading scholar of his work Alexander Lavrentiev, in addition to writings and testimonies by Rodchenko himself and his daughter Varvara.

I found this publication by Skira in turn moving, fascinating and enlightening. It is an overview. It made me want to see his work in exhibition.

Alexander Rodchenko by Olga Sviblova.   Hb Skira £36.00