As Christmas approaches Jenny Falcon has written a poem which will echo every grandmother’s thoughts, and of course, any mothers.

To ELOISE

By Jenny Falcon

Oh child of my child

I could never have known

The love that you’d bring to my soul

When a few hours old

You were placed in my arms

I responded to Nature’s loud call

Though tiny in size

Your effect was so strong

My heart began leaping with joy

When we’d only just met

I was hooked by your charm

Drawn in by a love unalloyed

Now only weeks old

I gaze at your face

So perfect, so vulnerable too

I hug and I kiss

Look into your eyes

Desperately yearn to protect tiny you

What will you be like

As you blossom and grow

And you’re tossed in the turmoil of living?

Oh child of my child

I’ll be there if you call

With love always ready for giving

The Old Red Lion Theatre, London

“…moody lighting simply isn’t enough.”

As soon as lightning flashes and thunder roars, the scene is set for a dark and stormy night chiller. The characters are thrown into a creepy house in darkest Wales for the night.

With a running time of 1hr20, this should be a tense and nervous time, but sadly, atmosphere is the major thing lacking in this production. Adapted by Duncan Gates from an early Priestley book, I feel the play is trying too hard to be a ghost story, a period pastiche and a tongue-in-cheek comedy. Each genre fights with the other and there is no clear winner.

Tom Machell and Harrie Hayes in Benighted

The cast of six actors, although earnestly telling us the story, look as out of kilter as the incredible set, designed by Gregor Donnelly, which at times, along with the sound design, manages to upstage the thin, hole-filled story.

Priestley wrote many successful plays (An Inspector Calls, Time And The Conways, When We Are Married) and I do wonder if he would have tried to adapt this particular story for the stage. It is thick in character detail but thin on plot, with Gates struggling to keep the action moving along between the speeches.

Matt Maltby and Jessica Bay in Benighted

There are moments when the play suddenly sparks to life, showing there is a promising production somewhere underneath the indecision. Should Stephen Whitson’s direction take the play into The 39 Steps territory? Perhaps not. Priestley is darker than that. And deeper, too.

The title implies a state of ignorance and darkness. Maybe the producers could be braver and actually take us deeper into that very darkness that Priestley writes about. The moody lighting simply isn’t enough.

Benighted runs at The Old Red Lion, 418 St Johns Street, London EC1V 4NJ

until Saturday 7th January 2017: Tuesday-Saturday at 7.30pm, with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 3pm.

www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk

Twitter: @BenightedPlay, @ORLTheatre

Book tickets on online or by calling: 0844 412 4307: £19.50 (£17.50 concessions).

Wonderboo, the creator of nutritionally-balanced and perfectly-styled canine meals, launched in the UK and is now available in Italy, Germany, France and Spain. Backed by global influencers, WONDERBOO is a Swedish-born brand that delivers premium food for your dog with a healthy dose of Scandinavian chic.

Apparently the reasons why you and your dog will love WONDERBOO is because it’s made from all natural ingredients that promote a healthy lifestyle, or is it just that it tastes yummy, which is the decision of our tasters?

It does come in lovely boxes, as you can see, but ours were just concerned with us taking the lids off and getting to it. Which they did, with gusto. A bit like Oliver, there was very much ‘Please may I have some more’ in the air.

Each meal comes portion-packaged to ensure your dog doesn’t over-indulge, which is a good thing, because these three most certainly would. The stylish packaging doubles as an on-the-go feeding bowl, which for ease and convenience can be delivered straight to your front door from digital emporium WONDERBOO.com.

Furthering its fashion credentials, WONDERBOO has already produced a series of high-quality accessories, including leads and collars, and will continue to develop this area of 
their brand in forthcoming partnerships with celebrated designers. 
WONDERBOO’S ethos and design has attracted high-profile tastemakers including Cara Delevingne (her dog Leo can’t get enough), Brix Smith-Start, Ashley Hicks, Charlotte Simone, Hilary Alexander, Bella Freud, Yasmin Mills and Giancarlo Giammetti. 
Founder and CEO Magnus Rosengren: “Dog owners’ awareness of canine health has increased, and the same high demands we put on our own food is now placed on the food we feed our dogs. I want to help

dog owners give their dogs the best conditions for a long and healthy life while making it convenient”.

If mine are anything to go by, give it a shot. Lots of good healthy ingredients, lots of tail wagging.

Details: www.WONDERBOO.com

With Christmas almost upon us, and thoughts of food and drink filling our waking moments, do consider this Classic Collection which we have been tasting, on your behalf…

…

Classic Collection Petit Verdot 2015. This is an interesting wine produced in the Western Cape, with a pleasant after taste and has  a slightly spicey tone – as it says on the bottle, with a hint of dark cherries, plums and mulberries. It think it’s better than the price would indicate. We loved it. You will notice that we have begun this particular bottle. Bad, bad granny and gramps, but so hard not to.

Stockist: NISA

RRP: £7.55

Classic Collection Grenache Blanc 2015

Another from the Western Cape, with more of a peaches and apple flavour and one that brings a taste of summer to what has been a damp and dreary week. Best to drink soon, and perhaps not to cellar it for too long. I think it would go well with salmon, and chicken.

Stockist: NISA

RRP: £7.55

KWV Mentors Petit Verdot 2014

Crikey, this is a good one. This is an intense wine, loads of flavour, with that dark cherry and plum. It is a hard wine to ignore. You can be chatting, take a sip, and then actually take time to think – this is gorgeous. You’ll love it.

Stockist: Ocado

RRP: £14.95

KWV Mentors Cabernet Franc 2013

This is the Cab France Challenge winner 2016 and trust me, you will be doing a lot of sipping, tasting and concentrating. It’s really good.  ‘Bold’ I think is the word, full of character. You might have met people who ‘command their space’. This wine does just that. Take time to enjoy its smoothness, and a flavour with that hint of dark cherries, and much more besides. A complex wine, and worthy award winner.

Stockist: Ocado

RRP: £14.95

Blackeyed Theatre, in association with South Hill Park, presents

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Adapted by John Ginman

UK Tour: Spring 2017

OK, I know it’s still 2016 but it’s good to have something to plan for, and this could be it.

Marking the 200th anniversary of the creation of Frankenstein, Blackeyed Theatre’s brand new stage adaptation of Mary Shelley’s gothic horror masterpiece continues its sell-out UK tour this spring.

Geneva, 1816 – Victor Frankenstein obsesses in pursuit of nature’s secret, the elixir of life itself. But nothing can prepare him for what he creates. So begins a gripping life or death adventure taking him to the ends of the earth and beyond.

Adapted by John Ginman, who penned Blackeyed Theatre’s hugely successful 2013 production of Dracula, this world premiere fuses bold ensemble storytelling, live music, puppetry and stunning theatricality to create a fresh telling of what has become a landmark work of literature.

A unique feature of the production is the use of Bunraku-style puppetry to portray The Creature. Designed and built by Yvonne Stone (Warhorse, His Dark Materials), the full size 6’4” puppet, which needs up to 3 people to manipulate it, adds an exciting new dimension to the retelling of the classic story.

This gothic horror masterpiece fuses bold ensemble storytelling, live music, puppetry and stunning theatricality to create a fresh telling of what has become a landmark work of literature.

Frankenstein

125 minutes (including an interval) Ages 11+

For venues and dates: see www.blackeyedtheatre.co.uk.

@Blackeyedtheatr, #FrankensteinTour

The four books on the Young Writer of the Year shortlist could hardly be more different from each other. There is a novel, a collection of poetry, an anthology of short stories and a novella. And yet they all have a great deal in common. To begin with – obviously – they are all written by young writers, that is writers of 35 years or under. They all in their different ways grab the attention of the reader and linger in your mind long after you have read them. They all make you stop and think. And they all in various ways push the boundaries of literature – by their use of language, their content, their format and above all their originality.

Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter (published by Faber & Faber and available in paperback at £5.59, as an ebook or an audio download) is quite simply not like anything I have read before. It’s a novella (i.e. shorter than a novel but longer than a short story), a portrayal of grief which has rarely been bettered, an entanglement with the Ted Hughes poem The Crow, a piece of prose poetry which is as beautiful as it is dark and haunting.

Physical by Andrew McMillan (published by Cape Poetry and available in paperback at £9.99 and ebook) has already won the 2015 Guardian First Book Award and was shortlisted for the 2015 Costa Poetry Award. It’s an intensely personal and very engaging collection of poems – written almost entirely in lower case and without punctuation – many of which haunt you in much the same way as Grief is the Thing with Feathers does.

A third of the way through The Ecliptic by Benjamin Wood (published by Scribner and available in paperback at £6.99 or as an ebook or audio download) I was intrigued to realise that I had no idea where the story was going nor where it would end up. Telling of a reclusive group of artists who for various reasons struggle to live in the ‘real’ world, and who find their tenuous grip on reality disturbed by the arrival of a young man haunted by dreams, this novel draws you in from the very beginning because of the power of the writing, and refuses to let you go. It’s original and it’s well-written, and like all the other books on this shortlist it is so worth reading.

An Account of the Decline of the Great Auk, According to One Who Saw It is the title of one of the stories in this collection by Jessie Greengrass as well as the title of the book as a whole. It’s the first story in the book and it sets the scene for the others which are without exception well-conceived, well- put-together, and, it almost goes without saying, well-written. There are twelve stories altogether and they vary in time and place, spanning both past and present, and numerous geographical locations. All The Other Jobs stood out for me, but this is a collection which will have universal appeal. Published by JM Originals it is available in paperback priced at £10.99 and as an ebook.

I’ve pondered for a long time about which I would choose as the winner if I were on the judging panel, but in the end for me there is no real contest. It has to be Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter, because of its originality, because it won’t leave my head and because I wish I’d written it.

And I’m delighted to say that the ‘official’ judges agreed with me. The winner of The Sunday Times/Peters Fraser + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award 2016 is Max Porter for Grief is the Thing with Feathers.

The Bunker, 53A Southwark Street, London SE1

Tuesday 10th January – Saturday 4th February 2017

This sounds interesting and something to look forward to after the Christmas shenanigans are over.

The world premiere of Abigail by Papatango award-winning playwright Fiona Doyle will close The Bunker’s highly-acclaimed inaugural season. Abigail will be directed by The Bunker’s Artistic Director, Joshua McTaggart. Originally written in 2013 when it was long-listed for the Bruntwood Prize, The Bunker’s production stars Tia Bannon (The Winter’s Tale and Pericles, The Globe) and Mark Rose (King Lear, The Old Vic; Hangmen, Royal Court).

In a snow-covered Berlin, a young woman meets a middle-aged man and they fall in love. As the year progresses, they fall apart. Told across a fractured timeline where the past and present collide, Abigail explores the fragility of love and the desperate measures we all go to in order to keep control in an unpredictable world. How far would you go to take control? Would you lie? Would you fight? Would you scream and shout or shut down and cry? In a world where so many things are out of our control, what happens when the one thing you think you need is the one thing you cannot have?

The ethos of The Bunker is about nurturing a performance environment where audiences stay after the show to enjoy events, discussions and drinks in the auditorium. Alongside Abigail, The Bunker will be bringing together an array of artists to explore the question ‘How would you take control?’ with new work-in-progress showings, poetry evenings, music nights and dance response pieces including the brilliant Pint-Sized plays, the lyrical poet Bridget Minnamore, and performances from Shay Barclay Dance.

Abigail

Tuesday 10th January – Saturday 4th February 2017

Tuesday – Saturday, 7:30pm
Saturday and Sunday, 3pm

The Bunker, 53A Southwark Street London SE1 1RU

The nearest tube station is London Bridge (Borough High Street exit). Turn left out of the station and continue up Southwark Street. The closest rail station is London Bridge.

Tickets are available priced £19.50 (£15 concessions)
Previews are priced at £12
Ten £10 tickets are available at each performance for under 25s

Available from http://bunkertheatre.com/ and 0207 234 0486.

These I have picked out to be read to keep yourselves sane in the run up to the big day, as you plough through the lists in between the Christmas parties, wondering if you have enough chairs for Auntie Flo as well, who has decided she can come after all. Lovely though it is to have her…

This first has a twinkly cover, which evokes Christmas and because it’s set in New York it appeals to me, because I have been once, and will be going again with a grand daughter who has to have a serious and extensive operation in a couple of days. She and I intend to celebrate in the big apple once she is well enough.

Miracle on 5^th Avenue.  By Sarah Morgan.

A tale of love and the magic of the festive season that is the perfect relaxing read/switch off read in the run up to, or over Christmas.

Hopeless romantic Eva loves the holiday season, and is delighted to be spending looking after a beautiful New York penthouse this Christmas. Cynical crime-writer and mysterious owner of the penthouse Luke is not so in love with the winter months, after tragedy struck him one previous Christmas. When both are snowed in the luxury apartment after a freak snowstorm hits the city, Eva and Luke are drawn into each other’s worlds and a special bond forms between them… Will Luke finally let go of his past demons and accept the wonders and joy both Christmas and Eva can bring him?

Yep, go for this. It is a feel good book, sparkly and will set you up for stuffing the turkey.

Harlequin Mira pb £7.99

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper

How clever is this idea:

Arthur Pepper is an elderly Yorkshire widower who is ruled by his daily routine after the death of his beloved wife. On the first anniversary of Miriam’s death, Arther decides to clear her wardrobe, and discovers a gold charm bracelet, one he has never seen before.

He sets off on a journey, charm by charm, a journey that takes him round the world, but also within himself. A true voyage of discovery. Such a lovely book, and one to consider with 2017 looming. It will remind you, or the lucky person who finds this in their stocking, that life is full of possibilities but you do have to go out and make it happen.

I love it. 2017 here I come.

Harlequin Mira pb £7.99

And for something gritty.

Cut to the Bone by Alex Caan

I really don’t like it when publishers say ‘for fans of ……. ‘ I know why they do it, so that you can categorise a debut author, but I still don’t like it. This book stands alone, and is for fans of Alex Caan.

You’ll chew your nails, and take turn the pages. A box of Christmas chocolates it is not, but it’s good to have something salty, sharp and a contrast to soft centres.

Full of tension, and  up to date: one missing girl, two million suspects – I didn’t know what a vlogger was, which puts me in my place. Ruby is one, a rising star of YouTube who goes missing.

No-one believes there’s a problem, she’s an adult after all. Then along comes the video. DI Kate Riley, and her team become involved, but are they a trustworthy team?

Read it and find out.

Twenty7 pb £7.99