Though he claims no connection to Charles Dodgson aka Lewis Carroll, Paul Dodgson did step through his own looking glass a year or so ago to take to the stage with his guitar and his songs to see if his other first love, music, still loved him. It did and the result was a play for Radio 4, “On the Road Not Taken”, and now a book of  memoir combined with a series of musical treks. And he also has plans to record an album which would really be the fulfilling of a long held dream.

Paul is a writer of radio and TV plays, memoir, singer and writer of songs, BBC producer and an inspiring workshop tutor who has successfully encouraged other Frost contributors such as Francis Colville, Wendy Breckon and myself to take the pen plunge and write their own word worlds.

I also like to think that he and I may have crossed paths in childhood and teenage years, in Canterbury, a town we were both knew and know. Not that Paul would have been subjected to the horrors of shopping for patent leather party shoes at Ricemans. More likely he was after his first guitar or the latest vinyl. Curiously it’s a town that holds musical and literary moments for me as well as being the place where I met my first love-but that’s another memoir.

The writing bug took hold when Paul was about 12 and he realised “language could be manipulated in the same way my father worked wood” gravitating as a “musical sponge”, towards the musicality of writers like Dylan Thomas and Laurie Lee as well as developing a fascination with memoir, a current inspiration being Richard Ford’s memoir,’’Between Them: Remembering My Parents”.

Paul’s musical tastes are wide ranging from opera to obscure electronica and he describes himself as a “Punk Folk” musician, song writing like “remembering something I have forgotten”. And he’s a great believer in trying to practice every day-a theory I subscribe to but whose practice is somewhat elusive. Putting this other first love of music centre stage has involved a move across the channel –Bristol not English- to Wales where he has discovered the Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff, their coffee and the buzz of people this creating an inspirational nest for his writing. I’m sure lots of writers empathise with such places being great to create- and you can overhear some fascinating conversations.

So having spent 30 years “singing unheard songs in my head and in the kitchen when no-one was home” Paul is now touring pubs, festivals and front rooms to share and “persuade other people to pursue long forgotten dreams… just carry on down the road and see where it takes me”. If you want to read more go to “On The Road Not Taken, a love story about the transformational power of music”, which is crowdfunding on Unbound and become part of the story.

https://unbound.com/books/on-the-road-not-taken and book him for an evening of music and memoir. I have.

The Saatchi Gallery, London

“a sugary, gluten-free version of the real thing.”

Photo Credit – Kenny Mathieson, Design – Zoe Koperski

Director Christa Harris is quoted in the programme thus: ‘Inside Pussy Riot is what theatre in 2017 is all about; the chance to create work, which will send ripples through society, provoke an audience to action and consequently work towards change.’

For those who don’t know – or can’t quite recall – Pussy Riot made international headlines in February 2012 when five of their members staged a performance inside Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Security stopped them after 40 seconds, but the women escaped. Then on March 3rd three members were arrested, two were jailed in a penal colony under Hooliganism laws. The women said their protest was directed at the Orthodox Church leaders’ support for Vladimir Putin during his election campaign. They were finally released two years later.

Photo Credit – Kenny Mathieson, Design – Zoe Koperski

In collaboration with Les Enfants Terribles and produced by Bird & Carrot, Inside Pussy Riot is an immersive, theatrical, punk event, lasting 60 minutes. We are a small group of a dozen or so and start by filling out some forms, then we are led through a variety of locations and situations, meeting bizarre and unlikeable characters along the way. Basically, we are arrested, tried and imprisoned in a remarkably ridiculous short time. The process matches what the two Rioters went through.

Pic

Photo Credit – Kenny Mathieson, Design – Zoe Koperski

The whole piece doesn’t quite know where to place itself – silly or serious. It lands somewhere in the middle. I believe we’re supposed to leave with a new perspective on freedom, justice, prisons, war, government, abuse, politics, equality, establishment – all the topics Pussy Riot rages against. We should be leaving angry and ready to storm parliament. Instead, I left feeling angry and frustrated at missed opportunities, misguided threats and unfulfilled promises. I found the comic elements forced and the real peril (in the very few times it was there) not followed through with any true drama or belief. The all-female cast has an 18-strong ensemble and they throw themselves into it with gusto, but somehow hold back from committing to the scenarios so as not to cause offence.

The audience that will visit this spectacle at the glorious Saatchi Gallery, just off Sloane Square, will not leave ready to do battle to improve the lot of the poor and correct the injustices of society, then will laugh at the silliness they were willing to join in with and nod sagely at the ‘tragedies’ that befell them – then go for a swift macchiato before jumping into their gas-guzzling vehicle in order to be home before the babysitter loses control, all the while planning when the revolution will occur, checking their diaries: ‘How about April? The weather’s nicer then. Oh, when’s Easter? Maybe not. It may have to wait until July, because there’s that weekend break we promised ourselves in Venice, plus Johnnie’s wedding in May. So, the end of July, it is. Once the exam season is out of the way…’

What I mean by this surreal ramble is that the audience the show will attract in SW3 is probably not the best social strata that will gain the most from it. This show needs to be in working-class areas of the UK where there is a feeling of real hardship on a daily basis.

Inside Pussy Riot is Pussy Riot Lite, a sugary, gluten-free version of the real thing. Nadya Tolokonnikova survived the Russian State’s prison conditions and has tried to tell her story. I think she has been let down by a production that simply isn’t as brave and riotous as it claims to be. The ripples the director hoped to send out are hardly noticeable and if this is what theatre is about in 2017, I hadn’t realised it was all so polite and nice. What was intended to be a roar, instead becomes a contented purr of smug satisfaction – ‘Aren’t we being rebellious?!’

Venue:                     Saatchi Gallery, King’s Road, London SW3 4RY.

Performances:         Daily from 11.15am – up to December 24th 2017.

Check itinerary on website.

Tickets:                    www.seetickets.com and www.insidepussyriot.com

Prices start at £21.50.

Length:                     60 minutes. You may be on standing throughout.

Twitter:                     @LesEnfantsTerr, @pussyrrriot, @tolokno, #insidepussyriot

Notes:                      Ages 14+ at parental discretion. Contains nudity.

Photography:           Kenny Mathieson and Zoe Koperski.