Leap In: A Woman, Some Waves and the Will to Swim by Alexandra Heminsley

Reviewed by Penny Deacon

You’ve broken your New Year’s resolutions. You’re curled on the sofa with that second glass of wine (Dry January? What’s that?). You’ve refused to stand on the bathroom scales. You’re just beginning to think you should pull yourself together. It’s time to read Leap In.

Alexander Heminsley thought she could swim. She really did. But, as she learned one day while flailing around in the sea, she really couldn’t.

The first, larger, part of this insightful book is the story of how Alexandra overcame her fear of sea swimming, and grew to love it. If, like me, you’re a swimmer you will wince with sympathy at the author’s first experience of getting into a wetsuit.

It is also the story of a woman learning to know herself and, behind the swimming failures and triumphs, is the tender story of her personal life with her husband, D. It’s never intrusive but it gives weight and individuality to an experience that many of us have been through.

The second part of the book is practical. It answers the questions you feel too foolish to ask about the practicalities of swimming. ‘Everyone knows that’, you assume. No, they don’t. Whether you’re a swimmer, or simply want to be, this is all useful, practical information.

This is a candid and empowering book. I recommend it.

Leap In                                     Alexandra Heminsley                      Pub. Hutchinson                £12.99

Last year, the award-winning theatre company Antic Disposition toured a production of Shakespeare’s Henry V. They continue with this tour in 2017 by visiting eight of the UK’s most historic and beautiful cathedrals.

Performed by a cast of British and French actors, the production celebrates the rich and often turbulent relationship between our two nations, from the Hundred Years War to the Entente Cordiale. Marking the ongoing centenary of the First World War, this version is set in a French military hospital in 1915 – 500 years after the Battle of Agincourt – where two groups of wounded soldiers, one French and one British, decide to raise their spirits by staging a production of Henry V.

Antic Disposition was founded by director Ben Horslen and director/designer John Risebero. They are best known for presenting productions of classic plays and stories in spectacular historic buildings. Recent London productions include: A Christmas Carol in the Elizabethan setting of Middle Temple Hall, The Comedy of Errors in Gray’s Inn Hall and Romeo and Juliet in the Temple Church. Henry V has previously toured France, received two London runs, and has been performed in Winchester, Salisbury, Bristol, Gloucester and Worcester Cathedrals and Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, the burial place of William Shakespeare, as part of 2016’s Shakespeare400 celebrations.

Ben Horslen and John Risebero

So, John, how did you meet Ben Horslen?

Through a mutual friend, Kate, who had been at school with Ben and at university with me. She thought we’d hit it off and she was right.

How soon did you realise that you could set up your own company to pursue your own artistic endeavours? Was this scary?

It was about three years after we met, when we had worked together on a couple of productions, that we first talked about starting a company. Our first Antic Disposition show, The Shakespeare Revue, was performed the following year. It was more exciting than scary. I remember sitting in a packed audience in London’s Bloomsbury Theatre, at the final performance of that show, feeling really exhilarated by what we’d all achieved.

How would you describe Antic Disposition’s style?

Innovative and visually striking ensemble storytelling.

Is there a certain type of actor that suits this style?

We’ve worked with many wonderful actors but I think the common thread that links them all is a sense of playfulness. It’s important to do good work, of course, but if you’re not having fun, then what’s the point?

Catherine of Valois and her maid – Henry V

Do you co-direct with Ben? How do you juggle the role of director?

Yes, we always co-direct. I trained as a theatre designer and Ben’s background is in English literature, and the simplest way to describe it is that Ben does words and I do pictures. There’s a bit more to it than that, of course, but that’s how we start!

What is it about site-specific/open air productions that inspires you?

Because we work almost exclusively on classic plays, mainly Shakespeare, site-specific historic venues add a real extra layer to the audience’s experience. Last year in Salisbury Cathedral, we played Henry V next to the tomb of one of the knights who fought at Agincourt. Our production of A Christmas Carol is staged at Middle Temple Hall, the Inn of Court where Dickens trained as a lawyer. These links can really help an audience connect with a performance.

The WW1 theme for Henry V – had you planned this production far in advance or did it just happen naturally?

Henry is probably the most conceptually complex show we’ve ever done. We devised the WW1 setting because we tour all our Shakespeare plays in southwest France, and we wanted to find a way to produce this story of an English invasion of France without insulting our hosts! In 1415, the two countries were mortal enemies but in 1915 they were close allies. Our concept for the production – that a mixed group of English and French soldiers stage the play while recovering at a military hospital – gave us a way to show both sides of the historical relationship between the two nations.

Henry V’s iconic speech

How do you update/adapt plays to current events and the venues?

One of the most exciting challenges working in historic buildings is deciding how to use the space. They are often vast and imposing structures that could easily overwhelm a production, so it’s all about finding a way to make those characteristics work for the show. In a cathedral, for instance, there might be an opportunity for a really powerful entrance or exit using the immense length of the building. We always aim to interact with a space, rather than ignore it.

What are your views on the use of theatrical technology (eg The Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Tempest using holograms)?

It’s fascinating to see how technology develops – as well as the RSC Tempest, there’s some very clever stuff in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child that really adds to the magic of the show. It’s rarely right for our own productions but great to see other people experimenting with it.

Catherine of Valois and Henry V

What would you say has been your greatest AD moment? And your worst?

Performing Henry V in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon in the week of the 400^th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death was an extraordinary experience. On the flip side, on our first ever tour of France, we played to an audience of about a dozen on a miserable rainswept night in Gourdon. I thought we’d finish the tour bankrupt, but luckily the London run was better attended!

Is there a country or specific venue that you’d love to perform in?

We’ve performed in England, France and Poland, and have our eye on a couple of venues further afield. It would be great to go to Italy, as so many of Shakespeare’s plays are set there.

Is there a director/actor that truly inspires you (past and/or present)?

Some of my biggest influences are directors not from theatre, but film – the visual style, storytelling and use of music of Alfred Hitchcock, Tim Burton and Steven Spielberg in particular. It’s great fun to try and translate their techniques into a theatrical setting.

You take your company name from Hamlet, but haven’t produced the play? Are there plans afoot to rectify this? What are AD’s future plans after Henry V?

Funny you should say that… We’re shortly going to announce our summer show, which will be a new Shakespeare production, and then in December we’ll be back at Middle Temple Hall with our musical production of A Christmas Carol, which is always a joy to produce. We get a lot of emails from audience members who say it’s become a part of their family Christmas traditions, which is lovely.

The cast of Henry V

Henry V has a running time of 2 hours 15 minutes (including an interval). It is directed by Ben Horslen and John Risebero, with design by John Risebero. The composer is Christopher Peake. Production photography by Scott Rylander.

Box Office Tickets are available from www.anticdisposition.co.uk or on 0333 666 3366.

Facebook: Antic Disposition

Twitter @anticdispo, #HenryV

Instagram @anticdispo

Performance Dates:

2nd–3rd February Southwark Cathedral, London

7th–8th February Beverley Minster, East Yorkshire

9th February Ripon Cathedral, North Yorkshire

10th–11th February Southwell Minster, Nottinghamshire

13th–14th February Lincoln Cathedral, Lincolnshire

15th February Peterborough Cathedral, Cambridgeshire

16th–17th February Ely Cathedral, Cambridgeshire

18th February Norwich Cathedral, Norfolk

Finally, back to:

21st–22nd February Southwark Cathedral, London.

A Day in the Life of Troubador Marketing – Part 4

On publication: Social Media and Digital marketing. This involves several online marketing tools that help promote an author’s title(s) and boost their visibility.

Sarah Taylor plans a social media campaign

Social media marketing is fast becoming an intrinsic part of an author’s marketing arsenal. Alongside the other marketing steps that you should consider – whether you’re carrying them out yourself, or using a company to do it for you – using social media sites like Twitter and Facebook can help boost the profile of you and your books.

It’s important to maintain a delicate balance between personal and professional on social media; you shouldn’t just be a sales bot and spam your followers with requests to buy your book, but neither should your channel be filled with information about what you’ve had for breakfast! Show your personality and contribute to the wider writing community; amplify any media coverage you get, promote any events you’re holding and share any special discounts or giveaways that you’re offering. Think about what your followers can gain from following you on social media that they can’t get anywhere else.

Another vital part of online marketing is having a website – a professional landing page that lists your book(s), contains links to buy and also information about yourself as an author. You can also think about what you can add to your site that’s relevant to your book. If you’ve written an educational children’s book, you could include links to external resources that support your book’s central message or offer print out activity sheets relevant to your book. If you’ve written a travel book, you could have a blog detailing the different food that you’ve eaten along your way!

In essence, a website is a great way to add original content that doesn’t detract from the value of your book – and also to attract readers and users. It’s also a good way to promote special offers and discounts, or short extracts if you want to give readers a taster of the book that you’ve published.

You can link in your social media channels, a biography and pictures so that your website becomes a comprehensive online platform for you and your books. Make sure you think carefully before you register your domain name: if you’ve written more than one book, it’s a good idea to use your author name rather than your book title as the website name. That way you can link all of your titles to one site, rather than create a new site per book. The same goes for your social media channels – it’s a good idea to brand them by author name rather than per book. That way you can channel all your followers through one main channel rather than trying to increase fans through a multitude of channels.

Above all, it’s always best to keep two principles at the core of your social media and digital activities – what can readers get from your channel that they can’t get anywhere else, and to ensure that you update your channels on a regular basis. Social media is only done well by committing to a regular posting schedule, and websites should always be kept as up to date as possible.

Have fun…

As you’ll have learned from this article, book marketing is not a simple, one-shot process. However, we hope you’ve learned exactly what you need to do to promote your book and when – by undertaking these steps your book will have the best chance of making sales and a splash in the media! Make sure you have fun, too – marketing can be daunting, but also creative and enjoyable.

About us…

Matador offers a bespoke, comprehensive and high-quality self-publishing service. (www.troubador.co.uk/matador). We also offer standalone marketing and distribution services for authors who publish elsewhere (http://www.troubador.co.uk/distribution.asp) and standalone design and editorial services via our sister company, Indie-Go (http://www.indie-go.co.uk).

Our annual Self-Publishing Conference, held on 22^nd April 2017, offers sessions on all aspects of the publishing process and can be tailored to each delegate’s requirements – registration is open now for £65 per person: (http://www.selfpublishingconference.org.uk).

Alison Clink was one of last year’s Words for the Wounded’s Independent Author Book Award’s top three prize winners – with the fabulous The Man Who Didn’t Go To Newcastle, the biography of her brother.

Today I get up when I feel like it. Hey, I’ve brought up four children and had several careers. I’m into ‘me’ time now. Unless my granddaughter is staying over, which she isn’t today. Oh, and there’s two days in the week when I have to make sure I’m up at a decent time. Wednesdays when I teach a Creative Writing class in the sumptuous surroundings of Babington House, and Fridays when I have my weekly morning meeting with my own writing group.   But today’s Monday and I can slouch around in my dressing gown, cook my daily breakfast of porridge, blueberries and honey which I always eat in the comfort of my warm and cosy, king-sized bed with my hot water bottle taking the chill off my toes. Unless it’s hot and bright sunshine outside – ie, I’m abroad.

Whilst slurping my porridge (I do like it thin) I check my phone for any text messages, then my laptop for emails, my facebook page, my website stats, bank balance, my book sales and google holidays in ridiculously hot places.

All this before actually opening the document I’m working on at the moment – my almost completed novel, Two Blackberry Lane. This is the document that means most to me, although I’m also working on a short story called ‘Hair and Chairs’.

When we first moved to our house and my children were little I used to sit in the living room every afternoon having lunch on the sofa, making phone calls and doing paperwork for the small cleaning business I ran from home before the kids got home.. We live in the country in a house that was built in 1858. I have the deeds to prove it. Every afternoon at about half past two I’d hear a clunk upstairs. On reflection it was probably something to do with the antiquated night storage heating system but instead of investigating the malfunction of pipes or electricity cables, my mind wandered to the list of names on the deeds of the people who’d lived here before us – and whether any of them had died, perchance at half past two in the afternoon – or at least fallen from their bed – maybe tripped on the corner of the linoleum, or even bumped their head on a beam? My imagination had already been fueled by this list of previous occupants. The first person to buy the house, Charles Lansdown   in 1859, paid £50 for the privilege and took out a mortgage for that amount. The next, Edmund Crabb paid little more. The idea for my book took root. Two Blackberry Lane explores the relationships between six couples during the time they live in one half of a semi-detached cottage in the fictitious village of Lyde in Somerset. The book covers the years just after World War Two up until the present day and has been read by novelist, Emma Darwin – who gave wonderfully positive feedback. A literary agent has expressed interest in it and so at the moment I’m polishing up the final draft before sending it out into the world.

But before I start on my book, this morning one of my jobs is to draw up the short- list for the Frome Festival Short Story Competition . I have thirty stories which have been long-listed , to read which I have to reduce to ten for the celebrity judge. This is both relaxing and enjoyable since all the stories are of a very high standard.

After I’ve read ten of these I get up, manage to read a couple more downstairs in my study, and make notes before lunch time. After lunch I write bits of my short story as they come to me, then return to Two Blackberry Lane for a bit more editing.

Time for some physical exertion. I drive to the Great Elm duck pond where I walk Billy our West Highland White Terrier before carrying on up to Babington House for a swim. While I’m there I check the numbers of people who’ve signed up for my writing class on Wednesday and mull over the exercise I’ve planned for this week’s group. In the pool doing my twenty lengths I also think about Two Blackberry Lane. I have a warm feeling inside just realising how near it is to completion.

Alison’s granddaughter’s view of grandma

After dinner I get ready to go into Frome where I’m giving a talk about my memoir, The Man Who Didn’t Go To Newcastle which was published last year. A room full of writers gather to hear my thoughts on self-publishing. The audience is lively and ask lots of interesting questions. Most have already bought and read my book but I sell a few to those who haven’t.

As always, I end my day with the crossword. Codewords are my current addiction – and a few paragraphs of the book I’m reading, which at the moment is Rosie Jackson’s memoir, The Glass Mother.

The Doppel Gang

Tristan Bates Theatre from 17^th January – 11^th February 2017.

The Doppel Gang fuses classic British comedy with the endless energy of the Marx Brothers, who at the time the play is set were dominating the comedy scene in the US. With its precision timing and authentic 40s soundtrack, the audience are transported to wartime London and the antics used to boost morale.

The Doppel Gang, a new comedy by Dominic Hedges, explores the wild wit of iconic comedy giants The Marx Brothers. Presented by Just Some Theatre Company, The Doppel Gang has generous helpings of British humour and humility.

As the Blitz ravages London, a hopeless theatre manager persuades a desperate double act and a not-so-convincing male impersonator to join him in an audacious stunt – impersonating The Marx Brothers. With one last roll of the dice, this group of entertainers battle to save the theatre from closure. The curtain is about to rise but so are the stakes as an unprecedented series of revelations leads to an exhilarating chain of events. Will anyone believe they are the real Marx Brothers?

Tristan Bates Theatre, 1a Tower Street, London WC2H 9NP

The Doppel Gang

Tuesday 17th January – Saturday 11th February 2017 Tuesday to Sunday, 7.30pm

Sunday matinees, 3pm

1 hour 35 minutes
@justsometheatre, @TristanBates, #DoppelGang

Tristan Bates Theatre, 1a Tower Street, London WC2H 9NP

www.tristanbatestheatre.co.uk

Box Office Tickets are available priced £16 (£14 concessions) Tristan Bates Theatre Box Office and www.tristanbatestheatre.co.uk or 020 3841 6611 or boxoffice@tristanbatestheatre.co.uk

Sitting down to write after Christmas I reflected on the festivities, but was disturbed by the rain drizzling down outside in what is actually the dry season, so it seemed more apt to reflect on – well the rain.

Monsoon season is one of my daughter’s favourite times of the year in Bangkok. I clearly remember the first downpour as she stripped off and ran through the puddles with glorious gay mad abandon and it is almost the same every time.

She never tires of it: whether it’s frolicking at school with her bestie, jumping up and down in muddy puddles the look of pure glee on their faces or stripping down to her knickers and literally rolling around in the mud with our neighbour, she loves it. And I absolutely love her fabulous spirit and lust for life, even in the rain.

Even if it is not raining we have fountains, which come on for an hour every Saturday & Sunday evening, which she will happily substitute with unadulterated joy all over her face.

Our first year in Bangkok, the rainy season was, well, not so wet. One of the driest on record it was a disappointment for the muddy puddle monster. This year was a whole different kettle of fish, quite literally. It kicked off with torrential rains all night and we awoke to floods in the moobaan. Our lovely driver arrived with his trousers rolled up, shoes in hand.

We were, however, lucky the floods were only inches high and no one was injured and nothing ruined. As the skies cleared I walked to my meditation class as if I was heading to Glasto, shorts and wellies on. But the flood waters took all day even in the burning sunshine to abate.

The storms were quite something else. All thunder bolt and lightening, very very frightening, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo Figaro magnifico-o-o-o. It was an glorious opportunity for me to break into song on a regular basis – the dramatic effect of course being lost on the kids, unaccustomed as they are the to the intricacies of Queen lyrics.

However they still managed to milk the dramatic effects and use it as a perfect opportunity to join mummy in bed, with the dog and all their teddies. To be fair some nights the storm raged overhead with such fire and brimstone I was glad of their company.

And then there was the incident when it rained fish. See? I told you it was quite a different kettle of fish. One morning after another deluge and deep puddles all around I discovered a fish swimming in one of the puddles. ‘My god it’s raining fish!’ I thought. ‘The end of the world is nigh!’ and all that. (I am quite the one for catastrophizing when I want be.)

I called our housekeeper to see this biblical event and before I knew it we had launched a rescue attempt as it clearly wasn’t going to fit back through the grates into the drains from whence it came.

Sable was amazing and did not give up as she tried to grab hold of it and throw it in a bucket, whilst her ‘madam’ stood on the sides shrieking like the useless farang I am. Finally we (in the broadest sense of the word, I may have held the bucket) got it into the bucket and I went off for a run.

Only to discover another fish on the other side of the moobaan. ‘Hell’s teeth,’ I thought, ‘How many more?’ This one was flailing in the sunshine, its puddle had evaporated. I sprinted home and grabbed Sabel and another bucket. Cue more girly screams and utter ineptness from me whilst she grabbed the reluctant slippery wriggly beast and put it in another bucket.

When the kids arrived home from school we showed them our catch and I declared we were going to walk to the klong and set them free. It all felt very Deadly 60. As we set off, one of the fish leapt out of the bucket kamikaze style and the wrestle to get it back into the bucket began again, much to the delight of the kids.

We abandoned the walk, drove to the moobaan entrance and walked to the kong with another bucket on top of the first to prevent escapees. The dog must have felt a little short changed on her walk that day. When it actually came to setting them free, I swear the fish faltered in their bucket before launching themselves back into the festering waters. As well they might.

Of course, the rains are not always a cause for light relief. At the beginning of December, which usually marks the beginning of the dry season here in Thailand, heavy rains in the southern provinces caused major flooding affecting over 90,000 people and leading to at least 14 deaths. It was a disaster and not just because it ruined a few holidays. A real disaster and floods around the world continue as global weather systems shift and sadly it is usually the most poor and most disadvantaged that suffer, whilst the privileged few splash around in muddy puddles.