“where Ayckbourn’s middle-class angst smashes up against 21st Century issues”

I rarely give a standing ovation – call me hard-hearted, but most of the time I can simply admire performers doing their job really well by clapping very loudly.

Jon Brittain’s Rotterdam, however, grabbed me. I laughed through the tears as the four characters made war and peace, hated and loved and produced some of the best roaring arguments I have seen on stage in a long time. Many people are raving about the play’s approach to LGBTQIA+ issues. Yet, although some of those strains are what drives the plot, I think it goes beyond that. The play is about everyone: our very identity is in question and how we and our loved ones deal with who we actually are and what we actually want.

[Alice McCarthy and Anna Martine Freeman]

The play centres around the lesbian couple Alice and Fiona living in Rotterdam, played to sublime perfection by Alice McCarthy and Anna Martine Freeman respectively. Alice is trying to find the confidence to come out to her ‘very English’ parents back home. Keeping the secret is stifling her on all levels, but unknown to her, Fiona has a bigger secret.

Ed Bales-White plays a wonderful Josh. Josh is Alice’s ex-boyfriend and still hangs around, even after seven years since they split up, because, of course, he still lives her.

[Ed Bales-White and Alice McCarthy]

The love-triangle is confused further by the presence of Lelani, a local lesbian full of life but desperately lonely, played just on the right side of crazy by Ellie Morris.

This piece premiered in October 2015 at Theatre 503, before transferring to Trafalgar Studios. Then it won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre. Earlier this year a brief run off-Broadway followed. Now it’s back, feeling caged-in at The Arts Theatre, trapping the characters inside their world, an ingenious colourful box of primary Pride colours, superbly designed by Ellan Parry. Aided and abetted by the pumping Euro-Pop beats designed by Keegan Curran.

[Ellie Morris and Alice McCarthy]

Donnacadh O’Briain’s direction has the actors pushing the boundaries of comedy and tragedy. The theatrical mask with its two emotionally opposing faces was designed for plays like this. It’s where Ayckbourn’s middle-class angst smashes up against 21st Century issues.

A must-see play.

Production Photographs are by Hunter Canning

Performances until  Saturday 15th July 2017

Monday – Saturday at 7.30pm

Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm

Running time:          2 hours (plus an interval)

Twitter:                     @ArtsTheatreLDN, @RotterdamPlay, @hartshorhook

Producer:                 Louis Hartshorn and Brian Hook, Hartshorn-Hook Productions

Location:                  Arts Theatre, 6-7 Great Newport Street, London WC2H 7JB

www.artstheatrewestend.co.uk

Box Office:               Tickets are available from £15-£55 from the Arts Theatre Box

Office and www.artstheatrewestend.co.uk

Or by calling 020 7836 8463

Notes:                      Age recommendation of 14+

Like most writers I have a real-life job that makes most of my ‘days in the life’ pretty dull to read about! And even on weekends writing is squeezed in amongst the multitudes of other time-chomping tasks. But very, very occasionally I get a few days in a stretch where I can sort-of focus on writing. So I’ve cheated and I’m going to tell you about a ‘week in the life of’. Specifically, the week in which I wrote, illustrated and published ‘Little Hoglet’s Egg Race’, which won second prize in the children’s picture book section of this year’s Words For The Wounded.

As I also write novels (‘Wyrm Gold’ was Highly Commended in this year’s Words for the Wounded) which take a year plus to write, it’s great to have a much smaller scale project to work on. The ‘Little Hoglet’ books have a much quicker turnaround because the time required (if not the mental effort!) to write them is much less.

Having already published ‘Little Hoglet’s Christmas’, and written and sketched out ‘Little Hoglet’s Bonfire Night’ (yet to be published), I already had a few ideas about a Spring story for Little Hoglet (I planned one story for each of the four seasons).

On the Saturday afternoon I sat down for a few hours and played with a few ideas. What did I want to see in a Spring story? What amazing things did I want to introduce children to? Spring, of course, means eggs, and a story naturally came about where Little Hoglet was looking for friends to play with and met a succession of birds and their eggs. And whilst sketching a couple of scenes, a couple of eggs developed legs, and the EGGS WITH LEGS! concept found its way into the story.

A simple beginning, but it took a few hours to pin down the specifics of who Little Hoglet would meet on his journey (the last egg layer is a butterfly, for example, as a little surprise after all the birds), and how the story would end. Happily, of course, but how? It’s really fun to come up with the answers.

On Sunday I sketched out the scenes very roughly and tidied up the text so I had a solid foundation to work from. Children’s writing is very much like writing poetry – minimum words with maximum impact.

Monday to Thursday I drew the illustrations in pencil, which gives a lovely soft children’s book feel. This is also a fun part of the process.

Friday I scanned in all the pencil drawings into the computer and added colour.

Saturday I formatted the book ready for publication, and then in the evening submitted it to Createspace (Amazon’s publishing platform). This part is less fun but not as unfun as you might expect.

Sunday I made corrections, checked the online proof, and resubmitted. In the evening the submission was accepted and I pressed the button to make the book live. Within an hour or so I was then able to go onto Amazon and order a copy which arrived a couple of days later!

But was is it any good…? Well the Words for the Wounded prize certainly helps. As do the ten 5 star reviews on Amazon, along with comments like: “What a gorgeous little hoglet, having fun and making friends, beautifully illustrated, “a lovely little tale”, “fun for both my 2 and a half year old to be read and also my 5 year old who can read it aloud himself”, “the story builds to a conclusion that will warm the heart and keep you wanting more from the next one.”

Ok, so that’s encouraging. I’d better find some time to start ‘Little Hoglet’s Summer Holiday’!

Richard Middleton’s books can be obtained from Amazon.co.uk in paperback and e-book.

www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk

I’m lucky enough to have an  adjustable VariDesk which enables me to STAND or sit, with a flick of a lever and is a total boon to anyone desk bound for much of the day as I am. It saves that wretched neck and back ache which quite frankly made little Miss Sunshine pass under a cloud, not that my family call me anything approaching anything sunny – far from it.

I work not only as a contributor to Frost Magazine, but also an author and am heavily involved with a charity, www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk  and therefore I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time sitting as well as standing at my, desk and my fitness is suffering, not to mention my rear end, and my legs. A seat that adjust to match the Varidesk would be my dream, or so I was thinking as I put the WforW LitFest to bed for another year, and embarked on the second in the series of The Waterway Girls for Arrow.

In the nick of time I’ve been sent a Varichair to test drive. Honestly, it’s a complete boon.

It solves all my problems, so no more clouds in my life.

Designed to engage leg, back and core muscles, the VARIChair really does give me the freedom to move throughout my day, letting me stay active while seated or leaning. As I have recently broken my shoulder, my exercise is anyway reduced so it really is brilliant. The durable, cushioned seat and articulating pedestal offer a wide range of motion, so you can rock or stretch while sitting. The air-lift piston also raises the seat up to 32.75” (83.19 cm), allowing you to lean comfortably when standing.

Featuring a low back design that encourages good posture, it also has a weighted base, so it stays put while you do the moving. Like other VARIDESK products, the VARIChair comes fully assembled. Simply remove it from the box and you’re ready to go.

I can’t bear having things I have to put together, because it takes ages and never quite fits together.

A really good buy. Use it, get fit while you work. You’ll find you don’t actually NEED that beer or wine at the end of the day but you’ll still have it, of course you will.

The Varichair  at £250 is worth every penny, as is the Pro Plus 36  Varidesk at £365.

www.varidesk.com

I have a passion for coffee, and I like to use beans…

My current favourite is Lazy Sunday by Taylors of Harrogate but oh lordy… my local supermarket only had ground which I tend not to buy because I find it loses flavour in no time, whereas beans last longer, but then I’m a fussy old duck.

Add to that the fact that I tripped when rushing to make myself a coffee recently, caught my foot in the handles of  a bag of books sprawled on the floor, ready for a talk I was to do. I crashed   into the arch between kitchen and dining room, and found myself sprawled alongside the books.

One operation later, my shoulder suitably screwed and plated, I was home and  desperate for a coffee, but still the report came back that all that was available was ground Lazy Sunday – arghhhh.

In the nick of time Frost Magazine was sent the CoffeeGator Coffee Canister. I confess I was a doubting Thomas because I’ve tried this game before, even putting the canister into the fridge, or the freezer which is supposed to help with freshness and flavour – all to no avail.

So, dear readers, in desperation I sent ‘him indoors’ to buy the ground coffee, and tipped it into the very smart looking stainless steel CoffeeGator canister. Two weeks later my Lazy Sunday has just the same fresh flavour – the convalescence has been saved, and it doesn’t ‘alf perk up the physio sessions too.

So,  what’s so good about this canister?

Apparently coffee beans naturally emit CO2 and this is the enemy when storing coffee. This canister has a one-way valve which allows Co2 to leave but stops air and light from entering and attacking flavour.

The canister has a wheel on the lid to track the expiry date of the coffee to guard against staleness. There is an e-book and a  scoop to measure out the coffee, though I like mine strong so it’s a scoop and a bit.

A good looking product which does what it’s meant to. I find that as refreshing in  these days of hyperbole  as a good coffee quite frankly.

Coffee Gator seems to take its job seriously and has many impressive coffee tools on sale. Have a look:

www. coffeegator.com