Theatre Book Prize: Shortlist Announced

The Society for Theatre Research has announced its Short List for the Theatre Book Prize, selected by this year’s judging panel from books published in 2011, submitted by publishers for their consideration.

A Dancer in Wartime by Gillian Lynne
(Chatto & Windus)

The Heaviest of Swells: A Life and Times in the Music Halls by Christopher Beeching
(DCG Publications)

Covering McKellen:  An Understudy’s Tale by David Weston
(Rickshaw Publishing)

Black and Asian Theatre in Britain: A History by Colin Chambers
(Routledge)

Ira Aldridge: the Early Years 1807-1833 and The Vagabond Years 1833-1852 by Bernth Lindfors
(University of Rochester Press/Boydell & Brewer)

The Censorship of British Drama 1900-1968 Volume 3 The Fifties by Steve Nicholson
(University of Exeter Press)

The Golden Generation: New Light on Post-war British Theatre Edited by Dominic Shellard
(British Library)

The winner will be announced at a reception at Theatre Royal Drury Lane on the morning of Wednesday 25th April 2012.

More at: http://www.str.org.uk/events/bookprize/index.html

How to Produce, Perform and Write an Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Show

A guidebook for Edinburgh Fringe newbies, by Ian Fox

‘How to Produce, Perform and Write an Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Show’ is guide book aimed at performers doing their first shows at the Fringe which can help save them money and heartache.

Originally based on the articles on the author’s blog site, the articles are rewritten and expanded to include all aspects of fringe production, plus it’s full of war stories about how he came about doing things, and everything learnt in nine years of producing shows.

The book is on Amazon in electronic version for the price of a latte.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Produce-Perform-Edinburgh-Fringe-ebook/dp/B007FN9FD8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1330610997&sr=8-4

It’s on Lulu as a printed version for the price of two lattes and muffin.

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/how-to-produce-perform-and-write-an-edinburgh-fringe-comedy-show/1893356

 

LSE Space for Thought Literary Festival: Relating Cultures

The program for the LSE Space for Thought Literary Festival has been announced.

LSE’s 4th Literary Festival will continue our exploration of the relationship between the academic cultures of the arts and social sciences, as well as the interaction between global cultures, and the art of communication and language.

HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE

The Medicine Chest of the Soul: Arts and Health
Date: Wednesday 29 February 2012, 4.30-6pm
Speakers: Jane Davies, David McDaid, Margaret Perkins, Jeanette Winterson

AS Byatt: Myths for the Modern World

Myths for a Modern World
Date: Wednesday 29 February 2012, 7-8.30pm
Speakers: AS Byatt, Robert Irwin

Class Wars/Culture Wars: Owen Jones and the Chavs
Date: Thursday 1 March 2012, 5-6.30pm
Speakers: Sue Christoforou, Professor Mary Evans, Owen Jones

Charles Dickens: the best of men, the worst of men
Date: Friday 2 March 2012, 12.30-2pm
Speakers: Claire Tomalin, John Carey

Liars League. Come and hear some new writing

Tonight (12 July) in Cavendish Square, and every month

Once a month, people gather to hear new short fiction by aspiring new writers, read by actors, in a pub in London’s Cavendish Square.

There are usually six or seven pieces to hear, covering the whole spectrum of fiction – tragedy, fantasy, comedy, sci-fi and everything in between and beyond. Tickets are a fiver, and included in that price is usually the opportunity to win a book or two, donated by a friendly publisher.

Details of what, when and where can be found on the Liars League website at www.liarsleague.typepad.com

You’ll also find details of how to apply to be one of the readers at a Liars League event, and of course how to apply to have your fiction read to the enthusiastic audience that is a feature of the events.

Each event has a theme. Tonight’s (12 July) is Hot and Bothered, which promises some interesting listening. Forthcoming themes include: East and West (9 August), Shock and Awe (13 Sept) and Fear and Loathing (11 Oct)

Storytails – new fiction readings. This Sunday’s is free

Featuring a reading from Nick Taussig

Nick Taussig reads from 'Love and Mayhem'

This Sunday, 26th June, author Nick Taussig will read from his debut novel “Love and Mayhem” at the Storytails event in Stoke Newington.

For more information about Nick’s work, check his website… www.nicktaussig.com

Featuring readings of short fictional stories from some professional, and some not-quite-so professional writers, Storytails is held on the last Sunday of every month from 3pm at The Drop, beneath The Three Crowns pub on the corner of Stoke Newington Church St, London N16 0LH.

The aim of the event is to give those who enjoy writing short stories the opportunity to share original tales in a relaxed and friendly environment.

Any profits from donations received are given on alternating months to local charities Off Centre, and the North London Action for the Homeless.

Find out more about Storytails and the Storytails readings at their website: http://www.storytails.org

Is theatre safe in the hands of grown-ups?

Mike Bradwell’s book The Reluctant Escapologist wins the Theatre Book Prize

Mike Bradwell wins the Theatre Book Prize

Mike Bradwell, whose affection for the late Ken Campbell seems to know no bounds, has won this year’s Theatre Book Prize for The Reluctant Escapologist.

Speaking for the judges, critic Jann Parry said, “Because (he) immersed himself so enthusiastically in the theatrical experiments of the 1960s and 70s, he’s remained a believer even while he’s clear-headed – and very funny – about the madder idealism of some of the practitioners. He’s provocative, witty, scabrously honest and very angry about admin personnel who believe they’re worth more than the artists they’re supposed to support.”

Mike Bradwell’s advice to people with a theatre dream, ‘Find a play. Squat a building. Now make a show’.

The Reluctant Escapologist is published by Nick Hern books, price £14.99

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

A book review, by Chantal Pierre-Packer

One thing I really enjoy is going into a library to see the numerous shelves full of books.  It is always a special occasion and it requires time to savour.  I need to be able to browse slowly, look, read the blurbs, read a few sentences and take in the whole experience of choosing a new book to read.  I like the smell of the books.  I like the feel of the pages and the sounds it makes as you flick the whole book through.  I like looking at the cover designs.  The books are full of stories, ready to take you to wherever your imagination will go.  People have taken the time to mine their imagination or their life and to share this all with us.  They create new worlds, delve into human emotion and tell us new things about the world and ourselves.

It is especially exciting when I find a book, which has such a compelling story and narrative that you just do not want to put it down.  I discovered such a wonderful book in ‘The Road’ by Cormac McCarthy.

The Road tells the story of a man and his son.  They are in America and something awful has befallen the world and now it and everything in it is dying.  The man and the boy have survived but the world they are now existing in is cold, dark and dangerous.  They travel the road, trying to find food, clothes and all they need to stay alive.

Cormac McCarthy writes with such skill and his description of the landscape and everything around is what makes the book stand out.  The story is broken up into paragraphs on each page.  This makes it quite easy to read and gives it a different quality to usual novels.  It mirrors the condition of the man and the boy; fractured, uncertain and living by the second.  The sentences are simple and effective.  When dialogue between the father and son is given, it is in short sentences or a few words. The conversation is written so each person’s words are on a new line so you can tell who is speaking.  There is not the A said this and B said that.  It is refreshing.

“Papa?

Shh. Stay down.

I’m so scared.

Shh”

The simplistic way they talk shows how they now live and how much is left unsaid between them.

The father and son are referred to as ‘the man’ and ‘the boy’.  I think this may be for the reader to keep at a distance; do not get attached, their lives are uncertain.  However, this draws you in even more.  You do not focus on who they were but who they have become and the struggle they face.  Names are no longer used in their world.  The past has been almost forgotten and the only drive now is living in the hope and love of God and trying to stay alive.  There are good people and bad people.  The man and boy are the good guys.  They have encountered various pain and suffering and find new horrors along their journey.  They always have their hope however and their love for one another which is admirable.

The story moves at a steady pace, never too fast.  You feel as though you are taking the journey with them.  You walk when they walk and rest when they rest.  Time passes and the changes within their bodies and in the world around them is described in detail.  You can almost imagine the smells, the weather and the level of the light that is depicted.

The things we take for granted, such as warmth and being able to eat, are taken and thrown at you as you read how they fight daily for survival.  It makes you think of those in the world now who are in the same situation.  The love they have for each other is so strong and the man has taught his son well.  Every day brings new challenges.

I read this book as often as I could; on transport, anywhere, a quick five minutes here or there.  It was thoroughly enjoyable to read.  There are some unpleasant moments but Cormac McCarthy deals with it all delicately and tastefully.  I recommend this book to anyone who wants to remember the love that is all around us.  The hope we all need to keep in our hearts.  We must never give up and stay determined and driven.  Families are important.  Life is important.  We can all make a positive difference in life.  We just need to believe in ourselves and be around those that will encourage us too.  Go out and really live life.  It is such a blessing.

(c) Chantal Pierre-Packer, January 2011

‘One Day’ by David Nicholls

‘Have you read it yet?  You have to read it!’

My friends and co-workers had been pestering me to no end.  Apparently ‘One Day’ was the book of the summer, and it certainly seemed that way.  Glowing reviews of it were published on billboards and in tube stations, with accolades from Nick Hornby, Tony Parsons, and ‘The Guardian’.  Twenty-something commuters clutched it to their chests like a sort of manifesto, engrossed and oblivious to everything else.  So I stalled.

There’s a part of my nature which abhors mass popular culture.  It’s a remnant from my petulant teen years that I still struggle to shake.  I haven’t listened to the radio for the better part of a decade.  I’ve never owned a ‘Girls Aloud’ album, and the minute my favourite band sells out the O2 I know it’s all over for me.  I’ve never read ‘The Da Vinci Code’, ‘The Secret’, or any of the ‘Harry Potter’ books.  I don’t watch ‘East Enders’.

Now, I’m not particularly proud of myself, as I’m sure that I’m missing out on lots of enjoyable, entertaining things simply because I can’t relax, get past my snobbery, and let myself appreciate them.  Still, when I saw how much everyone loved ‘One Day’, it put me off in a massive way.  I came up with excuses not to read it.  I spent a week forgetting to put it in my work bag.  I got caught up reading Kristen Reed’s ‘The Ice Age’ instead (which, as it happens, was worth neither the time nor the money spent special ordering it). Finally, the nagging from people whose opinions I respect cracked me.  I caved in and started reading it.

I was immediately hooked.  For anyone who was as put off by the hype as I was, all I can say is this: don’t be.  This is one of those rare occurrences where the object of excessive praise is actually thoroughly deserving of it.  ‘One Day’ engrossed me, left me oblivious to everything else.  I started pestering my friends and co-workers to read it.  I read when I should have been sleeping, daydreamed about reading while I was at work, and kept missing my stop on the tube.

I’m reticent to say too much about the plot, as I don’t want to give anything away that would spoil the enjoyment of discovering this very special book for the first time.  What I will mention are the things David Nicholls has done exceptionally well.  The use of humour, for a start, is spot on.  Ironic observations about life, popular culture references from the past twenty years, and gentle sarcasm left me smiling with each page turn.  The characters are also extremely human.  They have flaws, sometimes painfully so, but they are endearing in a way that leaves you recognising bits of yourself in them.  I identified so much with the character of Emma that I actually wondered whether the author had been hiding cameras around my flat.

Most crucially, though, are the relationships ‘One Day’ creates.  This is not a stereotypical, cookie-cutter romance.  Emma and Dexter seem to loathe and annoy as much as they love and respect each other.  In short, theirs is a story that you will relate to, fall in love with, and which will leave you longing for more when it’s done.

(c) Megan Hunter

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (1950), by C. S. Lewis

Book Review by Wendy Thomson

There has been four inches of snowfall and Reading looks like Narnia.  I stand underneath the lamp-post outside BMW Coopers, holding up my umbrella to keep snowflakes out of my eyes, and I feel like Mr Tumnus the faun about to discover Lucy appearing from the wardrobe.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, the second book of The Chronicles of Narnia, is my favourite story from childhood and I enjoy it just as much now, even though the days of sticking plasters on my knees and playing with my brothers is over.  In the story there are two sisters (Lucy, Susan) and their brothers (Edmund, John) who are evacuated from London during the Second World War to stay with an elderly professor who lives in a large house in the countryside.

The siblings play hide and seek and Lucy wanders into a spare room searching for a good hiding place.  She climbs inside a large wooden wardrobe; but finds at the back trees and snow, which is a bit of a shock after fur coats and mothballs.  Lucy has stumbled upon a magical world called Narnia, ruled by a wicked ice queen; who has made it always winter but never Christmas.  Ordinary animals can speak and a battle for good over evil is destined.

There is a rich variety of mythological creatures, some of which come from the classics and some created by the author.  We are told of unicorns, fauns giants, dwarfs, dryads, naiads, satyrs, centaurs, ogres, hags, cruels, incubuses, wraiths, horrors, efreets, sprites, orknies – perhaps C. S. Lewis was not fond of Scottish islanders – wooses, ettins, winged horses, even a dragon.

Magic exists.  When I was little – littler- I thought I could fly down the stairs, I could cast spells over snails from the garden, and I believed animals understood every word I said to them. C.S. Lewis connects magic to reality; any child can step into an ordinary wardrobe and find a world inhabited by talking beavers and be recognised as a daughter of Eve or a son of Adam.

Christianity is a frequent topic if you can ‘Adam and Eve’ it.  Aslan, the Lion is a living god of Narnia, a wise and benevolent force who inspires hope and liberation.  Like Jesus he sacrifices himself to save his people and he rises from the dead.  He has a large flock of Narnians.  His church is headed by the children who act as bishops – as kings and queens of Narnia they guide their subjects and set good laws.

The Lion and the Witch as individuals can be viewed as a metaphor for the soul.  Every person has good and evil inside them and experience internal conflict.  Decisions are made for love and fear.

It is a patriotic story – one that could be enjoyed whilst listening to ‘England my Lionheart’ by Kate Bush.  The Professor lives in a huge country house ‘so old and famous that people from all over England used to come and ask permission to see over it.’  It is pro monarchy – Aslan is ‘King of Beasts,’ the children are rightful rulers of Narnia destined to sit on the four thrones at Cair Paravel castle.  Peter and Edmund are knighted.  We distrust the pretender to the throne – the Witch attempts to legitimise her dictatorship through the self imposed title ‘Queen of Narnia and Empress of the Lone Islands.’

The battle between the Lion and the Witch echoes the war that the children left behind (World War II).  They have to grow up quickly and experience harshness, including cold (it’s always winter), hunger (enchanted Turkish Delight is given to Edmund which leaves him always wanting more) and death (Lucy and Susan witness Aslan being killed by the Witch).

The children are given weapons so that they can take part in the battle. Gifts received from Father Christmas include a sword and shield, bow and arrows, dagger and horn. C.S. Lewis tones down the violence for his intended audience.  The Witch is fond of turning rebellious inhabitants into stone using her magic wand – she’s not depicted as a mass murderer although her cruelty is evident.

Like the war taking place back in England there are informers: ‘there are trees that would betray us to her;’ traitors – Edmund is disloyal to his siblings and runs to the Witch after she offers him rank and privilege; and fierce opponents – Maugrim, chief of the Witch’s secret police is a scary SS-like wolf.

These are children that anyone can relate to.  The eldest – Peter and Susan – assume the role of the absent parents who care for and reprove the younger pair.  They have good manners – Lucy lends her handkerchief to those in need of such a useful item including Mr Tumnus the faun and Giant Rumblebuffin.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is inspirational because these ordinary children are special – they are saviours of a nation.  Instead of being scolded by Mrs Macready the Professor’s housekeeper, they bravely fight a war, heal the wounded, and fulfill a prophecy.

(c)  Wendy Thomson 2010

January 2010