This is a blog for friends and family members to get a wee report of the things ive seen and my personal opinions about them.It is mostly inconsequencial shit barely rescued by a mild seasoning of spellchecker.
Members of the public are welcome , as long as you promise not to get offended.
I was very intrigued how this seemingly unstageable production could possibly be put on.The Wilderness Of Tigers team put on a rehearsed reading for members of the public.
They treat the story as an intimate Family Drama , leaving off the grand themes , philosophical debates and analysis of the Slav spiritual celestial identity vis-a-vis the material imperial world.So we do not see The Grand Inquisitor , The high debates of the High Priesthood or The Parable of the Onion , which is a wise choice as far as a continuous stageable coherent flow for the audience is concerned.
The whole production was like a mixture of Frasier , Taggart and Still
Game all rolled into one , this may seem an insult for a production based
on a Dostoyevsky classic but is really a compliment in how they bring
the stripped-bare Karamazov Family Drama to life in an engaging way for a
local audience.
This so-called rehearsed reading contained a bristling passion from the cast you would only expect to witness in the most gripping setting of the opening night of a polished full production.The cast seem to really believe in the work and it shows in the gripping way they hold the rapt attention of the audience.
This lecture was based on the 14,000 page diary of an overseer and then
plantation owner in western Jamaica. Compiled from 1750 to 1786, it is
regarded as one of the most important documents depicting the brutal
realities of the lives of black slaves in the Caribbean. The content
ranges in remarkable detail across work, health, death, slave rebellion,
sex and punishment as well as many other issues.
It is a fact that the slavemaster Thomas Thistlewood regarded himself , and was regarded as a dedicated and valid member of the Enlightenment without question by his peers even though he treated the slaves under his control as little more than labouring , exploitable commodities.
In this video Tom discusses Scotlands historical perceptions in the creation of Empire and its functioning.
According to the Citizens Theatre website "The highly acclaimed production tells the history and the tragedy of
Scotland, performed as a Highland ceilidh. Song, humour and drama are
intermixed creating a unique theatrical event that remains as vital and
relevant today as it was when 7:84 Scotland first presented it, over 40
years ago.
This extraordinary play looks at the exploitation and economic
changes in the Scottish Highlands throughout history. Ruthless evictions
of 18th-century Highland crofters in favour of the more
economically-viable Cheviot sheep give way to the development of stag
hunts in game parks in the 19th century, while the 20th century brings
the exploitation of resources during the North Sea oil boom of the
1970s."
The play was first performed to an audience that was the baby boomers of the generation of the late 50s parents who , according to the Historian Tom Devine formed "the high noon of conservative unionism" of the 1957 general election when the Tories were the party of choice for a Scottish electorate believing in Britain , The Establishment and adopting a patriotic servile attitude to their "betters". This does make the dialogue and commentary of the play appear to be a little "spelled-out" and unnecessarily preachy to todays audience that responds more to subtle , implicit messages.
"In a show that, with its frequent audience engagement, puts collective
action at its heart, it makes plain perhaps more than ever before that
the common people have to claim the power back. In terms of updates,
there is a brief Donald Trump pastiche, but really there is little need.
In a week where oil is back on the agenda, while a headline on a BBC
website spoke of the Highland Clearances as "progress", such a piece of
serious fun is a necessary pleasure"
You can see the play in this brilliant broadcast by BBC Alba
For the most part,
though, it’s just Mark Thomas, the audience, and the art that conceals
art, as he tells his beautifully-paced and structured story of a quest
to find a valued part of his own past that he is afraid he may just have
invented, or mythologised. His point is that narrative is power; and
that if there is to be any chance of fighting back against the dominant
right-wing narratives of our time, then the stories told in the cause of
a more humane and sustainable future had better be true. In what’s
often called a “post-truth” culture, it’s an unfashionable view; but it
gives Mark Thomas’s show a weight, a structural strength, and a
passionate humanity that surpasses most other work on the Fringe by a
long Yorkshire mile, and has many members of the audience wiping away
tears, as the story finally reaches journey’s end.
Read more at: http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/theatre/theatre-review-mark-thomas-the-red-shed-1-4204269
In this video Mark Thomas gives his take on the Artists For Palestine UK display advertising the arrest of Palestinian Poet Dareen Tatour for writing a Poem against the ills of the Occupation and Settler Colonialism.
For the most part,
though, it’s just Mark Thomas, the audience, and the art that conceals
art, as he tells his beautifully-paced and structured story of a quest
to find a valued part of his own past that he is afraid he may just have
invented, or mythologised. His point is that narrative is power; and
that if there is to be any chance of fighting back against the dominant
right-wing narratives of our time, then the stories told in the cause of
a more humane and sustainable future had better be true. In what’s
often called a “post-truth” culture, it’s an unfashionable view; but it
gives Mark Thomas’s show a weight, a structural strength, and a
passionate humanity that surpasses most other work on the Fringe by a
long Yorkshire mile, and has many members of the audience wiping away
tears, as the story finally reaches journey’s end.
Read more at: http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/theatre/theatre-review-mark-thomas-the-red-shed-1-4204269
For the most part,
though, it’s just Mark Thomas, the audience, and the art that conceals
art, as he tells his beautifully-paced and structured story of a quest
to find a valued part of his own past that he is afraid he may just have
invented, or mythologised. His point is that narrative is power; and
that if there is to be any chance of fighting back against the dominant
right-wing narratives of our time, then the stories told in the cause of
a more humane and sustainable future had better be true. In what’s
often called a “post-truth” culture, it’s an unfashionable view; but it
gives Mark Thomas’s show a weight, a structural strength, and a
passionate humanity that surpasses most other work on the Fringe by a
long Yorkshire mile, and has many members of the audience wiping away
tears, as the story finally reaches journey’s end.
Read more at: http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/theatre/theatre-review-mark-thomas-the-red-shed-1-4204269
For the most part,
though, it’s just Mark Thomas, the audience, and the art that conceals
art, as he tells his beautifully-paced and structured story of a quest
to find a valued part of his own past that he is afraid he may just have
invented, or mythologised. His point is that narrative is power; and
that if there is to be any chance of fighting back against the dominant
right-wing narratives of our time, then the stories told in the cause of
a more humane and sustainable future had better be true. In what’s
often called a “post-truth” culture, it’s an unfashionable view; but it
gives Mark Thomas’s show a weight, a structural strength, and a
passionate humanity that surpasses most other work on the Fringe by a
long Yorkshire mile, and has many members of the audience wiping away
tears, as the story finally reaches journey’s end.
Read more at: http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/theatre/theatre-review-mark-thomas-the-red-shed-1-4204269
For the most part,
though, it’s just Mark Thomas, the audience, and the art that conceals
art, as he tells his beautifully-paced and structured story of a quest
to find a valued part of his own past that he is afraid he may just have
invented, or mythologised. His point is that narrative is power; and
that if there is to be any chance of fighting back against the dominant
right-wing narratives of our time, then the stories told in the cause of
a more humane and sustainable future had better be true. In what’s
often called a “post-truth” culture, it’s an unfashionable view; but it
gives Mark Thomas’s show a weight, a structural strength, and a
passionate humanity that surpasses most other work on the Fringe by a
long Yorkshire mile, and has many members of the audience wiping away
tears, as the story finally reaches journey’s end.
Read more at: http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/theatre/theatre-review-mark-thomas-the-red-shed-1-4204269
Alexei Sayle, Dave
Allen and the Yorkshire playwright Trevor Griffiths were early
influences on his political consciousness and his desire to entertain.
“I saw the play Comedians by Trevor Griffiths on TV in which he
discusses working class life and working class politics. I thought he
was an absolute genius, and it was a sketch by Dave Allen that my dad
used to explain to me how apartheid works. I declared myself an atheist
at 12, an anarchist at 16 and a Marxist at 18, I spent a year as a
Trotskyist and then went back to being a Marxist again. I’ve always been
an atheist though.”
Read more at: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/comedian-mark-thomas-on-how-a-yorkshire-shed-gave-him-his-big-break-1-7719110
“I’m really proud of
some of the things we achieved. We forced Nestlé to change their
packaging on baby milk and exposed Labour politician Michael Meacher who
was a buy-to-let landlord. In one episode we descended on Sellafield
and set up our own exhibition in the visitor centre to highlight the
fact that the local seagull droppings contained radioactive isotopes
that could only have come from the nuclear power station. They were
forced to admit liability and it cost them £1m to clean up their act.”
Read more at: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/comedian-mark-thomas-on-how-a-yorkshire-shed-gave-him-his-big-break-1-7719110
“I’m really proud of
some of the things we achieved. We forced Nestlé to change their
packaging on baby milk and exposed Labour politician Michael Meacher who
was a buy-to-let landlord. In one episode we descended on Sellafield
and set up our own exhibition in the visitor centre to highlight the
fact that the local seagull droppings contained radioactive isotopes
that could only have come from the nuclear power station. They were
forced to admit liability and it cost them £1m to clean up their act.”
Read more at: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/comedian-mark-thomas-on-how-a-yorkshire-shed-gave-him-his-big-break-1-7719110
“I’m really proud of
some of the things we achieved. We forced Nestlé to change their
packaging on baby milk and exposed Labour politician Michael Meacher who
was a buy-to-let landlord. In one episode we descended on Sellafield
and set up our own exhibition in the visitor centre to highlight the
fact that the local seagull droppings contained radioactive isotopes
that could only have come from the nuclear power station. They were
forced to admit liability and it cost them £1m to clean up their act.”
Read more at: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/comedian-mark-thomas-on-how-a-yorkshire-shed-gave-him-his-big-break-1-7719110
“I’m really proud of
some of the things we achieved. We forced Nestlé to change their
packaging on baby milk and exposed Labour politician Michael Meacher who
was a buy-to-let landlord. In one episode we descended on Sellafield
and set up our own exhibition in the visitor centre to highlight the
fact that the local seagull droppings contained radioactive isotopes
that could only have come from the nuclear power station. They were
forced to admit liability and it cost them £1m to clean up their act.”
Read more at: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/comedian-mark-thomas-on-how-a-yorkshire-shed-gave-him-his-big-break-1-7719110
“I’m really proud of
some of the things we achieved. We forced Nestlé to change their
packaging on baby milk and exposed Labour politician Michael Meacher who
was a buy-to-let landlord. In one episode we descended on Sellafield
and set up our own exhibition in the visitor centre to highlight the
fact that the local seagull droppings contained radioactive isotopes
that could only have come from the nuclear power station. They were
forced to admit liability and it cost them £1m to clean up their act.”
Read more at: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/comedian-mark-thomas-on-how-a-yorkshire-shed-gave-him-his-big-break-1-7719110
“I’m really proud of
some of the things we achieved. We forced Nestlé to change their
packaging on baby milk and exposed Labour politician Michael Meacher who
was a buy-to-let landlord. In one episode we descended on Sellafield
and set up our own exhibition in the visitor centre to highlight the
fact that the local seagull droppings contained radioactive isotopes
that could only have come from the nuclear power station. They were
forced to admit liability and it cost them £1m to clean up their act.”
Read more at: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/comedian-mark-thomas-on-how-a-yorkshire-shed-gave-him-his-big-break-1-7719110
“I’m really proud of
some of the things we achieved. We forced Nestlé to change their
packaging on baby milk and exposed Labour politician Michael Meacher who
was a buy-to-let landlord. In one episode we descended on Sellafield
and set up our own exhibition in the visitor centre to highlight the
fact that the local seagull droppings contained radioactive isotopes
that could only have come from the nuclear power station. They were
forced to admit liability and it cost them £1m to clean up their act.”
Read more at: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/comedian-mark-thomas-on-how-a-yorkshire-shed-gave-him-his-big-break-1-7719110
"Enjoyment of the show’s final act is substantially contingent on an appreciation of protracted instrumentals, but whether you’re a fan of long-form cosmic gnarl or not, you’ve got to agree that nobody does it quite like Young. Come a 15-minute Love and Only Love he’s lost in his own fretboard in front of 13,000 people, deafeningly coaxing out the final chord longer than entire songs had lasted in the show’s opening phase. After that it’s approving dad hugs all round for the band, and a short time later, a curfew-busting encore of Fuckin’ Up – a tractor-strength reminder why every generation that values howling riffs and angry dissent will find inspiration in Young’s evergreen natural anthems."
The songs ive picked are because the recordings were taken from very near where i was.
After The Garden:
This review from The Scotsman gives a succinct accurate appraisal.
In an odd reflection of the British Empire as a system at work the voices we hear are of a Scotsman , an Ulsterman and a Welshman in the form of the interrogator , policeman who makes the arrest and a compassionate gaoler.
"While Casement's interrogation by hard-nosed Scotsman Captain Hall is
initially respectful, as played by Stephen Clyde with grim-faced
politesse, good cop turns bad the next day as Casement's secret life is
unearthed. Benny Young invests a seasoned hang-dog gravitas to
Casement's exchanges with Hall, even as Hall compares him to Oscar
Wilde, another sexual rebel “evangelical of art, Ireland and buggery,”
as he puts it. Over eighty-minutes of cut and thrust punctuated by
flashbacks that sees each scene captioned as a misplaced file might be,
Arnott gets to the core of both men with forensic insight in this most
intimate of psychological thrillers."
This documentary looks into the life and times of Casement and his background and motivations including his trips to The Congo and Peru.
Drama was one my favourite Yes albums , one that gave them longevity when it looked they may disappear into a lost haze of 70s music without making the jump into being a current progressive band with life into the 80s and beyond.
This is Machine Messiah from the opening concert of the European Tour
I read in a biography nearly 30 years ago they always meant to do an extended version of "White Car" but never got round to it , in the concert they stuck to the original enigmatic 80 second version.
Was really impressed , back to their heavy jazz blues with arabesque
overtones , no thrills , no gimmicks , no distractions making Dave Brock
guitar the centre of attraction.
Also like they never done silver machine which Ive always found a naff song.
The bass player Haz Wheaton was immense.
Check out the jamming on this video:
And as the comment in this video says - what a tune
An unobtrusive spare set greeted the audience , always a good sign because it allows the dialogue to rightly take the centre-stage.
In the video below the actors give their take on the play and what its main themes are.
"WHERE Waiting for Godot is a play that can't begin, Endgame is a play
that can't finish. The two amount to pretty much the same thing, a wry
comment on the futility of existence performed as a wry comment on the
futility of theatre. The irony is that the
deeper these plays sink into life's meaningless void, the more life-affirming they become."
Sitting in front of me (one seat removed) was a Friend that is a playwright herself and has seen many productions of the play , she was too busy dropping newspapers which the guy next to me had to retrieve
from under her seat whilst i was too busy being in the zone that one has
to be in order to decipher what the hell you have just watched on stage when
attending Beckett.The production in the video below is her all time favourite.
