“A sad tale’s best for winter”

MamilliusIt’s probably obvious already from this blog that I love stories:  I love them in books, I love them even more incarnate in the theatre.   I spent three years getting an English degree merely because it meant (in those heady carefree 1980s) the government would give me enough money to live on while I read stories.  More recently, I have been taking a course at my local university on research methods in Education and was delighted to discover that narrative analysis is a valid approach Continue reading →

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A foolish thing


Christmas is approaching:  every shop, magazine and TV advert tries to persuade us that an illusory Christmas can be ours if we just spend money on a particular gadget, fragrance, food production, type of alcohol or whatever.  Yesterday, I suppose I succumbed: Continue reading →

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The wheel is come full circle.

Back in the late 1970s and early 80s I was incredibly lucky.  My mum loved theatre and we spent our summer holidays in Stratford seeing every play we could in the course of a single week’s stay.  Over the years Continue reading →

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My tables. Meet it is I set it down.

My first blog Programmesmentioned exciting summer plans, so I thought I should follow that up with a quick update on the productions so far.   Continue reading →

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May cause drowsiness


The first symptom of stress is often mild insomnia – an onslaught of thoughts at 3am, which seize the defenceless, semi-wakeful moment and prevent one from turning over and relaxing back into rest.  At least that’s how it is for me.  Shakespeare, as ever, knew all about it:  think of Lady Macbeth, of Henry IV, or of the love-lorn protagonist of Sonnet 27:

Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed
The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;
But then begins a journey in my head
To work my mind, when body’s work’s expir’d: Continue reading →

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Restoration

June is my busiest month at work:  the usual tasks continue, while all the routines necessary to prepare for the new academic year also fall due.  I find it strangely amusing that, unless I work through a long list of IT processes, September would be chaos  – Continue reading →

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Just the ticket

My brand of retail therapy is to buy theatre tickets – there is even a special drawer at home to store these. Forget the “promise to pay the bearer” printed on a piece of currency: the potential crammed onto this small oblong with its commitment to a date, a time, a seat number, is infinitely more thrilling. Continue reading →

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Suggestive reading

I keep a note of books which look interesting (from reviews, friends’ suggestions and such like) and last weekend I converted this list into requests on the Library reservation service. A few days ago I received notification that the first book was available for collection and when I arrived at the branch today, there had clearly been another delivery. Continue reading →

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Luckier than I ever intended to be

At Wembley Arena last night, the incomparable Billy Bragg and the frankly thrilling Frank Turner performed to a packed and ecstatic crowd.  Yes, reader, I was there.   Being female, and at least twice the average age, put me definitely in the minority, but it was fantastic to be part of this welcoming, enthusiastic, egalitarian, full-throated, huge-hearted crowd celebrating our Wessex Boy’s success. Continue reading →

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Words, words, words

The other week (sorry for the delay in writing) I went to the NT Live broadcast of Comedy of Errors with some friends. This is not the place to dwell on the glories of the NT Live initiative, although it always makes me want to misquote The New Colossus – “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to watch great theatre”, as it gives access to those who haven’t the money, or the time, or the courage or the health to go to London. Continue reading →

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