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Creating Great Arts in Hard Economic Times

Tough periods for the arts and practitioners can be inspirational, producing original and challenging work; but is it necessary to suffer for the arts? As recession haunts the early 21st Century, and budgets are cut to tackle government debt and borrowing, people ask: What is the role of the arts in hard times? How do they help people deal with both social problems/crises and their own private fears? Writing in the UK’s Daily Telegraph, 23 October, 2010, Mark Hudson wondered: ‘Is austerity the mother of creativity?’ As a writer himself, he described the difficulty of earning a living writing, particularly in the UK, but said that financial pressure can act as creative spur when people are forced to be inventive to survive. The same may be true of arts organisations, theatres, dance studios, … Read entire article »

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Acronyms Have Become a Language in Their Own “Write”

Officialdom, bureaucracy, media and people love acronyms, especially when they make a word that stands alone and means what the abbreviation actually is. The use of abbreviations to describe lengthy organisational names and regularly used terms in daily life has become well established. RAM (Random Access Memory) is universal in computers. Politics has embraced them wholesale. GOP is equally: Grand Old Party, Gallant Old Party or God’s Own Party. ACLU is American Civil Liberties Union and in the UK SNP is readily acknowledged as Scottish National Party. FLOTUS (First Lady of the United States), GOTV (Get Out the Vote) and WaPo (Washington Post) need little explanation in the USA. In the currency of communication across boundaries, an agreed, concise and comprehensible way of describing complex issues and structures is essential. It’s crucial … Read entire article »

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Making Fun of Parliament & Politicians: A Fine British Tradition

Britain has long enjoyed a liberty to deflate political pomposity and bring egos to earth with art, print & performance that is envied in other democracies In July 2007, Press Gazette reported that New Zealand’s Parliament voted ‘far-reaching powers to control satire and ridicule of MPs in Parliament, attracting a storm of media and academic criticism’. The new standing orders dealt with use of images of Parliamentary debates, and made it a contempt of Parliament for anyone to use footage of the chamber for “satire, ridicule or denigration”.’ No such prohibition yet exists in the UK. Indeed, there is a tradition of criticising policies and politicians through comedy, satire, ridicule, lampooning and caricature. The UK Parliamentary website argues that political satire ‘represents a distinctive and innovative tradition in British art and is … Read entire article »

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A Christmas Carol

Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 19 December 2011   Charles Dickens’ iconic tale of redemption from darkness, A Christmas Carol, is a seasonal but timeless favourite, and The Maddermarket is true to the spirit of the original classic. Besides the well-known ghosts, the Cratchitt family, the nephew and, of course, the great British curmudgeon Ebenezer Scrooge (Noel James), the play has many minor parts, some doubled up well by the large company. The use of some of these characters as a Greek-style chorus to convey the narrative, comment and directly address the audience effectively sheds new light on the familiar. Movement is restricted on the stage, but even so, the sombre, death-like atmosphere of those Victorian days was captured, including the chill grimness of the counting house. The tragedy of the impoverished … Read entire article »

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Celebrities’ Jobs and Head-Starts Before They Were Famous

Some famous people get a lift-up in life from already successful parents; others have to work their way up from unpromising, often humble, beginnings. Stories and pictures about celebrities, particularly when they were children or high school kids seem to be endlessly fascinating. The lives of such people who started other careers before they heard fame knock on their door calling them to public stages, are equally absorbing. Reality TV shows like America’s/Britain’s Got Talent or The X Factor frequently take older people or starry-eyed teenagers from colleges, supermarket check-outs, restaurants, telesales or almost anything except what they once only could dream about. British comedians and presenters Clive Anderson and Harry Hill were both general medical practitioners and magician Paul Daniels was an accountant before deciding that they could earn more making … Read entire article »

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The Waiting Game: Playing For Life’s Meaning in Literature

Most writers inspired by the theme of humans made to wait, have used it to say life is hopeless, pointless and futile. That could be seen as depressing. The human need or compulsion to wait, is both natural as a feeling, and obvious as a theme for literature and movies. Waiting is stronger than queueing. It’s not standing in line for rations, for a ride at a theme park; it’s a wait which can take years, and perhaps with no apparent purpose. ‘It’s better to travel hopefully than to arrive to disappointment’ is an old adage. Anticipation can be fun in itself, excitement about something pleasant can add to the joy. However, dashed hopes, the wait for something intangible or terrible is more appealing to creatives. The idea of getting justice or … Read entire article »

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GCSE: The Musical

Mini Mouth Youth Theatre at The Cut, Halesworth Abridged review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 12 December 2011 Full review published in the East Anglian Daily Times, 13 December 2011. After NHS The Musical, and musicals about Titanic, Thalidomide and Ofsted, the time has surely come for one about the General Certificate of Secondary Education. It comes in the form of an original piece written and directed by James Holloway, leader of the Mini Mouth Youth group at The Cut. The large open stage was a perfect setting for an energetic ensemble of thirty young to older teenagers. This group are being trained in theatre techniques and performing arts in their own time, and it is a joy to see some success stories of tomorrow learning their craft today, and mastering the discipline needed to … Read entire article »

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UK Christmas Number One Hits: Time to Grow Out of Them

Antithesis of seasonal goodwill, the Christmas bestseller is invariably controversial, often totally irrelevant to the season and now certainly out of date. Often seen as a badge of honour for artists, the race for the Christmas Number One single dominates news and record company/artiste planning for months on end. The Christmas chart used to last for two weeks over the Christmas/New Year season, so it was much prized in commercial terms, if not artistic. UK charts started in 1952, after appearing in New Musical Express; before that, figures were based on sales of sheet music. Once the charts began, the immediate controversy arose over how to measure the Christmas winner. The UK Christmas Number One was that at the top of the UK Singles Chart on the week before Christmas Day, based … Read entire article »

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Pop Songs and Band Names Inspired By Places, Names and Numbers

A great party game, or one to occupy everybody on long journeys: think of all the song titles about places, people, night, day, love, clowns, food, colours. From time to time, a band comes along with an original, unusual or plain weird name. Who’d have thought The Grateful Dead, The Kinks, The Mindbenders, Moby Grape, Limp Bizkit, A Flock of Seagulls or The Electric Prunes would take off? Other out of the ordinary, left field names, like Large Marge and the Tell ‘Em I Sent Ya’s or Dead Ant Farm are known by fans alone. Actual places have become common inspiration for band names: Alabama, Boston, Chicago, Europe, Asia, Bay City Rollers; while locality inspiration struck E Street Band, Kansas, Sugarhill Gang, and Backstreet Boys. However, it’s what inspires songs that is … Read entire article »

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Entertaining Angels

Sewell Barn Theatre, Norwich Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 7th December 2011.   There is always an excited first night buzz of anticipation at the Sewell Barn, as the audience climb up to share the most intimate stage in the region. Nobody was disappointed. One one level it’s simply a well-crafted play. The widow of a village clergyman is struggling in the aftermath of his death, with her sister home from abroad, her daughter and the young woman who is to be the new vicar. The humour from situation and character is spot on, the Bible and Christian references apt and telling. However, secrets unearthed, painful truths revealed, and the fact that she can still see and talk to her departed man, put it on a higher level altogether. Mandy Kiley gives a stunning … Read entire article »

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