David Porter » Archive
No Lack of Madmen
No Lack of Madmen is my third self-published novel. Drawing on my experiences in Parliament (1987-97) and my own ageing processes, I’ve set it in an East Anglian care home designed for one-time MPs, Lords and senior civil servants. Furthermore, the place boasts its own ‘Commons Chamber‘ for residents to relive their glory days. The Protagonist Prone to increasing falls and mobility issues, my former MP James Ellington reluctantly moves in to calm the worries of his … Read entire article »
Filed under: Online and Web Writing, Writing
Detestable Things
What are detestable things? Detestable Things is my new novel. It’s self published under my Walk In My Shoes imprint. And it is just what you need if you’re in self-isolation and/or social distancing mode with time to kill on a yarn! Yes, it’s available in paperback or Kindle versions on Amazon. So what’s it all about? Well, drawn by the darker side, the world of revenge often with an element of surrealism and humour, my stories and novels are about often ordinary people. But those ‘ordinary’ people may behave or respond in unusual or strange ways. This one is what I intend to be the first of a series of novels set in Anguish Street. Here almost every front door hides the seen detestable things spoken of in the Book of Proverbs – ‘haughty eyes, a lying tongue and hands that shed … Read entire article »
Filed under: Writing
School Productions from Devised Drama
My School Productions from Devised Drama, is a teaching resource for the drama teacher looking to experiment with developing devised dramas into full school productions as a change from the usual scripted suspects schools so often use. It’s now available. Based on real experiences of devising a range of ideas developed into public shows at both Benjamin Britten High School, Lowestoft and Kirkley High School, Lowestoft it provides over 200 starting points, development grids, character ideas, themed approaches, drama teacher ‘block buster’ suggestions and research references galore. School Productions from Devised Drama is published on TES Resources with a free detailed Introduction followed by 13 separate sections: 1. Getting started, getting excited 2. Using (local) history 3. Using the 1960s 4. Using teenage angst 5. Using tradition 6. Using the generations 7. Using literature, TV and film 8. Using characters to drive … Read entire article »
Filed under: Drama Teaching
A Rebel’s Journey
A Rebel’s Journey My Life and Times My autobiography – A Rebel’s Journey – has been published under the imprint ‘Walk in My Shoes Publications’, as was my novel Old Men’s Dreams. The story of my life has been a while coming, but it’s I something I wanted to do and set my heart, mind and time on it spread over a four year period. I’ve promised to make a donation from sales of this book to Charcot Marie Tooth UK, the organisation looking out for sufferers of CMT. I am one such and my deformed feet did not define or stop me as I did much in my life, but they were a problem that had to be managed. They still are. My children shared living through my ten years in Parliament and afterwards with me. My grandchildren didn’t, so … Read entire article »
Filed under: Writing
Drama Resources for Drama Teachers
Drama resources! Drama resources! Drama resources! It’s the common cry of under-pressure drama teachers in all kinds of settings. Through this website and my published articles about drama teaching and often when I visit schools as part of my exam work, I find I am asked frequently about easily available and accessible drama resources. I have no problem sharing the articles I have published on here with ideas that have been tried and tested. Of course, lack of finance is very much part of the issue. I do think many of the books written to support teachers and students directly with ideas in general and exam oriented material in particular are good value as they should last years. But can I recommend anything else? For material aimed at students of drama directly from Key Stage … Read entire article »
Filed under: Drama Teaching
The Sound of Musicals
Musicals! – The Sound of Musicals, review published in the Eastern Daily Press, online edition on Saturday 30 September 2017. Musicals are worth celebrating anytime, but the Lowestoft Players have a special reason to pull out the musical theatre stops. Founded in 1967, the award winning Lowestoft Players open their golden jubilee year with ‘The Sound of Musicals’ at their very own Bethel Theatre. With over 50 musicals to their credit, not to mention pantomimes, plays and revues, this talented, continuously inventive all-age cast present a sparkling show offering a taste from most of those musicals! More than a concert of excerpts, this has dancing, moving, magnificent singing, comedy, emotion and a gripping sense of showbiz and spectacle – a hallmark of the Players’ house style. From traditional musicals like Annie Get Your Gun, Carousel, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reviews
Hairspray (Lowestoft Players’ version)
Hairspray review of Lowestoft players’ show at the Marina Theatre, Lowestoft in June 2017, published in the Lowestoft Journal, 9 June 2017 and also the Eastern Daily Press. Hairspray is one of those unlikely stories that became a big hit on film and stage. And big is the word. Lowestoft Players take the tale of oversize love triumphant in the cut-and-thrust of showbiz TV in early 1960s racially segregated USA and give it their special high energy, fun-packed treatment. Pace never slackens. Songs hit one after the other, with familiar Good Morning Baltimore, Nicest Kids in Town, I Can Hear the Bells and the standout I Know Where I’ve Been keeping everybody’s feet tapping. Cool choreography, smart direction, verbal and physical gags, rousing singing and a piece of social history with a message make a … Read entire article »
Filed under: Reviews