Author: Ian Louis Harris

Several (Seven) Seasonal Events, December 2024

Family gathering at Buenasado in Bristol, 7 December 2024

Gosh it was a busy December of gatherings again this year. Also busy work-wise. Indeed Janie took the following picture early in the month, which should remind me of December 2024 just as much as the gatherings memoirs.

Looks like I’m concentrating on some serious shit

Family Gathering In Bristol, 7-8 December 2024

Janie and I took an Airbnb quite near to Hil and Chris’s place. We also visited them at home before the big bash at Buenasado, which was even closer to our Airbnb so we walked to the restaurant. The headline picture tells the main tale.

Tired after a hard week, a long drive and a steak supper? Moi??

Tennis Committee & Club Night At Lord’s, 11 December 2024

My first go at a committee meeting for real tennis, followed by Club Night, which Andrew Hinds kindly curated until I was able to escape the pavilion and trek across the way to the court. It was a fun evening. By the end of the evening, I had probably played a bit more than I should, but that’s Club Night for you.

No photos from that evening but my technique probably still looks like my 2016 shod.

Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner At Spaghetti House Goodge Street, During Which I Won The Hodd, 12 December 2024

What a bunch of quizzical clowns: Keith, Graham, Barry, John, Hugh, Mark & Sue

The Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner is traditionally, at this time of year, a gathering of the NewsRevue alumni clan with lots of quizzes. We have played for the Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Trophy for a great many years, but recently we also play for the Mike Hodd Trophy, as NewsRevue founder and mentor Mike Hodd also shed this mortal coil a few years ago.

Barry Grossman is probably our most consistent quiz winner, who once again won the Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Trophy, less confounded by Sue’s quiz than the rest of us.

Look how much it means to him…

I was delighted and astounded in equal measure to win “The Hodd” this year, based on John Random’s eminently suitable (for me) spoof police interrogation quiz questions based on song lyrics. I believe that makes me the third holder of The Mike Hodd Memorial Trophy:

  • 2022: Hugh Ryecroft
  • 2023: John Random
  • 2024: Me.
…and look how much it means to me.

As with the Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Trophy, it is not possible to win twice in a row, as tradition insists that the winner sets the quiz the following year. I need to put my thinking cap on now to design that 2025 quiz.

For the second year in a row, I road-tested the Z/Yen seasonal quiz on the NewsRevue crowd, with predictably hilarious results.

Hugh Ryecroft, who knows a thing or two about quizzes in a professional capacity, was very complimentary about the quiz while being suitably puzzled by it.

If any reader fancies having a go at the 2024 Z/Yen seasonal quiz, then by all means use the pdf linked here (or the image below). If you e-mail your answers to me – e.g. through the Contact Us link, and if you leave your contact details, I’ll mark your homework and send it back to you.

Z/Yen Seasonal Event At Watermen’s Hall, 13 December 2024

I’ve got no photos from the event, so an image of my quiz will have to do. And an image of the song.

I have also written up the event for Now & Z/Yen – click here. As always, it was a good fun afternoon which rendered the rest of the day a write-off.

Angela & John’s Golden Wedding Anniversary, Their Place, 15 December 2024

Fifty years on

We had a most enjoyable afternoon at cousin Angela & John Kessler’s place, to help them celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. I wasn’t at the wedding itself 50 years ago, which was a very grown-up affair at the Dorchester, but I did attend the pre-nuptial aufruf…

End Term At Alleyn’s, A Big Moka & An Aufruf, 8 to 14 December 1974

…which, Angela and John reminded me, was at Stanmore shule and then at John’s mother’s place. I did experience the aftermath of Angela and John’s wedding vicariously, by experiencing a very grumpy mum and hungover dad the morning after the wedding, ahead of my own “Marathon-Man-like-trauma” that day:

After Alleyn’s Advent Term: Comic Capers, Jolly Japes, Marathon Mania, Tempos & Timpos, 15 to 21 December 1974

Anyway, fifty years later, I am apparently grown-up enough to attend an anniversary gathering. I can faithfully report that I did not try to fool anyone with joke shop sweets, nor did I set off any “stinkeroos”, during the 50th anniversary party. Proof positive, if proof were needed, that I have grown up a bit in the last 50 years.

Our table.

Our table comprised an eclectic mix of interesting people, including, to my left, two branches of the Aarons family, cousins of Angela’s from the other side of her family, who used to live in Woodfield Avenue across the road from us. It was lovely to catch up with them. To my right, friends of Angela & John’s whom they had known for many years, all of whom were very friendly and interesting folk.

Youngsters table, with Ed, Vivian, Andrew and the kids

It was a very enjoyable afternoon. Not only was it a lively and friendly gathering, with refreshingly short yet moving speeches, but the catering was seriously good too, thanks to Adam and his catering team (see below).

Adam leading his team by example

In my December 1974 diary, when “reviewing” the grub after the aufruf, I wrote:

Meal was excellent

A heck of a lot has changed in 50 years, but the phrase works just as well for the anniversary meal at John and Angela’s place.

Cousin Bethany & Jesse Pop In From Australia For Dinner At The Marquis Cornwallis, 18 December 2024

Bethany, Jesse & Me in The Marquis Cornwallis

On the other side of the family and from the other side of the world, a message, seemingly from a young woman, through Facebook, about a week ahead of the visit:

Hi! My dad tells me we are related. Dad said you might be able to tell me the family tree connection.

My first thought was that this must be one of those scams, quite possibly written by an old Nigerian man with a fake young female identity. But the face did look a tad familial and a quick check on Facebook traced Bethany to be Frederick Krasey’s daughter and Debbi Krasey’s niece.

As luck would have it, I was free on the one evening that made sense for Bethany and husband Jesse before they whizz off around Europe for many weeks.

They were staying in Bloomsbury, very close to where Fred stayed when I met him on his visit 10+ years ago.

Short notice for the Wednesday before Christmas is not ideal timing ahead of booking a decent place, but The Marquis Cornwallis, which I know of old from hanging around that part of town, is a good cross between gastro pub and good honest pub grub. It was the first place I tried and they took my booking.

It’s always a little strange meeting such relatives for the first time. In cousinhood terms, Bethany is my second cousin once removed, which sounds very far removed, but it puts her into exactly the same category as people like Mark & Hilary Briegal and/or Adam & Michael Green, whom I have known pretty well for sixty years.

Adam, Mark, Hilary (torturing Mark), Michael (laughing) & me (perplexed). 1964

Different generational/age shift on the Krasey side, obvs.

Anyway, it was a super evening with Bethany and Jesse, except for one mysterious absence. You see, Bethany has started a blog for their travels, which I joined once I knew I was to meet them in London:

Saying goodbye to our home of 7 years, as we head off for 4 months of travel!

In that blog piece, Bethany introduces their travelling companion, Yoshi.

Naturally, ahead of booking The Marquis, I asked whether Yoshi would be joining us for dinner and Bethany said:

Jesse wouldn’t go anywhere without Yoshi! And so, Yoshi will indeed be joining us on our night about town. 

So where was Yoshi that evening? Bethany and Jesse were strangely silent on the topic and I was too timid to ask. But on reflection, I think this is a mystery that simply must be solved. Otherwise we might have to get Interpol involved.

But apart from the unexplained absence of Yoshi, we had a very pleasant evening and hopefully will be able to see each other again, when the Roaming Duo return to Blighty in March.

Dedanists’ Society Seasonal Lunch At Lemonia, 19 December 2024

Despite the fact that I was to a large extent “seasonal-evented-out” by the time this event came around…and despite the fact that I am not really the “long-wet-lunch” type, there is something so very heart-warming and enjoyable about the Dedanists’ Society annual lunch, that I cannot now resist putting my name down for it as a seasonal must.

It is a gathering of the real tennis enthusiasts clan – about 35 of us gathered this year in that private room at Lemonia that works so very well for this event.

I noticed Jonathan Ellis-Miller taking a gazillion photographs this year, and I am sure that photograph taking is quite a regular thing. Yet the Dedanists’ Society website is utterly devoid of pictures from Lemonia lunches passim.

I briefed DeepAI as politely as I possibly could and it mustered the following image which, I must say, is not a bad attempt based on a dozen or so words:

DeepAI imagines a gathering of Dedanists in a Greek Restaurant

If Jonathan Ellis-Miller would care to provide a genuine photo, I can add a real photo of real tennis enthusiasts. But in any case I genuinely had a great time and sense that most if not all attendees did similarly.

Ton Koopman 80th Birthday Celebration, Soloists of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Wigmore Hall, 29 November 2024

Ton Koopman, Paris, Cité de la Musique, 2008, Photo by Paul Ruet, CC 3.0

What a lovely, relaxing concert this was. Not so relaxing getting to The Wig on a Friday evening in the run up to Christmas. Nor all that relaxing navigating the inners of a packed Wigmore Hall. But once we were in our seats…bliss.

Janie must have asked me three times if it was ACTUALLY Ton Koopman‘s birthday that day. I said “probably not” and was right, but he had just turned 80 a few week’s before the concert, so this must be his 80th birthday tour.

A man who has dedicated his career to the Baroque canon, we sensed that Koopman surrounds himself with the finest exponents of baroque music, making a happy atmosphere and sound with those people.

Here is a link to the programme on The Wigmore Hall site. If by chance anything befalls that link, here is a scrape.

All of the pieces were by Telemann. Before the interval, we heard:

  • Trio Sonata in D minor for recorder, violin and continuo TWV42:d7
  • Trio Sonata in G minor for oboe, violin and continuo TWV42:g5
  • Sonata in F minor for bassoon and continuo TWV41:f1
  • Trio Sonata in F for violin, viola da gamba and continuo TWV42:F10
  • Quartet in D minor for recorder, traverso, bassoon and continuo from Tafelmusik II TWV43:d1

After the interval we heard:

  • Trio Sonata in C for recorder, traverso and continuo TWV42:C1
  • Quartet in G for traverso, oboe, violin and continuo TWV43:G2
  • Trio Sonata in F for recorder, viola da gamba and continuo TWV42:F3
  • Quartet in G for recorder, oboe, violin and continuo TWV43:G6

You might get a feel for the sound from the following YouTube, which includes Robert Smith (whom we saw) on the bass viol and focuses on recorder sonatas, of which we heard a few:

Or this one, which is a live performance of a Telemann trio sonata with recorder and viol:

Or this one, a movement from the Oboe Sonata g5 recorded by Ton Koopman and his then mates 30 years ago:

Indeed, that 1994 album looks great – I have playlisted it on my YouTube Music here – this link should work even if it looks crossed out.

Tender by Eleanor Tindall, Bush Studio, 23 November 2024

Janie and I love the Bush Theatre and we love the Bush Studio.

Sometimes love puts people through trials and ordeals. On a horribly wet, blowy night, Janie and I wondered whether we love the Bush THAT much when we set off to see this show.

No pressure, but it had better be good…

…said a windswept me to the faintly-amused-rather-than-horrified young woman who sold me the play text.

We needn’t have worried. The Bush Studio has, once again, found and produced a truly excellent piece of small-scale theatre.

Here is a link to the Bush page on this play/production.

Light on plot and heavy on coincidence, the play explores the love trials and ordeals of two young women who fall for each other but who both, in different ways, working their way out of relationships with men. The piece is laced with symbolism and surrealism, at times reminiscent of Lorca, at other times reminiscent of Greek tragedy. We both liked its weirdness.

The play is performed as a two-hander by Nadi Kemp-Sayfi and Annabel Baldwin. We had seen Nadi Kemp-Sayfi before – in A Museum In Baghdad. Both are excellent actresses. The strength of the theatrical experience is surely down to those two and the director, Emily Aboud, who surely got the most out of their undoubted talents.

We saw the last preview. The audience was a little sparse, but perhaps that was a preview thing; a stormy Saturday before Monday’s Press Night. The audience was mostly people who were a lot younger than us; makes a change to go to places where we bring the average age up considerably.

We left the theatre feeling thoroughly exhilarated and genuinely glad that we weathered the storms to see that production. Having foreshadowed the tempestuousness of the relationships on show in the play, the weather then pandered to us as we left The Bush, keeping the wind and piss to a minimum for our journey home, before letting rip again soon after we got home.

It looks as though some tickets, especially for later in the run, are still available, whereas some nights are sold out or down to the last few. We’d thoroughly recommend this play/production, so if you fancy it, book early to avoid disappointment. Runs until 21 December 2024.

An Afternoon & Evening At The Queen’s Club Watching The British Open & Dining With The Prossers, 22 November 2024

A very kind invitation from Richard Prosser, my oftentimes doubles partner for The Dedanists…

A Couple Of Special Afternoons & Evenings At The Queen’s Club With The Dedanists’ Society, 8 & 24 May 2024

…to join him for an afternoon watching quality doubles at The British Open, followed by dinner, with Janie and Geraldine joining us for the grub bit.

Richard secured us front row seats in the dedans gallery, where we saw the following quarter-finals:

  • Rob Fahey & Steve Virgona v Louis Gordon & Rob Shenkman;
  • Tim Chisholm & Camden Riviere v Vaughan Hamilton & John Woods-Casey.

On arrival, I ran into a great many real tennis friends – many of whom I know from Lord’s. Indeed, Richard and I estimated that, at the start of that afternoon session, there were more MCC members than Queen’s members watching!

Janie made good time getting to Queen’s for dinner, so was able to join us for the last 20-30 minutes of the second match we saw.

Feeling envious that you didn’t see those matches? Or wondering what they looked like? Or wanting to refresh your memory? Here are the highlights reels for those two matches. I recall a great many highlights in fact, so the reels might not have captured them all:

The food at The Queen’s Club is very, very good these days – it has certainly come on a long way, catering-wise, since the 1990’s:

Lawn Tennis At Queen’s, In Which I Inadvertently Deployed Gamesmanship Masterfully, Yet Still Lost, 24 June 1999

Richard had not yet met Janie before and neither Janie nor I had previously met Geraldine. It was a great pleasure to spend an evening with those two, eating good food and chatting about all sorts.

Janie and I continued to get pleasure from this event for the rest of the weekend. The doubles semi-finals were on the Sunday and once we had decided to have a quick peep at those on the stream, we were hooked. The first of the semi-finals in particular was a humdinger:

Janie and I also felt quite smug about our modern tennis experience that weekend. Although the weather was shocking, we found a gap in the weather each day to have a decent enough game of “lawners” outdoors.

But the prevailing good feeling from the weekend was that most enjoyable late afternoon and evening on the Friday with Richard & Geraldine Prosser.

A Joyful Day Of International Real (Court) Tennis At Lord’s, Followed By Dinner, With The Burghers Of Newport Rhode Island, 13 November 2024

l to r standing: Peter, Graeme, Giles, Graham, Me, Jonathan, Piers, Chris, Nick, Paul T, Paul B-B, Kelsey, Susan, Noel, Ellen, Steve, Tony. l-r kneeling: Keith, Chris, Sarah. With thanks to Kelsey Dolan for this & other photos from the day

Long in the planning, a delegation of tennis enthusiasts from Newport, Rhode Island ventured across the pond to play real tennis (or, as they call it over there, court tennis) at the several courts in and near London. This day was their Lord’s day.

I was delighted and honoured to be selected for the MCC team, this being only my second opportunity to represent the club at international club level. My first international was actually my first ever match for the MCC, report linked here and below:

MCC v The Wanderers, Real Tennis Match, Lord’s, 10 September 2016

Newport Casino is a fascinating-sounding place, steeped in tennis history; home to the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the original location of the tournament now known as the US Open (lawn) as well as a court tennis facility and much else. Sounds like my sort of casino – I like those that aren’t gambling houses.

Perhaps it was the club’s deep links with history, perhaps it was my remembering seeing Rodin’s The Burghers of Calais in several places on my first visit to the USA in the 1980s…

In the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden, Late November 1989

…but I’m not entirely sure why I imagined the visiting delegation in the style of the Burghers of Calais. Anyway, in an attempt to envisage our visitors a bit better before the day, I asked the DeepAI Image Generator for help:

Rodin’s The Burghers Of Calais depicted with tennis rackets in their hands, DeepAI

The picture made me laugh, although it seems that two of Rodin’s six burghers don’t play tennis and that all of them have grown “Eustache beards” since Rodin’s day. Anyway, I can safely state that our friendly and charming guests from Newport did not look like those Calais burghers. Some wags might suggest that the AI depiction suits the burghers of the Marylebone Cricket Club more than those of Newport Casino.

Giles Pemberton, looking suitably burgher-like, receiving a tribute from Tony at the end of match ceremony.

Graeme Marks presenting a ceremonial MCC ball to the visitors

Have Nick Davidson’s psychoactives just kicked in or what?

It was simply a pleasurable day. Most of the visitors were keen to see around Lord’s when they weren’t playing and several of us were similarly keen to show the visitors around.

The tennis matches, seven rubbers, were all extremely closely contested.

  • Steven Bishop & Graeme Marks  v Keith Mayer & Paul Tromby
  • Jonathan Ellis-Miller & Ollie Wise  v Steve Devoe & Chris Werner
  • Piers Vacher & Peter Brunner v Noel Shiland & Ellen Defoe
  • Ian Harris & Paul Buchanan-Barrow v Sarah Stanley & Kelsey Dolan
  • Barry Nathan & Nick Davidson v Noel Shiland & Kelsey Dolan
  • Iain Harvey & Piers Vacher v Chris Werner & Steve Devoe
  • Giles Pemberton & Graham Findlay v Keith Mayer & Paul Tromby

I don’t think I can remember an event where quite so many sets of tennis went to to deciders at 5-5.

“So what were the precise scores in each of the sets of each of the rubbers and all that”, I hear you readers cry. Well, you know what Colson Whitehead (almost) said:

What happens in Newport Casino stays in Newport Casino…

It really was one of those days when everybody won. I sensed that the visitors very much enjoyed our hospitality and the MCC team similarly thoroughly enjoyed the company of the interesting, friendly delegation from Newport.

Beyond the many interesting conversations about tennis and our respective clubs, I took great pleasure in showing several of the visitors around the ground. Kelsey, who is a softball enthusiast as well as a tennis enthusiast, took a shine to the indoor school and would really like a go at batting. Let’s arrange that for next time!

My most recent go at the indoor school, November 2022, picture by Janie

Almost all of us retreated to The Ivy on St John’s Wood High Street for some dinner. Several of the visitors were, understandably, struggling to reconcile the pronunciation and spelling of the word Marylebone. I consoled them by explaining that we’re probably all getting it wrong when we pronounce St John’s Wood, as it was most likely pronounced “sinjin’s wood” back in the day.

To cap it all, amongst the assortment of fascinating conversations we were all having over dinner, Ellen and I discovered that we have a shared interest in early music, including madrigals. She was not aware that our young professional Alex is not the earliest generation of the Hume family to sing professionally and was intrigued to learn that several of us have played with his dad, Alistair, who was a founding member of The King’s Singers. I recommended the album Madrigal History Tour to her, and/but have found a YouTube of the TV show from whence that album sprung:

There’s Alistair, second from the left

It was that sort of day and that sort of evening. Warm-hearted, interesting people finding things in common and enjoying each other’s company. We left The Ivy in a glow of high spirits…that was possibly the gemütlichkeit, but possibly it was the wine and cocktails.

Rodin’s The Burghers Of Calais depicted drinking cocktails and socialising warmly, Deep AI

A Short Autumn Break In A 15th Century Cottage In An Old Market Town Part Two: Saffron Walden, 7 to 10 November 2024

John & Mandy suggested that we visit Saffron Walden for the dual purpose of seeing The Sixteen perform at Saffron Hall and to allow John to cook for us in his newly-extended kitchen…

…a kitchen so comprehensively extended that their home now appears to be a kitchen with some other rooms extended onto the kitchen, rather than a house with a kitchen extension:

Mandy & Me, with John (cooking) just visible in the distance

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

15th Going On 16th Century Cottage

Janie and I decided to make this a “proper short break”, arranging three nights in a properly old cottage, Drake’s Cottage, in the medieval part of town. The headline photo shows a picture of the outside of the cottage, inside the cottage. It dates back to 1461, making it even older than the 1480’s place we stayed in at Stratford a few weeks ago…

A Short Autumn Break In A 15th Century Cottage In An Old Market Town Part One: Stratford-Upon-Avon, 13 to 16 October 2024

…although in truth most of what remains appears to be a major rebuild from the 1530’s, around the time the bigger houses in the Myddlyton part of town were built. In any case, it is seriously wonky compared with proper mock Tudor such as our 1930’s Noddyland abode:

Proper mock Tudor with proper straight lines

We arrived later than intended on the Thursday afternoon. I was keen to get to the cottage before dark, as I am now really averse to driving on country roads when it is dark or even dusky. We didn’t quite make it, although you could argue that it was still dusky…just “well dusky” when we arrived rather than “proper dark”.

As we were self-catering, I was keen to do a bit of rudimentary cooking for a change, so knocked up a prawn and pea pappardelle dish with a large salad.

We took our time before venturing out on the Friday, but did some strolling at our own pace and went to find the market square with a view to returning there the next day to see the market.

Ah, there it is

Selfie showing our smug “we can find a market square” faces

I offered to host John & Mandy for drinks and grub at our humble cottage before and after the concert at Saffron Hall, an offer which was gratefully accepted. A mixture of wild and posh farmed smoked salmon on mini bagels with a Pouilly-Vinzelles pre show.

Sixteen Going On 17th Century: Monteverdi, Vespers of 1610, The Sixteen, Saffron Hall, 8 November 2024

Part of this gargantuan piece, the Ave Maris Stella and the Magnificat, was probably the first Monteverdi music I ever heard, as it came as part of a collection of music records/subscription booklets that Uncle Michael gave me when I was a small child:

https://www.discogs.com/release/9437456-Claudio-Monteverdi-Monteverdi-Part-Two

I still have that record and booklet. You can hear that version of the Magnificat digitised here:

Magnificat

I have a feeling that my dad wasn’t overjoyed by my affinity with early 17th century sacred music, hence him seeking out and getting me into Monteverdi madrigals instead:

You Don’t Have To Be Madrigal To Learn About Music Here, But It Helps: Madrigals Of Love And War From The Radio, 4 June 1974, Plus The Top Five From That Week To Worm Their Ways Back Into Your Ears

But I digress. Let us return to November 2024 and the Saffron hall:

“Ian – what is that enormous instrument called?”

“It’s a theorbo, Mandy”

I proceeded to tell Mandy my favourite theorbo anecdotes:

William Carter, Theorbist Extraordinaire’s Mystery Punter Outed, 24 September 2010

Mandy must have been very keen to hear The Sixteen that evening, because she looked super-excited when the lights went down, I shut up and Harry Christophers strode onto the stage.

It was an excellent performance of Vespers 1610.

You can hear The Sixteen’s recorded performance of Monteverdi’s vespers on this link – do not be discouraged if it looks crossed out, the link works, but you might be interrupted by adverts if you don’t have a YouTube Music account.

Back at our cottage, I had prepared a supper of charcuterie and cheeses, with a rather jolly bottle of Chocolate Block.

Our luxury medieval cottage

A super evening.

Saffron Walden Market, Bridge End Gardens & Dinner At John & Mandy’s Place, 9 November

Mandy & John supplemented advice we had already received about what to do on a Saturday in Saffron Walden, before heading to their place for John’s cheffy dinner.

I’ll tell the story mostly in pictures, as I have written more than enough words already:

The condiment lady sold us two types of balsamic vinegar

St Mary the Virgin, the tallest spire and largest organ in all Essex apparently

Parish buildings

Strolling the old town

Then into the Bridge End Gardens…

We were getting quite cold, so we didn’t attempt the maze in Bridge End Gardens.

Probably just as well – as a few hours later – we even managed to get lost in the relatively simple maze of streets between our cottage and the John & Mandy residence. Eventually John came out to rescue us in the street.

Look closely and you can see all four of us in this picture

John hard at work preparing our amuse-bouche

Food Porn Photo One: the amuse-bouche

Food Porn Photo Two: sea bass starter

Food Porn Photo Three: beef fillet with celeriac & beans

Food Porn Photo Four: tiramisu that tasted far better than it looks

IAN: Cheese? Are you kidding? JOHN: You’ve no stamina these days, Ian

It was a really enjoyable evening. Indeed it was a really enjoyable and much needed short break for me and Janie.

If you want to see all 70+ photos from this trip, click the Flickr link below and scroll away:

I, A Facilitator: Beyond The Library, The Mulberry Bush by Angus Wilson c/w Giant by Mark Rosenblatt, Royal Court Theatre, 29 October 2024

Angus Wilson from Wikipedia, used on the same fair use basis as Wikipedia.

I wonder whether Angus Wilson would have seen the funny side of this?

As it happens I wasn’t working on Monday (the previous day). In fact, Janie and I had just got home from a specialist’s rather gloomy prognosis on my right hip (“got to go”) and were just heading off to play tennis…

…yes I know those two phrases seem incongruous, but if the hip is more or less worn out I might as well wear it out completely before it goes…

…when I picked up an utterly unexpected e-mail from the Royal Court Theatre.

…I found you from your website, as you wrote about Mark Rosenblatt’s Giant. 

I’m reaching out from the Royal Court Theatre’s Living Archive, where we’re working on a series of events called Beyond the Library and I’m hoping you might be able to help us with a last-minute facilitation opportunity tomorrow at 5.30pm.

I know this is very out of the blue and very short notice, but we’d be grateful for your consideration…

Included was the script for The Mulberry Bush and a Facilitator Guide.

I did indeed write about Giant by Mark Rosenblatt:

Giant by Mark Rosenblatt, Royal Court Theatre, 21 September 2024

It was obvious to me that someone had pulled out at the last minute and that the Royal Court was a bit desperate. There was a modest fee to be had, but not at the level that would get me out of bed unless I was interested/intrigued. I was interested/intrigued.

I picked up the phone and explained, truthfully, that my primary emotion was one of imposter syndrome at the thought of helping them with this. Yes, I am a seasoned facilitator, but normally for organisational/strategic topics, not the arts. Yes, I was familiar with Giant. And yes, as it happens, I have read some Angus Wilson in my time – probably more than 40 years ago. But I have never read or seen The Mulberry Bush.

I’m sure you’ll be great at it. Don’t worry about not being an arts facilitator. We’re looking for diversity in our pool of facilitators.

I suppose I offer diversity from your regular drama facilitator, but perhaps not the kind of diversity you are looking for in your stats.

Janie thought I’d get a buzz out of doing it and was prepared to put up with me hijacking the afternoon to prepare the event, so I said yes.

Janie even did some research for me, finding this excellent documentary about Angus Wilson:

I enjoyed reading The Mulberry Bush and then did some digging into how it was received when it was first shown at The Royal Court. Spoiler alert: it was not received well. I was reminded that I have heard of the play simply because it was the very first play that George Devine put on in 1956 when he started up the English Stage Company at the Royal Court. It actually felt like an extraordinary honour to be facilitating the Royal Court’s event on the topic of that seminal production.

Here is the review from The Birmingham Post:

Mulberry Bush Birmingham PostMulberry Bush Birmingham Post 06 Apr 1956, Fri The Birmingham Post (Birmingham, West Midlands, England) Newspapers.com

Here is Ken Tynan’s Observer review – sadly a bit difficult to read from the Newsppaers.com scan, but you should get the gist:

Tynan Mulberry BushTynan Mulberry Bush 08 Apr 1956, Sun The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Anyway, I got my facilitator notes ready and sent them across on the Monday evening – here they are if you want to read them, and then got on with my other activities for the next 20 hours or so.

Coincidentally, my other activities that Tuesday morning included going through my Autumn 1984 diaries, where I discovered my very first visit to the Royal Court. 8 December 1984, to see The Pope’s Wedding – what a cast! That Living Archive looks like a fabulous project, btw, and I shall no doubt be contributing observations from my 40 years or so of visiting The Royal Court.

When I got to the flat, I was able to locate my copy of Hemlock & After by Angus Wilson, but I didn’t have time to do more than skim it.

Still, I was one step ahead of my victims…I mean, the attendees, and that one step ahead seemed to be enough to get me through on the evening.

It was a pretty lively, bright bunch; a mixture of drama students, young folk new to working in theatre, writers and a few more senior folk who were just interested in having a book club style discussion.

Everyone contributed and I thought the quality of the discussion was very high. But then, what would I know? I’m not really an arts facilitator. The feedback was good, so I think it went well.

Also, I note, that the Beyond The Library series, which had plenty of spaces left for the November & December sessions when I looked on the Tuesday, has now (by Sunday) sold out. I understand that The Royal Court is considering extending the idea into 2025, so watch that space if you are interested in future such events.

It was hard work preparing, at such short notice, a discussion around a play I had never read or seen before. I fed back that 28 days would be a more suitable advanced notice than 28 hours under normal circumstances. But then, as Angus Wilson said in No Laughing Matter:

“Life isn’t just to be found, you have to work for it.”

A Personal Tribute To A Mentor & Friend: Ian Theodoreson 1957-2024

Me and Ian enthralled by Ashes cricket at Lord’s, 1 July 2023. Sally resting her eyes ever so slightly. Janie took the picture.

With a mixture of sadness and reflection, I learnt that Ian Theodoreson has died, having bravely fought the onset and relentlessness of muscular dystrophy for several years.

Ian has kept a beautifully written and thought-provoking blog, Living In Hope – click here to see the whole blog, since he retired in 2017. His final message, announcing his own departure in his inimitable style and with his undying faith, is embedded below:

Goodbye, and thanks for all the fish

My personal memories of Ian, as a client, mentor and friend, date back to the winter of 1988/89, as described in the following Ogblog piece about my very first consultancy assignment:

Reduced To Tears By My First Consultancy Assignment, 27 January 1989

Just in case you don’t click, it was not Ian who reduced me to tears on that assignment…it was the assignment. And it is hardly a spoiler in these circumstances to let slip that it all came right in the end.

In work terms, I didn’t come across Ian again until the mid 1990s, by which time I had started up The Z/Yen Group and Ian had moved to Barnardo’s. Ian felt motivated to throw Z/Yen’s name into the pot when Barnardo’s was seeking some strategic advice that was up our street and the rest is history, workwise.

As far as I know, Ian never actually commissioned any work from Z/Yen directly. He would throw our name into the pot when “who might we use for this?” discussions were taking place, presumably with a commendation, but certainly not an instruction to select us. This applied at Barnardo’s and latterly The Church of England, where Z/Yen (and I) remain actively engaged to this day.

I didn’t realise in those early days that Ian shared my love for cricket. True, he had given his blessing to the (somewhat crazy) idea that tiny Z/Yen should take on massive Barnardo’s at cricket…

The Very First Z/Yen Charity Cricket Match, Barnardo’s, 22 July 1998

…but Ian neither played in, nor attended those matches. Once we had conjoined The Children’s Society with that cricket tradition, it ran for many years, indeed into the 2010s.

Ian and I first went to the cricket together at Lord’s in 2009, to see a T20 world cup double-header. I have written that day up here.

Indeed, to avoid the risk of boring the casual reader at this juncture, here is a link to Ian’s tag on my blog, which will pick up every article in which he is tagged, the last few of which (apart from this one which will be at the top) will be visits to cricket matches. Interested readers can burrow away through that tag.

When I started to sense some burnout in my work, in early 2014, Ian was the person to whom I turned for a chat and some friendly advice. Ian claimed never to understand why I was so grateful to him for his advice at that time. As far as he was concerned, we’d had a coffee together and a quick chat, during which he had said, possibly as a sort-of throw away remark…

…it seems to me that you do still enjoy the various work activities that you do, it’s just that you are doing too much of it…

…which was a “penny-drop” moment for me and started me on my path to a more balanced portfolio of work, writing, charitable activities and sport.

I shall forever be grateful to Ian for his support and friendship.

I have tried to return that kindness since and, in many ways unfortunately, had some opportunities to do so when Ian became indisposed.

When the pandemic struck, Ian mentioned on his blog that he felt short of stories. His indisposition meant that his world was becoming smaller and now everyone else’s world was temporarily smaller, so he felt bereft of stories.

That gave me an idea. I suggested to Rohan Candappa, who organised our informal writing club, Threadmash and was planning to take the idea onto Zoom for the pandemic, that we invite Ian to join the club virtually.

Rohan, being Rohan, of course said yes.

This worked brilliantly well for all concerned, as Ian’s first performance piece attests:

The Secret Life Of Ginger Baker by Ian Theodoreson, Originally Performed By The Author At ThreadZoomMash, 29 July 2020

The other thing I was able to do, post pandemic, was arrange a couple of visits to Lord’s for Ian to see some cricket. We had planned to do this in 2020 for Ian’s birthday, as there was to be a test match in June coinciding with that day. But of course that year it was not to be.

Indeed it wasn’t until 2022 that Lord’s opened up again sufficiently for us to put that plan into action and in 2023, for the Ashes, I managed to arrange not only for Ian and Sally but also for Janie to join us.

Three And A Half Days At Lord’s For The Second Ashes Test, 29 June to 2 July 2023

Ian titled his final blog piece So Long & Thanks For All the Fish. This reminds me of a couple of other anecdotes about Ian. To my shame, in the hardcover (& therefore also Kindle) version of my and Michael Mainelli’s hit book, The Price Of Fish, I misspelt Ian’s name. Ian thought this was funny, especially as he had provided for an earlier book, Information Technology For The Not For Profit Sector, a glowing foreword which, for some years, was the only mention people might find about him on the internet.

I therefore nicknamed Ian “Iain Spellright” for whimsical King Cricket pieces, where everyone has a nickname (mine is Ged, Janie’s is Daisy). The following King Cricket piece is actually one of my favourite memories of spending time at Lord’s with Ian. Published in 2020, it actually relates to an exceptionally hot day in 2014 when Ian and I nearly fried, but still had a good time:

Straight Outta the Upper Compton – a match report

So long Ian and thanks for all the happy memories.

Brace Brace by Oli Forsyth, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 26 October 2024

Janie and I were really taken with this one.

Here is a link to the Royal Court resources on this play/production. The advance description pretty much tells you all you need to know/ought to know before you see the play.

We didn’t see any reviews of the play/production before we went. Here is a link that should find most/all of the reviews.

The piece seems to have divided the critics/reviewers. The conventional press focuses on valid criticism that some elements of the plot seem unconvincing. It is hard to imagine a hijacker, who, only by dint of a passenger intervention, fails to kill hundreds of people in a plane crash, being allowed to walk free on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

But we saw through that to enjoy the dilemmas and interpersonal drama between the honeymooners whose life was ripped apart by the incident.

Oli Forsyth clearly has talent as a writer and should persevere; I’m sure there should be better yet to come from him.

But our praise is really for the production. Excellent acting, especially Anjana Vasan as the “have a go hero”, but also Phil Dunster and Craig Els. Also hats off to the production team, in particular director Daniel Raggett, who certainly helped get a quart of entertaining drama out of this pint-sized (70 minutes) play. Big ups also to Alex Payne & George Mann (fight and movement directors respectively), who managed to achieve some excellent effects in an unusually tight and three-dimensional performance setting.

Yes, there is violence in this play, but it isn’t gratuitous violence, as it is central to the story and the unfolding plot. Janie, who is even more allergic to stage violence than I am, didn’t spot the essence of the coup de théâtre at the end of the play…possibly just as well, given her reaction when I explained it to her afterwards. 😜.

Running only until 9 November 2024. It deserves a longer run or a transfer.

Harold López-Nussa: Timba A La Americana, Wigmore Hall,  22 October 2024

Young Harold (2010) Stoemp, CC BY 3.0

Just occasionally we see jazz at the Wigmore Hall that really excites me and Janie. This was such an occasion; we loved this concert.

Here is an embedded video of a similar gig very recently, which gives a good idea of what this music looks and sounds like live:

Luques Curtis (the bassist in the video) was unable to take part in our concert, but we were very impressed with French bassist Thibaud Soulas who took his place.

The Lopez-Nussa brothers and Thibauld Soulas were very jolly souls, whereas the superb harmonica player, Grégoire Maret, didn’t get the “everyone smile” memo.

This type of music works best live and works brilliantly well at the Wigmore Hall. I am now exploring Harold López-Nussa canon of recorded music too. The album Timba a la Americana is for sure very good. I have so far only dipped into the earlier ones. Something to look forward to.

And I also look forward to seeing this combo again live, if we get the chance. Truly excellent.