All the world's a stage

After a rather busy week, I find myself on a train somewhere (it's dark outside) thinking about the start of term.

It seems only yesterday that I was moving back down to Cardiff for the start of term, but in fact it has been an entire week! I am now working on my first college production (at last). The production is 'Narrative' by Anthony Jenkins (nope, me neither reader. All I know is that the Royal Court did it a few years ago). Monday was spent meeting everyone and enjoying the read-through. It was great to hear the script read as the play is rather confusing otherwise (it still is when performed, but less so). Following that I’ve spent the week working on props. Whilst day one was sent on more traditional 'paper props' such as leaflets and scripts, the rest of the week has been spent googling all sorts of things. 'Digital props' as we're calling involved finding articles, pictures and videos about all that is wrong with the world (cheerful I know). Along with Molly (the other production tech) I've looked at terrorists, extremists, politicians (I'm still not sure Donald Trump counts), pandemics, epidemics, drugs and the deficit. I've really enjoyed week one of 'Narrative', I have no idea what the next five weeks will bring!

In and amongst all that there has been an awful lot of faffing around. Thursday evening is perhaps worth a mention, as Molly and I tried to build her new bike (it was posted, pretty much flat packed). I don't think I was much help, as we failed to make any progress. However, an hour later after Molly had spoken to her Dad she's built it (see what I mean dear reader, I wasn't much help).

As ever come Saturday and I wondered off somewhere (no dear reader, not a convention!). This week’s destination was Northampton, a place that I had never been to before. My reason for going was to see 'Shaxpeare's Box', by Brain Wright. I should perhaps explain myself a little dear reader as why I went to Northampton.

Brian Wright is a gentleman that I met in August 2015 (one of the reasons as to why I started this blog, so he's partly to blame for all my waffling). We had a delightful afternoon in the Edwardian Tearooms of Birmingham (it’s a beautiful place, do visit if you can, the tea is great) to talk about the worlds of TV, Film and Theatre. In case you hadn't already guessed dear reader, he was once in Doctor Who. He was kind enough to meet me for an afternoon and endure my questioning about his work and thoughts on the industry. If you were to google Brian, dear reader, you would find that he is a BAFTA nominee, Sony award winning writer, actor and director, having worked all over the country, including the BBC, RSC; quite a career to discuss. During our chat he mentioned that he was working on a play called 'Shaxpeare's Box'. Knowing that it would be on about now, I looked it up over Christmas and saw that it was on.

So dear reader, that's how I came to find myself in Northampton. Having never been there before I spent the day wandering around (I'm good at that) and found it to be a delightful place; I shall definitely be going back there at some point. Amongst its many treasures is Montague Jeffery, a fantastic gentleman's outfitters. Having been there for 150 years (the shop that is) it has quite a heritage, but perhaps more importantly a wonderful selection of shirts, suits, socks, bowties, etc. I was amazed by the shop and thus spent far more than I planned to!

The venue for 'Shaxpeare's Box' was a church, a little way out of the center. At first I was a little unsure what to expect, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! 'Shaxpeare's Box' tells the story of the local museum (which is next door to the church) uncovered a box belonging to Shakespeare's father, in the house that once belonged to his granddaughter, Elizabeth (which is now the museum). I don't want to give the plot away, but following the discovery, there is a certain amount of questionable business from the council.
It was produced by the Masque Theatre (a local amateur dramatics society), so the cast included a range of ages and abilities, but all were very able and believable.  The play finished with me not knowing how much was fact or fiction (brilliant story telling) with a desire to find out more; it was fantastic! After the show, I had a lovely catchup with Brian, who also introduced me to the cast, before they performed the show again that evening. Dear reader if you are near Northampton, do go and see the show, it is utterly fantastic! (www.masquetheatre.co.uk/Plays/shaxpeares_box_20160106.html)

Following on from this, I now had to get home. However, I'd taken a little longer than planned getting back to the station (buses and walking are always slow), so I missed the train to Cardiff and as a result ended up going home unexpectedly (I was in Birmingham, so not that far from real home). It was a somewhat unexpected surprise for myself and family at home, having only been away a week, but a good one none the less.

There you have it dear reader, my week. I find myself almost back in Cardiff, wandering what I shall write next week.