The review of the play

Here's what John Slim (until recently the Amateur Drama reporter for the Birmingham Mail) had to say about our play on his website, Behind the Arras

Fast moving thriller does not disappoint

The Small Hours

Billesley Players

Dovehouse Theatre, Solihull

***

A NEW-LOOK company has no fewer than four players in the cast making their first appearance - and the result is undeniably satisfying.

This is a Francis Durbridge story that was written as a radio play, which is probably why its ten scenes give it an episodic flavour, but Iain Neville's production moves slickly between them and never gives its audience time to become restless.

At its heart is a toy koala bear - and the fact that Carl Houston just happened to mention koalas on his flight home from Australia is enough to put his life in danger and cause his wife nearly to lose hers.

It seems a tenuous link between koalas and crises, as he was speaking only to his passenger neighbour. It leaves us to suppose that his neighbour must have decided to relay the conversation later to somebody who turns out to be a Mr Big in the world of fencing stolen valuables.

WELL ENGINEERED

Not that it matters. The tension builds. There are some well-engineered confrontations between anxious people. And we go on guessing at the secret of the unseen koala.

Graham Mason is Houston, a clean-cut British hero type, delivered in a performance of confidence opposite Anna Downes, in fine form as his feisty wife Vanessa.

There is confidence, too, in the quick, high-heeled strut of Claire Davies as his PA, and in the probing questioning of Sheila Parkes, as the representative of the law.

Michael Nile gives us a pleasingly unusual character in Bernard Decker, the chef with quiet little expressions, an amusing snigger and an optimistic line in blackmail. Gemma Harris pleases as his wife and Edward Fellows is another strong performer as the shady Oliver Radford.

BLOWN THE GAFF

Nick Storr is the aeroplane passenger we suspect of having inadvertently blown the gaff on a stranger's casual mention of koala bears. He and Graham Mason set the production rolling on their borrowed aircraft seats - thank you, Flybe - with a conversation that rolls with satisfying unstoppability.

It's an excellent all-round effort. What a shame it was all for the sake of a production lasting only two nights. The only cavvil is that several players could do with a bit more push and projecion on a stage that is apparently without microphones.

To 14.11.09.

John Slim

http://www.billesleyplayers.co.uk/

The last week

Or alternatively this post could have been entitled "Hectic".
I started at Ernst & Young on Monday and it's been a bit of a baptism of fire. Usually I start a job and the last 5 times at least I've been surrounded by apologies. 'Sorry it's so busy, you've joined at a really bad time.' 'Sorry there isn't much time to train you, but you look as if you're ok' etc. Temp or perm that's always how it's been. I can't recall having training that's lasted more than a morning and all this week has been nothing but! There are 20 of us and we are all joiners, mostly new, and all of us have been trained on the procedures and equipment all week, with another week scheduled in to go before we go live. It's pretty heavy but reassuring and it's just a very different work environment to get used to. However plus points so far are:
Easy journey in to work, nice people starting alongside me, nice managers (so far), nice toilets, city centre location (therefore good for shops and yummy lunches)
However every night after work I got the bus home then jumped in the car and drove to Solihull for the final rehearsals of The Small Hours. On Friday and Saturday we performed in front of approx 290 people which was a real thrill. It has left me officially pooped however. Too tired to write much more but below are the photos I took on my camera of the set build, rehearsals and break down. In a few weeks I should get the official photos and be able to see what I looked like! In summary though it was great fun!

Este semana he empezado mi trabajo nuevo y ademas presentamos el obra de teatro este fin de semana y cada noche he estado ensayando. Esta manana desmantelamos el escenario y al finar puedo descansar. Bueno, descansar - es decir planchar mientras viendo Doctor Who...

A summary in Spanish

Vale, que poco he escrito en Español asi que aqui está mi sumario. A ver, en mi vida, dejé el trabajo que me jodía tanto para encontrar cosas nuevas. He pasado los últimos dos meses trabajando temporalmente, en contratos de 2 o 3 semanas y he ido a montones de entrevistas. Finalmente encontré una posición permanente y empiezo allí la semana que viene. Ha sido totalmente genial dejar Leukaemia Care, la mejor decisión que he tenido en anos... lo he gustado un montón, he conocido a mucha gente y después de tantos meses de un ambiente muy negativo todos que he conocido me han apreciado. No podía escribir en ingles como sentía, ni cuando trabajé alli ni despues porque no quería ser indiscreto pero al fin y al cabo no tengo ni el menor cantidad de fe en las decisiones de aquella organizacion.


Que mas? He estado practicando mi segunda obra de teatro y nos la realizaremos el viernes y sabado que viene. Mi papel es mas grande esta vez y mas interesante así que ha sido mas durillo pero ya que falta tan poco para hacerlo todo parece estar casi listo. Crúzate los dedos!

Pads, nuestra gatita, es muy contenta - mas que nunca me parece, pero le gusta mordear nosotros y nuestros amigos un poco mas de lo que yo considero natural. Hay que mantener la paciencia con ella porque es una gata rescatada pero aun diciendo esto la tengo que castigar. Por lo monos asi puedo practicar hablando como una mamá frustrada con su hijo travieso...

Mañana nos llevaran las alfomras nuevas y esto me hace muy contente. Es el final del proyecto que empezo casi hace un año cuando renovaron la instalacion electrica. Ya era tiempo!

Continuamos viendo amigos de los fines de semana como siempre. Ahora mas que nunca siempre parece haber un cumpleanos o fiesta o plan en el calendario. Es la temporada supongo pero me parece que ha sido asi desde anos! Hay los amigos de la universidad, mis amigos de Coventry, los amigos de Al que son un poco mas esparcidos por Inglaterra, amigos del trabajo... en fin demasiados para ver lo suficiente y no me gusta no mantener amistades. Los que nos vemos más son Nathan y Laura y su hija Emma porque son los amigos mejores en birmingham y porque viven muy cerca. Emma ya tiene 3 y es una monada. Ella pasó la noche en nuestra casa por primera vez hace un mes y fué genial. La leímos cuentos de hadas, nos vimos dvds y me acompané a la iglesia el domingo.

Y pues poco mas. Alex trabaja mucho, yo poco, la gata muerde, los tareas domesticas y amigos nos distraen y... pues ya esta. Estamos felices!
 
Y si mi español es tan pobre que ya no puedes leer ni entender lo que he escrito aqui pues perdoname por favor, pero creo que las cosas no van tan malos asi que no voy a preocuparme... claro!

What you learn when...

What happens when you google your name or someone you know?

My best friend Danielle, thanks to her distinctive name, appears pretty high up from her time at the wolf sanctuary. The Gap year website has chosen her quote to use online: "The people were amazing - both the permanent staff and fellow volunteers. I made loads of new friends and have kept in touch with a lot of people. The work was great, I enjoyed the building and maintenance projects and learned a lot! The wolves were also fantasic, I fell in love with all of them and developed real bonds with some. I miss the wolves and the people loads!" Ah, bless

I googled Martyn Richards and discovered a snippet of dad's writing on a strangely named website about the Umbrella Club called Musical English Lessons. Weirdly it's not available if you search pages by UK. I discovered that:
"Once a thousand strong, Coventry Umbrella Club had become a shadow of its former glories. It had slimmed down to fewer than fifty members. My wife and I are still members of the club. Its various activities now operate through the home of its Secretary.The Umbrella Club was opened in November 1955 by Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan. The trio were then presenting their "Goon Show" at the Coventry "Hippodrome" Theatre, now demolished.Early magazines of the club contained entries from Coventry poet Philip Larkin and city novellist Susan Hill. This early heritage, however, has only recently re-emerged due to the reminiscing leading to the celebration of the club's Golden Jubilee in November 2005."
Wow. I mean seriously wow. Philip Larkin? Harry Secombe. Spike Milligan. All giants. This split second research actually managed to catch my interest in te same way that tuning into radio 4/radio 2 does on my way back from drama rehearsal at night. I also discovered there is a Martyn Richards who is a Visiting Teaching Fellow at the Centre for Peace Studies, Coventry University. I wonder how many times he and dad have submitted articles to that toilet paper substitue of a local newspaper? I wonder how many local journalists have been confused?

Antonia Richards, Antonia Tomas and Antonia Tomas Mascaro are very numerous but nothing enlightening.

My cousin Laura's face pops up on image results when you google her name!

Despite what my nan thought of her parents choice for her first name there are, it seems, quite a few other Winifred Richards out there, including a peer. Not that that's an accolade. This particular Winifred can't be particularly well heeled however, being on page 40182 (Prince Charles is on page 1).

Rather wonderfully, my quiet, unassuming, hard working auntie Shelagh gets a mention and is at position number 1, 2, and 3 of the Google search for her name. Bless! Companies would kill for that kind of listing... Here's what's said online:
"Last but not least we have to say we are also very grateful to Shelagh Monks for being our ever hard working tea lady who looks after us all with a little help from Dave by making sure we all have our welcoming cups of tea at all our meetings, from the bottom of our hearts Leigh, Richard & Jean thank you all so much, we could not do it without you all. "
And
"We have almost reached another milestone in the history of the Coventry & District RP Branch as we will be celebrating 30 years of giving support information and above all friendship to so many who have walked through our doors suffering from Retinitis Pigmentosa... It was great to take a trip down memory lane and there are so many we would love to mention, perhaps one or two more such as Betty Hall who always kept our refreshment trays in order just as Shelagh Monks does today," both from http://www.the-eyesite.org/
And
"Shelagh Monks went to the Locarno in 1967 with a friend (after having found the Lanchester College too noisy) and met her future husband (who was dressed as a page boy)" http://www.vornster.co.uk/AIW/pages/library/lib2.html

As for my other half, Al, there is apparently a singer, song writer and performer from Royston, Camridgeshire, a mountain climber, an American political photographer, and a recently deceased paralympian. In fact there are so many websites with names like alex.harris.com that I'm starting to think there must be some implicit arrongance that comes with having the name and start to forgive my very own Alexander for his occasional big-headed moments. God love him, he does it with charm!

Finally there is a Gemma Richards who is a research technician in Veterinary Science at Bristol Uni, a model and a hollywood actress. There are LOADS of Gemma Harris', we're dead common! On Linked In there are 16 at least including my own profile from when I was at Leukaemia CARE. There is also a web designer in Nottingham, a lawyer in Cambridge. and apparently a keen slalom skiier. Lots of my press releases and networking profiles from the last few years are online too.

Googlegangers. It's a fascinating business. Sometimes you learn things that someone has tried to tell you but you've been too busy to hear. Sometimes it's just a giggle.