So we live in the country - out in the sticks actually - but on Tuesday night The North Country Theatre Company brought their traveling production of 'The Electrical Wizard of the North' devised and superbly directed by Nobby Dimon to our village hall.
We are heavily involved in this happening ;-) We are the box office and afternoon catering team for the company and we also look after them throughout the performance. We know from personal experience just how welcome that cup of tea or cold drink is at the interval. I think Sat Nav's warm mince pies will go down in history they even got a mention in the 'thank yous' at the end of the performance ;-)
We have seen three productions by North Country Theatre now, and had two of them actually performed in our village hall. We like having them here and they like coming. They are a great bunch of actors, terrifically talented and this times production had some brilliant tricks that had us all wondering 'how on earth did they do that?' Of course they weren't telling. But how did Mystic Marie levitate? We all want to know!
The Electrical Wizard of the North was billed as an hilarious ripping yarn from the heyday of the Edwardian Music Hall. It included Hypnotism - Telepathy - Electricity - Mental Suggestion - Magnetic Touch - Clairvoyance. Wow! It was brilliant. I even took part . . . whey! Simon Kirk, who played Dr. Walford Bodie, involved me in one of the telepathy tricks and how he did it I do not know!
They are still touring with this production until December 15th and if you go to their website North Country Theatre you will find out if they are performing near you.
In 2008 they will be presenting an adaptation of 'The Prisoner of Zenda'. I can't wait to see what Nobby will do with this!
Thursday, 8 November 2007
Monday, 5 November 2007
Radio Show
Today is my friend Anita's birthday so I decided to surprise her by dropping in with her pressie while she was on air doing her local radio show this morning.
Sat Nav and I braved the traffic to head north up the A1 arriving with plenty of time before Anita was due to go on air. We snook in and crept up the stairs to the studio, but were spotted by her two daughters, Ruth and Gemma, who had to put their hands over their mouths to stop them from screaming with delight. Needless to say Anita was absolutely thrilled when she saw us peeping around the top of the staircase.
We sang happy birthday on air to Anita and, as Ruth was a guest on the show, we stayed and contributed our bit and enjoyed every second.
Ruth talked about her film 'The Women of Windlestone' which she made in 2005 . . . and very interesting it is too. We know that for a fact because we were at the Premier . . . Ruth uncovered a government secret that has been kept hidden for 60 years and her film tells you all about it.
In her professional life, Ruth is a script supervisor. At the moment she is working on 'Silent Witness' and then going on to 'Wire in the Blood'. She has worked on many films and tv dramas. She researched 'The Women of Windlestone' herself and funded it herself too!
Copies can be obtained from The Weardale Gazette Office, Stanhope, County Durham, UK.
All proceeds go to Macmillan Cancer Support and the Children of Chernobyl Charities.
Gemma had to go to work to build up her bank balance. She plans to go traveling around the world (and that won't be cheap) before going to Uni next year to study Forensic Psychology.
Next Monday 12th November between 10am -12.30pm I will be guesting on the Anita Atkinson Show to talk about book publishing . . . and boy am I looking forward to it.
Please feel free to send me a question.
Happy Birthday Anita . . . don't set the field on fire tonight lol!
Check out the photos Sat Nav took, she's getting handy with a camera!
Sunday, 28 October 2007
YLAF 2007
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A great start to YLAF on Friday night. Sat Nav and I attended the welcome reception at the Holiday Inn, York. Thank you Crin Claxton and your team for such a warm welcome.
We met some of the other authors and artists appearing at the biggest lesbian literary event in the UK. It was good to catch up with Val Lee and Jenny Roberts again, and to finally meet Tricia Walker.
And what happened on the way home? Yes . . . you've guessed it, we got lost!
We were so busy singing along to my friend Loraine's music, that we totally missed our turning and inadvertently ended up in York city centre at 10.30pm - not the best time to be driving through York!
Saturday morning we were up at 6am! Of course there isn't only the two of us to get ready, we had to leave food prepared for the animals - you would think we had five thousand! Don't worry, our lovely friends and neighbours were seeing to them, we didn't expect the animals to have to help themselves buffet service fashion. Do you know if I could only teach the Labrador to open tins himself I could make millions, but I don't know if I could trust him to share though!
We arrived at York Racecourse for the event at about 9.30am so Sat Nav was right on course with directions. Time for a cup of tea, and to meet up with my facilitators in the green room.
My first panel of the day was to discuss 'Characters' with Marianne K. Martin and Jane Fletcher which was expertly chaired by Val Lee. Of course I had to talk about Dr. Hyacinth Dickinson who I'm sure was sitting somewhere in the audience. It was lovely to meet and chat with Marianne and Jane, but Marianne I would ditch the cola 😂
Early afternoon brought the YLAF Players to the stage with their version of True Pride & Prejudice. This was a brilliant performance and went down a storm. Well done to Crin Claxton for penning this and congrats to Stella Duffy for her marvelously inventive ad libbing. You cracked it girl!
My second panel participation was later in the day when Publishing was our topic. I joined Tricia Walker for this panel which was led by Kelly Smith of Bywater Books. We had a small attendance at this one, but everyone was so wanting to be there that the time just flew and we ran well over. Special thanks to Kelly Smith for hanging in there especially when she had a terrible cold and was not feeling well. Hope you're feeling better today Kelly.
Congratulations Tricia on your book Benedict's Brother sales . . . more books had to be sourced as the stock was sold out. Fantastic.
It was also a pleasure to meet up with and chat to Sarah Waters and Stella Duffy - two very talented women whose writing I admire.
Crin - I see that Sat Nav bought your vampire book . . . looking forward to reading that if I can prize it off her!
To all of the people who attended my panels I would like to say a big thank you and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
And finally to Crin again, and this has to be said . . . what an organizer!
You did an excellent job of organizing the whole event and I hope you will continue to do this. The entire team were brilliant, it appeared to run like clockwork. Great stuff.
The photos are Character Panel left to right...Jane Fletcher, VG Lee, Marianne K. Martin and Ellen Dean. The players on stage are Stella Duffy, Semsem Kuherhi and Crin Claxton. And the Publishing panel, Kelly Smith, Tricia Walker and Ellen Dean. And, Marianne chatting with me Ellen Dean.
We met some of the other authors and artists appearing at the biggest lesbian literary event in the UK. It was good to catch up with Val Lee and Jenny Roberts again, and to finally meet Tricia Walker.
And what happened on the way home? Yes . . . you've guessed it, we got lost!
We were so busy singing along to my friend Loraine's music, that we totally missed our turning and inadvertently ended up in York city centre at 10.30pm - not the best time to be driving through York!
Saturday morning we were up at 6am! Of course there isn't only the two of us to get ready, we had to leave food prepared for the animals - you would think we had five thousand! Don't worry, our lovely friends and neighbours were seeing to them, we didn't expect the animals to have to help themselves buffet service fashion. Do you know if I could only teach the Labrador to open tins himself I could make millions, but I don't know if I could trust him to share though!
We arrived at York Racecourse for the event at about 9.30am so Sat Nav was right on course with directions. Time for a cup of tea, and to meet up with my facilitators in the green room.
My first panel of the day was to discuss 'Characters' with Marianne K. Martin and Jane Fletcher which was expertly chaired by Val Lee. Of course I had to talk about Dr. Hyacinth Dickinson who I'm sure was sitting somewhere in the audience. It was lovely to meet and chat with Marianne and Jane, but Marianne I would ditch the cola 😂
Early afternoon brought the YLAF Players to the stage with their version of True Pride & Prejudice. This was a brilliant performance and went down a storm. Well done to Crin Claxton for penning this and congrats to Stella Duffy for her marvelously inventive ad libbing. You cracked it girl!
My second panel participation was later in the day when Publishing was our topic. I joined Tricia Walker for this panel which was led by Kelly Smith of Bywater Books. We had a small attendance at this one, but everyone was so wanting to be there that the time just flew and we ran well over. Special thanks to Kelly Smith for hanging in there especially when she had a terrible cold and was not feeling well. Hope you're feeling better today Kelly.
Congratulations Tricia on your book Benedict's Brother sales . . . more books had to be sourced as the stock was sold out. Fantastic.
It was also a pleasure to meet up with and chat to Sarah Waters and Stella Duffy - two very talented women whose writing I admire.
Crin - I see that Sat Nav bought your vampire book . . . looking forward to reading that if I can prize it off her!
To all of the people who attended my panels I would like to say a big thank you and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
And finally to Crin again, and this has to be said . . . what an organizer!
You did an excellent job of organizing the whole event and I hope you will continue to do this. The entire team were brilliant, it appeared to run like clockwork. Great stuff.
The photos are Character Panel left to right...Jane Fletcher, VG Lee, Marianne K. Martin and Ellen Dean. The players on stage are Stella Duffy, Semsem Kuherhi and Crin Claxton. And the Publishing panel, Kelly Smith, Tricia Walker and Ellen Dean. And, Marianne chatting with me Ellen Dean.
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