Arcadia - The Missing Link or What Matters to You?

I went to see the Roan Theatre Company's production of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia on Thursday 2nd December 2021 at the Bob Hope Theatre with my sister.  The production was brilliantly acted and thematically, it is a dense and at times, seemingly impenetrable play.  I have not seen the play before, although I have seen a handful of Stoppard's other plays.

Interestingly, the play lingered in my mind all day yesterday and I realised that it is not necessary to completely understand the philosophical and mathematical theories that underlie its construction.  In fact, once I stopped trying to overanalyse the play, it opened up for me.  My interpretation of the play resting more solidly on the idea that the play is ostensibly about the act of creation and the simple truth that each of the characters in the play have their own goals and agendas just like you or I.  We are all attempting to ascribe some degree of meaning on our lives and efforts.

The plot focuses on the same country house, Sidley Park and its occupants in 1809 and in 1993 (I believe).  Reducing the play to its essential elements, those key plot devices that held me captivated throughout, the play explores Lord Byron's stay at the country house and his possible role in the death of another figure (this may or may not have happened and as I have later contemplated, it doesn't matter either way.  The idea is the important aspect of the mystery, not the resolution) and the changing design of the gardens of the country house with the addition of the hermitage and mysterious hermit following its creation.  The paintings of the before and after of the design of the gardens are on stage throughout the production and there is a meaningful moment when the young Lady Thomasina Coverly draws a figure in front of the hermitage (Act One, Scene One).

All of the characters in the play have their own objectives, both the residents of 1809 and those in 1993.  Lady Thomasina Coverly is a student who wants to learn the things that interest her and that may help her to achieve an appropriate standing in her life.  Her tutor, Septimus Hodge is happy to facilitate her learning.  The other characters too all have their own goals to achieve.  The academic characters in 1993 are possibly even more driven.  They want to be remembered for their theories.  Bernard Nightingale determined to build his career on the strength of his belief that Lord Byron may have been responsible for the death of a character.  His character being driven and self-centred effectively gets his comeuppance at the end.  He is almost a bizarre future reiteration of Lord Byron as we have been lead to imagine him, sharing his obsession with himself and his work.

Possibly, the most interesting insight for me concerning this play was how in many respects, it gives an overview of the act of creation, particularly in relation to artistic forms.  For example, by creating a group of academic characters, Stoppard is able to explore how as a writer (or any other creator of artistic works), it is necessary to invent and/or deconstruct details.  This process is effectively an attempt to impose meaning on events, which either aids the reader/audience etc towards some kind of understand or at least, something to engage upon to stimulate thought or an emotional reaction.  This probably ties in with the playwright's thematic preoccupations with chaos theory and mathematical theories.  Both of which are attempts to provide structure or meaning to seemingly indescribable phenomena.  Things do not always make sense yet there is a very human need to control even those things.  Also I was intrigued by the creation of two characters in the play that are largely unseen, Gus Coverley who is a character in the 90s distinguishable by his dislike of noise and arguments and a mysterious figure that plays music in another room in 1809.  To me, they represent the minor characters in a piece of work that could be developed yet won't be.  They tantalise through unfulfilled potential.  They are characters like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in William Shakespeare's Hamlet.  Tom Stoppard clearly has an interest in such characters explaining why he filled in the back stories of the aforementioned Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.  It is the responsibility of the creator to decide on the respective importance of the characters that are created but ultimately, the creator cannot control the audience and how they react to the characters.

Having absorbed the production and play, I was left with the satisfying sense that each time we go to see a play, we are actively recreating the work in our own minds.  Reforming the elements to satisfy our own needs.  If we cannot follow the plot, we may focus on the characters that we can relate to most or the set or any other factor.  We ascribe our own meanings on the work based on our own experiences.  Each interpretation is as valid as anyone elses.

In my head, I know the identity of the hermit in the hermitage.  In my heart, you could be that hermit, as could I.  Your truth is as relevant as mine.

                                                                                            Barry Watt - 4th December 2021.

Afterword.

This blog is based on the excellent production of Arcadia that I saw at the Bob Hope Theatre, produced by the Roan Theatre Company.  It finishes tonight.  Please see the link below for more information on the company:

https://www.theroantheatrecompany.com/

Also the Bob Hope Theatre in Eltham stages a truly eclectic range of productions.  Please see the below website:

Home (bobhopetheatre.co.uk)

Arcadia was written by Tom Stoppard and all references to his play and characters are copyright to him and his publishers.  I occasionally referenced the 1993 revision of the playtext by Faber and Faber.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead was also written by Tom Stoppard and is again copyright to him and his publishers.  Although, the characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are actually the creations of William Shakespeare (a fairly well known playwright and poet).

Hamlet is not one of William Shakespeare's comedies, although lessons can be learnt on the dangers of procrastination from the play.  Definitely a play to see on the stage.  Shakespeare's tragedies are still my favourite of his plays.

                                                                                                                                   BW.

    

The Art of Direction in a Pandemic - An Interview with James Haddrell, Artistic & Executive Director of the Greenwich Theatre.

Back in June, I attended a memorable production, Bad Nights and Odd Days at the Greenwich Theatre with a friend.  This production consisted of four of Caryl Churchill's short plays.  I have grown to fully appreciate the eclecticism of Churchill's work over the years.  The subject matter is always striking and regularly, stylistically not quite like any other playwright's works.  At times, fragmentary and others fully formed.  Her ideas regularly preempting or exploring current trends of thought such as the prospect of imminent environmental catastrophe (Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen) or human cloning (A Number).  Following the production, I asked James Haddrell if he would let me interview him again, particularly in relation to Churchill's work and his work as a director.  He kindly consented to being interviewed.  James Haddrell was the director of Bad Nights and Odd Days and he continues to direct many other productions for the Greenwich Theatre.  He is also the Artistic and Executive Director of the Greenwich Theatre.

Since the onset of the pandemic, you have actively continued to produce work with the Greenwich Theatre and when the restrictions have changed, you have also staged productions or shows by other performers/companies.  What particular challenges have you and your theatre faced during the pandemic?

There have been many challenges, some more obvious than others. I guess at the outset of the pandemic the biggest challenge was simply shifting our mindset. We are part of an industry founded on the notion of people coming together in a room to watch other people, in the same room, performing. All of a sudden that was impossible, so we had to reimagine how we engaged with artists and audiences, and how we could ensure a link remained. It sounds obvious that we presented work online, but that is with the benefit of hindsight. At the start of the pandemic, nothing was obvious.

Once we had decided that sharing archive recordings of shows wasn’t enough, and that we wanted to make shows to share in one way or another (live, recorded etc), directing on Zoom became a particular challenge. Directing is rarely about one person telling someone else how to do things, it’s a collaborative process of trial and error with a company of people, with the director making final decisions. For an actor to try out performances in their home, a space inescapably related to their own life, not that of a character, and for a collaborative conversation to take place was not easy.

However, we made it work, releasing two new large cast productions (The Secret Love Life Of Ophelia by Steven Berkoff and The After-Dinner Joke by Caryl Churchill) and a host of short plays.

Now we are facing the same challenge that much of the industry is battling with – the isolation rules. We presented Bad Nights and Odd Days, our collection of Caryl Churchill short plays, despite losing all members of the stage management team to isolation at one point or another, and our summer family rep season has had its opening delayed by over a week having lost an actor and now our musical director. At no point have any of those people recorded a positive test result, but they still have to isolate due to potential contact, which is making life very difficult. We are actually holding dress rehearsals for the two summer shows with one performer delivering their lines from home and a wireless Bluetooth speaker being moved around the stage…

Please can you tell me a little more about your directorial work in the past and when you became interested in the act or art of directing?  What for you are the prerequisites to becoming an effective and indeed, memorable director?

I first directed a show in 2015 – a revival of John Retallack’s Hannah and Hanna for CultureClash Theatre, with performances in London and Edinburgh. At that point I had spent so much time in rehearsal with the emerging companies that we support at Greenwich, that I thought I should have a go at it myself. The play is about a refugee teenager who finds herself in Margate at the height of the Kosovan refugee crisis when run down or quiet English seaside towns were used to house refugees. Written for a Kosovan and a White teenager, we reimagined the show, recasting the English teenager as a black second-generation immigrant, making the point that Britishness is a construct to which we sign up, and that the face of racism has evolved a great deal in the past few decades. Since then I have directed a range of shows, from new writing to pieces by Michael Frayn and Caryl Churchill, professional shows to student and community productions.

I think an effective director tells a story cleanly, hiding the mechanics of theatre as much as possible, moving from scene to scene swiftly and simply, honouring the content of the script. A memorable director develops a style which fits their sensibility – explosive performances, reimagined settings, a particular sense of humour or theatricality, an incisive understanding of dramaturgy which can pick out elements of a script that are often lost. In many ways though, I think the very best directors are those who can elicit the most emotionally invested performances from their actors. Directing at its best isn’t about where people stand on the stage or finding a new historical moment for a story or establishing a new theatrical style – it’s about facilitating actors to find and develop characters that are often as far from their own nature as you can imagine.

You recently produced a Caryl Churchill play for online consumption, The After-Dinner Joke.  This was a very funny and rarely produced play about the charity sector, public relations and the myth of 'making a difference' when large amounts of money enter the equation.  What inspired you to produce the play at this time and can you talk a bit about the challenges and also advantages of producing shows for the internet and streaming media?

This was the second large cast piece that I produced and directed during the pandemic. At the root of it all, I was painfully aware of the number of early career performers who were faced with an utterly bleak situation where not only would they not work during lockdown, but when restrictions eased all of the shows that had unceremoniously closed would reopen and they would have to wait even longer to be seen doing what they do. I wanted a script with a large cast to showcase a lot of people. However, I fell in love with this script in particular as it speaks so articulately (and hilariously) about the politics of charity – and at a time when every pound that we donate has to be linked to a social media post to share the news of our generosity and promote further giving, Churchill’s acerbic view of the mechanics of managing giving seems even more potent today.

When did you become interested in Caryl Churchill and her work?  Does she actively contribute in the making of productions of her work as playwrights such as Harold Pinter were known to do?

I’ve been aware of Churchill’s work since I was a teenager but like most people I was aware of the big titles – Top Girls at the top of the list – and certainly didn’t know her short plays. She is known for spending time in the rehearsal room for new work, but in this case she just came to the show as an audience member. It must have been a strange experience for her, to see work on stage that she wrote half a century ago for radio. Still, she was very complimentary which was a fantastic boost for the cast and company.

Bad Nights and Odd Days is a unique and powerful blend of four of Churchill's short plays.  Did you come up with the title as it perfectly encapsulates the content of the plays, multiple relationships in a state of fluctuation or disintegration?  Also why did you choose this particular combination of plays?

Funnily enough this wasn’t my first title idea for the collection, but in consultation with Churchill this is the title she settled on and I think you’re right – it’s perfect. As for the choice of titles, I wanted an evening of work that would show the diversity of Churchill’s writing, from the microscopic to the global, and I think these pieces do that. Seagulls is highly personal to Churchill, presenting an allegory for her own fear (at the time of writing) that she could lose her ‘powers’. Three More Sleepless Nights and Abortive feature very different characters but both explore those moments in the night when we are tired, ragged, where pretenses unravel, where truths slip through, where exhaustion makes the mundane become potent and the potent become toxic. Finally, Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen reveals Churchill’s astonishing ability to glimpse the future. Ecological meltdown may have been inevitable for a long time, but the play is set in an era of fake news, of state-sponsored propaganda about terrorism, of manufactured celebrity and artificial dream-making. It seems to me that Churchill got it just about right, and she wrote that play 50 years ago.

How do you work with the actors to help them to develop the characters that live on stage in the moment yet do not appear to have fully developed back stories (although, they are hinted at)?  Do you feel that any particular acting technique helps to bring out the lives of Churchill's characters?

I think different actors work in different ways, so a good director works with the strengths on offer. There are actors who build meticulous back stories and use that to access the characters, and I certainly collaborate with that. There are others who find their own truths in the words given by the playwright, and others that settle into the world of the play and the mood or tone of a scene before finding their character’s place in it. I always try to find equivalent events that the actors could have experienced, to give an emotional starting point. I interrogate the way they move or speak, as breaking down and then rebuilding an actor’s physicality or speech pattern can help them to lose their own default mannerisms and build a new character. I also rely a lot on improvisation when working on a show like this one as it always helps to develop relationships between characters. It effectively builds the store of memories that real people carry around with them, which the actors can then access to find the resonance in things being said to one another.

I was intrigued by the mise-en-scene of this production.  The ruined section of roller coaster serving as a particularly potent metaphor for the lives of the characters and the fairground sounds during the scene changes.  Where did the idea for the roller coaster come from and indeed, the fairground motif?

I can’t take any credit for that! The rollercoaster came from our designer, Cleo Pettitt, but I think she did a brilliant job. We were always aware that there couldn’t be a single naturalistic setting that could take us from a country fete to a series of bedrooms to a futuristic bedsit, so we’d need something suggestive. She suggested the life-long rollercoaster that we are all on, and the way that these almost grotesque glimpses of the moments in people’s lives that are usually hidden had a carnival feeling – almost, at times, like a peep show, throwing open the doors on a series of secret moments.

Bad Nights and Odd Days consists of a couple of plays that were originally written for radio.  Do the play texts give any guidance as to how they should be produced on stage or as a director does it give you a degree of freedom?  Indeed, how prescriptive are Caryl Churchill's works?  As a director do you face the same restrictions and constraints as you may face staging Samuel Beckett's plays?

The two pieces written for radio – Abortive and Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen – do have stage directions in the published scripts that give you a starting point for a stage production but they are limited. It was also interesting to see the small differences between a piece written to be heard or to be seen. Some of the dialogue was more descriptive than you really need for theatre, as you can see what’s happening, but we found ways to integrate that. The text was more prescriptive – the overlapping dialogue that Churchill is known for now, the pauses or silences (in the same vein as Pinter, where the playwright clearly has a very clear view of how long those should be), that was where we felt we really had to follow the script as written.

For me, Three More Sleepless Nights is the astounding centrepiece of Bad Nights and Odd Days.  The bed becomes both a place of sanctuary and a battleground.  Words are uttered or half spoken that won't be unsaid.  What particular challenges do you face as a director staging a play that uses a bed as the focal point of attention?  How do the actors work around the enforced restraints of bed sheets and the opportunity for limited movement?

The bed was a really interesting playground for the actors. As you can imagine, as soon as you lie on a bed together you are in intimate territory, whatever the script dictates, so it had to be a very safe environment in rehearsal. Once we were happy with that, it had two key impacts on the production I think. Firstly, it’s one of the few places where you have a conversation with someone very close to you but without necessarily looking at them. We compared it to a conversation in the front seats of a car when one person is driving. With a physical dynamic that allows conversation without eye contact, uncomfortable things can be said more easily. Secondly, the bed, and the time of night at which the three chapters of the play is set, makes everything incredibly focused. When you are that close together, in the dark, at a time when you are both tired and sometimes with children asleep in an adjacent room, however angry or impassioned you become you still channel your emotions in a very narrow way. For the first chapter in particular, which could all be high energy argument, the bed setting forced us to make moments much closer and even intimate, even though the characters were furious with each other.

What are your future projects and are you enjoying the experience of directing at the moment?

I love directing – I have always loved stories and storytelling, and this is such an exciting way of telling a story. I am currently in rehearsal for our summer rep season which has its own challenges – a company of seven actors performing two different shows on alternate days. Pinocchio has a lot of puppetry and music but just enough reminders of how dark the original story was, whereas The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase is a traditional adventure story which unravels, with a few modern theatrical devices added in. I am also about to start development on a new family show concept, blending live performance with community radio broadcast and the distribution of a graphic novel – and then of course, I’ll have to work out what to present next for our adult audience. I have a large pile of plays to read…

Thanks to James Haddrell for agreeing to being interviewed again during a busy time and I thank him for his insights and openness concerning the art of theatre production.

Images

Gracy Goldman and Kerrie Taylor in Bad Nights and Odd Days.

James Haddrell at work.

Promotional image for Bad Nights and Odd Days.

Afterword.

All of the theatrical works listed are copyright to their respective owners.  The on set image of Bad Nights and Odd Days and the promotional image of the production are copyright to the Greenwich Theatre.  Zoom and Bluetooth are also copyright to their owners.

The Greenwich Theatre has a website and I recommend their productions:

https://greenwichtheatre.org.uk/

Also as I continue to say, please support your local theatres!

Thanks again to James Haddrell for allowing me to interview him again.

                                                                                    Barry Watt - 14th August 2021.

A Positive Cornucopia of Phrases - Come into my Mind...

Now, I stumbled on these phrases I wrote last year and this year the other day and felt the urge to share them on here.  I really don't know how to describe them.  I know where they came from but I don't know where they are going.  I wrote them whilst working in the Wellbeing Hub following my redeployment.  They began as little things that I created at the beginning of the day, which I shared on the What's App group we used to communicate with each other.  I wanted to throw a little bit of positivity into the world.  They were eventually copied and stuck on a Wellbeing wall in the Hub as 'Barry's Thoughts For The Day'.  In fact, it was suggested that I write more, so I did.  They used one for each day of the week.  

The creation process followed my usual pattern i.e. flashes of ideas, sometimes intrusive.  Not dissimilar to the unwanted thoughts associated with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, only more positive and certainly more productive if I can pin them down quickly enough.  Also my head becomes a cauldron of activity usually around bedtime, if I have a project in mind and again, if there is no paper to hand, the images run the risk of being repeated or disappearing.  The creative process can be a beautiful thing but more often than not, it involves opening yourself up to a stream of consciousness experience.  I make it sound horrible, but it's not really.  It's just allowing yourself to take on whatever your psyche cares to offer you and definitely no drugs are imbibed to elicit the experience.  Alcohol can help to loosen the flow though sometimes but probably only in the sense that it makes sleep harder to achieve, which makes your brain work harder.

Anyhow, these phrases took on the form of stanzas as for some reason, that's how I like to frame ideas a lot of the time.  Anyhow, I am offering them to you all below.  I would be interested if any of them mean anything to you or offer something.  Please let me know.  I am not a philosopher, but I am a human being, so I feel that like everyone else I have the need to share my beliefs, feelings and yes, unconscious ideas from time to time.  Significantly, they are not particularly edited.

Barry's 'Thoughts for the Day'

Embrace the moments of synchronicity
When half-remembered dreams
Offer unseen paths.

You can dance alone,
Your stretches and contortions
Can liberate your thoughts.

The nightmares that you face
When painted with the colours
of daylight may reveal a
new selection of choices.

A laugh in the company of
Strangers may make the
Silence of not knowing
more companionable.

 
The mirror you face is not
your enemy or your friend,
But it can help you to focus
if your heart becomes 
clouded.
 
If positivity remains out of
touch and all you can feel
is despair.
Breathe deep, you have been
here before but will flourish
again.
 
When life like a tired clown
lays down its wig and false 
nose, watch its cadences and 
assume a new disguise.
The squirrel collects provisions for another day.
What memories will you accrue today?
 
A joke half-remembered
And retold is better than none at all.
 
Religion or no religion,
Something moves you

And reminds you to give yourself to the world.
Are you listening to your needs?
 
The challenge is not to always be heard but to listen.
The most powerful souls are those that rarely utter a word.
 
The dreams you experienced as a child
Have not been forgotten.
Give the younger you the chance to shine,
If you fear the cynicism has set in.
 
The sun rises and sets,
The moon glows ferociously in the sky,
The tide engulfs the coast.
You are a part of this process.
Give into nature and just absorb the moment.
 
Learn from each self-perceived calamity.
It may have gone wrong today,
But tomorrow will be different.
 
Speak to someone you do not know and ask how they are.
They may not know how to answer,
But you may help them to realise that
They are not alone.
If ritual and routine pervades your days and nights,
Perform one act each day that breaks from
Your self-ordained path.
 
If you feel that others are laughing at you,
Remember that they do not know
You and you do not know them.
Your strength may be in diffidence.
 
Music is everywhere.  There
Is no such thing as happy
Or sad music.  Each composition or song
Offers a direct and unique engagement with the listener.
Decide what matters to you.
 
Let others support you.
You may be able to do it alone
But a shared moment of satisfaction
At a job well done can be more rewarding
Than an over-tired mind and body
At the end of the day.
 
If your rose-tinted glasses are damaged
Through your daily toils, throw them away.
To gaze upon life without the miasma of ‘perfection’
Will render each detail more vividly
And remind you of your place
In the big picture.
 
Walk through any park at any time of day and during any season.
The sense of being in the moment will give you release
As you bathe in the colours and textures of growth or decay.
There is a beauty in decay, just as there is a release in aging.
You continually give to others,
Now return the same kindness to yourself.
Give yourself a hug and forgive the slights that hold you back.
 
Your mentors did not keep you grounded,
They permitted you to grow.
Let your spirits run wild
And start the project you may not finish
But will love to achieve.
 
If you cannot sleep at night or during the day,
Write down three things that you
Look forward to doing tomorrow
And three things that you enjoyed today then smile.
 
May your day be like a beach after a storm,
Fresh and buzzing with potential.
 
May the sun shine on your daily sojourns
And the moon reflect upon each daily lesson learnt.
 
If you can’t find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,
Start looking within yourself.
The rainbow offers more than the gold.
 
Whether the glass is half empty or half full,
Start looking for the source,
If offers more.
 
On the motorway of life,
Take the slow lane,
The views are better and less distortion waits.
As you stare in the mirror each morning,
If you don’t like what you see today,
What you see tomorrow will not be the same.
Perception and notions of self are transient.
 
As you approach the hopscotch of life,
Please remember that you do not need to hop
On each point.
Just the ones that help you to reach your goal.

Barry Watt (19^th June 2020)

The second batch of phrases which I share here, I wrote this year.  There are less of them as I am not sure that my capacity to see the half-full glass is still an option for me.  I still feel hope though and that's the important thing, although I am not always sure where it comes from or where it lurks.

Believe in who you could be 
Tomorrow,
Trust in the person you are today.

Find your inner self,
The transient you
Then be that character.

The constraints of your room
can be overcome
By the limitless capacity of your
Mind.

The sleeping cat has a lesson
For you,
Non-stop activity is tiring.
To disengage 
Is not a sin.

If you see only darkness,
Rest in the silence.
You don't always need to walk
In the light.

Today's perceived inadequacies
Are tomorrow's blessed
Opportunities.

People are never the same,
They ebb and flow
Like butterflies
Live on the wind.

Barry Watt (15th January 2021)

Well, there you go, the insides of my mind for your pleasure and delectation.  But seriously, I hope that these phrase or sayings offer some comfort.

Barry Watt (15th May 2021)

It doesn't always need to make sense to be felt.

                                                                             BW.

The Moonlight Ingénue (A Short Story)

The Moonlight Ingénue

Tonight, we lost another major star of the stage…

Eloise walked gently up the pathway.  The flowers to either side of her entranced her, communicating something that only she could hear and feel.  She subtly moved her fingertips to her lips (the lips that had been her trademark, her motif during her working hours).  She amazed herself that the white foundation remained intact on her face.  A protective mask for the other colours that she applied or were forced upon her face by haggard hands, not her own hands which she kept covered when not on stage.  Her make-up artist who smoked roll ups and often apologised as she coughed in unison with the twittering of her associates who made up for the future silence by spewing forth their nocturnal activities, their indiscreet fumblings with minor celebrities and businessmen.  Their eyes on a lifetime of luxury, once the audience tired of the performers and their lithe and piquant movements across the stage.  Eloise reached up towards the moon with one hand and gently caressed her shoulders with the other hand.  She bent forward and her blue velvet dress followed her motion like an eager suitor.

Larry the Lost sat at his dressing table and pondered when he could leave.  One more set tonight.  He gazed at the waxy gunk on his face.  His face and body, a roadmap of endurance, prat falls and careless slaps (they were supposed to miss but Pogo always hit him with force.  Maybe, he was slowing down?)  Eloise and the Miraculous Mimes had completed their set.  He put on his oversized red shoes and ugly red nose.  The green wig and bowler hat were fine accessories for a wasted life.  He threw himself onto the stage and faced Pogo.  Pogo dressed in a fine suit but still wearing the clichéd accessories of clown wear, big brown shoes and a stupid red nose.  Their routine was now a complex critique of the class structure with the odd barbed comment thrown out at the audience, ‘You pay to watch a poor old clown get hurt by a rich man, what does that make you?  Ha ha’.  When his set was finished, Larry the Lost left the stage and promptly removed his make-up but left on his costume.  He left the theatre and entered the park outside.  From a distance, he saw Eloise…

Eloise turned around and saw Larry the Lost, the sad looking clown who she had secretly admired for some time.  The sheer physicality of his performance had enthralled her on more than one occasion.  Her own routine, a mimed interpretation of Goldilocks and the Three Bears or any number of other fairy tales, although well received by the audience were essentially mild titillation for older men with a liking for virgins.  She had tried her best to make them more than this but her outfits undermined her best intentions and the emphasis upon her luscious red lips in the promotional material for her shows left her feeling objectified.  She longed to star in something more substantial.  She no longer talked as she had nothing worthwhile to say and her publicist felt that unnecessary communication would fracture the public image of the ‘Silent Ingénue’.  She turned back to the pathway and headed towards the stairs.

Larry the Lost walked clumsily forward and called out, ‘Eloise, stop a minute, I need to talk to you’.  She stopped half way up a staircase and looked back, tilting her head down towards him.  A chain of light fleeing from the moon above flowed down the concrete steps that held her firmly to the ground.  She longed to float up towards the moon.  To be a particle of the vibrant portal to the heavens above.  Larry the Lost reached the stairs, clambered up a dozen of them and sweat fell profusely from his face.  He grabbed desperately for Eloise.  As he fell backwards, Eloise mouthed ‘I love you’.  The path broke his fall and his heart now out of control, beat away to the end of his life.  A drumroll for a fallen clown.  Eloise silently screamed and as the tears flowed from her eyes, the moon continued to gaze down as she joined Larry the Lost.  She removed his nose and wondered why he had kept his costume on yet removed his make-up?  She kissed him and put on his large red nose.  Pogo would have a new partner, only she would wear the suit.

We are proud to announce the birth of a major new talent…

Barry Watt – Monday 15^th February 2021.      

A Choice (A Short Story)

A Choice

David awoke and saw the bars of his confine.  He had lived here all of his life.  The sounds from outside were his only reminder that something better awaited him if only he prayed hard enough or wished in the direction of the universe.

Each day, a gentleman called Sidney entered his cage and sat cross-legged, staring at him, not maliciously but with a look of sympathy.

On a day much like any other, Sydney after entering the cage approached David and asked him gently, ‘Why are you here?’

David felt shocked as Sydney had never spoken to him before.  Also he had never seen a way out of the monotonous horror of his life and now this enigmatic stranger offered hope of something indefinable if only he answered correctly.  ‘I have always been here,’ David opined feeling his heart sink.  Sydney gave him a key and led David to the cage door.  David in a state of surprise and bemusement unlocked the door and began to leave the prison.  Sydney anxiously thrust his hand out and said ‘Lock the door and take the key!’

David did as advised and walked off wondering why Sydney wanted to be locked away?

A year later, David returned to the prison and put an enveloped note through the cage as Sydney slept on the ground.  The note read, ‘You can leave if you want to’ and the key lay dormant in the envelope.  David left.

Sydney awoke the next morning, opened the envelope, read the note and wept.

                                                                                               Barry Watt – 23^rd August 2020.

This was a short story I wrote last year.  It still means something to me.  It was inspired by a friend.  She was right.  The choice to remain where you are is still a decision.  Inertia is always a choice.  I would really like for people to comment on this story in any way they choose, if it means anything to them.

                                                                                                          BW - 24th January 2021.

Definitely not the Morrissey of comics - An Interview with Steve Marchant from the Cartoon Museum

I have known Steve Marchant since the 90s when I used to frequent Quality Comics in New Cross before it transmogrified and moved down the road to Lewisham, newly spawned as Skinny Melink’s Comics & Books.  Comics provided an enduring and indeed, sometimes vital life for a slightly shy, insecure kid who has grown into a slightly shy, insecure yet knowing adult (i.e. me).  The comic community, those devotees who pop into their local comic shops once a week around delivery day to obtain their bounty of inspirational, mythical fare are still a source of fond memory for me.  The endless recommendations of all forms of culture from fellow collectors.  I may have been considered a ‘geek’ in current parlance but to be a ‘geek’ in the company of friends was worth the price of admission alone.

Anyhow, enough of my digression, Steve Marchant has had a long and varied career within the comic industry and educational sector.  Now also working within the Cartoon Museum as Learning Officer/Comic Art Consultant.  So where to begin?

Steve, please can you tell me when your love of comics and sequential art began?  Do you remember the first comic you bought or that was bought for you?

When I was about 2-3 years old, my dad bought me various nursery comics every week, Playhour, Bimbo, Pippin and suchlike. A bit later I started getting TV Comic, and TV21 – being more expensive – was an occasional treat. Around that time, the Batman TV series began and I loved it. Dad bought me some Batman comics for my birthday and that led me onto US comics. You know, the hard stuff.

As to why I liked comics so much, without intensive psychiatric analysis I can’t really tell you.

What do you remember of your time either as a customer or as a member of staff at Quality Comics?  What can you tell me about your memories of Quality Communications too (publishers of ‘Warrior’ magazine that introduced the world to the likes of ‘V for Vendetta’)?  Was it based in Quality Comics?

After I left art college I moved to London in autumn 1986, living with a friend on Kirby Estate in Bermondsey (Alan Moore: “Does everyone walk around with their legs 4 feet apart?”). Quality Comics was nearby so I began going there fairly regularly. Dez Skinn was gone by then, having sold the shop to an American guy called Bruce Paley – lovely bloke. We’d always chat, and after a year or so he offered me a part-time job. There was nothing left from the Warrior days except an Alan Moore V script on the wall priced £40. Stupidly, I never bought it.

So yeah, I stayed there through the move to Lewisham. Bruce sold up sometime in the mid-90s, to the mother of one of his customers, and I left not long after that.

Bruce was a great raconteur, he told me a lot of funny stories of his days in New York; eventually he put some of them together in a graphic novel with his partner Carol Swain. It’s called Giraffes In My Hair, a great read.

When did you begin to create your own comics?  What was your motivation for creating them?  I have read ‘Fantastic Life’ and ‘Stupidface’.  Were these semi-autobiographical explorations of events and feelings that you were experiencing within your own life?  Also which artists and movements have influenced your work and/or style?

The first comic I ever did was a 3 issue, 4 page giveaway featuring The Bad Dream Chasers. In summer 1986, between leaving college and moving to London, I worked with some friends in a performance art group in Sheffield on a street theatre thing that toured all areas of the city, and the comic was given away to onlookers. I made us into Marvel-style characters for the comic, chasing bad dreams that had escaped into our reality. Drugs were not involved, I assure you.

When I moved to London I was unemployed for a few months and I didn’t have a TV, so to while away the time I began doing random 1 or 2 page Stupidface strips that I’d just show to friends. Some of them were pretty autobiographical, some less so. I’d just take a memory and twist it around to make it funny, with my character the butt of the joke. Anyway, people began asking me for photocopies to stick on their fridge or whatever so I thought ‘why not put them together in a small-press comic?’ By then I was a youth worker so I used to print them on the office photocopier while no-one was looking. And there my soar-away career in comics began.

Influence-wise, at that time it was mainly Eddie Campbell’s Alec strips, Robert Crumb’s autobiographical stuff, and The Smiths. I suppose I wanted to be the Morrissey of comics, but looking at the way he behaves these days I’m glad that that didn’t quite pan out. Style-wise, no artist in particular, I’ve never tried to ape anyone’s style. Perhaps I should have, some of those early strips of mine look terrible. 

Please can you talk to me a bit about your educational work (your teaching work and your classes showing students how to produce comics) over the years?

The teaching came out of youth work where I mostly worked with special needs kids, assisting with Life Skills classes – catching the bus, cooking, etc – and eventually I got to teach my own classes at Lewisham College. Nothing comic-y though, it was a whole separate part of my life at that time.

I suppose my big break was getting a job at the London Cartoon Centre in late 1991. It was a training school for aspiring comic artists, and I’d been going to evening classes there for a few years. Me and the director, Eve Stickler, had always got on really well so when her assistant left she offered me the job. About 3 months later Eve got moved to a different department in the parent company and I was running it by myself. As well as doing tedious admin I used to sit in on classes of all different types: action, humour, colouring, writing, etc. I learned a lot, not just in terms of art skills but also different teaching methods. That meant that if a tutor couldn’t make it, I could step in and kind of bluff my way through. Eventually I developed my own classes and also began teaching in libraries and schools and City University, where I taught for 16 years. When the London Cartoon Centre closed down in 1995 I sold my services to what is now The Cartoon Museum. And here we are…

Also I remember once that you told me that you had interviewed the comic creator and author, Alan Moore.  Was this for your own publication or for some other purpose?  Have you met many of the creators that you admire?  Also linked to this please can you tell me how you became involved in the ‘Worm’ project and tell people a little bit more about it (I bought the graphic novel collection the other day and look forward to reading it)?

I’ve met Alan a few times. I can’t say we’re mates but we’ve always got on, he’s a really nice, really funny bloke. In 1986 I had a friend that worked on Sanity, the CND magazine, and he asked me to interview him. So at the big London convention that year I had a brief chat with Alan and he gave me his address, and I went round a couple of weeks later. We talked for hours, he was very generous with his time. I transcribed almost every word from the tape, but annoyingly Sanity only ran a small part. Dunno what happened to the transcript, which is annoying; I still have the tape but I’ve got nothing to play it on these days. The last time I saw Alan was about six years ago, we both ran some workshops with ne’er-do-well teenagers in Northampton Library.

As to other favourite creators, I’ve met quite a few. If I tried to name them all I’d sound like Mr Namedrop, but I’m pleased that some have wound up being proper friends.

The Worm was initiated by David Lloyd to raise money for the London Cartoon Centre in 1991. The idea was to create the longest comic strip in the world, 250 feet if I remember right, a bit similar to the Bayeux Tapestry. Alan Moore plotted it, Garth Ennis and others scripted each chapter, and David designed The Worm – a kind of eternal cartoonist appearing in various points in history. 125 artists – big names and up-and-comers (including me) - were given two 12” square panels to work on at a live event in central London. After it was finished it was exhibited at a posh gallery and visitors’ admission fees were donated to the Cartoon Centre. Then we got a grant to release The Worm as a fund-raising book but by the time it was ready for publication the plug was pulled on the LCC, so we decided to partner with the Cartoon Art Trust – which had recently set up what would eventually become the Cartoon Museum. Funds from the book went toward running classes through them.

You are currently working at the Cartoon Museum in London.  I have visited the museum twice, once in its previous location and more recently in Wells Street.  Please can you tell me more about the museum and your work as Learning Officer/Comic Art Consultant?

The Cartoon Museum is run by a charity, the Cartoon Art Trust, which is comprised of cartoon enthusiasts and creators. The museum gradually evolved from a series of limited-lease galleries in office block foyers and empty shops to its first ‘proper’ site in Little Russell St, near the British Museum, in 2006. That was when it really took off, and with 3 separate galleries it could finally show a wider selection of the artwork the trustees had amassed. Plus, the museum began borrowing artwork from artists, publishers and collectors for temporary exhibitions devoted to a specific artist, title, or theme. Highlights for me from that time are the exhibitions of Ronald Searle, Ralph Steadman, Viz, The Beano, and 2000 AD. The thing is though that the museum’s increasing success didn’t escape the attention of the landlords, who pushed up the rent year by year, by eye-watering amounts. By 2018 staying in the building became financially untenable so the trustees decided to look elsewhere. By wonderful serendipity we discovered there was a major redevelopment going on in Wells St that required the owners to offer a significant amount of space to a charitable cause, for minimal rent. So that’s where we are now.

I should use this opportunity to clear something up: I am not, nor have ever been, the Curator of the museum, which I’ve seen reported several times. Paul Gravett was its first curator, from around 1993 to 1999; Anita O’Brien was curator from 2001 to 2018, and since January 2020 our curator has been Emma Stirling-Middleton – heroes all. My work there has mostly been coordinating the educational visits from schools and teaching children how to draw badly. However, for the duration of our National Lottery funded Comic Creators Project – when the museum received a grant of £100,000 to buy comic art – I was the Project Curator – which we changed to Comic Art Curator as the other title was meaningless out of context. In that role I bought comic art from online auctions, collectors, and artists, and chose what to put on display. Basically, if you bought a lottery ticket and didn’t win, I got your money.

I believe that you also still teach within the museum.  What have you learnt from the students that you have imparted your love of comics and skills to?

It’s mostly kids that I teach there, and I learn from them what comics are currently popular with the 5-16 age group. The Beano, Asterix, and Tintin are always popular, as are DC and Marvel comics – increasingly so with all the TV shows and movies that have come out over the last 20 years. And manga, that’s very popular now, but not the stuff I like – gritty social realism by people like Tatsumi – being children, all they’re into is unicorns and kids with big fucking eyes.

To return to the subject of comic reading and collecting, are you still a collector and if so, which titles do you most enjoy and why?

Until 2017 I had a massive comic collection, it practically filled a whole room in our flat. Marvels, DCs, independents, undergrounds, UK titles and loads of magazines and books about the history of comics. To cut a very long and horrible story short, I was forced to move to a much smaller place and had to dispose of about 80% of my collection. I donated 600+ comic history books, graphic novels, etc to Staffordshire University, and sold roughly 2000 comics and magazines for peanuts to a friend’s comic shop. I discovered that the back issue business is on its arse due to people’s ongoing financial woes and the availability of reprint volumes these days. Nowadays I rarely buy comics, I haven’t the heart, or the space to keep them.

The Coronavirus pandemic has changed many people’s worldviews.  Rather inappropriately, I am constantly reminded of Dogwelder from DC Comics, ‘Hitman’ comic every time I see a visor.  But seriously, although the pandemic has been catastrophic, do you feel that on a personal level, it has taught you anything about yourself and others?  How has the situation influenced your work?

Our various periods of lockdown have taught me that I can actually drink far more than I ever knew. And in terms of other people, I think it has brought out the best in some. We’ve all seen heart-warming stories on the news about folks delivering groceries to pensioners or working at food banks, and my hat is off to them, it really is. And the owner of my local off license has done me some very good deals on nice bottles of wine. He’s a star.

But we’ve also been assaulted by ‘inspirational’ shit on TV, sponsored by banks and suchlike, where people are all having a laugh during lockdown in their big houses and gardens – really rubbing it in for people like me and my partner squashed into a tiny studio flat, or even worse, for people locked-in alone. All of that has really annoyed me.

Work-wise, obviously the Cartoon Museum’s been closed off and on which has meant I haven’t done much there, and I was furloughed for most of 2020 so technically I’m not supposed to be working although I have been compiling reports and stuff that’ll be useful one day. As for my personal work, if I was living in my old place where we had four rooms then I could have got loads done but now I’m in a 15 foot-square box, with my girlfriend working by phone six feet away from my left and/or watching TV six feet away from my right, it’s a non-starter. I need peace and quiet to craft comic stories that no-one will like.

On a lighter note and because it is customary in talks and interviews within the comic industry to broach such pressing issues, who would win in a fight between Groo the Wanderer and Superman?  Also what are your future plans?  Any projects in the pipeline?

Groo v Superman? Superman. Future plans and projects? I’m not sure at this time of writing (Dec 2020) that anyone can make future plans, although having said that I am looking forward to the bottle of Merlot that I bought earlier. At a very reasonable price.

Thanks for letting me interview you, Steve and I hope that the Cartoon Museum continues to flourish.

                                                                                                Barry Watt - 3rd January 2021.

Afterword.

All of the intellectual properties above are copyright to their respective owners.  I can list them all if you want but I recommend everything and suggest never mixing Merlot with Superman.  I will however promote 'Giraffes In My Hair', 'V For Vendetta', 'Hitman' and 'Groo The Wanderer' because they are good reads:

'Giraffes In My Hair: A Rock 'N' Roll Life' by Bruce Paley and Carol Swain is published by Fantagraphics and a quick look on the internet reveals that it is available from lots of lovely bookshops etc:

https://blog.fantagraphics.com/now-in-stock-giraffes-in-my-hair-a-rock-n-roll-life-by-bruce-paley-carol-swain/

'V For Vendetta' is a classic read published by DC Comics (originally published in the 'Warrior' magazine by Quality Communications in installments.  Alan Moore and David Lloyd really pulled out all the stops for this one.  The fact that it has entered myriad subcultures and protest movements proves the point that regardless of the form, if the message is there, it will prevail:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_for_Vendetta

'Hitman' was created by Garth Ennis and John McCrea.  It's just a bleeding good laugh at times.  It was an ongoing series that span out of a DC annual crossover event called 'Bloodlines'.  Dogwelder appeared in this series (and also in various spin-off series) and is possibly one of the craziest characters you will ever encounter in mainstream comics.  Please see the second link for an article based on Dogwelder and what would have been a truly memorable appearance in the 'Suicide Squad' film:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitman_(DC_Comics)

https://www.cbr.com/dogwelder-suicide-squad-reject-explained/

'Groo the Wanderer' was created by Sergio Aragones and is basically a version of Cerventes' 'Don Quixote' in comic form.  Also a take on the numerous fantasy, sword and sorcery sagas.  The character has been published by most publishers over the years except DC Comics (I guess he lacks a cape and cowl):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groo_the_Wanderer

The Cartoon Museum is an excellent place to visit.  They have a website you can check out whilst they are temporarily closed.  Support them and any museums that take your fancy when they reopen!  Don't let your local museums go the way of the dinosaurs and many much lamented libraries!

https://www.cartoonmuseum.org/

                                                                                                                                    BW

Photographs and Steve's work (Kindly provided by Steve Marchant.  Copyright to him and to anyone who commissioned his work at the time)

Steve Marchant

A page from 'Stupidface'

Road Safety Strip - Remember Kids, Be Seen!

'Teenage Kicks' - Cover of an advice comic for teenagers

The Cartoon Museum.

                                                                                                            

                                                                                                       BW