20
@concrete_arts
www.concrete-online.co.uk
ARTS
concrete.arts@uea.ac.uk 05.02.2013
PREVIEW: CABARET: A NIGHT AT THE MUSICALS
Hatty Farnham
Chloe Hashemi Next week the drama studio will host this year’s production of Cabaret: A Night at the Musicals. The Cabaret cast have been rehearsing hard alongside their academic commitments for six weeks to bring a night of all-singing, all-dancing musical entertainment to raise money for their chosen charities. “This year it’s all about the kids,” director Jon Cobb tells Venue, “the production will be fundraising for ACODO (Assisting Cambodian
Orphans and the Disabled Organization) and the Elimu foundation.” Both charities are holistic nonprofit organisations which work with children and their communities to support education, health care and shelter. “Cabaret is about making people happy, and it’s a win-win”, says Jon, “it’s an opportunity to make a better world for those who aren’t as fortunate as ourselves, and it provides an evening
of entertainment for our audience in Norwich.” “We enjoy it too!” adds dance choreographer Rachel Moss. The cast is made up of 20 singerdancers and five dancers, and they will be performing a whopping 24 songs on the night. Each year the Cabaret cast keep their programme under wraps, but this year their publicity material is made up of six clues as to the numbers they will be performing on the night.
Intriguing, isn’t it? The performances are at 7.30 on the 14- 16 of February. You can’t buy tickets because it is a charity event, but will be asked to make a donation on the evening. All money raised will go straight to ACODO and the Elimu foundation, and the cast guarantee you will have a fun-filled evening. “Bring your friends, family and loose-change, and we defy you not to sing-along!” says Rachel.
INTERVIEW: Lorna Mackinnon talks to Ashley Stokes, Creative Writing lecturer and head of Unthank Books Lorna: What inspired you to write The Syllabus of Errors? Ashley: No one experience or idea in particular inspired the collection. After I finished my novel Touching the Starfish I worked on a few short stories I’d sketched during the novel’s composition and enjoyed writing pieces I could complete quickly. I certainly wasn’t thinking of a collection, let alone a sequence at this point. After three stories I tried to start a novel but couldn’t get started, so wrote a few more shorts, by which time they started to accumulate. However, the stories were partly inspired by a visit to Berlin; when I was a teenager I’d been obsessed both with the city and the whole history of central Europe between the wars. It was also informed by a feeling that some of the neurotic visions that beset Europe in the
twenties are revisiting us now.
shed novel.
Lorna: Which story in the collection is your favourite, and why?
Lorna: Who are your favourite authors?
Ashley: ‘Abyssinia’ is my favourite. Inspired by Robert Stone’s story ‘Coping’, I wanted to write about someone coming spectacularly off the rails to see if I could bring him back from the brink. If I think about The Syllabus, ‘Abyssinia’ is the story that seems the most indicative to me, the most emotional. I may have come closest here to saying what I mean. Lorna: How has UEA inspired your writing career? Ashley: Teaching evening classes in Adult Ed for five years informed rather than inspired Touching the Starfish, my campus
Ashley: Nabokov, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Richard Yates, JG Ballard, Kafka, Philip Roth, James Lasdun, Josef Skvorecky, David Foster Wallace, Patricia Highsmith and David Rose. Lorna: Do you have any advice for people who would like to pursue a career in creative writing? Ashley: Write what only you could write. Don’t expect anyone to like you for it. Don’t grow a goatee beard. Talk to strangers. Ignore fashions. Fear the winter. Lorna: How can people become involved with Unthank Books?
Ashley: Unthank Books does have a partnership with the careers service at UEA, so in the first instance, contact Justine Mann if you want to work on marketing a novel or Unthology. Anyone with design or IT ideas should contact the publisher, Robin Jones on information@ unthankbooks.com. Ashley Stokes is a Creative Writing Lecturer for UEA. His latest collection, The Syllabus of Errors, will be available to buy from 14th February. Join us at The Bicycle Shop on Thursday 21st February, from 7.30-9.30pm for the launch. Book signings with the author, hear readings from the book, and meet the Unthank team! For more information, visit www. unthankbooks.com, or find us on Facebook and Twitter.