Rapscallion Magazine Summer 2022

R

R apscallion Ha r r y M ot t ra m’s

Summer 2022

Magazine issue 11

The dark comedy of the secret police and dictators

Plus news, reviews, previews, the diary and features

Axbridge 2022 Pageant Saturday-Monday August 27-29, 2022 Axbridge Town Square, Axbridge, Somerset, UK

Over the last half a century, Axbridge Pageant has become a key part of Somerset’s rich tradition of carnivals and community events. Considered one of the only historical pageants left in the United Kingdom, the performance is a spectacular re-enactment celebrating 2,000 years of Axbridge history - from Saxon times through to the present day. The next one will be held over three days in the last weekend of August 2022, and a cast of upwards of 400 local performers will be supported by over 100 volunteers… all of whom who give their time, experience and skill to ensuring this unique event develops from strength to strength.

First performed in 1967 to celebrate the opening of the by-pass along the former Strawberry Line rail track, the Axbridge Pageant was such a success it was decided to repeat it… and since then has been held every ten years. We’re now busily planning the 2020 event – and appealing for everyone who wishes to get involved to get in touch and let us know. Being a part of the Axbridge Pageant is fun, rewarding and gives you the opportunity to be a central part of your community. For more details and how to take part or support the event visit axbridgepageant.com 2

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CONTENTS INTRO 03

Welcome to the occasional publication

DIARY 04

What’s on and what to check out this July in Bath and beyond.

FEATURE 06-07

From Bristol boy to Hollywood star, a brief history of Cary Grant.

FEATURE 08-09

Comedy stock characters: the dumb or not so dumb blonde.

R apscallion R Har r y M ot t ram’s

M agaz ine

spring 2022

issue 11

Welcome to the latest edition of the new look Rapscallion Magazine edited by me Harry Mottram.

I’m a freelance journalist and news editor covering Bath amongst other subjects such insolvency news and local history in Bristol.

Over the years I have covered everything from midwifery to motorcycles and from wedding lingerie to horse riding and what’s on in Oxford.

This online publication is a showcase of my work both past and present and the future.

In this issue the subject of subversive jokes made in totalitarian regimes are aired - for some reason the dark jokes of the likes of Russia, North Korea have a universal appeal and can be updated from the era or Lenin to today’s dictators in Belarus and China.

There’s a feature on the Dumb Blonde stock character of movies and TV shows and a profile of matinee idol Cary Grant.

‘...the dark jokes of the likes of Russia, North Korea have a universal appeal and can be updated from the era or Lenin to today’s dictators in Belarus and Xi’s China’

I hope you enjoy the publication. See you soon when I compile the next edition of this occasional magazine.

Harry Mottram

FEATURE 10-11

The dark comedy of dictators, the secret police and life in a totalitarian state.

REVIEWS 12-21

Welcome to the occasional publication

BACK PAGE 20 Harry The Spiv poetry Rapscallion Magazine

For all enquiries contact the editor: Harry Mottram harryfmottram@gmail.com Mobile: 07789 864769 Check out my websites at: www.harrymottram.co.uk I’m also on Facebook and Twitter as @harrythespiv, LinkedIn, YouTube and God knows what else 3

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The Cartoon Museum in London has a number of collections permanently on display including the history of the seaside postcard

Saucy seaside postcards, Tudors and summer walks around the city of Bath It is the first season when the scourge of Covid has been vanquished - or has it?

The wretched virus has returned with a vengeance and the jury is out as to whether it will once again affect events like theatre, comedy and music.

Leaving that depressing thought aside this season sees some Rapscallion friendly events.

In London the Cartoon Museum has an ongoing exhibition on the saucy seaside postcards - that very British institution from the Carry On Age inherited from the music hall and our Anglo Saxon sense of humour.

Bamford and Company had been printing postcards since the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries with what would appear to us now as rather innocent portrayals of life at the seaside.

It seems amazing that society in the 1950s was so conservative that these displays of humour were considered obscene. Incredibly the artist Donald McGill was prosecuted for his designs under the 1857 Obscene Publications Act. He was found guilty and fined £50 with costs of £25. It just goes to show that even then some people didn’t have a sense of humour.

Meanwhile here is a listing of some 4

events of note coming up this spring:

Regular events in Bath

Tuesdays Mayor’s Pulteney Estate Walks. The walks are free and take in Great Pulteney Street and Sydney Gardens. Meet at 11am. Runs from May to September.

No booking is required. Allow 2 hours. Meet at the Pump Room in Bath.

Wednesdays Widcombe Wayfarers Walks. Meet on the 2nd Wednesday of every month, starting at 10am at the west end of Widcombe Parade. Walks last between 1-2 hours and are medium paced. Come dressed for the weather, with suitable footwear and be prepared for a few climbs. Walks are limited to 20 people and registration is now compulsory. The walks are free but if you would like to make a small donation to this event you can do so when you register. See the Widcombe Association website for details.

Thursdays Mayor’s Pulteney Estate Walks. The walks are free and take in Great Pulteney Street and Sydney Gardens. Meet at 11am. Runs from May to September.

No booking is required. Allow 2 hours. Meet at the Pump Room in Bath.

Story Time at Bath Library. 12noon to 12.30pm.

Let’s share stories and books at the library! Perfect for families with children aged 0-5. No booking required.

Saturdays Bear Flat Community market and café. Third Saturday of every month, from 9:30am to 12:30 pm in the church hall on Bruton Avenue. To book a stall, email market@bearflat.org.uk

Theatre Picks in Bath

Fri 1 Jul-Sat 6 Aug. Ustinov Studio. The Tempest.

Deborah Warne directs Shakespeare’s drama set on an island inhabited by Prospero, his daughter and slave Caliban.

Sat 2 Jul. Rondo Theatre. Tosca. 7:30pm. By Giacomo Puccini. Bath Opera stages the tragic story of diva Tosca and her painter lover Cavaradossi under a cruel and despotic regime. In the title role is international soprano Ghiulnara Raileanu who is supported by leading members of Bath Opera with Robert Felstead as Cavaradossi and Niall Hoskin as the cruel Scarpia. Musical Director is Peter Blackwood, and Stage Director Jane Clark.

Sat 2-Sat 23 Jul. Theatre Royal Bath. Bugsy Malone. A Lyric Hammersmith Theatre production of Alan Parker’s prohibition era comedy musical drama Wed 6 – Sat 9 Jul . Rondo Theatre. Macbeth. The Rondo Theatre Company stage Shakespeare’s tragedy of regicide in Scotland. All profits are in aid of Marie Curie.

Wed 13 Jul. Rondo Theatre. Estella. A musical take on Estella who enchants Pip in Charles Dickens’ novel Great Expectations. This new play shows how devastating the truth can be in a world built on secrets and lies. Diving straight to the heart of literature’s mysterious heroine – Estella – three captivating actor-musicians lead a radical reimagining set against a backdrop of live music and song. 7.30pm.

Thu 14 to Sat 16 Jul. Mission Theatre. tick, tick...

Boom! by Jonathan Larson. 7.30pm. Valkyrie Theatre Company presents the story of a young playwrightcomposer and the sacrifices he made to achieve his Rapscallion Magazine

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big break in theatre.

Wed 20 Jul – Sat 23 Jul. Rondo Theatre. Hell.

Inspired by Germanic mythology and folklore, Hell is a new play from Dumb Blonde Theatre (recent productions include the horror-comedy The White Heart Inn, and the adaptation of feminist ghost story The Yellow Wallpaper). Hell celebrates the place stories hold in our lives during troubled times, the power they have to connect us to each other, and their ability to bring light to even the darkest of nights. 8pm.

Sat 24-Sun 25 Jul. Mission theatre. Cardiff Opera stage Così fan tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte. Two couples, young and in love, find themselves tangled up in the powerful emotions of their first significant relationships. What starts out perfect, quickly turns on its head as games and tests of loyalty overrun their idolised views of one another. Their friends definitely confuse the situation with questionable motives of their own. Mozart masterfully captures the roller-coaster of young love.

Cardiff Opera presents a coming of age Così fan tutte that explores identity, sexual expression and family bonds.

Theatre Picks Outside Bath

Thu 23 Jun-Sat 9 Jul. Stroud. Cotswold Playhouse.

Vanity Fair. Bristol Old Vic Theatre School go on the road with William Makepeace Thackery’s story of on the make Becky Sharp who breaks all the rules in 19th century England. Also at other venues throughout the region see https://www.oldvic.ac.uk/events-shows/ vanity-fair/ Tue 28 Jun-Sat 2 Jul. Bristol Tobacco Factory.

Jane Eyre The Kelvin Players stage an adaption of Charlotte Brontë’s novel. In this play the focus is on the relationship between Jane and Bertha, Rochester’s first wife. Rather than making them opposites, it seeks to make connections between them both physically and emotionally.

Tue 12 Jul. Weston-super-Mare. Playhouse Theatre. The Tiger Who Came To Tea. Join the teaguzzling tiger in this delightful family show; packed with oodles of magic, sing-a-long songs and clumsy chaos. Various performance times.

Tue 19 – Sat 30 Jul. Bristol Old Vic. Treasure Island.

Physical comedy company Le Navet Bete bring a humorous take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel concerning buried treasure, pirates and in this version a mermaid.

Diary Events for Bath

Sat 2 Jul. Walcot Antique and Flea Market. At Bath Cattle Market from 7.30am to 4pm where you’ll find traders selling Antiques, Bric-a-brac, curiosities,vintage clothes, second hand tools, records, jewellery and lots of other fascinating and exciting things.

Sat 2 Jul. Royal High School. Summer Festival.

12noon to 4pm. This is a very informal, relaxed event where all are invited to enjoy musical, dance and drama performances from students across the Prep and Senior Schools. Our creative departments will be providing interactive workshops, an Art Show and a Design and Technology display. There will be a variety of stalls and activities to enjoy with plenty of delicious food and refreshing drinks available.

Sun 3 Jul. Komedia. Science Magic. Irish comedian and scientist, Donal Vaughan, brings his science, comedy, magic family show to Bath. Using only things you find around the house, Donal will perform amazing tricks to show how magical science can be.

Want to see a potato rocket launcher? Or conjure dragons breath? How about a vomiting unicorn? Of course you do. Always exciting and sometimes very messy, learn about science and laugh your pants off while you do. And the best part is all the tricks can be performed by you when you go home. 12 noon.

Sun 10 Jul. Bath Contemporary Arts Fair. Green Park Station. The fair includes fine art, photography, Rapscallion Magazine

The Tudors at the Holburne Museum in Bath sculpture, textiles and much more Thu 14 Jul. Widcombe Wobblers Cycle Ride.

Evening cycle to Cross Guns Pub, Avoncliffe - 17 miles.

Booking essential - via the Widcombe Community Association website. 5pm. Meeting point: under the tree at the western end of Widcombe Parade. In the case of bad weather, please see our website for last minute changes: www.widcombeassociation.org.uk Sat 16 July. Bath Farmers’ Market. Green Park Station. Every Saturday at 9am-1.30pm. You will find quality, fresh, seasonal produce at a fair price. The goods are sold directly by the people who produce them and everything usually comes from within a 40 mile radius of Bath – if we cannot source locally we sometimes extend beyond the 40 mile radius.

Fri 29-Sun 31 Jul. Fantastic Food Festivals at Royal Victoria Park. 10am-5pm. Summer Food Festival, with local and national stalls bursting with tempting treats, savoury delights and refreshing tipples. Plus Masterclasses, the Festival Kitchen line-up and a host of new features including some very special Jubilee celebrations!

Diary Events outside of Bath

Fri 1 Jul. Keynsham. Concert at St John’s Church.

Part of Keynsham Festival. The Good Afternoon Choir will be performing at 7.30pm. Admission is free with doors open from 7pm and there will be a retiring collection for the Festival who, of course celebrate their 25th anniversary this year. Special guests will be the Uke-aholics, a lively Ukulele band from Thornbury.

Sat 2 Jul. Malmesbury. Concert at the Abbey. The guest soloist is Rebecca LaChance. An acclaimed American actress, Rebecca relocated to the UK after performing opposite Michael Ball in the title roles of Mack and Mabel at the Chichester Festival Theatre and on tour throughout the UK. The concert is hosted by the popular Malmesbury Community Choir who will be joined by the Bath Welcome Chorus, a combined choir of over 100 voices. Tickets are £18

and available from choir members, online from www. grenvillejones.biz or call 01761 472468.

Fri 15-Sun 17 Jul. Bristol Harbour Festival. This annual free dance, music and arts extravaganza returns to the Harbourside for a weekend of family activities, music, circus, food markets and visiting vessels.

Fri 15-Sun 17. Fairford, Gloucestershire. Royal International Air Tattoo. Featuring aircraft with royal connections in honour of the Platinum Jubilee. An anticipated 170,000 visitors are expected to attend.

Children under 18 go free.

Sat-Mon, 27-29 Aug. Axbridge Pageant. The community play that brings to life 2000 years of history in the Somerset town is staged every ten years in the town’s square. Grandstands are set up to create a large theatrical space where Saxons fight Danes, Monmouth Rebels take up arms and soldiers prepare for D-Day as the drama unfolds. For details and tickets visit https://axbridgepageant.com/ Exhibition Picks Sun 1 May - 3 July. American Museum, Bath.

Dress to Redress. An exhibition of the work of contemporary Anishinabe artist Celeste Pedri-Spade that will focus on the role of strong women in community. Continues to 3 July.

Sat 14 May-Sun 17 July. Judo history: The Museum of East Asian Art is running an exhibition from 14 May to 17 July on the cultural history of judo.

Sat 14 May - Sat 2 Jul. Bath Society of Artists Annual Open Exhibition at Victoria Art Gallery.

Visitors to the exhibition will also be able to place their votes for the Public Choice Prize, selecting their favourite artwork to win a prize of £600 for the artist.

All of the artworks are for sale.

Or for cultural events such as classical concerts, community events, comedy drama, talks, walks and exhibitions email harryfmottram@gmail.com 5

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From Bristol boy to Hollywood: a brief history of Cary Grant

By Harry Mottram. Stylish, masculine and immaculately turned out, Cary Grant was the epitome of the debonair male. Or so he became, because as a schoolboy in 1910 at Bishop Road Primary School in Bishopston a fellow classmate referred to him as a ‘scruffy little boy’ and one of his teachers complained he was always ‘making and noise and wouldn’t do his homework.’ Ironic when in the 1938 movie Bringing Up Baby he played the mild mannered and quietly spoken paleontologist David Huxley who was far from that scruffy Bristol schoolboy.

But by then Archibald Alec Leach had honed his image as the man about town, or as his biographer Graham McCann noted the Bishopston boy had become the ‘epitome of masculine glamour’. When he entered the world of film Archibald wanted a new glamourous name and settled on Cary Grant as it sounded more American. He was to go on to star in a string of box office hits and classic movies with several rated by critics as some of the all-time greats. I give you Hitchcock’s thriller North By Northwest (1959), To Catch a Thief (1955), Notorious (1949), Suspicion (1941) and Bringing up Baby (1938). We all have our favourites, mine being Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) and Charade (1963) alongside Audrey Hepburn, which some critics called ‘the best Hitchcock film Hitchcock never made.’

But it all started in 1904 at 15 Hughenden

Road, Horfield, where he was born, but his upbringing was less than ideal. Archibald was the only surviving son of Elsie Maria and Elias James Leach, a tailor’s presser, who had his wife committed into Glenside mental hospital while later telling young Archie she had died. When he discovered his mother was still alive years later, he returned to bring her out of hospital to support her final years at a house in Linden Road in Westbury Park where she lived until her death in 1973 aged 96. By then his alcoholic dad had married again and had created a new family leaving Archibald psychologically damaged by his early life.

As a child his dad took him to the Bristol Hippodrome to see the annual pantomime and that was the moment his life changed.

It’s fair to say he was transfixed. Star struck.

He managed to get an evening job as a messenger and gofer at the theatre bunking off Fairfield Grammar School regularly to help out and as time went by, he was helping with the lighting and befriending The Penders who had an acrobatic comedy show. He was expelled from Fairfield and joined the Penders at the age of 15 and so his stage life began.

After touring the UK the Penders travelled to America where Archibald’s skills widened into acting and in particular comedy. After they returned to England he stayed on forming his own comedy troupe

Cary Grant in Horfield in the 1970s pictured by Alan Griffee

and working as a paid escort for wealthy women making the most of his good looks and English accent. A series of jobs, roles and comedy shows followed as the now Cary Grant began to create the suave persona complete with his mid-Atlantic accent that was to serve him so well.

After appearing in a number of short films in New York he gained attention from Paramount in 1931 and was signed up with a salary of $450 a week – a fortune at the time. The rest as we know is history as he moved up the star system to eventually become one the best paid actors of all time and able to pick and choose roles including turning down the James Bond film Dr No in 1961 as he only wanted to do one movie as 007.

His films were box office while he was equally famous off the screen for his private life marrying five times and fathering just one child Jennifer in 1966 with Dyan Cannon, who he claimed was his ‘best production.’

He returned to Bristol regularly to visit his mother and to see the old city from where he had sprung. Cary Grant died in 1986 aged 82 after taking ill at the Adler Theatre in Davenport, Iowa, USA, suffering a stroke.

Despite being taken to hospital he died a few hours later. Since his death there have been festivals in Bristol to celebrate his life and films, books and documentaries and a statue in Bristol’s Millennium square.

Whether he returned to Bishop Road to see his old school to see if his desk was still there, we’re not sure, but he was photographed outside his childhood home in Horfield by Alan Grifee and famously at the Clifton Gorge.

We’ll leave the last word to Archibald Leach on his screen persona and famous good looks: “Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant. I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be until finally I became that person.”

Illustration by Harry Mottram 6

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Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest Rapscallion Magazine

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Blondes top from left: Jayne Mansfield, Liz Fraser, Pamela Anderson,. Main: Suzanne Somers. Bottom from left: Rik Mayall, Jeff Daniels and Goldie Hawn

Stock comedy characters: from Marilyn to Carry On’s Liz Fraser - the dumb blonde Or maybe not so blonde as apart from getting regular employment and fame it guaranteed a pay packet. Harry Mottram dyes his hair blonde to investigate She’s bubbly, funny and seemingly one penny short of a shilling: The Dumb Blonde is a comedy stock character who is instantly recognised in all her two-dimensional form.

Blonde (obviously), sexy rather than glamorous, over dressed in one sense and under dressed in another sense, selfabsorbed and the love interest for at least one or more co-stars in various screen comedy dramas. Meet the dumb blonde.

Marilyn Monroe (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), Goldie Hawn (Good Morning, World), Jayne Mansfield (The Girl Can’t Help It), Suzanne Somers (Three’s Company), Pamela Anderson (Blonde and Blonder), Ana Farris (The Hot Chick), Liz Fraser (Carry On Regardless) and of course not forgetting the butt of a thousand jokes the bottle blonde in white high heels: the Essex Girl.

All a bit dated and very cliched but for the best part of the 20th century the Dumb Blonde was a staple of films, TV, videos and even the radio with Samantha keeping the scores in BBC Radio 4’s antidote to panel games I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue.

There is an accepted wisdom amongst students of the human race that because natural blondes are rarer than red heads, brunettes and raven-haired women they stand out and as such are more attractive to men.

Not all blondes are dumb of course. There’s a whole genre of the golden haired ones 8

from ice cool platinum blondes (Grace Kelly) to blonde bombshells (Brigitte Bardot) and from bottle blondes (Ivanka Trump) to Strawberry Blondes (Christina Hendricks).

But Dumb Blondes are supposed to be... well a bit slow.

And we shouldn’t only suggest dumb blondes are female although their male counterparts are seen slightly differently. I give you Jeff Daniels in Dumb and Dumber, Rik Mayall in Bottom, and Paul Gasgoine in er... Gasgoine. If female dumb blondes struggle to work out how to open a bottle of champagne then male dumb blondes struggle to open a door. Back to female dumb blondes.

Classic dumb blondes are even more attractive as they don’t always have the usual body language barriers that say don’t approach me. Instead, they are supposed to be easier to talk to, flirt with and are generally more agreeable company due to their child-like honesty.

For viewers, the dumb blonde is a character we think we know immediately. Like a pantomime baddie, a good fairy or a tall dark and handsome stranger they save a drama having to build their persona. They are the instant stock character.

Women have died their hair blonde for centuries with lemon juice, cider vinegar, sun light and sea water but it was the introduction of L’Oreal’s synthetic hair dyes in 1917 that hair salons could create the first

bottle blondes which coincided with the rise of cinema.

But the dumb blonde didn’t really arrive until sound was added to film allowing the character to evolve into the fully formed comedy stock character. Not knowing the fallout of her novel Anita Loos’ 1925 novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes it was to spawn not one film but two with the most famous one being the 1953 version with Marilyn Monroe in the pivotal role. Marilyn Monroe was to further push the role in Some like It Hot as Sugar Kane – the singer with a soft spot for saxophone players – and for the smoothtalking Tony Curtiss as Shell Oil Junior.

Perhaps the quintessentially dumb blonde in the television era was Goldie Hawn in Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In as she fluffed her lines, goofed around and giggled her way through the show.

A sexual stereotype perhaps in all her baby doll pinkness, but in the movie Legally Blonde, the protagonist Elle Woods complains: “All people see when they look at me is blond hair and big boobs.” But she ends up turning the notion on its head and graduates as a savvy lawyer confounding all the students mocking her at the beginning of the movie.

It’s a neat way to turn the tables on her detractors and to show that dumb blondes are not so dumb.

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Illustration: Harry Mottram Rapscallion Magazine

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The dark humour of totalitarian regimes and their secret police We thought in 1989 when the Berlin wall fell all those communist regimes would be confined to history - how wrong we were. Harry Mottram puts on dark glasses and a trench coat and enters the Soviet-post-Soviet world of jokes

Three secret policemen are commanded to take up their positions outside a dissident’s home. “I can write,” says one, “I can read,” says the second, and the third one says, “I can’t do either, but I’m ordered to keep an eye on you two intellectuals.”

democratic Governments that have total control over their populations. One of the most misogynist is the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. There’s a sick joke about the Taliban Government official who rides a camel across the countryside inspecting war damage while his wives walk behind in the dust. A UN observer spots him coming across the desert towards Kabul and notes his wives are now walking 100 metres in front of the camel. He asks the official why the change of formation – the official replies: “land mines.”

North Korea, China, Russia, Belarus and the 50 or so other countries that are ruled by dictators have populations that are not as obsequious as the ranks of goosestepping soldiers and craven workers on May Day parades might suggest. Within totalitarian regimes there is universal cynicism about the rulers which manifests with jokes about those in power, the secret police, restrictions on freedoms and life in general. All of course out of earshot of the Belarusian KGB, the Russian FSB, the North Korean MSS or the Chinese Ministry of State Security.

It comes as no surprise that some classic formats can be adapted and updated as jokes that are relevant for different nations and different times. One such classic originated in the Soviet Union in the 1950s and has re-emerged in North Korea. A farmer is finally rewarded after 50 years of hard labour when a party official visits his humble home and proclaims: “Comrade, for your hard work and absolute dedication to the great leader Kim Jongun, he has rewarded you with a new car.”

The farmer nods gratefully. The official says the car will be delivered in 10 years.

The farmer says: “Morning or afternoon?”

The party official is offended, and snaps: “Comrade, you are being given a car. And that privilege aside, delivery is 10 years away, what does it matter if it’s morning or afternoon?” The farmer responds: “Well, the plumber is coming in the morning...”

Another joke about supply and demand has been shared in Belarus, Russia (since the Ukraine War) and North Korea in recent weeks. It concerns the universal shopper who walks into the baker’s and says: “You don’t have any meat?” The shop assistant says, “No, here we don’t have any bread.

The shop that doesn’t have any meat is across the street.”

Russia no longer suffers from basic food shortages (until now). Anything was available in well stocked supermarkets and luxury boutiques. A joke about Putin is that his plan for the economy has worked 10

spectacularly. It is to make people very rich and happy. A list of all the names it has worked for is available on an A4 sheet of paper from the Kremlin.

Living in a totalitarian country or even one with few freedoms causes widespread paranoia. There’s the one about the dissident whose pet parrot disappears.

She goes to the Belarus KGB office in her town and reports the disappearance.

“Why have you come here,” asks the duty officer, “report it with the normal police.”

She replies: “I’m just here to tell you that I disagree with whatever that parrot is going to say.”

Even the officials can get caught up in paranoia. A court case results in a citizen being sentenced to 15 years hard labour in a Chinese labour camp. The judge is beside himself with laughter as he passed down the sentence. A court clerk asks him what is the matter? The judge replies: “If I told you I’d have to sentence you to 15 years hard labour as well.”

One reoccurring joke dates back to Comrade Stalin who condemned millions of Soviet citizens to death. It concerns a dissident who stands in Red Square in front of the Kremlin with a sign. It reads: “Stalin is an idiot.” Arrested, tried and sentenced to 20 years in the Gulag the dissident receives one year for the protest and 19 years for revealing a state secret.

In 2022 there is no shortage of anti-

This year the world has woken up to the threat of dictators bent on taking over the world. President Putin is the most obvious candidate who appears hell bent on invading his neighbours. But the invasion of Ukraine has not gone well. Putin critic Garry Kasporov quipped: “We are now entering day 100 of the special military operation to take Kyiv in two days.”

Another country threatening war is North Korea. Every week they fire off another missile with the only casualties being fish in the Sea of Japan. One North Korean defector said the Americans would be surprised if one of the missiles reached the USA – but not as surprised as the North Koreans.

Another Putin joke revived from Soviet times is: an American and a Russian are arguing about which country has more freedom. The American says, “I can walk right up to the White House and shout, ‘Down with President Biden!’ and nothing bad will happen to me.” The Russian replies, “Guess what? I can walk in front of Kremlin and shout, ‘Down with President Biden!’ and nothing will happen to me either.”

Back in the USSR where there was widespread inefficiency in the vast stateowned bankrupt industries, the workers would joke, ‘they pretend to pay us and we pretend to work.’

Putin’s special military operation in Ukraine has created a new genre of jokes – not only in Ukraine but in Russia as well. Russians who have fled the country comment online about their dictators News Speak from Orwell’s 1984. Ukraine has said 30,000 Russian soldiers have died in the war. That’s not true say the ex-pat Russians, they’re not dead but have failed to reach their health Rapscallion Magazine

potential. The flag ship Moskva has not been sunk, it’s been recommissioned as a stationary submarine.

Lukashenko is often called ‘the last dictator of Europe’ in the media for his ability to declare himself the winner of elections with 90% of the vote several days before the election is held. A Belarusian worker standing in a line outside a shop selling vodka turns and says: “I have had enough, save my place, I am going to shoot Rapscallion Magazine

Lukashenko.” Two hours later he returns to claim his place in line. His friends ask, “Did you get him?” “No, the line there was even longer than the line here.”

Back to the secret police. In China A A Milne’s Pooh Bear has been banned due to citizens likening his portly shape to the president. Two Chinese MSS officials are keeping watch on the home of a Hong Kong student leader whose curtains are open at night. She is seen drawing a

poster of Xi Jingping in the form of Pooh bear. One of the MSS officials turns to the other and asks, “are you thinking what I’m thinking?” “Yes,” replies his colleague. “In that case,” he says, “I’ll have to arrest you.”

And that in a way sums up the universal humour of citizens who live in dictatorships. They can joke about their incompetent and ruthlessly cruel Governments and presidents as long as they keep it to themselves.

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Book and Map

The picture shows a still from Rom and Romola in the BBC’s time travel history programme The OS Map of Roman Britain and Roman Bath by Peter Davenport

Latin Bath and those Roman roads

By Harry Mottram. My wife Linda joked that the Christmas present she gave me the OS Map of Roman Britain - was only of use to me if I owned a charity and could be transported back in time.

One of my planned expeditions this summer is to cycle from Bath to Seaton - my childhood town - and despite the passing of time the Fosse Way that links the two settlements is almost entirely still in place.

The Romans probably had a different name for it - possible Via Harritus as I like to fancy - but even without a chariot after nearly 2,000 years the road runs straight up Holloway and with the odd diversion around a hill or two is straight as an arrow to Ilchester and from thence to the sea in East Devon.

The Ordnance Survey Map of Roman Britain is essentially a two page reference book revealing where the Roman roads went, the names of the towns they visited and a wealth of information about religions, their armies, lifestyles and villas.

Printed in a dark green underlying the roads on the map are today’s roads and towns so it is quite feasible to travel from Bath to Hadrian’s Wall using mainly the routes trudged by many a weary centurion.

A recent archaeological dig created by the construction of the HS2 project has revealed an entirely unknown Roman market town in Northamptonshire suggesting there is much more to be discovered when Britain was not only part of a European Empire but enjoyed the 12

benefits of a single currency and more importantly wine.

the 18th and 19th centuries swept away what little remained of the time.

The map shows many roads which appear to fizzle out in places - except in one place - Bath.

Certainly the Victorians shovelled away huge amounts of material which historians would loved to have sifted through today as they ‘transformed’ the Baths.

In a book published last year by author Peter Davenport brings us up to date with all the archaeological discoveries of the last few years.

His book Roman Bath goes into great detail in all aspects of life in the city and also speculates on what it was like before and after the Latin speakers upped leather sandals and left in around 410 CE (410 AD in old money).

Finds of unmarked flint knives and cutting tools suggest the original Bathonians revered the steam cloaked hot springs by leaving gifts for the Gods who were the guardians of the waters.

Whether they took a hot bath during those snowy post Ice Age times we’ll never know but it is tempting to think they were rather cleaner than some later generations.

These hunter gatherers gave way eventually to Bronze Age and Iron Age farmers who seemingly left the springs well alone as little archaeological remains of the pre-Roman era has been found.

Davenport’s book goes into great detail on all aspects of Roman Bath and also gives illustrations and photographs of where parts of it still exist. There is considerable regret that modern developers beginning in

If only we could resurrect the original baths and temple complex and put a roof on the main bath so we could all don togas and take a dip in clear rather than greenish water.

In his forward Davenport writes: “When workmen, digging a sewer trench along Small Street in 1727, uncovered the gilded bronze head of Minerva it heralded the beginning of the long and exciting process leading to the discovery of the remarkable healing Roman shrine of Sulis Minerva, deep beneath modern Bath.”

Of course he was right - this was the start of the era that recreated Bath as an important spa resort - but it is also strange that from around the end of the fifth century to the 17th century the citizens failed to make the most of the waters.

The author speculates that for a time the baths were used after the Romans left. Later observers noted that the buildings had collapsed and had failed to be maintained.

Parts of the city walls were still used but much of the stone was re-used for new homes - but one part remained in use up until and past that find in 1727 - the Fosse way. Oh for a chariot.

Harry Mottram Rapscallion Magazine

Rrapscallion

reviews

Wardrobe Theatre’s take on Robin Hood sees schoolboy JJ travel to the 12th century to find not so merry men in this devised story Review: Robin Hood and the Legend of the Forgotten Forest, Bristol Old Vic Great performances, brilliant set pieces and with a quiver full of comedy, The Wardobe Theatre’s production of their devised Robin Hood and the Legend of the Forgotten Forest at Bristol Old Vic is an enjoyable examination of the story of the outlaw of Sherwood Forest.

As a mash-up of ideas and a send up of some of Hollywood’s film versions it also lacks some of the charm of the story as it moves away from some of the ingredients of the folk tales. There’s no archery contest and no robbing from the rich to give to the poor – and no traditional portrayal of Robin and Marion, and a distinct lack of merry men.

Apart from the obvious changes with a damaged and grumpy female Robin (Kerry Lovell) and a ferociously aggressive Maid Marion (Katja Quist) the story centres on shy schoolboy JJ (Dorian Simpson) who lands in 12th

Theatre

Robin Hood and the Legend of the Forgotten Forest Rapscallion Magazine

century Nottinghamshire to meet his heroes. With unbounded enthusiasm he rallies the disparate band together to carry out a heist on the Sheriff of Nottingham’s castle.

As a devised play there is something of a committee feeling to the story with numerous creative ideas and in-jokes that appeal to adults of a certain age.

Green tights, Kevin Costner, Errol Flynn and Disney are the butt of several send-ups which were lapped up by a disappointingly small audience.

There is a pantomime feel to the show with a very pantomime baddy in the Sheriff (James Newton) but no King John or Sir Guy. One for the grown-ups but a production that may disappoint those hoping for the romance of the outlaw of Sherwood Forest.

Harry Mottram The show ran from 25 Nov 2021 – 8 Jan 2022

Attraction

Georgian Bath was a building site

Review: The Jane Austen Centre, Bath Georgian Bath was smelly, dangerous and dirty – so unlike the friendly characters in the Jane Austen Centre

By Harry Mottram: Like many people I’ve passed the Jane Austen Centre many times without having visited.

Since I’m midway through the Jane Austen novel Northanger Abbey I decided to pop in one wet March afternoon to see if I could meet the great author.

Sadly the writer of a string of classic novels had a day off but I did catch up with Jackie Herring who is Mrs Bennet to the visitors.

“Catherine Moreland in Northanger Abbey would have noticed that the traffic today is just as bad as it was in her day,” she said, “but the centre of Bath was also like a building site in Jane Austen’s time with speculative building go up everywhere.

“It would also have been very dirty and dangerous with animals making a mess.

That was one of the reasons why sedan chairs were used so the well heeled wealthy didn’t have to put their feet down in the muck or allow their dresses to pick up mud.”

The former director of the Jane Austen Festival spends one day a week with her work husband Mr Bennet at the centre following retirement and clearly enjoys her role as the sufferer of palpitations and agent for her daughters’ marriage prospects.

Another character who enjoys welcoming visitors – this time from the novel Emma – was my tour guide George Knightley (Martin Williamson in real life).

His talk on the Austen family and the various relatives is worth the ticket money alone which for someone of my advanced age is £11.50.

I mentioned I was reading Northanger Abbey.

“It was a send up of popular Gothic novels,” he exclaimed, “although it was written in 1803 it was published after Jane’s death in 1817.”

Following his talk I took in the huge amount of information available as videos, exhibits, paintings and prints, ending up via the tea rooms in the gift shop.

But not before meeting Fitzwilliam Darcy who it is fair to say, it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of good looks and a good job at the Jane Austen Centre, must be in want of a wife.

Harry Mottram 13

Rrapscallion

Theatre reviews

Betrayal at Bath Theatre Royal

Pinter’s Betrayal is a neatly constructed drama of tangled relationships and is boozy and blokish – and a welcome return of live theatre in Bath Theatre review: Betrayal. Theatre Royal Bath Blokish and boozy, Harold Pinter’s 1978 story of tangled relationships seems at once dated and yet convincing in the selfishness of Jerry and Emma.

Set in the late 1960s and early 1970s the ménage à trois features Jerry’s affair with Emma, who is married to his best friend Robert.

Famously played out in reverse chronology meaning the play begins at the end and ends at the beginning, Jonathan Church’s production remains faithful to the period setting of Ercol furniture and plastic settees.

Nancy Carroll as Emma with her sweep of blonde hair and 1970s wedge heels was the believably beautiful lover of two men at the same time. Despite the snogging and declarations of love, in retrospect, neither Jerry (Edward Bennett) or Robert (Joseph Millson) seemed up to the sexual chemistry required to adore Emma.

Not because of their acting but because of the misogynistic tone and out of date sexism that jars with a 14

The play revolves around an affair starting at the end

contemporary audience. In short it was hard to see the attraction – other than their power and privilege in the wealthy literati London scene of Pinter’s world.

Alex Eales’ rotating set allowed for swift changes from bedroom to pub, from restaurant to living room with an economy of movement and maximum

of period detail. Coupled with Joshua Carr’s lighting and Jon Nicholls’ sound and music the production was a joy to behold in its style and setting.

The play features a great deal of snogging – without a mask in sight!

Whether the actors wanted to get to the Garrick’s Head next door as quickly as possible for some real drinks rather than the pretend booze they knocked back on stage is hard to tell.

As Pinter’s famous theatrical pauses between conversations were generally shorter than usual meaning the production knocked five minutes off the running time.

A masked up audience – only about a third of the normal capacity – appreciated the play with lengthy applause at the final curtain – the first in the Theatre Royal Bath’s Welcome Back Season. For theatre goers denied for so long live performances due to Covid-19 rules it was just so good to be back.

Harry Mottram The Theatre Royal Bath production ran in 2020.

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reviews

The seven lessons of Evelyn Hugo in numbers Review: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid. The story of Evelyn Hugo - a mix of Liz Taylor and Marilyn Monroe and perhaps other Hollywood stars as journalist Monique Grant interviews her as she relates the story of her life from abused teenager to wealthy movie actress.

The details of her life seem plausible enough with a wealth of detail of how actors of the era of the 1950s and 1960s in a pre-metoo era had to have sex with male executives in Hollywood in order to get a part in a film. Does it happen today - of course it does - but in those days it was far more prevalent if you accept this story of slum to stardom.So what are the seven lessons we learn from The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo?

Well here goes: 1. Share things with your mum especially when it comes to gossip about Evelyn Hugo. Monique’s mother says to her: “I did go through a 24hr labour for you. I deserve this.”

2. Dye your hair blonde, lose weight by substituting your evening meal for cabbage soup. This is apparently it. Become as Evelyn said she had become a ‘dumb blonde’, after appearing in Little Women.

3. Marrying seven men are not enough if you are in love with the actress Celia St. James. Just for the record they were Ernie Diaz her get out of Hell’s Kitchen with a ticket to Hollywood; abusive drunk Don Adler; the one day wonder Mick Riva; adulterer Rex North; Harry of course; faithless Max Girard; Celia’s brother Robert who was a cover for her lesbian relationship; and wealthy Robert Jamison.

4 Don’t be sorry for anything. After explaining how her first husband Ernie married someone called Betty who gave him eight children and many grandchildren - and the pay off he got from the studios meant he could buy a house in Mar Vista Evelyn said: “So if we are going by the metric that all’s well that ends well, then I guess it’s safe to say that I’m not sorry.”

5 Pretend. This is not acting.

Rapscallion Magazine

Novel

Elizabeth Taylor 1950’s Emerald Green Dress & White Boa ~ Vintage Glamour

Pretending is about marrying Don Adler to enhance your career because the studio will like it and the fans will like it. As Evelyn said: “I knew it was the best thing to do for my career.”

6 Be in love with the Hollywood sex symbol Celia St. James - and not reveal it to the world in case it damages your career. She lived in an era when being a lesbian was taboo. Lilli Vincenz was the first American lesbian to self identify appearing on the cover of a magazine and on TV chat shows in the 1970s. Evelyn couldn’t - she stayed in the closet until Celia’s passing and then became pro-active in the campaign for LGBTQ rights. All a bit late.

7 Get stuff off your chest before you die with a tell all book to a struggling journalist like Monique who needs

the break.

After all, you’re a long time dead.

7.1 Oh and wear a green gown on the red carpet.

Green is the least popular colour at the Oscars but we’ve been told.

Fun fact: the author has three surnames and no first name!

Harry Mottram 15

Rrapscallion

Theatre reviews

The Alf Hanora

Kamen as bookish sensible Jane and Doxah Dzidzor as dreamy Anthea in the play

Marietta Kirkbride’s adaptation of E Nesbit’s novel Five Children and It, is an Edwardian hit all over again at the Egg Theatre Review: Five Children and It at The Egg theatre, Bath Be careful what you wish for is the theme at the core of Edwardian novelist E Nesbit’s cautionary tale: Five Children and It. Whatever wish the purple clad sand fairy grants to the children always has unexpected consequences.

The children wish to fly but become stuck on a church tower, they are granted gold coins which sees them accused of theft and the youngest child becomes a monstrous baby when they accidently ask for Lamb to grow up.

Bucket Club Theatre’s production of the classic children’s novel is a five star hit in the cosy confines of the Egg Theatre in Bath. Director Nel Crouch created a believable children’s world of wonderment as the five (well four really as baby Lamb is safely confined to a pram for much of the play) as they squabble and argue over what wishes they should ask for from the Psammead or sand fairy.

16

Set against a stage of sweeping white curtains, stable doors and a balcony complete with ladders, Rebecca Wood’s design allowed for maximum use of the space with a piano tucked in one corner. Versatile Patrick Bridgman as Uncle Paul made use of the piano to accompany several of the songs while Craig Edwards as the desperate-for-aholiday sand fairy made the most of his role as the instigator of dreams come true.

His switch to the grumpy owner of a pony and trap as well as an irate chef were some of the highlights of the drama.

An excellent ensemble cast of Hanora Kamen as bookish sensible Jane, Hannah Bristow as naughty boy Robert and Doxah Dzidzor as dreamy Anthea were added to by understudy Peta Maurice as Cyril who seamlessly filled the roll of the stiff upper lip Edwardian brother.

The children take flight in one sequence when their wish to fly is granted

Strong production values including Jenni Jackson’s movement direction which added so much as well as lighting, sound and music made for a perfect show – and above all created a drama which engaged the very young as well as adults with its constant wit and humour.

The largely young audience seemed transfixed by the action that included song and dance, movement and mime and numerous delightful creative sequences.

The pony and trap journeys, the purple flight over the world and the interjections with Uncle Paul on the farm and the lost ferret running joke all added to a complete narrative with the theme of: be careful for what you wish for.

And underlying the story was the unseen subplot of the children’s absent mother who was battling the authorities for female suffrage – reflected in Edith Nesbit’s own life story.

Harry Mottram The play ran January, 2022.

Rapscallion Magazine

Theatre reviews Rrapscallion A universal story of a relationship gone stale An Hour and a Half Late. Review. Theatre Royal Bath Set in real time An Hour and a Half Late is 90 minutes of a couple having a go at each other in what is essentially a universal story of a relationship that has almost run its course.

Laura (Janie Dee) is a spoilt bored wealthy middle class house wife who doesn’t want to go to a dinner party with her husband Peter’s business partner and so throws a tantrum about her empty life. The kids have left home, the couple have everything anyone on the point of retirement can want and she is bored and irritated with Peter (Griff Rhys Jones).

Belinda Lang’s adaption of Gerald Sibleyras’ marital bust up is fast, funny and brilliantly acted although Rhys Jones’ best lines are set up by former dancer Dee.

She wants to talk – or rather tell Peter how unsatisfied she is with her empty nest syndrome and directionless life. He on the other hand wants to embrace nearing retirement and the riches it will bring after the sale of his business.

Whether the play will chime with twenty somethings I rather doubt. The duo come

across as a couple of wealth baby boomers who have everything and yet seem empty of any soul or interest. That said the cast of two spark off each like a real married couple and make the most of every line in the lavish living room set.

The audience seemed exclusively made up of the same generation (me included) so in some ways the play could be seen as holding a mirror up to all us boomers.

Should we laugh or cry at the state of our own lives and how they have panned out like Peter and Laura? Or quietly make our way home in the knowledge that we don’t have to go through the pain of a marital bust up and end up an hour and a half late?

Harry Mottram The play ran in February as part of a nation wide tour in 2022.

Lively production of star crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet Review: Romeo and Juliet, Redgrave Theatre, Clifton, Bristol Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Clifton, where Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (BOVTS) students laid their scene, of the warring Capulets and Montagues to bury their parents’ strife in Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.

The fate of the star-crossed lovers reminds us of how intolerance of our neighbours brings conflict, grief and death – and sadly all too late – eventual reconciliation.

Director Aaron Parsons gave the play a contemporary feel on Aldo Vázquez’s split-level set with a stunning mass dance sequence to illustrate the Capulet’s masked ball through Clare Fox’s brilliant choreography and the superbly staged mass knife fight scene directed by Jonathan Howell that opens the play.

The tinder and gun powder was already laid for the explosive story but it is Chiara Lari’s straight talking Mercutio whose taunts spark the blood-letting that follows. Mercutio’s bating of Shivam Pallana’s portrayal of thin-skinned Tybalt ignites the narrative prompting Romeo (Taylor Uttley) to intervene with tragic consequences.

Tanvi Vermani had aged four years as Juliet from the original age of 14 to a more mature 18-year-old, but keeping the teenage angsts and hormones of one half of the titular characters. The sexual chemistry Rapscallion Magazine

Theatre

between the lovers seemed to grow as the story unfolded as their relationship built after a slightly cool start – perhaps from first night nerves – and so by the final scenes Vermani and Uttley were the grief-stricken lovers we expected.

Strong performances from Tom Mordell as Abraham and the Apothecary as well as Anna-Sophia Tutton as the nurse suggesting they both have plenty more in their thespian lockers to give. Alex Crook as Capulet, Ajani Cabey as Paris and Shivam Pallana as Tybalt projected their voices well in contrast to some of the cast whose voices at times were too quiet in the Redgrave’s auditorium.

Josh Penrose as Benvolio was excellent value throughout as the voice

of reason as was Rhea Norwood’s Petra Samson who sang beautifully and had real stage presence. And there was strong support from Patrick McAndrew as the Friar, Rebecca Hyde as Escalus and Victoria Hoyle as Montague.

The company are known for not just actors but designers of sets and their construction, plus lighting and sound – and so much more that goes on behind the scenes which mark out the school’s outstanding production values.

In this vein special mention should also go to the costume designs supervised by Ruby Nex and Summer York, and the makers Maisie Higgins, Saskia Bath, Laetitia Gorget, Evie Akerman, Susie Pearce and Angelica Robinson along with assistants and dressers Bethany Boldero, Charly Riddett, Grace Green, Kim White, Arthur Wyatt, Elle Duncan, Jo Kenney, Shanice Dacres and costume design assistant Matthew Cassar. The costumes were exquisitely designed featuring a mix of the modern high street and symbolic Renaissance.

A spirited production, perfect for students of the play and fans of Shakespeare in general and a reminder that the two hours’ traffic of BOVTS’s stage is much to do with hate, but more with love.

Harry Mottram The play ran in December 2021.

For more about the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School visit https://www.oldvic. ac.uk/ 17

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Theatre reviews

Ross Harvey and Kate McNab as the evacuees who experience life on the farm during World War 2

From Ealing to Severn Beach with the Ministry of Entertainment Review: Doodlebugs and Bogeymen.

Alma Tavern and Theatre, Bristol South Bristol Voice Theatre Review: From Ealing to Severn Beach we all want to stay on Mr and Mrs Brimble’s farm in The Ministry of Entertainment’s story of wartime evacuees Last night I thought I heard a nightingale singing in Berkeley Square.

In reality I heard Kate McNab singing Manning Sherwin and Eric Maschwitz’s A Nightingale Sang In Berkely Square in Doodlebugs and Bogeymen in Bristol’s Alma Tavern and Theatre.

Much has been written of Kate McNab’s voice since she appeared in the jazz group Sweet Harmony back in the day, but the power and versatility of her golden vocals remain undiminished. Whether as sweet-heart Vera Lynn or as a sparkling Carman Miranda Kate’s performance in the fivestar show is worth it just for the songs under the direction of Kit Morgan.

Wearing several pairs of underpants and smelling of pilchards Brian Milton arrives at Brimble’s farm at Severn Beach with his sister Jean in 1939 as wartime evacuees from London. Sorry – Ealing.

Approaching 20 years since it was first performed the late Joe Hobbs’ 18

story of the brother and sister’s experiences during the war is full of period detail, wartime jokes and observations and is filled with a ration book of warmth and good humour.

Ross Harvey’s and Kate’s portrayals of young Jean and Brian are so welltuned, with each tick, each fidget, each expression pure comedy gold, as the duo commit to each of the various personalities they encounter.

Ross Harvey as eleven-year-old Brian in his short trousers and school cap doubles up as grumpy but essentially warm-hearted Farmer Brimble as well as the vicar and the comedy turn at the village hall. Kate as Mrs Brimble, the schoolteacher and billeting officer complements the stories based on anecdotal accounts of the real lives

Evacuees in the 1940s leaving London

of evacuees in Bristol collected by Joe Hobbs which give an authenticity to each of the scenes. There’s a touch of the music hall about some of the sketches with the first half following the children’s journey and the second half more reflective of their experiences.

The Bristol based Ministry of Entertainment show is a mend and make do production with just a few personal props, a chair, a bench and a black box as a space and would no doubt benefit from a larger budget for sets, wartime posters and a supporting cast, but that’s not the point. The waste not want not, dig for victory production fits the wartime frugality of the times and works perfectly in the confines of the Alma’s auditorium.

For younger generations Doodlebugs and Bogeymen is an insight into Britain during the dark and dangerous 1939-45 conflict as seen through a child’s eye. For those who can recall those years or whose parents and grandparents related stories of ration books and shrapnel collections this is a delight.

Harry Mottram The show ran in November 2021. www.ministryofentertainment.co.uk

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reviews

Theatre

Ebony Feare with the cast of Daniel Kofi Wealthyland and Sadi Masego at the Egg Theatre in Bath

The Josephine Baker story without enough song and dance

Theatre review: Josephine, Egg Theatre, Bath There was something missing in this lively and enjoyable play about the larger than life performer Josephine Baker: her singing and dancing. It needed a big finish and some set pieces to illustrate her ability to entertain.

Sparkling Ebony Feare as Josephine, had the personality, the charisma, movement and the voice but was never given the chance to put the wow into Leona Allen’s play Josephine which only hinted at her abilities. Sadi Masego as Marie and Daniel Kofi Wealthyland provided stylish, slick and speedy support as the bickering owners of the café left to their father and Josphine’s son as they recreated Joephine’s life story.

– Nazis, racists, heroics, class divide and an uncompromising talent that refused to accept the racial segregation of the time.

worked seamlessly as the joint café owners who brought Josephine to life as her ghost disputed how she was being remembered.

Ebony Feare was superbly animated as she flipped through the rags to riches life of the American born but adopted Parisian singer, dancer and French resistance operative.

Sadi Masego’s expressions and movement were also a joy to watch as was Daniel who

The real life of Baker with her unreliable history and disputed facts, her complex love lives and numerous children and controlling personality were covered only in part.

Well, there is so much to cover in a blurred life that began in poverty in America and moved to France and triumph at the Folies Bergère and to become synonymous with the Roaring Twenties and later wartime subterfuge.

Jesse Briton’s direction was perhaps too frenetic with the show zipping through to its conclusion in just 50 minutes. With a superbly designed set by Debbie Dru, evocative lighting by George Seal and appropriate music and sound by Holm Theatre’s production team this is a show that fell slightly short of its potential. Neat touches such as the bell to mark different years, the café’s furniture and various cardboard boxes piled up with props and the central red curtained entry door all created a memorable set.

Leona Allen’s script was inventive and perhaps almost overflowing with dates and descriptions of the many lives of Josephine from impoverished Missouri maid to USA human rights champion. At times it was almost too much to take in but the highoctane nature of the drama was in part there to symbolise Josephine’s life in the fast lane.

Aimed at school children the pace and complexity of the narrative is perhaps too much for very younger children but older ones and teens lapped up the irreverence and the sheer energy of the performers. And as a project for schools it’s a story that has almost everything for Black History Month Rapscallion Magazine

So much that was excellent, and the essence of Josephine’s story was certainly conveyed, but I’m sure her ghost would have preferred a lot more singing and dancing to do her unique talents justice.

Harry Mottram Josephine Baker 1906-1976 19

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reviews

Theatre

Blue Orange – Michael Balogun (Christopher), Giles Terera (Robert), Ralph Davis (Bruce) – Credit Marc Brenner

Tight, tense and taut - battle to decide Michael’s sanity Theatre Review: Blue/Orange, Ustinov Studio, Bath

James Dacre’s production of Joe Penhall’s black comedy drama Blue/Orange in Bath’s Ustinov Studio is tight, tense and taut, and an insight into the world of psychiatry. And an insight into the personal power struggles of three men trying to impose their thoughts on each other laced with much humour and wit.

Chris is about to be discharged from the hospital but must first be assessed by Bruce who in turn is assessed for his assessment by senior consultant Robert. Set in a square brightly lit space designed by Simon Kenny with lighting by Charles Balfour with only a few chairs, a water cooler and a coffee table with a fruit bowl and ash trays the triangular conversation keeps the audience glued. The dialogue constantly switches from character to character as each one seems to hold the high moral ground before being usurped by one of the others as their point of view

appears if only briefly to hold sway.

issue that’s not gone away.

Protagonist Chris played by a committed and seething Michael Balogen wants to go home. Or does he? As a patient diagnosed with borderline personality disorder he is in the hospital after doing ‘something funny’ in the market and apart from angry outbursts about the injustice and his bizarre claims to be the love child of Idi Amin or Mohamed Ali he’s no more nuts than the average psychiatrist. And the two professionals who bicker over whether he is well or not at times show empathy and times a ruthless desire to be right in their diagnosis scoring points off each other.

Robert played by a suitably anguished and manipulative Giles Terera twists and turns in his disagreement with consultant Bruce played with a wonderful arrogance by Ralph Davis in a battle of wills as to who has the right to use what language and decide if Chris is schizophrenic, psychotic or plain nuts.

At the heart of the conflict is race and in particular why black men are more likely to be sectioned than white men. Language, poverty, life chances, heritage and what we see as ‘normal’ and how we articulate our thoughts are explored at length in at times hilarious dialogue and times with a seriousness often devoid from discussions of an

Three men you’d probably not want to invite to your home for Welsh Rabbit or take them to watch rugby as Bruce did when he invited Robert to impress his mentor. But if you did you wouldn’t need to worry about a lull in the conversation. The trio rattle out their lines in a series of heated arguments which are overlaid with references to rugby, football, Alan Ginsberg, Tin Tin and the down-side of living in White City. Fast, funny and questioning about who in 21st Britain is actually sane.

Harry Mottram The play ran in November 2021

Rrapscallion

poetry

The Strawberry Line Strawberries for the morning tables, Served under gleaming hotel gables, Sent in punnets from Axbridge station, To London, Glasgow, Bristol, Paignton, To be sliced and served for tea, On tennis lawns at half-past three.

Mind the gap and close the doors, Don’t dare pull the ‘mergency chord, Winscombe tunnel to Weston bay, Past fields of summer golden hay, A horse and cart fording a stream, Are left behind in a blast of steam.

Stacked in crates along the platform Cheddar Cheese and sacks of corn, And clanking churns up Hobb’s Lane.

Await the whistle of the early train, Picked by sun-browned Axbridge hands, Are fruit that gave a line its brand.

It took wartime children on excursions Past county towns to far flung relations, And raw recruits to Flanders Fields And tax inspectors to South Shields, The Strawberry line came to this town Paddington in a day for half a crown.

Opened in eighteen sixty-nine, Christened in cider and vintage wine.

Top-hatted officials in black frock coats, Wiped blackened eyes of soot and motes, From Wells to Yatton and down the line, Hail the scenic, celebrated Strawberry Line.

Yes. In the thin grey morning rain, Wait the whistle of the Draycott train, Smoke and steam and well-oiled steel Screaming, shunting, squeeking, wheel, Grab your bags and in you climb, Take a ride on the strawberry line.

Harry Mottram