Art & Culture

ARTIST AT WORK

No.29: Pauline Rook, By the Backdoor,

photographic print, 36 x 28 cm, £70 (mounted)

Photography has been my lifelong passion. I have always found my inspiration in the people, landscapes and occupations of rural South West England.

This photograph is a still-life created over many years by the backdoor of a farmhouse. It was limited in tones and not in good light but by using the digital technique of High Dynamic Range, which involves the sandwiching of three different exposures, a wonderful pencil drawing-type effect is created. There is much to look at in the picture, from a very old yoke used to carry buckets, to rat poison!

I became an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society after completing a high-level course in applied photography, which was very much darkroom-based. I have now embraced all that the new digital technology has to offer, including the above technique.

I spend a lot of time wandering in the Blackdown Hills where, hidden away, there are lots of small farms with things to interest a photographer. The majority of the farms and their buildings are all built from a locallygathered stone – called Churt – and are mostly small scale by today’s farming standards but are quite charming and belong to the landscape. My By the Backdoor photograph was taken on one of these old farms.

rookphoto.co.uk

By the Backdoor is available mounted or framed from the Somerset Guild of Craftsmen Gallery in Wells. Pauline will be showing many of her pictures for Somerset Open Studios in September at her studio in Lopen.

ON FILM

Andy Hastie, Yeovil Cinematheque

Writing about the Cinema Museum in this column last month set me off on a memory stroll around my London cinema-going days in the 50s, 60s and 70s. It wasn’t just the number but the size of so many cinemas then. The Regal in West Norwood, where I grew up, had 2000 seats and was always packed. We also had the Royal – not as big – but just as popular. As a child, I saw most of the Disney fare at the Regal, including, in 1961, The Absent-Minded Professor, a huge influence on a young Steven Spielberg apparently, who copied imagery for his blockbuster ET. Just down the road in Streatham were the ABC, the Odeon and the Gaumont, only a walking distance apart, but together seating almost 7500 people. I remember the queue for the ABC going down one side to the back of the cinema, through the car park, back to the front again on the other side, then off down Streatham High Road. One didn’t mind joining on at the end, as you always knew you would get in eventually.

Later, into my teens, and with a copy of Time Out, the listings magazine, in my hand, I would seek out films at other London venues. The Hammersmith Odeon, now the Apollo where Live at the Apollo on

Chrispictures/Shutterstock

"The Electric, with its curved roof, would start to fill up with smoke about halfway into the show, as one watched the films through a thickening smog and itchy eyes."

BBC2 is filmed, holds 3000, whilst the Finsbury Park Astoria was a 4000-seater – one of the largest cinemas in the world. In 1971, it was converted into the Rainbow Theatre, a unique music venue, where incidentally, in 1977, I saw New York’s finest, The Ramones. The Astoria, built in 1930, still has a fabulous Moorish–themed Art Deco interior, complete with working fountain in the foyer. This design was replicated at the Brixton Astoria, another 4000-seater, but unfortunately too many patrons ended up in the fountain there, so it was dismantled and removed. I would go to the Scala at Kings Cross, an art house cinema famous for its inventive double-bill programming. The one I remember most fondly was Groundhog Day followed by... Groundhog Day!

The Electric Cinema in Portobello Road held all-nighters at the weekend, back-to-back films from 11pm to early morning. With no extraction systems or smoking bans in those days, the Electric, with its curved roof, would start to fill up with smoke about halfway into the show, as one watched the films through a thickening smog and itchy eyes. It wasn’t cigarettes being smoked there mostly either.

The Biograph in Pimlico, now demolished, was one of the first cinemas in the country, and another nonmainstream venue. It also doubled as the 70s version of Grindr in London. It was managed by Henry Cooper’s identical twin brother George. Because of its notoriety, there were bouncers in the auditorium, the house lights were never turned off completely, and the usherettes had searchlights for torches. If one ignored all this, and the constantly moving patrons, it was a great venue, showing great films.

Those days of cinema-going will never be repeated. Cinemas were vibrant, exciting, sometimes dangerous places, and, as I write, I remember more stories; being soaked at the ABC Camberwell when someone in the balcony turned the fire hose on the people below, and some lads at a cinema I was at in Nottingham collecting all the discarded rubbish and starting a bonfire in the stalls.

When we do eventually emerge from lockdown, don’t forget to support our local cinemas in Dorchester and Yeovil, Moviola, and may I say, Cinematheque, as Netflix et al will never replace sitting in an auditorium with like-minded people, watching a great film.

cinematheque.org.uk swan-theatre.co.uk

CONFESSIONS OF A THEATRE ADDICT

Rosie Cunningham

Vanessa Kirby and Eric Kofi Abrefa, in Julie at the National Theatre

As theatres begin to dust off their props and steam the costumes in preparation for opening their doors to live audiences, here are some offerings.

Jermyn Street Theatre, the West End’s smallest producing theatre and winner of the 2021 Fringe Theatre of the Year, is running the classic comedy Relatively Speaking by Alan Ayckbourn from 5th May – 5th June. Do visit their website. They have a wonderful schedule of plays coming up. jermynstreettheatre.co.uk

The Grey Area Theatre Company are presenting You Are Here at the Southwark Playhouse - the UK premiere of an intimate, hilarious and heart-breaking tour-de-force musical about the resilience of the human spirit. This is a live performance running from 29th April, with a livestream performance on 7th May. Tickets are £27.50. Covid restrictions are in place. southwarkplayhouse.co.uk

National Theatre at Home are streaming Julie, starring the immensely talented Vanessa Kirby, who played Princess Margaret in The Crown, as the main character. She is wild, free and single and throws a huge party in her luxurious London house only to find things rapidly unravelling. Not for the faint hearted. Pay a monthly fee of £8.32 or £83.32 per annum. There are lots of productions to watch. ntathome.com

Theatre Royal Bath have been innovative whilst theatres have been closed and I can only applaud them for that. They are joining with one of the world’s greatest dance companies, Rambert, to livestream their latest work, Rooms. 17 dancers, 35 scenes and 100 characters. Available from 8th-11th April. What an absolute treat! theatreroyal.org.uk

I was lucky enough to watch a RADA Talk chaired by Pamela Jikiemi, Head of Film, TV and Radio, between Ralph Fiennes and Kenneth Branagh. Ralph admitted that he had wanted to go to art school but that his father persuaded him to think again. They both spoke highly about their time at RADA. These RADA Talks are very special and give us a unique insight into how actors craft their roles. You can access them and various productions from students for a small donation. rada.ac.uk

Image: Richard H Smith

There is a lot going on at the Barbican with online talks and workshops including a six-week online evening course called The Artist Speaks from 27th April which explores how artists in the UK and US have written about their own work in the modern period. This course is aimed at anyone with a passion for art and the tutor is Dr Matthew James Holman, who is world renowned. There is also an exhibition celebrating the provocative modern art of the French artist Jean Dubuffet opening in May. He rebelled against the conventional ideas of beauty and tried to capture everyday life in a gritty, authentic way. barbican.org.uk

Lastly, I have signed up for an online course with Historic Decoration. They are doing a series of talks called ‘Renaissance to Regency’, exploring the evolution of the decorative arts and architecture in Britain from the Tudors to the Regency era, hosted by Caroline Percy and Oliver Gerrish. They also offer four-day foundation courses and a lecture programme throughout the year. Fascinating and thoughtprovoking. historicdecoration.com

VANESSA BOWMAN LYNNE CARTLIDGE EMMA HAGGAS

23rd April – 12th May LANDSCAPES and STILL LIFE www.jerramgallery.com

The artists will be present on Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th April

LYNNE CARTLIDGE ROSES IN A JUG

VANESSA BOWMAN VEGETABLE PATCH

THE JERRAM GALLERY Half Moon Street, Sherborne, 01935 815261 Dorset DT9 3LN info@jerramgallery.com Tuesday – Saturday

AN ARTIST’S VIEW

Laurence Belbin

I had a day drawing in the town recently. As we are still under strict distancing regulations, I walked down using the ‘back ways’. I didn’t need to go far to find a good spot; it was quiet with just a few people to nod to. A little street quite forgotten, but very close to Cheap Street, George Street is where I perched myself for a while. Although there are some newish houses, the bulk is very old. I have, in the past, drawn the front of The George pub, but this time I focused on the back.

Looking towards The Julian (home until recently to The Slipped Stitch) and the archway which leads into Higher Cheap Street, you could, with some imagination, go back a couple of hundred years. Very small windows and roofs tiled with stone slabs gave me my subject.

I remember that to the left of my drawing was a hall, now a house, but for the life of me what it was used for I can’t recall; I’m sure there is someone in the town who will know. I find the backs of buildings are as interesting as the fronts. Here are the things the owners want to hide away – the ‘unsightly’ stuff: in this case, empty beer barrels, traffic cones and extractor fans. We all know these things are somewhere and that they are the norm for a working environment. They are a treasure for the artist - you can’t beat a bit of clutter! I used an ink pen

on A4 cartridge paper and went straight in.

I chatted to the landlord when he poked his head out, keen to be open again. I miss seeing the customers outside on the benches enjoying a beer of a lunchtime. Hopefully, it won’t be too long before we can socialise again.

My next little sketch was done by standing in the same place but turning about 105 degrees to my left. Another pen and ink. The gap between the house and the end of the wall leads you into the car park. I liked looking up to the row of houses. It would have been so easy not to include the cars on the left, but I really feel that they help describe the sort of street it is, where parking is a premium and as long as you are not blocking anything, every bit of space is fair game. Just out of view, on the left, are some old outbuildings (a subject for another time) belonging to The George. I imagine at one time they may very well have been stables. It was an enjoyable hour or so and I passed the time of day to the occasional passer by. I know the gentleman who lives in the end house and he waved when he checked to see if the bins had been collected or not. Later on in the day, I sat in Newland Gardens opposite the old Newland Doctors Surgery – now that’s going back a bit! I did a little drawing there and had a chat to a few friends that walked by. Sherborne is a bit like that, you can’t really go to town and not have a natter.

laurencebelbin.com