Crystal-tipped, steel arrows,
cluster into lipstick-red,
to the cry,
“One hundred and eighty”,
for three-in-a-bed.
Next-door heroes
step up to the oche.
Echoes of bounce-outs
put out-of-mind,
by top-tier timing.
Taking aim,
composure is key,
success is in sight…
But,
to pick up the trophy,
will take
one more series of throwing
the perfect flight.
©A_F_R_O_W2018-2019. All Rights Reserved.
A revolution was televised.
Doing what it does best, the BBC delivered an epic of drama, comedy, fear, doubt, exhileration, madness, anger, joy, success, truth. A small-screen offering, so vast in ambition, that, at any other point in the multi-media new-age, it might have remained engulfed within the ether of ideas. However, it seemed that the country was ready to be gripped by the hands of a vivid voyage of emotional discovery and overcome by a tidal-wave of reality and revelation, in the guise of two actors, Dan Poole and Giles Terera, and embark on the ultimate Shakespearian road-trip!
Entitled ‘Muse Of Fire’, the premise revolved around a long-running issue with regard to the assimilation, or not, of, quite possibly, our most exceptional playwright, The Bard of Avon… Investigating exactly why, for some, his entire body of work is so unapproachable… Why, for others, the language is so, utterly fear–inducing, as to inspire pyjama-drenching night-sweats! It was a bold attack upon this trepidation and through raw and honest show-and-tell, on the part of the two actor-protagonists, themselves, and a wealth of notable thespians of all vintages, we were enticed to, part-ransack, part-coax, memories of relationships with Shakespeare, to our own frontal lobes.
It quite got me to thinking back to my first remembrance of language, let alone, plays…and my earliest recollections start from hearing poetry recited around the house, both to me and during such activities as washing the dishes! Hearing ‘The Boy Stood On The Burning Deck’ or ‘Elegy Written In a Country Churchyard’ delivered with the passion of artists who have graced any world-renowned stage, whilst attempting to scour a pot, served to turn such a quotidien task (often to the detriment of the item being cleaned!), into a surreal foray around the realms of one’s imagination…
Thus, when time came to become better acquainted with William Shakespeare, I was already accustomed to cadences, wordplay and verbal soundscapes…even though I did not formally know of the terminology. I devoured the energy of phrases, which danced along my tongue, at times gliding as a ballroom-dancer in the hallowed halls of Blackpool’s ‘Tower Ballroom’, at others, popping like an old-skool, free-styler, at ‘Ministry of Sound’! I revelled at falling-in-love through Juliet and agonised through the stoic melancholy of Cleopatra, as she regaled Mark Anthony post his demise. How the memory of he who was no more, should have been more vital than those who were still alive, further to the peerless gift of its articulation, led me to an acutely profound plateau of emotive reasoning, which, in turn, facilitated my understanding, before I could process fear. I now realise that, for me, the visceral route of the subtext of ‘feelings’, fleshed-out my cognitive response to the motivation in the text, itself… Of course, back then I was simply caught up in the relentlessly sublime drama of it all!
Thankfully, I was encouraged to run headlong into Shakespeare. Not understanding was never frowned upon, but instead, utilised as a splendid spark for deciphering a message… Hitching oneself to the emotional-wagon, focusing upon the landmarks, absorbing every ounce of scenic suggestion, as to the narrative, and putting the clues together to make a picture, was the ultimate in ‘Sherlocking’! Never were my thoughts decried, and if they were wildly off-track, then that was fine as, with guidance, the dots were joined. Sounds perfect. Well, it was…in that my understanding of perfection is not that everything is correct all of the time, but that there is a sense of completion which can be had, in connection.
Sometimes, I’d connect with Shakespeare on a guttral level and, to experience that, was all there was to be had. The assimilation was complete, no less engaging and, therefore, perfect. At other stages upon my journey, I have experienced a ‘stillness’. No feeling, per sé, but no doubting that I had received content that would emerge, in the fullness of time. That was perfect, too! I have, since, continued to learn that accepting a new definition of perfection was the key to my true enjoyment of the rigours of, not just Shakespeare, but any style of writing or artistic endeavour, and the ‘approach’ has been a dear companion, to this day!
This week, ‘Henry V’ arrives at ‘The Noël Coward Theatre’. I have a distinct feeling that, since ‘Muse of Fire’ so powerfully broke through the glass ceiling of fearlessly embarking upon a Shakesperian exploration, there will be an even quieter ‘hush’ as the curtains go up and a lion’s-roar of applause, at its conclusion. I also believe that, in no small measure, it will be at the crux of an upswell of all-age, theatrical re-engagement and interraction. To me, it was the fulfilment of one, particular viewpoint of The Bard and the beginning of an exponentially, expanding vista, by cleverly incorporating and perpetuating the fact that showing-and-telling-the-emotional-working is wonderful!
So whether you think you get it, feel you get it, aren’t sure whether you get it, at all…rest assured that it’s not about judging the response, rather, connecting, in the way which is, not only bespoke to you, and/or speaks to you..but which truly sets the muse of your heart on fire…
©AFROW2013-2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
http://www.museoffirefilm.co.uk/ ~ http://www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk/Tickets/HV/HV.asp
http://www.theblackpooltower.com/ ~ http://www.ministryofsound.com/
***
TWITTER-TESTIMONIAL FROM GILES TERERA!
‘Amazing piece, by the way!’
We have a lot to thank Mr Jools Holland for! Not only does he bring us the most eclectic of live, global musical offerings, from established and emerging artists, alike, but with them, come a plethora of stand-out, sartorial selections, from the style-spectrum! For instance, you’re as likely to see and hear the hauntingly melodic, ‘Amadou and Mariam’, bedecked in bold, traditional Malian dress, playing in the-round, as you are the infectiously-anthemic synth-pop of ‘M.T’, in their eponymous multi-coloured, tie-dye-tees!
Case-in-point has to be a recent episode, featuring, Goldfrapp, James Blake, Franz Ferdinand and Kanye West!
Backlit in a pure-gold aura and engulfed, full-length, in a column of black chiffon-drapery, the ever-ethereal, Alison Goldfrapp, held the audience, spell-bound with her melifluously reed-like, vocal perfomance of ‘Annabel’. The timeless gown, simultaneously, captured her effortless, idiosyncratic grace, whilst also paying homage to SS14 runways, with its pintuck-peephole bodice.
The unnervingly-talented James Blake delivered an equally-classy rendition of the stunning ‘Retrograde’. With hair, windswept, in defiance of the stillness generated by his unfolding-wall-of sound, he was an example of understated style, surrendering to sonic substance. In a ‘1-800 Dinosaur’ T-shirt-and-jeans ensemble, Blake also seamlessly combined product-placement of his new record label and a pinpoint performance, with ease and flair.
In stark juxtaposition, was the riff and quiff-friendly, Franz Ferdinand. Already well-known for their unique fashion statements including the sharpest of Savile Row-silhouettes, the band showed that they had lost none of their couture-creativity, teaming the gusto of, lyrically, ‘right words’ with the ‘right action’ of donning fashion-forward Hawaiian-prints with rock-a-billy attitude! Very D-Squared-2!
Kanye West’s performance of ‘Bound To’, with the outstanding ‘Uncle’ Charlie (Gap Band) Wilson, more-than-referenced the fact that he had graduated, magna-cum-laude, from the School-of-FROW! The ‘College Drop-Out’ star stamped his artistic authority on the programme, with all of the swagger for which we have come to love him. Punctuating the pitch-black studio with dramatic spotlighting, which served to accente his choice of a laid-back, layering trend, a play-on-neutrals of black ribbed-tee and low-slung, loose-fit, trousers, was complemented by a three-quarter length, khaki parka and desert boots in a pop-of-camel-colour. The entire look was topped-off by the trademark, heavy-gold, diamond-set, belcher-link chain, de rigueur for ushering in SS14’s metallic forecast! Uncle Charlie was certainly in-the-house, with his own, distinguished, take on double-denim, accessorizing with shades, as blacked-out as the windows on a one-off, customised Bugatti! It was, undoubtedly, a fitting backdrop to the soaring, silky-smooth, vocal-runs and devastating musical prowess of such a living-legend of U.S Funk/R&B!
So, the next time you tune into ‘Later… with Jools Holland’, keep an eye out for a new class of ‘artist-interpretations’… I think you’ll find that, on closer inspection, they are, in fact, rather more original!
©AFROW2013-2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
afrow