Friday 14 June 2013

Jools pulls out the stops at Hampton Court Music Festival


Jools Holland kicked off this year’s Hampton Court Music Festival by walking on stage with a huge grin on his face. A small man with a big grin and a massive musical talent who takes control of the show from the first note on his keyboard. He does, as they say, ‘really deliver’. 

The intimate courtyard of Hampton Court Palace is a brilliant venue for a man like Jules who really enjoys his crowd. Despite a wicked wind that try to stir up trouble, the atmosphere was warm and full of excited anticipation. Jools launched straight into some amazing keyboard jazz and stunned us all evening with his self-effacing talent. He always likes to bring a few mates along and last night his guests were some of the greatest.

I couldn’t hardly believe that Rico Rodriguez was actually there, I loved him back in the day when he was with The Specials and I feel bad that I’ve let Ska slip somewhere along the way. Last night it was re-ignited just seeing the great man singing in his deep bass tones ‘Don’t Roll those Bloodshot Eyes At Me” - not strictly Ska I know but it kindled an old flame inside me.
Roland Gift from Fine Young Cannibals fame also belted out some great favourites that got the crowd on their feet singing along, not quite sure of the words but familiar with the tunes. Equally powerful in voice and presence was Ruby Turner - such a fabulous legend of a lady and the crowd loved her.
Lurking quietly at the back through all the tunes by Jools and other fine musicians was Gilson Lavis - and forgive me if I didn’t initially know his name but I shall certainly never forget it. He was originally the drummer with Squeeze and now plays with Jools Holland's Rhythm & Blues Orchestra. I thought the old Tudor walls at Hampton Court might crumble when he started an incredible drum solo that went on and on, raising the pulse beats of all the middle aged old rockers in the audience and creating a storm of whistles and cheers when it finally came to an end. 
And backing all of this great musicianship was Jools’ regular band, a pulsing brass section and 2 great female vocalists, all performing with great vigour and looking like they’d happily play all night.
Hampton Court surpassed all my expectations as a music venue - once they’d closed those massive old oak doors, the courtyard became an intimate space with great music bouncing off the walls and rising up to those incredible chimneys where swallows dipped and soared as night fell. I hope Jools was pleased with his crowd - he was certainly still grinning at the end.


Hampton Court Music Festival runs until Monday June 24th. Tickets for sale via the website: http://www.hamptoncourtpalacefestival.com

** Tickets still available for Lisa Stansfield (tonight), Russell Watson (Sunday 16th) and Imelda May (Weds June 19th)



Thursday 13 June 2013

In Praise of Wood - Kit Falla's work at Lewis Elton Gallery

At the Lewis Elton's Gallery's latest exhibition I am drawn to a glass cabinet in the far corner of the room. Walking past wonderful wood-cuts by Kit Falla, safe in the knowledge I will return to them, I want to see the actual woodblock of one of my favourite Falla prints - The Tree (see pic). There is it, tucked away on the bottom shelf surrounded by the tools of the great artist herself. Traces of ink still remain and this excites me just as typography galleys and etching plates always have. They are the proof of the work, the physical beginning of all the prints we see before us. 
Kit Falla's work has all the elements of a great craftswomen. In her designs of trees, leaves, fields we see where many of today's printmakers may have got their inspiration from. 

The Tree is a wonderful moving feast of colour, you can almost feel the wind in the branches. In The Dance we see 3 geese rising from the water in one screeching movement. And The Light Beyond has such a wonderful sense of simple perspective and colour.
Kit has a fascinating life story - she was born in Guernsey in 1924 and on leaving school she joined the WRNS and worked as a 'small cog' in the Bletchley decoding system. She returned to Guernsey after the war and became the first 'calf sketcher' on the Island, literally sketching calves. Once married she moved to Surrey and as her children grew up she continued with her art studies. A spell in Toulouse with her husband's job nurtured her fascination with colour and light and she loved drawing the ancient French farms. her love of the countryside developed into an interest in wood and she attended courses in Sudbury and eventually worked at the Henry Moore Sculpture Studio in London. She says:
"I was led into wood cuts by discovering “frottage”, that is rubbing over figured wood with graphite or carbon on paper.  This soon led to cutting into the wood and printing with ink.  I always cut straight into the block of wood, sometimes with a landscape or figure in mind. When printed, the grain of the wood and the reversed version of what has so far been printed will provide some exciting surprises and work continues with further cutting and printing – almost in a question and answer kind of way."
You can feel the affinity Kit has with wood when you get close to her work. There is something very wise about these woodcuts, and also something tender. She explains: "In a practical and philosophical way my work is a learning process; a learning about life, about myself, and a searching for the secrets hidden within the wood itself.”
In Praise of Wood, a retrospcetive of work by Kit Falla MBE FFPS, is at the Lewis Elton Gallery, Guildford until Saturday June 29. Tel: 01483 689167. Visit www.surrey.ac.uk/arts/visuals for opening hours.

Tuesday 4 June 2013

The Woman in Black - just a pigment of my imagination?


It’s a strange thought that people choose to go to the theatre to be frightened out of their wits. The Women in Black, playing this week at Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud, is famous for making the audience scream out loud and that would appear to be a strong selling point.

Antony Eden as 'the actor'

Based on a novel by Susan Hill, The Woman in Black has been adapted for stage by Stephen Mallatrat, who comments that ‘ghost stories aren’t that many in play form’, the main problem being that it’s hard to do them really well. The modern audience is now so used to stunning special effects in films that a shivering hologram or someone passing behind a gauze curtain in a white sheet simply isn’t good enough. Hence to build suspense today, less is definitely more. An occasional suggestion of the horror that lies behind a closed door or in the attic of some gothic mansion works very well indeed as people’s imaginations, unlike special effects, is the same as it ever was - powerful and potentially terrifying.


And so it is down to the actors to create the suspense. In this production just 2 actors carry that responsibility: Julian Forsyth and Anthony Eden play an elderly man with a terrifying past and a young actor keen to tell the tale. Both are faultless in their roles. Eden is energetic, enthusiastic and delightfully naive as ‘the actor’ who encourages an older man called Mr Kipps to act out the story that has terrified him for most of his life. Forsyth is brilliant as Kipps, growing into the role as the play develops and switching roles with the experience of an actor who enjoys a challenge. Sharp direction by Robin Hereford keeps the pace alive and the two actors convincingly create this two act tale with a couple of chairs and a wicker basket, an imaginary dog of whom we grow very fond, and of course some evocative sound effects.

Ah yes, the sound. How would a ghost story on stage survive without it? Played at high volume the thunder of horses hooves, the screeching and screaming of a woman possessed, the wind in the trees, even the slow ticking of a clock is enough to strike fear into any man’s, and certainly woman’s, heart. Even the Monday night often-quite-sensible Yvonne Arnaud crowd screamed out loud.

There were, I confess, a couple of moments when I felt like laughing particularly when we finally see the face of the poor old Woman in Black who has spent a lonely life in her spooky gothic mansion on the marshes. Mysteriously she is not mentioned in the cast list, and does not take a bow at the end. Was she even there, or did I imagine it?

The Woman in Black is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a UK tour and plays at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford until Saturday, June 8th. www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk Tel: 01483 440000