Antiques Roadshow comes to Polesden Lacey, with 4,500 fans in tow

What a difference the sun makes! It certainly did for the 4,500 people who turned up at Polesden Lacey last week for the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow. Queuing for over 3 hours doesn’t seem quite so bad when it’s warm and you can enjoy an ice cream.

Fiona Bruce was there, charming the crowds and taking time to talk in depth with some of the lovely people who came bearing family heirlooms and other treasures.

I had a chat with her before she started filming and she was in a state of happy excitement:

“This is the first of the new series which will be shown in the autumn. We all came down here yesterday and it was like the start of a new term, wonderful to see everyone and we had a very lively supper together. Really, the Antiques Roadshow is like one big family and it is so great to get together again.” 

Polesden Lacey is of course a great location for the show. The grand stately home, now owned by the National Trust, was the home of Mrs Greville a gregarious Edwardian hostess who loved entertaining friends at her glorious home, including King George VI and the Queen Mother. The anticipation that items related to the royal pair might emerge were in the air.

Fiona and the AR gang enjoyed a tour around the house before the open day for the public, and they, like most visitors were astounded by the collections on view.

“This is just an amazing house,” she said, “the silverware and ceramics are wonderful and you can just picture it as a lovely house for living and entertaining. Mrs Greville was obviously a fascinating lady and a lot of fun - I wish I’d known her!”

I asked Fiona if she has ever had her own treasures valued by the team.

“Sadly I don’t have anything of great value,” she said. ‘But I did ask them to check over my engagement ring” as she showed her delicate hand with ring in situ. “John Benjamin was fascinating, he traced the stone back to the mine in New Zealand where it came from.”

I asked her if the filming is all live, considering some people’s reactions are subdued in front of the camera, and she was slightly horrified,

“Of course it is,” she replied. “otherwise we’d be asking people to act and that’s out of the question.”

So there it is, confirmed by the lady herself, Antiques Roadshow is very much live and still attracting around 6 million viewers each programme.

So what turned up at Poesden Lacey? Some great treasures were revealed including a photo album and brooch owned by a lady whose mother had been a maid to Mrs Greville, the hostess of Polesden Lacey. Also a piece of icing from an anniversary cake.

The atmosphere is one of great excitement at these live events and it is amazing how the experts keep their enthusiasm in top gear throughout the day. At Polesden Lacey the last people clutching bags of precious items were seen at 8pm at night - I hope it was worth the wait and that an amazing, rare artefact was revealed in the last flickers of daylight.

On 5^th September the Antiques Roadshow will be at the Royal Ballet Lower School in Richmond Park. Visit www.bbc.co.uk for details.

Surrey Open Studios - a few teasers

There are some great Open Studios taster sessions around the county at the moment, offering a flavour of the exciting range of creative work on view at participating studios and galleries in June.

The Lewis Elton Gallery, a wonderful gallery tucked away within the University of Surrey campus, is showing works by various artists until May 16th. Peter Rogers has co-ordinated this exhibition and has selected a richly varied collection of work from 34 exhibitors.

I particularly loved paintings by Andrew Curtis, an artist who draws inspiration from his travels, creating vibrant and striking works of art in watercolour, oil, acrylic and mixed media. Wonderfully vivid collages containing bits and pieces gathered on his wanderings in North Africa and the Middle East, including secular Arabic text together with bits of Koran, really bring the countries to life.

Also at the Lewis Elton Gallery, Iona Mackenzie Laycock exhibits some of her richly earthy 3D ‘paintings’ depicting landscapes from Surrey, Sutherland and beyond.

Mary Wondrausch includes a 3D collage and richly glazed ceramics and currently has one of her works at the V & A.

Beautiful, smooth wooden vases and bowls by John Sherwood, screenprints by Annee Robson, deliciously rich green glass vases by Jake Mee - the variety of work is exciting and of the highest quality.

                                                            Glass vase by Jake Mee

Sambaru by Andrew Curtis

Taster sessions:

West Surrey, until May 16th, 10am to 5pm at Lewis Elton Gallery, University of Surrey
East Surrey, May 7 to May 23, 10am to 5pm at East Surrey College, Redhill.
Selected Surrey, May 25 to July 7, various times, at Bourneside Gallery, Dorking.

Check the SAOS website for full details: www.surreyopenstudios.org.uk

The Sculpture Garden at Birtley House, Bramley

Last Friday was the perfect evening for a wander around the beautiful grounds at Birtley House, currently hosting The Sculpture Garden, an annual event that has grown to be an important date in the summer art diary.

The range of work at the exhibition is exciting and varied. Wherever I turned another surprise greeted me - birds of prey, a nut-brown twisted column of wood, a spring hare, a walnut or a simple cocoon pod.

A beautifully serene piece carved in serpentine stone by Zimbabwean artist Ronnie Dongo caught my eye as it rested peacefully in the sun. I couldn't resist stroking the cool smooth stone, and the curator told me that their regular groups of partially sighted people always stroke and feel the sculptures, perhaps gaining a sense of the piece that the sighted may miss.

On a slight incline a majestic welded steel peacock by Amy Goodman peers towards the lake. Sculptures by Peter Little include wonderful wafting water lilies crafted in steel, copper and sedum. And there are also smaller to admire - glass and stone pieces by Adam Aaronson and birds, beasties and insects by various artists. 

The inspiration and development has been steered by local artist Juliet Scott who works mainly in clay, producing elegant works of art based on her observations of every day life. Her original pieces are cast in bronze, aluminium, copper, iron and other resins.

Every style, shape and size of sculpture is covered in this wonderful exhibition. Indeed, there is so much to see that another visit is marked in my diary.

The Sculpture Garden is raising funds for the Community Foundation for Surrey who support local community and voluntary projects, improving the lives of those in need in Surrey. 

The Sculpture Garden is open daily from 10am to 5pm until Sunday June 2nd. Birtley House is in Bramley, just south of Guildford. Visit the website on www.birtleyhouse.co.uk or call 01483 892055 for more details.

Joe Egg at the Rose, Kingston

Many years ago I interviewed Ralf Little when he was appearing in Billy Liar. He was totally charming with a cheeky sense of humour and exuded infectious enthusiasm.
Here he is again then, cheeky and charming but displaying a mature confidence at the Rose Theatre Kingston in the touring production of A Day in the Death of Joe Egg. Ralf is so relaxed and so amicable you feel you could just jump up and join him on stage. Admittedly he plays a character that instantly engages with the audience, and they can’t get enough of him. He kicks off this lively production by running through the audience and leaping on stage. Dressed as an affable teacher complete with cord jacket and leather patch elbows, he spends five minutes shouting at us to stop talking, put our hands on our heads - and amazingly everyone does it.  What great power and presence the man has!

Ralf plays Brian, or Bri, husband to Sheila and father to their disabled 10 year old daughter, Joe. The first act reveals the relationship between the couple and their relationship with Joe. Bri swings between comedic charmer to a falling man who needs constant reassurance and support. Sheila, played tenderly and with warm humour by Rebecca Johnson, is an energetic, devoted mother trying hard to keep the family together and to give her daughter as normal a life as possible.

Jessica Bastick-Vines plays Joe, no doubt a difficult role but played so convincingly that there was certainly a very quite, thoughtful pause in the merriment of the audience when she is first brought on stage in her wheelchair.

Touching on a sensitive subject, this play, written by Peter Nichols and first performed in Glasgow in 1967 is surprisingly riotous and full of great gags and humour. Nichols’ script is fast-paced, poignant and pithy. The quick-fire dialogue between the characters is spot on, and the second act is hysterical in places. Neighbours Freddie (Owen Oakeshott) and Pamela (Sally Tatum) are a brilliant double act as the couple of who can’t quite get their to grips with the presence of a disabled child and Pam in particular is cringingly tactless with her small-mindedness attitudes. But Tatum brings great humour to the role and her mannerisms are so painfully funny, so much so that somehow this dissipates any discomfort we may feel.

But trumping all cards for delivering a truly great character is Oakeshott. I sat spellbound as he twisted and crouched and wrang his hands with sympathy and awkward well meaning. He is unfailingly constant in accent, manner and delivery. With Marjorie Yates also brilliant as Bri’s mother, this is a truly stunning cast.

Joe Egg is directed by Stephen Unwin, who himself has a disabled son called Joey. The programme for this production includes an enlightening and moving article written by Unwin for The Guardian in September 2012. In it he describes the challenges and joys of raising a boy with profound learning difficulties. He says how his Joey has opened his eyes. I think and hope that this moving play, with its flashes of black humour interspersed with quiet tenderness, will do the same for those of us lucky enough to see it.

A day in the life of Joe Egg plays at the Rose Theatre Kingston until May 18th, 2013 

Box office: 08444821556  www.rosetheatrekingston.org

Guildford choir Coromarta herald start of spring

Despite the flutters of snow and a strenuous uphill trek, I decided that a bit of hill-top music on a bleak Saturday afternoon might be good for the legs, and surely good for the soul. Weeks of bitterly cold weather were beginning to wear me down a bit. 
The doors of St Martha's Church, just outside Guildford, were closed but I could hear the buzz of voices from inside and the director of the concert was jumping from foot to foot at the entrance, beckoning people inside. 
"A new singing group, a wonderful programme and it's all free. Dogs welcome!" exclaimed Peter White, wringing his hands to keep warm.

Inside a large crowd had gathered to listen to a performance by the newly formed choir Coromarta who were performing a concert as part of the Guildford International Music Festival.
Directed by Peter White, a Guildford musician, composer and Director of Music at the Royal Grammar School, the choir performed a range of works under the title of Music of the British Landscape.
They opened with John Ireland's relatively unfamiliar work The Hills, and it was immediately apparent that this was an extraordinarily accomplished choir with an excellent balance, just four to a part, but all the singers in their twenties with strong and pure voices. This beautiful song and the sound of their voices was indeed proving good for the soul.
The programme continued with works by Elgar, Holst, Grainger and Vaughan Williams. Holst's I Love My Love featured a lovely baritone solo from John Foakes whilst Cyrus Dromgoole Cavazzi's haunting tenor solo in Grainger's masterful arrangement of Brigg Fair was particularly memorable.
Then we heard Peter White's own folk song arrangements which, as he commented himself, somewhat optimistically heralded the coming of spring. His hypnotic version of My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean was particularly effective, whilst the energetic and very fast arrangement of The Tailor and the Mouse, demonstrated the complete security of the choir.
The concert ended with The Five Flower Songs by Benjamin Britten whose centenary is celebrated this year. Complex harmonies and changes in tempo were confidently tackled by this excellent new group who plan more performances this year, both in Guildford and further afield.

It was well worth the walk, and although my dog whimpered a bit at the high notes, she loved it too.

For more information about Coromarta contact Peter White via the Royal Grammar School. 01483 880600 or email guildown@gmail.com

Abigail's Party, top show from talented cast

The original 1977 Abigail’s Party, starring Alison Steadman as Beverley, is so firmly rooted in our minds that it takes a brave company to re-launch it and an even braver lady to try and step into her shoes. In the current touring Theatre Royal Bath and Chocolate Factory production, Hannah Waterman throws her very heart and platform shoes into the role.

She portrays wonderfully the outrageous suburban housewife who is brash, luscious, gregarious and ‘up for it’, but who also has a vicious tongue that is particularly wicked after a few G & T’s.

The current production went down a storm on its first night at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford. Of course the audience were very much the ‘right age’ to relate to the 70’s decor, the pineapple and cheese on sticks, the novelty of olives, and music from Demis Roussos and James Galway.

Beverley’s husband Laurence was played captured by Martin Marquez. As he lovingly selected various LP’s to entertain his guests, you could see the eyes of the audience moisten with happy memories. How wonderful it was to have shelves stacked with LPs, carefully arranged in alphabetical order, the careful process of selection and the scapegoat of reading the LP cover when you couldn’t think of anything to say. There’s something about I-Tunes and Spotify that lacks that tactile satisfaction. 

But back to the play....

The cast are all all good. Beverly’s neighbour Angela is beautifully played by Katie Lightfoot, who chatters non-stop, fidgets and tries so uber-hard to please. She irritates the hell out of her smooth husband Tony, or Tone as Beverly likes to call him. Samuel James, as Tony, has very few lines but manages to draw guffaws of laughter from the crowd just by saying a long “Yeahh” or sprawling across the chair as he makes seductive advances to Beverly.

And finally, the rather nice neighbour Sue, whose daughter “Abigail’ is having a party, is brilliantly played by Emily Raymond. Very ‘proper’ in relation to her more brash neighbours, keen to remain poised and polite, she is somehow floored by downing far too many G & T’s pressed upon her by the generous but wicked Beverly.

Mike Leigh’s plays are all about the dialogue and the cast and this cast deliver their lines fast and furiously, with all the colour and characterisation that he would have expected. There’s not much of a plot, but it doesn’t seem to matter, the sheer entertainment of watching these characters move from tense beginnings, through humour and anxiety to the final climax is sharply drawn.

Hastily thrown together by Mike Leigh when another play at Hampstead Theatre was cancelled back in the 70’s, Abigail’s Party was an instant success and it is still thoroughly entertaining today. Great dialogue simply doesn’t age.

Abigail’s Party is at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre until Saturday, March 30th. Box office 01483 440000www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk

Musicians of highest calibre perform premiere of Carnival 2 in Guildford

Excitement and anticipation was in the air at Holy Trinity Church, Guilford last week as The Royal Grammar School Chorus and Orchestra performed some classic works and also the premier of a Carnival 2, composed by the RGS Director of Music, Peter White.

Duncan Hampshire and Michael Lan

An astonishingly accomplished performance of Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Cellos in G Minor set a high standard for the evening’s programme. Cellists Duncan Hampshire and Michael Lan played three contrasting movements with incredible confidence, accompanied by a tight orchestra who tackled the demanding score perfectly, resulting in an truly uplifting performance.

The strings then gave a beautiful and well judged performance of the Sarabande from the Simple Symphony. Directed by Dale Chambers, the orchestra played with effortless precision and explored fully the emotional depths of the music.

Lest the audience should feel lulled into serenity, a rumbustious performance of Constant Lambert’s Rio Grande filled the church as a full choir of parents, staff and boys sang this complex composition. Strings, brass and percussion evoked the Brazilian Carnival with tightly fused energy whilst RGS pianist Eric Foster, performed the virtuosos piano solo part, full of syncopated rhythms and passages of frightening technical complexity, with astonishing panache and bravura. 

With the arrival of a second grand piano, eight RGS boys then played Richard Rodney Bennett’s charming Four Piece Suite. They all played perfectly and with great composure, clearly enjoying the popular idioms that infuse the entire work. 

Then finally, the long-awaited premier of Carnival 2, written by Peter White last summer which began with a brisk fanfare to herald the Dawn Chorus. Taking Saint-Saens’ original Carnival of the Animals as its model, Peter White has introduced great humour to a work that introduces us to twelve new creatures. The sense of fun is reinforced by lyrics that bind the different sections together, read with great wit by RGS boy Ben Phillip.

Each section beautifully evoked the various animals. ‘Whales’ filled the church with surging violins, cellos and basses accompanying cascading arpeggios, Pigs grunted, Soldier Ants marched with military precision and Flies buzzed. Lonesome George was a simple double bass solo. In contrast, Lounge Lizards introduced a somewhat cheeky, jazzy tune whilst the bleakly beautiful  Bittern was exceptionally moving. 

Amazing that one school can produce so many fine musicians and particularly pianists, fifteen in all took solo roles. It was hard not to burst into applause after each section, but wait we did, and the thunderous applause after the finale was evidence of the huge appreciation of an amazing evening of RGS music. 

N.B. There are FREE concerts on the first Tuesday of the month at 1.15pm by the RGS musicians in Holy Trinity Church Guildford.