Minimally festive
Oct. 9th, 2018 12:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustLast year our attendance at Durham Book Festival was limited to three events, on two days; this year it was down to two, both on Sunday. Same reasons: the intersection of what we fancy from the programme and what we are available for (the second weekend of the Book Festival is scheduled against the South Lakes Comics Festival, and comics wins). But there wasn't much this year that I regretted missing - with the exception of Sue Black, already sold out when we booked our tickets. On the positive side, I enjoyed both events we did go to.
Once again, Bob Beagrie drew the short straw, the Sunday morning slot, and again he carried it off with aplomb. How do you follow Leásungspell, a narrative poem in a single voice, that voice being rendered in something which might or might not be authentic Old English? Civil Insolencies (not, as it says on my ticket, "Civil Insolvencies") is a reaction to the English Civil Wars - and in particular the Battle of Guisborough of 1643 - in a variety of voices. There was an introduction from Phil Philo setting the battle in historical context - rather more context than a one-hour slot could accommodate, though his guide to who was who, and on which side, was helpful. There was music: I commented last year that "[the] soundtrack ... mysteriously managed not to reference the Lyke Wake Dirge" - this year, as the troops struggled through the mud along Blakey Ridge, there was dirging. Also, inevitable but not unwelcome, Leon Rosselson's World Turned Upside Down. Afterwards, I looked for more information about what I had heard, and couldn't find any site with more information about the project, let alone text. There are, for what it's worth, pictures of the show on the poet's FB page.
Since both our events were in Palace Green, we lunched in the café there with S., who had come for Sue Black. One of the things I complain about, year after year, is that the Festival has no festive atmosphere, because it has no central headquarters, nowhere yo meet people and compare notes on what you have just seen, or intend to see - except the queue, because it is obligatory to queue up for each separate event, while the room is prepared. So soup and a sandwich (and it was good soup, too) was a pleasant chance to be sociable, but afterwards we didn't hang around until our evening event.durham_rambler came straight home, I detoured via the charity book sale.
If you'd asked me, I'd have predicted that the day's sold out event would be the evening's launch of Pearl, a collection of short stories by the wonderful and much-missed Julia Darling. Which shows how much I know, because the audience was smaller than that for the morning's show. Julia wrote poetry, plays, novels, but she was a brilliant short story writer, and I was delighted that her stories had been gathered together into a single volume. I looked forward to hearing something of the background of the stories, and of the editorial process. The programme promised: "these stories will be brought to life with readings and memories from some of Julia’s friends: actors Judi Earl and Zoe Lambert," and that sounded fine too - but it's not exactly what we got. I had somehow managed to select from the programme two formal performance pieces: no introduction, no "memories" but the two readers announcing in unison "Four stories. Four short stoiries. By Julia Darling," and then reading in turn their four stories. They were excellent, funny, touching stories, and they were beautfully read - but I wondered what someone who knew nothing about Julia would make of this. Perhaps everyone in the audience did know Julia; friends and family were certainly there. Luckilydurham_rambler knew which door hid the desk at which the book was on sale, so I was able to buy a copy.
Once again, Bob Beagrie drew the short straw, the Sunday morning slot, and again he carried it off with aplomb. How do you follow Leásungspell, a narrative poem in a single voice, that voice being rendered in something which might or might not be authentic Old English? Civil Insolencies (not, as it says on my ticket, "Civil Insolvencies") is a reaction to the English Civil Wars - and in particular the Battle of Guisborough of 1643 - in a variety of voices. There was an introduction from Phil Philo setting the battle in historical context - rather more context than a one-hour slot could accommodate, though his guide to who was who, and on which side, was helpful. There was music: I commented last year that "[the] soundtrack ... mysteriously managed not to reference the Lyke Wake Dirge" - this year, as the troops struggled through the mud along Blakey Ridge, there was dirging. Also, inevitable but not unwelcome, Leon Rosselson's World Turned Upside Down. Afterwards, I looked for more information about what I had heard, and couldn't find any site with more information about the project, let alone text. There are, for what it's worth, pictures of the show on the poet's FB page.
Since both our events were in Palace Green, we lunched in the café there with S., who had come for Sue Black. One of the things I complain about, year after year, is that the Festival has no festive atmosphere, because it has no central headquarters, nowhere yo meet people and compare notes on what you have just seen, or intend to see - except the queue, because it is obligatory to queue up for each separate event, while the room is prepared. So soup and a sandwich (and it was good soup, too) was a pleasant chance to be sociable, but afterwards we didn't hang around until our evening event.
durham_rambler came straight home, I detoured via the charity book sale.If you'd asked me, I'd have predicted that the day's sold out event would be the evening's launch of Pearl, a collection of short stories by the wonderful and much-missed Julia Darling. Which shows how much I know, because the audience was smaller than that for the morning's show. Julia wrote poetry, plays, novels, but she was a brilliant short story writer, and I was delighted that her stories had been gathered together into a single volume. I looked forward to hearing something of the background of the stories, and of the editorial process. The programme promised: "these stories will be brought to life with readings and memories from some of Julia’s friends: actors Judi Earl and Zoe Lambert," and that sounded fine too - but it's not exactly what we got. I had somehow managed to select from the programme two formal performance pieces: no introduction, no "memories" but the two readers announcing in unison "Four stories. Four short stoiries. By Julia Darling," and then reading in turn their four stories. They were excellent, funny, touching stories, and they were beautfully read - but I wondered what someone who knew nothing about Julia would make of this. Perhaps everyone in the audience did know Julia; friends and family were certainly there. Luckily
durham_rambler knew which door hid the desk at which the book was on sale, so I was able to buy a copy.
