I live one Curly Wurly away from a Tesco Express. That’s how long it takes somebody to eat one while wandering down my street – finishing it just in time to hurl the wrapper into my garden. I’m afraid I chunter when I occasionally pick those wrappers up. I curse the fact that I haveContinue reading “Free eyeballs”
Last week, Vanessa and I held the second of our online conversations about opera. This one was about engaging new communities with opera, and was chaired by the wonderful Krysztina Winkel, formerly embedded community producer at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, and currently at the Vienna State Opera where she is trying to set up aContinue reading “Engaging new communities”
Lists, lists, lists. The stuff of click bait. But I’m not going to give you a list of things you shouldn’t do, I’m going to share my latest life hack: When I write a new to do list, I now start with three things… not to do…. And put those three things at the topContinue reading “Three things not to do”
I recently rediscovered a picture of my teenage self. On the front cover of an old archaeology textbook. I’ve been asked to write a piece for a project on ‘voices from the past,’ hence my search for the battered copy I knew I still had somewhere on a bookshelf. I spent several summers on aContinue reading “Digging up the past”
…but there’s a chance we will be back in theatres watching plays and dance and live music again soon. I miss being in rehearsal rooms with actors and being with other writers and being in theatre spaces. I miss the process of working with the actors to build a shared vision as the rehearsals progress.Continue reading “There may be trouble ahead…”
Last month, our own Vanessa Oakes and Sayan Kent held an online conversation exploring why they had decided to create Her Day Opera for the upcoming Coventry City of Culture. In this blog, Vanessa reflects on their experience so far and the many questions raised during the session, particularly on how participants felt about goingContinue reading “Why opera?”
There was a time a few years back when the media was full of tales about how Mindfulness could change people’s lives. “That’s so Kings Heath!” I remember scoffing to one of my friends as we sipped our skinny decaf americanos in a vegan-friendly café in, you guessed it, Kings Heath. The irony didn’t escapeContinue reading “May your enemy be happy”
The following blog first appeared on BOLDtexter Tim Stimpson’s website. I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by UNESCO’s Giulio Bajona for World Radio Day (13th February). It was for an article about the power and resilience of radio: how it can connect us to our past, help us understand the present, and evenContinue reading “UNESCO, radio and the ‘second orality’ revolution”
Crisp bright days, sparkling frost, hats, coats and gloves to keep out the cold. Great for some but not for me. Ok, I’ll admit snow is lovely, when you don’t have to go out to work – which many of us aren’t doing right now. But what I really crave is warmth and sun –Continue reading “Spring is on the way”
I love New Year – any excuse for a party – though it could do with a new theme tune. Auld Lang Syne is a bit of dirge and nobody knows the words. And I’m not too fond of the fireworks. Or the hangovers. But I love New Year resolutions. I love that feeling of aContinue reading “Happy New Month”
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