The Week-end: Part 2 - Falling among Storytellers

The Boyhood of Raleigh by John Everett Millais

A seafarer tells the young Sir Walter Raleigh and his brother the story of what happened out at sea.

On Saturday afternoon, there was a gathering at the new home of Cindy-Lee. And there I met, among others, story-tellers Cora and Doug. What interesting and stimulating conversation! And the excitement was to continue when Cora and I, the next evening, went to a performance by the Playback Theatre Company.

But before we get to that, there was a lovely, lively Sunday lunch at Kiss the Sky Cafe with Cindy-Lee, Tara and Cherie and assorted kids. Kiss the Sky was quaint and cosy - after all, this is the Dandenongs and it was a misty, cold, cloudy, rainy day

This was another adventure into story. Selected audience members are interviewed by the 'conductor' and the bare bones of a personal story emerges which the company's actors transform or playback before the eyes of the audience. The improvised performance is not only entertaining but can provide insight to the owner of the story. The performance can be moving, funny, or laden with meaning. The company only performs twice each season. Last weekend's Saturday and Sunday performances were the Winter Season. Playback theatres are an international phenomenon so there may be one near you.

What the Dickens, Miriam!

Sit down all those who don't like the work of Miriam Margolyes. Good we can't see you. But then I can't see any gaps either. All I can see is a standing ovation. Is she the finest character actor in English or is she what?!

All this leads me, dear Reader, to direct you to this post at the blog of my friend Denis, The Nature of Robertson. Robertson is a village (population approximately 1,000) in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. Miriam is a resident there. And she is an Aussie citizen. How 'bout that! All thanks to Babe.

My favourite Miriam role is in Ladies in Lavender. But I do want you to know that Miriam is touring Australia with Dickens' Women. If you saw Simon Callow bring Dickens to life when he toured Australia, then Miriam's show will make a nice book-end for you. Listen to Phillip Adams' interview here.

The fabric of our nostalgia

This morning's A2 in The Age carried an advertisement for The Nature of Things: Relics and Time. Unfortunately, Miss Eagle won't be going. She is hoping and praying to go to WA in May for the launch of ARIDS (as posted below) so will have to minimise expenditure. But Miss E thinks The Nature of Things must be a real experience.

She was particularly enchanted by the photograph (above) on the website of a tablecloth and serviette which have been taken as a theme for this theatrical presentation. Enchanted - because back in the late 60s to mid 70s when Miss Eagle owned a house at 682 Ruthven Streen, Toowoomba (I believe a motel is there now) she decorated with some soft furnishings.

What did she use? This very colour and this very fabric - a hopsack. A circular table was covered with a huge circular cloth. She remembers being down on hands and knees with a pencil tied to a length of string marking the fabric - folded in quarters - with an arc and cutting along the pencilled line to cut a large circle which was hemmed with same colour bias binding. Then there were the serviettes whose edges she frayed. The cloth was worn and went the way of all things long ago. The serviettes lingered on. There may still be the odd one lurking somewhere.

Now to see someone else's tablecloth and serviette in a house long ago in Italy becoming the focus and starting point for a theatrical production in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, which in turn connects nostalgically with a long ago house in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia is remarkable.