Round the Herne

 According to Greek tradition, the very first truly theatrical performance was that of the poet Thespis at the first Dionysia to be held in Athens. Part of the celebration in honour of the god Dionysus, spread over several days, was a set of performances with a prize going to the best (yes, actors were hungry for Award Ceremonies from the get-go). Thespis stood up as the first act at the first such festival and recited a dithyrambic poem of his own composition. This style of poem recounted a myth, though it is unknown to all except a certain time travelling Doctor which sacred drama Thespis based his work on (though I have suggested a likely possibility in the story recorded below). There was nothing unusual in reciting poetry, but the innovation that Thespis brought was to have sections of his opus magnum written in the voices of the various figures in the myth and then don suitable masks and costumes to act out the parts. Thespis speaks to the power of masks - as Jung said, give ...

Saw a staged version of the Picture of Dorian Gray at The Wolsey theatre, which was very well done. Still trying to decide what story to record next so, to get back in the habit of podcasting, I decided to do some of Oscar Wilde's poems. The first poem is the relatively short The Harlot's House,a beautifully rhythmic piece which was done (far better) by Vincent Price as part of one of his touring plays several decades ago. For those listeners who have the patience for long poems, the second piece is the obligatory Ballad of Reading Gaol which Wilde wrote in the late 1800s to make readers understand how awful his prison experience was and how dreadful execution was. whilst in prison Wilde rediscovered his Christian faith, though his approach to Christ was decidedly more Hellenised than most people's. His spirituality infuses the poem, and observant listeners will note certain phrases that both poems have in common - it could just be that Wilde liked certain words and reus...

Tonight I joined some friends for a trip out to the Hush House (once used for testing aircraft engines) on the old RAF Bentwaters base, where the Eastern Angles theatre company staged another of their amazingly inventive productions. This time it was ' Ragnarok ', which incorporated quite a number of the Norse myths that lead up to the war to end all wars, including the building of the walls of Asgard by the entertainingly lustful Mason, Loki telling the saga of Thor's crossdressing wedding, the gory loss of Odin's eye, and snippets of several others. If you get the chance to go and see this, I urge you to do so. The staging is extremely resourceful and imaginative (a trademark of this theatre company), with wooden structures that wheel about and slot together to create a variety of features which the cast clambered about and used in all manner of entertaining ways. The lightning and music are evocative and brilliantly judged. The scenes in which Odin consults the se...