So this post is a tough one to write and I have definitely been over-thinking how to put it so here goes.
In October of last year I went to Singapore and Australia. I had the most amazing and eye opening weeks of my life so far. I landed back on a drizzly Sunday Morning, exhausted from nearly 24 hours of being awake and a particularly harrowing take off from Singapore Changi Airport.
Why am I saying this? Well when I arrived back I felt a terrible despondency - a feeling which I, for weeks if not months, attributed towards the change in weather and jetlag and just missing the remarkably different way of life which I experienced.
By December, however, this despondency was far worse. A number of Radio and Magazine articles appeared in the midst of all this, and given that by now I was attributing my dark mood and feelings to Seasonal Affective Disorder, I championed any mention of Mental Health in Men - without really reading or getting in to the statistics or any other info.
This month I decided to take my head from out of the sand, and here is the point of this Blog: I have depression. When I say this, I don't mean I feel sad. There are a whole host of feelings tied up in this: I feel anxious, isolated (even when I'm in a room full of people), and I feel a real self loathing which because my body doesn't do anything by half measures is also manifesting in Dysphoric and Dysmorphic sentiments.
The statistics surrounding suicide in Men are shocking and a quick search on Google will bear me out on that. I am lucky and eternally grateful for the facts that I have very loving family and friends who don't deny men the right to be open about their feelings. They will let me talk and cry things out and so I have the means of being able to vent and see that there is a point to getting up day after day. So many people do not have this option.
The song, 'What the World Needs Now' is beautiful and a true classic, but it's not solely love which will make a difference, it's communicating, and forgetting about gender stereotypes when it comes to men talking about feelings or hugging things out. We need to be then change we want to see in the world and we need to be able to speak out and call people out when these damaging stereotypes are being perpetuated.
Thursday, 19 January 2017
Wednesday, 8 October 2014
Swing and Swastikas...
Nazis, or National Socialists, were never exactly known for being the fun loving types. Indeed, they were responsible for the slaughter of millions who didn't fit in with their plan of a perfect world: Jews, Catholics, Homosexuals and, it seems pertinent to mention in this context, the mentally disabled: many of whom fought for their nations in the Great War of 1914-18. With all of this, and the other horrors perpetrated between 1939 and 1945 under the name of Adolf Hitler, in mind, a show about Berlin in 1939/1940, featuring 'Swing' in the title was always going to intrigue, and, I fear, deter potential theatre-goers.
I must admit, that when I was invited to go and see Propaganda Swing at the Nottingham Playhouse, I was a little hesitant. History has always interested me, and especially modern History which affects our lives today in a real tangible way. But swing? I was worried that this would be a play in the mould of Springtime for Hitler, the fictional musical featured in The Producers - something which would make light of the atrocities which we all, of course, are aware of. I need not have worried.
Billed as a love story and a political satire, the production, written by Peter Arnott and directed by Hamish Glen was, in equal measure, captivating, thought provoking and entertaining; avoiding cliche and being careful to avoid upsetting any groups affected by the atrocities of the last Century, without being afraid to poke fun at the sheer madness of the German Officers!
Opening with a radio broadcast by our guide for the evening, American Journalist Bill Constant (Richard Conlon), we are immediately immersed in to Berlin in 1939. Constant is taking up residency as an American War Reporter, but is also there to find his love, a Jazz singer, Lala Anderson (Miranda Wilford). What follows is the tale of a tumultuous relationship between the two, who the fates (and Lala's friends), ultimately, do everything within their power to keep apart!
Lala sings with a band, and as with all bands in Nazi Germany, they are forced to comply to a very strict, 'racially pure' form of music - particularly difficult for them as their 'jam' is Jazz, a form of music loathed by the Nazis because of its origins in Afro-American Communities in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Constant soon realises that his paying job: reporting the war for his audiences back home; will be much more difficult than he could ever have imagined. After the band sing 'Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?' for his show, he is admonished by Heinrich Hinkel, a Nazi Officer, and he soon realises that in beginning on a sour note, his cards are marked, and that his ambition to broadcast the truth from a City unlike any other at the time, would not be possible.
Laced with brilliant and truly swinging tunes, the show is based on true stories and very real people (Lord Haw-Haw, anyone?), the production is in every sense a Tragi-Comedy, and weaves the lives of the characters wonderfully together. There are moments of heart break (and how!), followed very quickly by feel-good jazz, and flashes of laugh-out-loud comedy: one in particular, featuring the slightly slower, slightly darker song, 'Adolf Hitler's Favourite Flower' (it has to be seen to be believed!).
Propaganda Swing will make you laugh. It may make you cry, but unlike binge-watching BBC Three for an entire week, you will come out of the experience having learned a lot. A warning, however: your toes will be tapping, so suitable footwear is recommended!
Propaganda Swing is being staged at Nottingham Playhouse until October 18th with tickets ranging in price from £9.50-£28.50. It is presented by Nottingham Playhouse Theatre Company, and the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry. For more information, please visit the Playhouse Website, or visit the Box Office.
I must admit, that when I was invited to go and see Propaganda Swing at the Nottingham Playhouse, I was a little hesitant. History has always interested me, and especially modern History which affects our lives today in a real tangible way. But swing? I was worried that this would be a play in the mould of Springtime for Hitler, the fictional musical featured in The Producers - something which would make light of the atrocities which we all, of course, are aware of. I need not have worried.
Billed as a love story and a political satire, the production, written by Peter Arnott and directed by Hamish Glen was, in equal measure, captivating, thought provoking and entertaining; avoiding cliche and being careful to avoid upsetting any groups affected by the atrocities of the last Century, without being afraid to poke fun at the sheer madness of the German Officers!
Opening with a radio broadcast by our guide for the evening, American Journalist Bill Constant (Richard Conlon), we are immediately immersed in to Berlin in 1939. Constant is taking up residency as an American War Reporter, but is also there to find his love, a Jazz singer, Lala Anderson (Miranda Wilford). What follows is the tale of a tumultuous relationship between the two, who the fates (and Lala's friends), ultimately, do everything within their power to keep apart!
Lala sings with a band, and as with all bands in Nazi Germany, they are forced to comply to a very strict, 'racially pure' form of music - particularly difficult for them as their 'jam' is Jazz, a form of music loathed by the Nazis because of its origins in Afro-American Communities in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Constant soon realises that his paying job: reporting the war for his audiences back home; will be much more difficult than he could ever have imagined. After the band sing 'Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?' for his show, he is admonished by Heinrich Hinkel, a Nazi Officer, and he soon realises that in beginning on a sour note, his cards are marked, and that his ambition to broadcast the truth from a City unlike any other at the time, would not be possible.
Laced with brilliant and truly swinging tunes, the show is based on true stories and very real people (Lord Haw-Haw, anyone?), the production is in every sense a Tragi-Comedy, and weaves the lives of the characters wonderfully together. There are moments of heart break (and how!), followed very quickly by feel-good jazz, and flashes of laugh-out-loud comedy: one in particular, featuring the slightly slower, slightly darker song, 'Adolf Hitler's Favourite Flower' (it has to be seen to be believed!).
Propaganda Swing will make you laugh. It may make you cry, but unlike binge-watching BBC Three for an entire week, you will come out of the experience having learned a lot. A warning, however: your toes will be tapping, so suitable footwear is recommended!
Propaganda Swing is being staged at Nottingham Playhouse until October 18th with tickets ranging in price from £9.50-£28.50. It is presented by Nottingham Playhouse Theatre Company, and the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry. For more information, please visit the Playhouse Website, or visit the Box Office.
Wednesday, 3 September 2014
The Kite Runner: A truly beautiful reprisal.
Unless you've been living under a rock since 2003, you MUST have heard about, seen, or read The Kite Runner. It was a best selling novel by the great (in my humble opinion, at least) Khaled Hosseini, and tells the story of Amir and his family, as they go from a luxurious life, to a scraped-together existence in a foreign land.
If you haven't heard about this epic tale, its setting at least will be very familiar to all. Kabul, Afghanistan. To say it's been knocking around in newspapers, TV news, and online for less than favourable reasons so far this Century (and indeed the last) is something of an understatement, and throughout the plot of The Kite Runner, we are reminded of the extent of the problems its people have faced, really since its conquering by Alexander the Great in 330BC.
The latest adaptation is a stage show, and was adapted for theatre by Matthew Spangler, and for its return to Nottingham Playhouse, until this Saturday, 6th September, it is Directed by Giles Croft - a name which should be familiar to even the most casual of patrons of this great venue. Its previous run proved massively popular, and if last night's performance was anything to go by, it is well deserving of its ten week national tour, which it will shortly be embarking on (details here)!
The show begins before the house lights go down with traditional drumming music played by Hanif Khan - an element which could, in itself, have been worthy of rapturous applause and a fair old ticket price (indeed, Khan earned himself some well deserved cheers and whistles at final curtain!), before we are introduced to Amir (Ben Turner), the lead, and it seems appropriate to say, the story-teller (as he is described on a number of occasions in the second act).
It would be disappointing to give too much away, so in short, Amir is born in to a very privileged, if slightly dysfunctional upbringing: his family consisting solely of his father, and his only friend being his servant, Hassan (Andrei Costin). Feeling alone but for the daytime company of Hassan, and his books, he at last finds favour from his father in eventually succeeding and winning in the local 'Kite Battles' - an event which sounds, frankly, brilliant! However, his joy is short lived when local bullies attack Hassan, an event which he witnesses but does nothing to stop, fulfilling his father's expectation that he is a coward. Struggling to face up to the fact that he did nothing to help, and the guilt that comes with it, Amir ultimately ends this friendship, leaving himself more alone than ever before, and breaking his Baba's ((Emilio Doorgasingh) heart, given that Hassan and his Father, Ali (Ezra Khan) had been the family's servants for many years.
Soon after the departure, Ali and Baba are forced to leave Afghanistan as a result of the conflict: the two men struggle to make a new life for themselves, facing relative poverty, and mockery, and a world very different to their previous lives.
The Kite Runner is, without wanting to use the, albeit appropriate, cliche, an emotional roller coaster, which had the audience roaring with tears and, at times, laughter, and the stage show is mercifully very true to Khaled Hossini's original bestseller. The acts are both lengthy (one hour, and eighty minutes respectively), but the pace of the action, and the quality of the acting, sets and background music are such that the first act flies by, leaving you hungry for the interval to end, and the second draws you in, desperate to know the fates of the characters!
A gripping masterpiece, and despite the tear-jerking moments, a solid option for a great night out, with tickets starting at a very reasonable £9.50 for selected performances, and the programme genuinely worth investing in.
If you haven't heard about this epic tale, its setting at least will be very familiar to all. Kabul, Afghanistan. To say it's been knocking around in newspapers, TV news, and online for less than favourable reasons so far this Century (and indeed the last) is something of an understatement, and throughout the plot of The Kite Runner, we are reminded of the extent of the problems its people have faced, really since its conquering by Alexander the Great in 330BC.
The latest adaptation is a stage show, and was adapted for theatre by Matthew Spangler, and for its return to Nottingham Playhouse, until this Saturday, 6th September, it is Directed by Giles Croft - a name which should be familiar to even the most casual of patrons of this great venue. Its previous run proved massively popular, and if last night's performance was anything to go by, it is well deserving of its ten week national tour, which it will shortly be embarking on (details here)!
The show begins before the house lights go down with traditional drumming music played by Hanif Khan - an element which could, in itself, have been worthy of rapturous applause and a fair old ticket price (indeed, Khan earned himself some well deserved cheers and whistles at final curtain!), before we are introduced to Amir (Ben Turner), the lead, and it seems appropriate to say, the story-teller (as he is described on a number of occasions in the second act).
It would be disappointing to give too much away, so in short, Amir is born in to a very privileged, if slightly dysfunctional upbringing: his family consisting solely of his father, and his only friend being his servant, Hassan (Andrei Costin). Feeling alone but for the daytime company of Hassan, and his books, he at last finds favour from his father in eventually succeeding and winning in the local 'Kite Battles' - an event which sounds, frankly, brilliant! However, his joy is short lived when local bullies attack Hassan, an event which he witnesses but does nothing to stop, fulfilling his father's expectation that he is a coward. Struggling to face up to the fact that he did nothing to help, and the guilt that comes with it, Amir ultimately ends this friendship, leaving himself more alone than ever before, and breaking his Baba's ((Emilio Doorgasingh) heart, given that Hassan and his Father, Ali (Ezra Khan) had been the family's servants for many years.
Soon after the departure, Ali and Baba are forced to leave Afghanistan as a result of the conflict: the two men struggle to make a new life for themselves, facing relative poverty, and mockery, and a world very different to their previous lives.
The Kite Runner is, without wanting to use the, albeit appropriate, cliche, an emotional roller coaster, which had the audience roaring with tears and, at times, laughter, and the stage show is mercifully very true to Khaled Hossini's original bestseller. The acts are both lengthy (one hour, and eighty minutes respectively), but the pace of the action, and the quality of the acting, sets and background music are such that the first act flies by, leaving you hungry for the interval to end, and the second draws you in, desperate to know the fates of the characters!
A gripping masterpiece, and despite the tear-jerking moments, a solid option for a great night out, with tickets starting at a very reasonable £9.50 for selected performances, and the programme genuinely worth investing in.
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