Tony Earnshaw's Blog, page 10

The Causeway hits the news

Just a week to go and Damn Cheek’s production of The Causeway is getting noticed. The BBC were in the rehearsal room yesterday, and North East Bylines published a piece today – The Causeway: new high-energy, family-friendly show celebrating North East heritage – North East Bylines

The post The Causeway hits the news appeared first on Tony Earnshaw.

Mind the gap

Image courtesy of James Cullen and Flickr

Thoughts on a train

I starting roughing this poem out a few weeks ago on a trip to London but with rail disputes and more on the horizon this felt a good time to dust it off and share it

Mind the gap

Welcome aboard the Southern service to Victoria
The next station is Epsom
Take your seats, you’re going to need them
There are all these kids, and we can’t feed them
Never mind our obscene wealth
We can’t go squandering it on health
when there are taxes on the rich to cut 
and businesses really need a break

The poor need shaking from their rut
If they tried, they’d quickly make 
a tasty meal for 30p
with something left for after tea.

We are now approaching Cheam
Please mind the gap 
between the truth and the platform
from which we mouth inanities
and really hope you’ll vote for us
and though it tests your sanity,
your moral compass and the rest,

we know you’ll take the bait
and somehow seal your fate 
by thinking we know best
Please mind the gap.

Welcome aboard the Southern service to Victoria
Please mind the gap

Tony Earnshaw 23.6.22

The post Mind the gap appeared first on Tony Earnshaw.

Ancient Wisdom for New Times

I wrote this blog for the Damn Cheek website and it can be seen there but I wanted to also include it on my own site and so, here it is. The image above is the image for the show, created by designer Chris de Wilde.

When Damn Cheek’s partners in Gateshead asked us back after our last year’s Passion for the Planet performance, we were delighted. Building community is also about building relationships and the prospect of working with this group of friends again was a good one.

When they stipulated building the project around the Lindisfarne Gospels we were unsure how this would work. What did an 8th century religious manuscript have to say about today’s world? Quite a lot, as it turned out.

The Lindisfarne Gospels are the work of a single monk, Eadfrith, who spent two years scribing and illustrating, the result being a beautiful work of art as well as a religious document which played a key role in the history of the church in the UK. 

The story of the community of monks which created this work is one of faith, flight and persecution. A story of being forced to flee by an invading army, of resistance to the Vikings, of travels by land and sea and of finally returning to the North East and creating the city of Durham which was to become an important base for defence, for the church, and for learning. Plenty of modern parallels there.

In creating a show for this summer, we have opted to follow the model we developed last year for Passion for the Planet, consisting of creative input from the community, work in schools, a steering group of community members, all culminating in a promenade piece of theatre involving song, dance, poetry, drama, clowning and more.

The idea of legacy, inspired by the legacy left by Eadfrith, forms one of the themes of the piece. (What is our legacy?  A viable planet?) The release of creativity is another theme, the impact that an individual can have yet another, all inspired by Eadfrith. As we chart the journey of a community fleeing war, and carrying their precious objects with them, we also look at the importance of texts and teachings to people from a wide range of faiths and none, and look at what we can learn from each other.

The project is called The Causeway after the causeway which connects the island of Lindisfarne to the mainland, a dangerous and not always available connection with the outside world. More resonances with today’s world.

If this all sounds very serious, well it is, and it isn’t. The workshops and community making days will be full of fun, the show itself will have plenty of movement, participation, songs, and laughter and, as last year, we expect to leave the local community wanting more.

The Causeway has been months in preparation, gets underway in the summer term with schools work, and finishes in August with two weeks of performances. I’m currently working on draft two of the script, building in new inputs from some of our community team members and faith leaders, before letting the director and designer loose on it.

It’s a joy to work on and I’m looking forward to seeing the joy on the faces of the audience when we finally get to showtime.

The post Ancient Wisdom for New Times appeared first on Tony Earnshaw.

Buds, Bonnets and Beginnings

Image courtesy of Alison Benbow and Flickr under Creative Commons

It’s easy to be downcast at the moment. The news is dire. Death, famine, war and conquest – the four horsemen of old all riding the earth. Nothing new in that, upsetting as it may be, but the suffering is very present right now. Add to that the apparent inability of our leaders to do anything sensible to avert climate disaster, criminals and liars at the head and heart of government, and you could be forgiven for feeling a little dispirited.

My thoughts wandered from this to the significance of this time of year. Spring is all around us, buds on the trees, displays of daffodils, new life emerging. Christians celebrate Easter, which is all about death and resurrection, in Judaism the two Seder meals celebrate liberation from the oppressor (Egypt in that case), Sikhs have their spring harvest foundational celebrations in Vaisakhi. There’s a lot in the air about new beginnings, new life, freedom and hope.

Hope may feel naive at the moment but I think there is a sense in which we have to chose to hope, because the alternative is to give in and we can’t afford to do that. My hope for today is that we all find some peace and recharge our batteries, that we can hope against the odds, and that we will see the tide turn, and a brighter future.

The post Buds, Bonnets and Beginnings appeared first on Tony Earnshaw.

Trust

It’s World Poetry day so it seems appropriate to share a poem. I wrote this one a week ago, disturbed by the news from Ukraine and by our own inept and unreliable government. This was of course before the latest crass comparisons between Brexit and the Russian invasion. The conclusion in the last line becomes ever more difficult to sustain. Must we trust?

Sunday morning

It’s 10 o’clock, a Sunday morning
The background noise a symphony
It’s 10 o’clock, a Sunday morning
I sit and read as people flee
The world outside is full of pain
The news is full of war again
It’s 10 o’clock, a Sunday morning
I sit and try to think things through
It’s 10 o’clock, a Sunday morning
It’s hard to know what I can do
The existential threat draws near
And all of life is tinged with fear.
Our leaders I find hard to trust
But lacking choice it seems I must

©C A Earnshaw 13/3/22

The post Trust appeared first on Tony Earnshaw.

JOY

As I’ve struggled to work out how to respond to events in the Ukraine I came across some inspiring words by William Sieghart. Commenting on a poem by Mary Oliver (‘Don’t Hesitate‘) he points out that the world has always been bleak but that joy enriches it – and is a persistent weed we can’t, and shouldn’t, control. I found this very helpful and it prompted the poem below, which I’ve called, simply, Joy.

Joy

When cities are ravaged,
hospitals razed to the ground,
when our dreams are haunted
by the sound of explosions,
it is not wrong to feel joy

for it has always been this way
and always must,
the fault in human make up
can turn all things to dust,

and yet we love and laugh,
we give and maybe pray
for only with the touch of joy
can we face another day.

©C A Earnshaw 10/3/22

The post JOY appeared first on Tony Earnshaw.

Hearing my song

As the attention of the world is focussed on Ukraine, I expected to be writing about autocracy, war crimes and the humanitarian crisis but my eye was caught by an article about the climate emergency. Clearly this is still with us – and the conflict is almost certainly worsening things. We can hope for an acceleration of the move away from fossil fuels as Europe turns its collective back on Russian oil and gas but, in the short term, it will hurt.

The article I was reading wasn’t about this but rather about six actions we are challenged to take as individuals to tackle the crisis. These range from minimising the meat in our diet to buying only three new items of clothing a year, include keeping electronic equipment and cars longer, and flying only every few years. This is clearly intended to be challenging but based on an analysis of actions which might make a difference. To me it also feels a little simplistic. Consider the impact of restricting clothes buying in this way. There are over 30,000 business in fashion and textiles in the UK alone, and more than half a million people but this is a global issue and there are over 23 million people in the sector worldwide. Let’s say this initiative halves the business, that’s 12m people out of work and unable to feed their families, with all the knock on effects on the businesses supplying the sector, on the people who rely on those now out of work for custom. Similar arguments apply with the other proposals.

This does not mean that I disagree with the thrust of the proposal. In principle I think buying less, flying less etc are good ideas but I think a blanket approach to the issue requires systemic change and other means of supporting people in order to avoid creating a new humanitarian disaster. Maybe a universal basic income, a planned transition to more climate friendly activity, training for skills transfers. I realise this implies governmental action and government track records on this are poor. I also realise that our government in the UK is particularly inept and unlikely to step up, still subsidising fossil fuels, supporting new mines and the rest of it. So, what’s the answer?

It seems to me that we need a mix of answers. Yes, we need individual answers because waiting for government means it will never happen, but we also need to lobby the politicians, campaign, and vote for survival. We can put pressure on business to behave in a planet friendly way. Many are moving in that direction. Those who manage pension fund money and savings are increasingly supporting those moves, demanding them in some cases. If we have savings, pensions or whatever, we can encourage that pressure. If we lead the way and also apply pressure we can make a difference. So the challenge is a good one, in the drive to think and act more than in the specific proposals. It’s also timely in reminding us that even when there is an immediate threat and fear of war, we still need to think about this underlying threat which is not going away.

So what should our individual responses be? I think we need to work them out for ourselves. Reduced consumption and better buying choices might form part of it, but also switching fuel types and usage, planting trees, helping to conserve natural areas and other changes as well as encouraging each other. Complexity should not lead to paralysis.

I was thinking of all this as I read I go among the trees and sit still, a poem by Wendell Berry. I read it as a challenge to take time to sit and find my role, face my fears but also a message of hope, much needed at the moment. It ends with these words

After days of labor, mute in my consternation
I hear my song at last and I sing it
as we sing, the day returns, the trees move.

The post Hearing my song appeared first on Tony Earnshaw.

Planting

This image was taken in Gateshead and this blog was written for and appeared on the Damn Cheek website (www.damncheek.co.uk) and is reproduced her for completeness.

As part of our show Passion for the Planet last summer audience members were invited to plant seeds and to water them. The result was the vibrant splash of colour pictured above. A reminder that we can create new beginnings, that seeds which we plant can produce something beautiful, an encouragement as we start a new year.

I took the photo on a planning trip for our next project and it was moving to see the bed of flowers, evidence that we had been before and that our activities in Gateshead were bearing fruit already. This gives added impetus and energy to our plans for the summer 2022 project, of which more later.

As we start a new year it’s traditional to make resolutions, many of which fall quickly by the wayside. Maybe it’s more important to plant a seed, something we should be doing every time we write, create, perform.

So, following on from Susan Quilliam’s recent blog invitation ( https://damncheek.co.uk/new-year-resolutions/  )to choose a word for the year, mine is ‘planting’ – and my reflections on January resolutions, and on where our focus should be, are embodied in the poem below which, as some of you will notice, leans heavily on Louis MacNeice.

The wrong timeIt’s the wrong time of year for weight lossSo cold we need our starchA stone lost in JanuaryReturns with more in MarchSo it’s no go your mind gyms and it’s no go your dietsAnd it’s no go your healthy food, let’s find some fat and fry itIt’s time for self-obsessionSo eat the stuff you’re keen onKeep fuelling for survivalTill you can’t get your jeans onSo it’s no go your morning runs and it’s no go your press upsAnd it’s no go your fitness lies, just laze right there and fess upIt’s the wrong time of the year for improvingFor changing our lazy waysMuch better to light up anotherAnd cough through the smoke-filled hazeIt’s the wrong time of year to cut carbonTo learn again how to walkWhen the money men and the statesmenWould much sooner posture than talkSo it’s no go your windmills and it’s no go your solarAnd it’s no go your moaning when the Arctic feels like AngolaAnd it’s no go complaining that we’re in such a messWhen half the population still reads the Daily ExpressAnd it’s no go Mauritius, sinking beneath the seaAnd it’s no go the finger pointing at you and meAnd it’s no go the migrants looking for somewhere to landLet ‘em sail like the Flying Dutchman, they should have had something plannedAnd it’s no go your wildlife and it’s no go your cancerAnd it’s no go your prudent man and it’s no go your chancerJust wrap me up in an outsized flag and hang me out to dryAnd say this is the generation that didn’t even try

© C A Earnshaw

The post Planting appeared first on Tony Earnshaw.

Santa Claus

Image by Alexandra_Koch from Pixabay

Some Christmas thoughts – I hope you all have a good one.

Santa Claus

I believe in Santa Claus.
I have my reasons
Made my choice. 
There are fairy stories I can’t believe.
At least St Nicolas had good gifts to give.

I don’t hold the old man’s truth lightly
but others believe things much less likely.
That Brexit works.
That Boris can be trusted.
That agreements made can be thrown away
and our word relied on another day.
I could go on.

So no apologies from me.
If that’s the way things have to be
and people believe the things they say
I’ll choose a better myth to cling to.

An unlikely old man driving a sleigh,
riding through the skies above,
carrying gifts and signs of love.

Don’t look now
He’s on his way

C A Earnshaw 1/12/21

[image error]

The post Santa Claus appeared first on Tony Earnshaw.

Fragile Religion?

I’ve been thinking about religion, faith and faiths of late and thought I’d share my thoughts. A developing stream of ideas…

Religion seems to me to be a fragile thing and yet it lasts. Shot through with inconsistencies and contradictions interlaced with deep insights and wisdom it is maybe a mirror image of humankind. Religions give a society, a community, a guide to living, something to aspire to but also, by their hierarchical nature, concentrate power in a few hands and are open to abuse. They take the human desire for a connection to something greater, the divine, God, and surround it with rules and required beliefs. They become clubs with rules. And yet, the core of faith, of seeking, of thirst is still there. The result is a strange mixture of compassion, love, caring for others and integrity with repression, suspicion of others and hypocrisy.

For me, brought up in a chapel background which sought to be non-hierarchical but nonetheless carried its own set of rules and expectations and having spent much of my adult life in a much more structured and top-down church both models share this flaw. They tell you want to think, what to believe, how to behave. Subtly sometimes, but the expectations are there, and my own belief is that our responsibility is to fulfil our potential, to be the person that God, if there is a God, meant us to be. If that potential doesn’t fit within the rules and expectations then the fault does not lie with the nature of the potential.

But is there a God? Increasingly I struggle with the term. I feel that there is something else, which I think of as the divine, but the concept of God which I grew up with and which is familiar to anyone from the Jewish, Christian or Islamic traditions feels too constrained, too humanised. If there is a divine being then, by definition, that being is beyond our human understanding and we diminish them as soon as we attribute human characteristics to them – including gender, ‘God’ being non-binary! But we attribute those characteristics anyway, not having the language for anything else, so we create both God and religion in our own image. I’m not sure what the right approach is but I have come to the conclusion that, for me, there are some helpful guidelines

First is openness to the ideas and beliefs of others, recognising that they could be right after all. Second to follow your own way, but thoughtfully, prayerfully, with consideration and compassion. Third, to take time to listen to whatever passes for the divine in my life, whether that is God, nature, human creativity, love or some combination. And finally, to act on it. This acting includes creativity – in my case poems, plays, books, music. And it involves caring for others and the world – those close to me and others, giving time and money for the dispossessed, for the relief of illness and deprivation, using my gifts to share concern for these things and for the environment. If I can do this, then maybe I am connected to the divine in some small way.

The post Fragile Religion? appeared first on Tony Earnshaw.