Janet C. Smith's Blog, page 4

'Drama Llamas'. 'Robin Hoodie and his Merry People'. Murder Mystery. Bridgend.

Good Luck to the Drama Llamas (what a wonderful name) of Bridgend, who are performing the murder mystery, ‘Robin Hoodie and His Merry People’ at Pencoed Village Hall, on Sunday July 7th.

'Robin Hoodie and his Merry People have a problem! So successful have they been in robbing the rich to give to the poor, there are no poor anymore! Bored almost to death, Alan a-dale, the resident minstrel organizes snail races; Friar Tuckin dreams of his next meal; Robin is ensuring his horse is kept off the menu; and Mad Marion is bossing them all about. Throw in an invisible forest sprite, the devious Sheriff of Nottingham, the treacherous Prioress of Kirklees, Pitkin an innumerate peasant, and you have a recipe for mayhem – and murder!' Will the audience solve it?

Editors Weekly review. 'Gritta and the Witches of Olavland'. Four star review. Chuffed.

I was chuffed to notice that the Editors Weekly have posted on the web a four star review of 'Gritta and the Witches of Olavland'. To read the review, just search for the keywords.

Because I was chuffed, I Googled the origin of the word in case it's not in common usage. It is, 'Originally northern English dialect meaning 'proud', adopted by military, then wider society.' As well as proud, it can variably be substituted for 'pleased', 'delighted'; 'flattered'; 'very excited'. I can't say that I'm 'very excited' but I am chuffed in a 'delighted' sort of way. The word apparently comes from dialectal (northern England) chuff, originally meaning “puffed with fat.”

'Murder at Cliff House'. Murder Mystery. St Mark's Players. Reigate.

Break a leg! To St Mark's Players, who are performing ‘Murder at Cliff House’ at The Hall, St Marks Centre, Reigate, Friday June 21st to Saturday 22nd June.

'A group of top bloggers receive invitations for a luxury weekend from a new publishing house to meet their new writer, with the idea of them reviewing and publicizing their books via the social networks. But who is the mystery writer? Where is the mystery publisher? And why are the guests cut off with no mobile or internet reception at a decaying old house, beside crumbling cliffs, with the sea mists curling in? One character is guaranteed for deletion!'

Weighty matter. Weight of books.

With paper prices going up due to shortages of natural gas used in the manufacture, plus transportation costs, books are becoming lighter; much lighter. Weighing my 1968 hardback copy of 'Four Novels The Bronte Sisters' by Spring Books, it tips the scales at almost one and three quarter kilos; apparently marvellous for use in weight bearing exercises to help increase bone density and prevent osteoporosis. So maybe visits to antiquarian and second hand bookshops, especially with steep old winding staircases, might be considered healthy options over Waterstones and suchlike.

As well as helping with recycling, there's more variety, and the chance to pick up a classic, which have sadly disappeared from library shelves. On the downside, buying second hand books doesn't help authors - except perhaps to whet customers appetites for when the said author writes a new book.

Euphemisms. 'What the dickens!' 'What the heck!' Expressions. '

'What the dickens!' had me puzzled. It's an expression I've spotted twice in novels written during the Victorian period, most recently cropping up in 'Jane Eyre'. Surely I reasoned, it can't have been in use during Charles Dickens lifetime, who was very firmly a Victorian. But no, apparently it was a euphemism for the devil; the expression first found in print in Shakespeare's 'Merry Wives of Windsor'.

'What the heck', is a later expression in the same vein; 'heck', being a euphemism for hell. According to the Oxford English Dictionary both expressions occur only 0.01 times per million words.

With euphemisms less in vogue today, both sound and read rather quaintly; although charming compared with many modern alternatives.

'The Fall' new adaptation and abridgment of 'Paradise Lost'. John Milton. New Script for stage..

New script 'The Fall' now available to read, download, and licence for stage production. A handy one hour sized, adaptation and abridgment of John Milton's great 17th century epic poem 'Paradise Lost'.

Synopsis: Based on the biblical story of Genesis in which God makes the world, and in it places his first human, Adam, an earlier revolt in heaven led by fallen angel Lucifer has eternal reverberations on God's newly made world.

See link https://scriptsforstage.co.uk/wp/scri...

'Murder Anybody?' Murder Mystery Evening. Harefield Amateur Dramatic Society.

Good Luck to Harefield Amateur Dramatic Society for their performance of ‘Murder Anybody?’ at St Mary’s Church Hall on Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th May….. ‘A serial businessman and his wife fake his death for the life insurance money and to escape creditors. Now he is in hiding, waiting to flee the country with his wife. But things are not going to plan, and without any body, everybody has a motive for murder!’ Tickets £12. Bring own nibbles and drinks - but no crunching during performance!

Garage sales. World's largest yard sale.

Why do I go to garage sales? The answer is that I don't intend to. However, it's hard to resist walking past one of the darkly lit, open mouthed monsters, without having a quick check to see whether, inside the dusty cardboard boxes of everything from wall lights to garden implements - there isn't something we need, really really need. Books, my downfall and fifteen minutes later I emerge laden with five books; one hefty paperback 'Untold Stories' by Alan Bennett earmarked to replace the late 'Short Life and Long Times of Mrs Beeton' as my bedtime read. Books are heavy, and I'm on my way to the nearby open market to buy supplies for the week. Potatoes and carrots and beetroot and apples and cabbage and eggs are also heavy, and so with assorted bags bulging with kilos of jumbled books and comestibles, I stiffen the sinews and summon up the blood for the long walk home. I must be carrying the equivalent weight of a chunky toddler. I fear I may be getting a reputation as a bag lady.

For devotees of garage sales, I've pasted the info below, from the web for your delectation.

'Where is the largest garage sale in the United States?
The 127 Yard Sale is an annual event that takes place the first Thursday-Sunday in August each year. It's literally, The World's Longest Yard Sale! The route spans 6 states (Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama) and is 690 miles long.'

'Heirs and DisGraces'. Murder Mystery. Over the Wall Players.

Break a Leg! The Over the Wall Players are performing murder mystery ‘Heirs and disGraces’ at Bardon Mill Village Hall, Hexham, on Sunday 19th May. The audience is encouraged to enter the blitz spirit, and a prize awarded for the best 1940’s period costume. A light supper will be fed to the audience of detectives.

'The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs Beeton' by Kathryn Hughes.

Do you have chunky books on your bookshelves, thick with dust, that because of their size and imagined stodginess, your hovering hand flits over when searching for a new bedtime read? Actually - I typed 'bedtome read' in error, which is an interesting example of a parapraxis (slip of the tongue or pen, revealing unconscious thought!) Well recently, my hovering hand finally plucked out 'The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs Beeton' by Kathryn Hughes, written in 2005. With its 525 pages and 56 pages of notes, I thought I might be in for a dry read, and if it was a dry read, I would show no mercy in evicting it. I rarely agree with reviews, but this time I was with them - the Observer 'This is a wonderful book, so masterful and scholarly and wise there will never need to be another.'

As well as being a well written, fascinating, almost forensically researched biography of the legendary, short lived Victorian food and magazine editor and writer, Isabella Beeton (who died aged only twenty eight) it incorporates that of her very large family tree against the cultural and social backdrop of the era. Featuring significantly is the tandem career of her entrepreneurial publishing husband, Samuel Orchart Beeton, who flares brightly like the end of a phosphorescent match, before petering out, only ten years after his wife.

Reading a final short Q and A chapter on the 'Writing Life' of author Kathryn Hughes I was intrigued to discover that her working day begins at 5am, continuing until 2pm; working in bed, computer balanced on knees, with all her books and papers spread around. What !!! I only have to have one pair of spectacles and a book on my bed, to manage to lose my specs, send the specs case crashing to the floor, get cramp, and lose my place in the book! As for balancing a computer and writing - I'd probably accidentally delete the lot after half an hour, in an effort to ease pins and needles.