tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18009508.post115600585692206735..comments2023-11-05T10:06:05.380+00:00Comments on Clairwil: Sleeping In and DaydreamingClairwilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10503239355248016287noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18009508.post-1156548077788471052006-08-26T00:21:00.000+01:002006-08-26T00:21:00.000+01:00I quite like a read at a plat script but for the m...I quite like a read at a plat script but for the most part you can't beat the full performance well acted. I certainly will keep my eyes peeled for a performance of Rat in the Skull within travelling distance. Northern Ireland is just begging to be done well, particularly from a neutral point of view.Clairwilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10503239355248016287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18009508.post-1156151420798998652006-08-21T10:10:00.000+01:002006-08-21T10:10:00.000+01:00Clairwil, further to "Rat in the Skull", some year...Clairwil, further to "Rat in the Skull", some years back I came home mid-afternoon and whilst making myself a cup of tea I switched on Radio 4 and caught the afternoon play. It was obviously Irish and I would have switched it off instantly but I was juggling with boiling kettles and cups so I left it. As I finished the tea-making I was gradually drawn into the dialogue which was so powerful and poetic that the tea was left to go cold - and then the bloody telephone went off and so I never heard above 2 or 3 minutes of it.<BR/><BR/>About two years later a then unknown play, "Rat in the Skull", was put forward at my theatre group. It was about the 'Troubles' and I just wondered if it was the same one. I bought the script and in just reading the opening lines delivered by Roche, an IRA bomber banged up in London, I instantly knew it was the one:<BR/><BR/>"The holiday snaps. <BR/>Dear Mum, this is me in the Big Smoke. I've seen all the sights, the Tower, the zoo, MacDonalds, the big red buses and the bottom sides of coppers' boots from the wrong way up. They showed me the doings. I was sat on my hunkers, somewhere north of the Northern Line, minding my own business, wondering whether to pick my nose or go for a slash, and a sledgehammer comes through the door, without so much as a by your leave. Followed in short order by half a dozen of the larger size of cop, waving guns and shouting hello. One of them shakes me by the balls and throws me across the room before I've a chance to say I didn't catch the name ..."<BR/><BR/>And so on. Irresistible, especially for actors! The play takes no sides, merely demonstrating the entrenched prejudices of both Irish sides and the incomprehension of the English. Not everyone finds it easy to read play scripts but if you can, buy it and enjoy; if not, don't ever miss a chance to see it if it should play anywhere near you.<BR/><BR/>Or any other play by Ron Hutchinson!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18009508.post-1156113108927694272006-08-20T23:31:00.000+01:002006-08-20T23:31:00.000+01:00Neither am I Ill man. I think I'll just take my ca...Neither am I Ill man. I think I'll just take my camera down to Jessops and hope for the best.Clairwilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10503239355248016287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18009508.post-1156110966295224762006-08-20T22:56:00.000+01:002006-08-20T22:56:00.000+01:00Clairwil, regarding the USB lead, I'm not 100% sur...Clairwil, regarding the USB lead, I'm not 100% sure what the score is. Not sure if each model has it's own individual lead or if a generic one can be bought to fit any digital camera. I'd try Dixons/Comet/Maplin, or maybe Jessops.iLL Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08107892879700381858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18009508.post-1156109726907707512006-08-20T22:35:00.000+01:002006-08-20T22:35:00.000+01:00David,I'm not familiar with that play but a quick ...David,<BR/>I'm not familiar with that play but a quick google search leads me to understand it's powerful, intense stuff. I shall seek that play out. <BR/><BR/>On a slightly different note I'm actually quite fond of the Orangemen and women. It's just certain bands and the swaggering thugs that follow them that depress me.Clairwilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10503239355248016287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18009508.post-1156107211780206862006-08-20T21:53:00.000+01:002006-08-20T21:53:00.000+01:00Your complaints concerning the Orangemen reminded ...Your complaints concerning the Orangemen reminded me of a part I once played in a truly brilliant play by Ron Hutchinson, "Rat in the Skull". Here is the disillusioned Insp. Nelson R.U.C. describing an Orange march (best delivered with a strong Ian Paiseley accent!): <BR/><BR/>"All those skulls in bowlers, marching. With mad eyes and pinched-together bums. To the music that says we're pissing in the gale of history, and while you're at it, here's a fart for common-sense, here's a fart for the inevitable. We're living proof, in this corner of the North, that reason's nothing much to do with life. And we're swinging down the road defying you to prove us wrong. Here we are and here we stay. Despite. Even so. For all that. Big drum beating, colours flying, roaring out defiance".<BR/><BR/>With the exception of Falstaff in Henry IV Part II, my favourite role. Hutchinson is, I believe, one of the most under-rated playwrights around today.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18009508.post-1156068710467025632006-08-20T11:11:00.000+01:002006-08-20T11:11:00.000+01:00Hurrah! I'm wildly excited. I think I might try an...Hurrah! I'm wildly excited. I think I might try and get on the telly next.Clairwilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10503239355248016287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18009508.post-1156025505532721762006-08-19T23:11:00.000+01:002006-08-19T23:11:00.000+01:00Nice one. Mr Flesh-Hammer will be tickled pink.Nice one. Mr Flesh-Hammer will be tickled pink.iLL Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08107892879700381858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18009508.post-1156016819453089302006-08-19T20:46:00.000+01:002006-08-19T20:46:00.000+01:00*applauds*Well done for getting in the Times. Fame...*applauds*<BR/><BR/>Well done for getting in the Times. Fame for the postcard manifestos cannot be far away. :)Billyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17841187654606981532noreply@blogger.com