I have time now to write a few words on my enjoyable artsy weekend. Definitely not my usual weekend but something I'd like to try more of. Angela was away for the weekend, so I had the freedom to just book and explore.
It started off on the afternoon of Friday April 27th. As part of the Westbourne Book Festival, which was part of the Bournemouth Emerging Arts Festival, I hosted an author for an hour and a half. What that entailed was, well me having to read a book and finishing it on the night before! It put me under pressure, which I liked, because having been to technical seminars and presentations before it can fall flat when a host asks if the audience has any questions and there is silence.
It was a good job that I had a meeting in London the week before and was able to meet with the author, Helen Fry, and have a good discussion about her book The London Cage. It gave me time to prep some questions. The book is about the main interrogation centre used by the British secret services during the World War 2 to gain military intelligence vital for combat, as well as gathering vital evidence for the war crimes tribunals afterwards.
Standing up in a room full of strangers to make the introduction is not my favourite thing, and on something not techie or digital made it even more out of my comfort zone. This year however, I said I would challenge myself to new things.
It went well. Audience didn't have any questions at first after Helen's talk, but after a few of mine people started to join in. The preparation paid off.
I ended up buying a few more books and I wonder if I will be able to read them by next year's book festival. I hope the event returns and I get asked back.
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I also haven't been to the movies for ages and I had a free token from the purchase of a wall planner to make use of. I was hoping to see the film about Churchill (Darkest Hour) but things had moved on from them, so fancied something silly instead. Rampage with The Rock it was. Errrm, nothing more to be said about a film of oversized rampaging animals.
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On Saturday meanwhile, I booked to see a play called "Mountains: The dreams of Lily Kwok" at Poole's Lighthouse. A new tick on both accounts in going to a play as an adult and visiting the Lighthouse. The Lighthouse is a beautiful venue and will go back for sure.
The play is based on a book written by Helen Tse about her grandmother Lily Kwok, called Sweet Mandarin. The play centres on an interplay between Helen and her grandmother, following her life in Hong Kong/China before coming to UK.
As the first generation of Chinese immigrants that came to Britain in the 60's, the play was very, very touching and I could identify with so many elements.
I guess plays are there to really touch the emotions and the performance is a vehicle for that. I did wipe my eyes a couple of time but styled it out.
Although there was not a huge amount of people in the evening performance, probably less in the afternoon one, but I was happy that the pensioners of Poole came to support a niche play. A Thank You from me.
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Sunday came. Timo Peach came. I don't know how to describe Timo as I fear I would do him a disservice. A man of many talents he is.
As part of the Bournemouth Emerging Arts Festival, Timo put on a musical production called, Five Songs to help us Unsee The Future. The event was held at Talbot Heath School.
You can see some of his works here the Momo Tempo Videos page.
We were lead, blindfolded, into the school's main hall in readiness for the production, holding hands with another person to await the start of the performance. Funnily enough, the person next to me asked my name and I said Gordon, to which she replied Gordon Fong, from SoBo. Go SoBo!
