NWN-18062020

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NEWBURY NEWS ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT n 2

Thursday, June 18, 2020 35

Newbury Weekly News

arts &enter tainment

– 37 Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods film review – 39

Decolonising museum collections – time for cultural rethink

Zoom future for theatre – 36

Arts news & reviews – 35-39

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Marlborough LitFest

IT became increasingly inevitable, but booklovers were hoping otherwise, that Marlborough LitFest would be cancelled this year. In a statement earlier this week, the LitFest committee said: “It is with great sadness that we have decided to cancel the main programme for this year’s LitFest. So much of the festival is about lively debate, authors mingling with the audience and the buzz of the Town Hall, all of which are hard to replicate while following the essential guidelines to keep everyone safe from Covid-19. “We’ve been excited to see the range of virtual events on offer from other larger festivals and would love to have created something similar. But, as a small volunteer team, we would rather focus our energy on providing a few activities over the coming months to keep our audience sharing views about books and reading. “For now we are thrilled to see The White Horse Bookshop open again in Marlborough High Street. We will keep talking to them and other local organisation about ways in which the Marlborough LitFest can contribute to supporting the arts at this challenging time. And of course we look forward to seeing everyone for the return of the festival from September 30 to October 3, 2021.”

LEM FORSTER’S 1909 short sci-fi story The Machine Stops , inspired by his reading of HG Wells’ 1895 novella The Time Machine , has been adapted by Big Telly’s director Zoe Seaton for Zoom performances at the same time as Creation Theatre, the Oxford company for whom she directed The Tempest , and cross-marketed Operation Elsewhere , is performing The Time Machine (see review page 34). Everything is connected. Both stories foresee populations living underground. In the Forster, people’s socially isolated lives are enforced by The Machine, with worms acting as a deterrent to finding ways above ground. Forster’s population live in thrall to this man-made Machine, a device now reified because the inhabitants have forgotten that their forebears created it. People who disobey the rules face ‘homelessness’ while others can escape the drudgery of life via voluntary euthanasia. The central characters are Vashti (Anna Healy), an academic trying to write about Australian music and her son Kuno (Gary Crossan), who lives on the far side of the world. The couple communicate through a version of Skype where they talk through the Machine, the devices we see inspired by steampunk. Kuno is a free spirit, visiting the surface and suspecting that the Machine is no longer working well. By bending, and breaking, the societal rules at a time when the Machine malfunctions, he’s a harbinger of disaster. It’s hard not to think of people during the pandemic who risk the community’s health by following their own paths and not the advice of the government. What passes for government is a foolish and fusty Central Committee that is out of touch with the needs of the people. With Edwardian outfits and comic moustaches, they enforce entry above the ground with egression passes checked by a cute Operator on her first day at work (we have to show pieces of paper, and books, to the controller, who has access to all our screens). Eventually, these passes are removed, and entry to the surface of the world is denied. This dystopian world is wryly constructed by Big Telly, but the intention is to entertain and not scare. One character, Barbra the Beard, plays two nose flutes, and another croons Shine on Harvest Moon . A young man, Brendy, amuses us with card tricks. One scene is delivered in black and white like a silent movie, the actors wearing a collection of amusing gas masks. We are encouraged to throw balls of paper at the screen in an act of communal rebellion, and vote, via touchscreens, for a new leader. It is these moments that create the magic moments of shared experience. The finale sees actors run into their gardens, pointing their laptops up at the sky, bringing a message of hope rather than despair, as in Forster’s original story. With audiences in the US as well as UK for this production, Big Telly has a potentially global hit on its hands. JON LEWIS Theatre The Machine Stops, in front rooms everywhere , on Saturday, June 6, and Sunday, June 7

Monty and Piet in the workroom

Hang a little happiness West Woodhay ceramics cottage industyr inspired by Dutch heritage

ceramic hanging decorations includes much-loved native flowers, an array of animals, a seaside collection, Christmas decorations and an increasing number of bespoke items for cathedrals, museums and visitor attractions. These include a number of National Trust Properties and, more locally, Shaw House, Highclere Castle and West Berkshire Museum. Their work is now stocked in gift shops as far north as the Isle of Shetland, as south as the Falkland Islands and most recently they have sent a new batch of bespoke decorations to North Carolina in the US. Piet has such a passion for her art, which she continues to share with others by running workshops at the West Berkshire Museum, although the pandemic has put a temporary TAKE a look at the Newburytoday online galley,rwhich is growing all the time –we are gradually adding artists ’ work and featuring selected artists in N2 . If you are an artist or maker living in the West Berkshire, North Hampshire and EasitltWshire areas, whose livelihood is wholly or largely dependent on your creative work, and wish to join the gayl,leprlease send us your profile, tell us a little about your work, philosophy and techniques, together with eight examples of your work and we will print as many as we can over the coming weeks in the Newbury Weekly News , as well as adding you to the gayller . Email trish.lee@newybnuerws.co.uk

stop to these. Being proudly Dutch, many of the blue and white painted decorations are influenced by the Delft pottery from her homeland, but there are also many vibrant and colourful pieces available too on their website. To purchase a special Angel or any of Roelofs & Rubens designs please visit their online shop at www.roelofsrubens.co.uk/shop Corona Angels cost £12 with free UK p&p and £5 from each sale goes to NHS Charities Together.

THE cottage industry of West Woodhay designers/makers of ceramic hanging decorations, Piet van den Beuken and her husband Monty Abram came to a “shrieking halt” due to the corona pandemic. So they came up with a novel and charming way for people to say ‘thank you’ to frontline workers and friendly neighbours during the current pandemic – at the same time helping to raise money for charity. Beautiful hand-painted ‘Corona Angels’ – some wearing protective masks, others with rainbow dresses and each with ‘thank you’ on the reverse – are being lovingly made at the cottage studio of Roelofs & Rubens, run by designer Piet and Monty. “We thought it would be a lovely way for people to say thank you to our wonderful NHS staff, key workers and others lending us a helping hand whilst helping to raise funds for the NHS Charities Together. We have been amazed by the response to the campaign which we have been running through our website and social media pages over the past few weeks,” says Piet, who has designed, hand-painted and beaded every Corona Angel so far. “With each sale, £5 is donated to the charity. We are still taking orders for the angels and really hope to make more money for them as a result.” Roelofs & Rubens started back in 2006 and now the couple run their blossoming ceramics business with a small team of just five local women, helping them to roll and cut the clay, paint designs by hand, fire and then bead each decoration before packaging them up for the customer. Currently their extensive line of

MarlboroughowT n Hall, home to the literaturefestival

Picture: Ben Phillips

Contact us

p EDITORIAL: Arts Editor Trish Lee . If you have Arts news, diary dates and pictures, send her an email at: trish.lee@newburynews.co.uk p ADVERTISING : For advertising inquiries and bookings in this section, telephone the leisure team on (01635) 550444 On the web p For daily local Arts & Entertainment news online, log on to www.newburytoday.co.uk and click the link to Arts