Tiny Birthday No. 19

Shhhh... secret tiny birthday in the woods. (That's a tiny birthday cake and some Birthday Cake tea from Bird and Blend Tea Co. in Blackley Forest!)

(This is how I'm celebrating my birthday this year - see here for the reasons why.)

Stories to be Read with the Lights On 29: Who's Got the Lady? by Jack Ritchie

Next up... 'Who's Got the Lady?' by Jack Ritchie. And I am nearly 100% certain I've never read this story before.

Okay, so this was another one that felt a little bit more familiar as I read it. The ending certainly felt like maybe I did remember it after all. But it's hard to tell if I'm just imagining that (again).

It's a neat little art heist story, with a (predictable? or just familiar from previous reading?) twist. Not sure there's a lot more to say about this one!

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Stories to be Read with the Lights On 28: Only So Much to Reveal by Joan Richter

Let's see if 'Only So Much to Reveal' by Joan Richter is any more memorable than the last story!

Nope... no memories of this one either! I don't think it's any reflection on the story though, as this one has a good setup and a decent pay-off at the end.

This one feels very Tales of the Unexpected-y (like so many of the others in the book), with the bad guy having the loot he was willing to kill for literally trickle away before his eyes.

But, clearly, it didn't make much of an impression on Teenage Me! It's really very weird finding out what caught my imagination back then and what didn't.

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Tiny Birthday No. 18

I'd been saving Demon by Matt Wesolowski to read as a birthday treat, but, as I had a week off, I decided to reread the rest of the Six Stories series first, accompanied by Bertie's Revenge tea from The Tea Crew in my new upside-down cat cup (a present from Rob).

(This is how I'm celebrating my birthday this year - see here for the reasons why.)

Tiny Birthday No. 17

On Sunday (the day after my birthday) I got this gorgeous cake from my lovely husband Rob!

(This is how I'm celebrating my birthday this year - see here for the reasons why.)

Stories to be Read with the Lights On 27: It's a Lousy World by Bill Pronzini

I'm just pressing on with this now, as I've just realised that it's been nearly a year since I started my reread of this book! The next story is 'It's a Lousy World' by Bill Pronzini.

This one wasn't familiar at all. Hardly surprising, as it's a bit of an anonymous one. Sort of hardboiled, but without any real pay-off. Not one that sticks in your head, I'm afraid.

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Tiny Birthday No. 16

At my birthday dinner at my mum and dad's, they got me a little tiny present... very intriguing... And oh my god! It's an actual tiny birthday in a box! Look how cute it is!

(This is how I'm celebrating my birthday this year - see here for the reasons why.)

Tiny Birthday No. 15

We had dinner at my mum and dad's on my birthday itself. With birthday profiteroles!

(This is how I'm celebrating my birthday this year - see here for the reasons why.)

Stories to be Read with the Lights On 26: The One Who Got Away by Al Nussbaum

The next story in the book is 'The One Who Got Away' by Al Nussbaum. And I know this story! But I feel like I know it from somewhere else, maybe? I don't remember reading it as a teenager. I know what the punchline is though!

Maybe I'm remembering this one from when I first read the Hitchcock book, but if so I'm remembering it very clearly! It feels almost like one of those lateral thinking puzzles... a guy drives over the US/Mexico border each night, but never drives back again. What is he smuggling?

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Tiny Birthday No. 14

Another tiny birthday treat while we were at Haughton Dale... Birthday Cake tea from Bird and Blend Tea Co.!

(This is how I'm celebrating my birthday this year - see here for the reasons why.)

Tiny Birthday No. 13

On my birthday itself, it was very hot. So we went for a birthday picnic, somewhere we could sit by a river in the shade of a big horse chestnut tree. Rob chose Haughton Dale for the occasions - and my stars, that place is pretty.

(This is how I'm celebrating my birthday this year - see here for the reasons why.)

Stories to be Read with the Lights On 25: Ludmila by David Montross

The next story is 'Ludmila' by David Montross. And once again, the title itself is stirring up memories of reading it!

This was a bit weird, as the more I read this one, the less familiar it seemed. I started to think I might have jumbled it up with another story. It was a rollercoaster! First I thought I remembered it, then it seemed unfamiliar, then it came back to me again on the penultimate page.

I liked this one, mostly because it has an unreliable third-person narrator. We're being lied to, but with just enough of a hint to let us work out the real story. There's a verb switch at the end, as though the narrator has made a mistake, that's very clever.

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Tiny Birthday No. 12

I woke up to a lovely birthday breakfast on Saturday from my lovely husband Rob!

(This is how I'm celebrating my birthday this year - see here for the reasons why.)

Tiny Birthday No. 11

Pre-mixed cocktail in a can, but birthday-ed up a bit... on Friday I enjoyed a tiny birthday version of Cherry Long Island Iced Tea, and a tiny birthday style Piña Colada!

(This is how I'm celebrating my birthday this year - see here for the reasons why.)

Stories to be Read with the Lights On 24: The Strange Case of Mr Pruyn by William F. Nolan

Moving on... the next story is 'The Strange Case of Mr Pruyn' by William F. Nolan. Let's see if I remember this one...

This one isn't coming back to me. Isn't it weird which ones have stuck in the back of my mind, and which ones haven't?

What an odd little story! I don't remember it at all, but it's a strange one about a man who confesses to a murder. Kinda creepy, but in an off-beat way.

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Stories to be Read with the Lights On 23: Crawfish by Ardath F. Mayhar

The next story is 'Crawfish' by Ardath F. Mayhar. The title alone feels familiar... but maybe I'm mixing it up with another story? Let's find out...

Yep... one sentence in and I know I've read this one before!

It's a pretty memorable story, given how downright nasty it is, so it's no surprise this one stuck in my head! It's a bold choice to have such an irredeemably unpleasant first-person narrator as well (I don't believe there's any attempt to evoke sympathy in the reader for him).

I also like the way that the story feels like there might be something supernatural going to happen, but then it resolutely resists this. It's the story of an unpleasant man, and although there's some small justice at the end, there are no ghosts.

In some ways, I feel like that's a more appropriate ending to this brutal little tale. He killed his wife, and she remains dead. She doesn't get to be an all-powerful ghost, because she was a victim of domestic violence that destroyed her. As I say, brutal.

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Tiny Birthday No. 10

I enjoyed the first day of a week off from work by reading Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz, accompanied by Violet Cream tea from Bird and Blend Tea and some violet creams. A little tiny birthday all of my own.

(This is how I'm celebrating my birthday this year - see here for the reasons why.)

Stories to be Read with the Lights On 22: The Man in the Well by Berkely Mather

Quite a few months have passed since I last read a story from my Hitchcock anthology, but I'm returning to it this week to see if I can finish it. Turns out I'm not great at doing a story-a-day, so let's see if I can binge it instead! So I'm getting back into it with 'The Man in the Well' by Berkley Mather.

And this one doesn't seem familiar at all...

It feels like there's something niggling at the back of my mind, telling me that I have read this one before, that I do know what happens at the end. But maybe I'm imagining it. This one definitely felt more familiar as it went on. But it's such a classic comeuppance-for-an-old-sin story, maybe I guessed the ending rather than remembered it?

I've also read quite a lot of stories where someone betrays their partner in the desert/wilderness for some jewels, so I know that never ends well! But I dunno... I think maybe I do remember reading this one before.

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Tiny Birthday No. 9

I went for lunch at Manchester Fort with my colleague Basil today, and he got me a slice of birthday cake (AND sang Happy Birthday)! And as if that wasn't enough cake, he also gave me an exceedingly good birthday present!

(This is how I'm celebrating my birthday this year - see here for the reasons why.)

Tiny Birthday No. 8

Another birthday cake! But things aren't what they seem...

It's a birthday cake bath bomb (specifically a Vintage & Co Fabric & Flowers Bath Bomb Cake from Heathcote & Ivory)! And another tiny birthday for me!

(This is how I'm celebrating my birthday this year - see here for the reasons why.)

Tiny Birthday No. 7

I was round at my mum and dad's for tea on Monday, and I had a tiny birthday cake!

(This is how I'm celebrating my birthday this year - see here for the reasons why.)

Tiny Birthday No. 6

My second (third?) cousins were over visiting my mum and dad on Saturday. I popped in for a cup of tea with them, and we had cake! Another tiny birthday for me!

(This is how I'm celebrating my birthday this year - see here for the reasons why.)

Tiny Birthday No. 5

A little tiny birthday on Saturday, courtesy of the Dam Head and Crosslee TRA when I was at their Summer Fun Day.

(This is how I'm celebrating my birthday this year - see here for the reasons why.)

My Year in Books 2022: July

Well, there's two books on this month's list, so I guess that's better than the last couple of months!

Here are my posts from previous months: January, February, March, April, May, June

And here are the books (twice as many as last time!) I read in July...

The Quick by Lauren Owen (2014)

I picked this one up at my local library. It looked very Gothic (and, indeed, it turned out to be very Gothic), but outside of that I didn’t know much about what to expect. The Quick begins in the late nineteenth century on a country estate in Yorkshire, which is home to siblings James and Charlotte Norbury. We follow them through their childhood and into young adulthood, before James heads off to Oxford as a young man. For those who are less blurb-averse, and therefore happy to have the minimal information before picking up a book, it’s not a spoiler to say… The Quick is a vampire novel! In some ways, the vampires in Owen’s novel are pretty standard – holy water and sunlight repels them; mind control and supernatural healing are amongst their powers. However, she introduces some original elements that I quite enjoyed. There are two groups of vampires – an upper-class bunch attached to a gentlemen’s club, and a lower-class group who hang around the seedier parts of the East End. ‘The Quick’ of the title are the humans, the living, and some of these humans are aware of vampires and the threat they pose. When James is attacked by a vampire from the club, he and Charlotte are drawn into the battle between the factions. There’s a lot to like about The Quick, but is a little bit long and the first third is quite slow-paced. It’s worth sticking with, though, as it really gets going after that.

Mother by S.E. Lynes (2017)

I don’t know why, as I have a million and one books on my to-read pile and I promised I wasn’t going to do this again, but I read another free eBook. And it was a domestic noir (something else I promised I wasn’t going to do again). This one is a quick and easy read, and it’s certainly enjoyable enough. Mother is the story of Christopher Harris, a young man who discovers by chance that he’s adopted. He seeks out his birth mother and discovers she has been looking for him as well, and the two of them begin to build a relationship. Of course, given the genre, it’s clear there’s more going on here than meets the eye, and interspersed chapters from other perspectives (which seem to be unrelated) hint at another story to be told. As I say, it’s an easy read, and there’s a lot to enjoy. However, it is a bit predictable. It’s not hard to guess who the unnamed narrator is or how the other (named) narrator – whose story seems so distant at first – intersects with Christopher’s story, and the surprise revelations at the book’s conclusion aren’t that much of a surprise really. I liked the character of Christopher, who was just creepily ‘off’ from the start. I wasn’t as keen on the character of the mother as the motivations for some of her actions aren’t always clear, and ‘I want to get to know my son’ doesn’t quite account for everything she does.

Tiny Birthday No. 4

I got to share a tiny birthday with some of my favourite people on Friday. Me and the residents of Castlerea care home had some cake, poetry and a lovely chat about birthdays this afternoon (and then we had a dance to Stevie Wonder).

(This is how I'm celebrating my birthday this year - see here for the reasons why.)

Tiny Birthday No. 3

A joint tiny birthday for me and my friend Colin on Thursday! We had Nell's Pizza at Common, and cupcakes from Liv's Cupcakes in Prestwich. It was a lovely evening!

(This is how I'm celebrating my birthday this year - see here for the reasons why.)

Tiny Birthday No. 2

Another tiny birthday for me! I went for cocktails in Flok in Manchester with my friend Irene on Tuesday.

(This is how I'm celebrating my birthday this year - see here for the reasons why.)

Review: Tree Confessions and A Little Drape of Heaven (This Is Not A Theatre Company, C Arts, GM Fringe)

July 2022
Digital Event

The Greater Manchester Fringe ran throughout July, with performances at various venues around Greater Manchester and online. I’ve been reviewing a selection of the productions on offer for this blog, and also for The Festival Show on North Manchester FM.

The next shows I experienced this year were digital productions, and they were part of the C ARTS strand on this year’s Fringe programme. C ARTS is a curated independent arts programme that delivers work for the Edinburgh Fringe, which is then made available online via streaming throughout the year. Although produced for the Edinburgh Fringe, C ARTS productions are now included on the programmes of other fringe festivals, including the Greater Manchester Fringe.

The productions I’m going to be reviewing were available to stream with a ticket purchase from the Greater Manchester Fringe website throughout the month of July. I’m reviewing Tree Confessions and A Little Drape of Heaven, immersive audio dramas by This Is Not A Theatre Company. The radio version of this review will be broadcast on The Festival Show on Friday 5th August, but here’s the blog version…

This Is Not A Theatre Company had three productions on this year’s Fringe programme. Because of space constraints, I’m only going to be talking about two of them today. But I’m pretty sure that my review of those two pieces will encourage you to not only check out Tree Confessions and A Little Drape of Heaven, but also any other work by this innovative company that you might get chance to experience.

So, I’ll start with Tree Confessions. Like the other pieces by This Is Not A Theatre Company, Tree Confessions is a site-specific performance. I’ve seen site-specific theatre at the Greater Manchester Fringe before – it’s always a nice addition to the festival programme, offering a new perspective on familiar places. However, Tree Confessions is a little different to the other site-specific pieces I’ve seen.

For one, it’s an audio drama. And for two, it’s you (the listener) who will choose the site in which the piece is performed. At the start of Tree Confessions, you’re given a simple instruction: find a tree that you like and sit underneath it. You’re going to listen to this audio drama underneath the tree and – at some points, perhaps – interact with your chosen tree. Fortunately, as we know, the weather’s been pretty good this July, giving us all plenty of opportunities to enjoy Tree Confessions as its meant to be enjoyed. (And, in case you’re interested, I chose my favourite old ash tree in Crumpsall Park as my venue for the performance.)

Written by Jenny Lyn Bader and directed by Erin B. Mee, Tree Confessions is a monologue told, as you might have guessed, by a tree.

Kathleen Chalfont is the performer here, and I must say she plays a tree beautifully! But I should also say it’s not quite the performance I expected.

Chalfont’s tree narrator is warm and sonorous (and this effect is heightened by the site-specific, immersive nature of the piece), inviting us to lose ourselves in the story that unfolds. The tree explains early on that a researcher called Cindy has been a frequent visitor to the woods, monitoring and recording the trees in an attempt to prove that they communicate with one another. Cindy has indeed recorded evidence that reveals that trees can speak to one another, but, as our narrator explains, she may not have been given the full story.

What follows is a beautifully meandering exploration of what it means to be a tree. At times humorous, the narration sometimes conjures up a very domestic picture of tree-life. She jokes about her great aunt, for instance, who ‘claimed to be 2,003’. But at other times, there is something more mythic in the storytelling. She recounts the legend of the ‘Great Tree’, a fable to explain why trees release oxygen during photosynthesis.

Elsewhere, the tree explains some scientific – and some not-so-scientific – principles that explain the life of trees and the ecosystem around them, drawing us (the listener) in and encouraging us to – physically, if we are indeed listening under a tree – feel that life and be part of the ecosystem. After all, as we’re reminded, ‘we’re on the same side’.

Tree Confessions is a short audio drama that feels so much longer than its half-hour running time. It certainly achieves its aims of being immersive, as the combination of the storytelling style and Chalfont’s performance makes this a very easy piece to get lost in. I think it’s a mark of how successful this piece is that I genuinely felt sad when it finished.

This is a double-bill review, as I’m going to talk about one of This Is Not A Theatre Company’s other productions now. In some ways, the two pieces I’m talking about in this review are very similar. But, in other ways, they are so very different.

A Little Drape of Heaven is written by Mahesh Dattani and performed by Swati Das. Like Tree Confessions it is an immersive audio monologue that encourages us to look and think differently about an everyday object.

In A Little Drape of Heaven, however, rather than finding our own venue to enjoy the performance, we’re asked to find an appropriate prop. At the beginning, we (the listener) are asked to go to a cupboard – not, I hasten to add, to sit inside to listen to the play! – and find an item of clothing to hold onto as we listen. We are particularly encouraged to find a piece of clothing that belongs to a gender other than our own, and then follow the exhortation to ‘Hold it close to your heart’.

Our narrator here is a sari, a glorious piece of fabric made as a wedding garment but passed through generations to be worn by others. At some point in its history, the sari was discovered by a young boy, whose fascination with the garment is almost a forbidden passion. It is not a piece of clothing intended for a young boy, and yet it draws him with its tactile finery.

Das’s performance is, itself, ‘a little drape of heaven’, lingering on descriptions of being worn with silken tones that speak of a sensuous – almost sexual at times – experience. Dattani’s writing is lyrical and evocative, meaning that, no matter what item of clothing we took from our cupboard to hold, we can picture the beauty and splendour of the sari as she speaks.

As I’ve said, this is quite a different piece to Tree Confessions, and this becomes apparent in the second half. There is a very definitive narrative being told here, though it is easy to lose sight of this as you lose yourself in the more luxurious poetry of the descriptions of the sari being handled and worn. I don’t want to give anything away, but the story that is being told in A Little Drape of Heaven is probably not the one you think is being told. What I will say is that the monologue’s conclusion is a remarkably satisfying ending, and, by revealing the ‘other’ story that lay behind the one we thought we were listening to, A Little Drape of Heaven encourages listeners to imagine that other narrative long after the piece has finished.

A Little Drape of Heaven is a captivating piece, with a compelling performance and an innovative storytelling style. As with Tree Confessions, this is really a piece to lose yourself in, and I thoroughly recommend you check it out at a future festival if you get the chance.

Tree Confessions and A Little Drape of Heaven were available to stream throughout the month of July, as part of the C ARTS strand on this year’s Greater Manchester Fringe programme. For the full programme of Greater Manchester Fringe shows that were on this year, please visit the festival website.