This famous Victorian landscape, February Fill Dyke was pretty much dismissed as average when first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1881 but became increasingly more popular with a decent showing at the Royal Jubilee Exhibition.
The evocative scene is actually a November evening after rain, the title being taken from an old country rhyme: February fill the dyke, Be it black or be it white; but if it be white, It’s the better to like.
The painting was by Worcester’s most famous artist, Benjamin Williams Leader, and usually resides on the wall of the great entrance hall of Birmingham’s Museum and Art Gallery. However, it was taking a little holiday in its home town of Worcester and thus merited a visit to the Worcester Art Gallery to satisfy the cultural leanings of our little group.
A day out in Worcester is highly recommended with or without the art gallery. The cathedral is a must – overlooking the River Severn, and richly endowed with highly detailed stained glass, a massive organ, medieval cloisters, a crypt (St Wulfstan’s), buttresses and transepts, with the bonus addition of a couple of royal tombs – notably King John, and Prince Arthur (who has his own chantry, whatever that is). Prince Arthur was Henry VIII’s older brother but pre-deceased him, and unwittingly bequeathed his widow, Katherine of Aragon, into Henry’s eager arms.
…and, of course, there were plenty of pubs.
It is not often, when you are watching a Short-eared Owl billowing around the fields, that you must drag your binoculars away to concentrate on the sudden appearance of a male Hen Harrier.
But that seems to be quite normal as things go at Steart Marshes in Somerset. It was a new reserve for us, one with a decidedly saltmarsh and freshwater wetland theme, and one to which we will be returning forthwith – if not even fifthwith.
Up to then, a female Sparrowhawk causing havoc amid the starling flocks was the high point of a blue-sky, almost-Spring day amid the shifting channels and creeks of the Steart peninsula. The thwarted Sparrowhawk circled up into the sky and had a hissy spat with a Buzzard.
Elsewhere, Stonechats assumed upright positions on the uppermost tops of bushes, Kestrels were everywhere, a Raven kronked overhead.
An early Chiffchaff that had probably overwintered flicked across a bush already laden with Linnets and Chaffinch. Skylarks and Meadow Pipits were everywhere and it was so good to hear the Skylark’s voice being spilled so early in the year.
As to be expected, there was plenty of gulls and wildfowl – swans, geese, and ducks, of which Widgeon were shining particularly brightly. Waders were stippling the mudflats with the slaps and slurps of tiny feet – Lapwings, Golden Plovers, Avocet, Curlew, Oystercatchers, plus the odd Cormorant or two.
In February, it’s Birthday Month (need to work on something snappier) with friends and family celebrating several birthdays, which meant several sessions needed celebrating.
The Melvin Hancox Band provided the backdrop for two birthdays in different venues – the Three Tuns in Sutton Coldfield, and the Brasshouse in Brum. A wildly entertaining band that completely did justice to covers of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Lynard Skynyrd, and Deep Purple.
A Taste of Honey was the sweet offering at the Crescent Theatre this month, a superb production starring Katie and Colleen who both gave blistering performances that could hardly be bettered.
This is the abridged review by Euan Rose for the Bromsgrove Chronicle which sums it up as well as anyone:
The Late 1950s saw the death of the teddy boys and the birth of angry young men in a spate of what was known as ‘kitchen sink dramas’.
Whilst ‘A Taste of Honey’ certainly fitted into that genre it also offered much more of a bite and has endured far longer than its companions.
Shelagh Delaney was just 19 when she wrote her classic play back in 1958.
Collin Judge’s production is faithful and true to the original and is all the better for it.
As the curtain rises, mother and daughter – Helen and Jo – enter together into a dingy, sparsely furnished bedsit with its view of the gasworks and a festering canal.
Katie Merriman plays Helen with all the subtlety of an aging party girl – the type you can see waddling into a city bar in a skirt three sizes too small, trying to catch the eye of the next half-cut victim to buy the drinks.
Katie Merriman delivers a powerful performance, which totters between Coronation Street caricature and Shakespearean heavyweight – from good time funny woman to nasty acid-tongued bitch.
Colette Nooney quite rightly plays Jo with more restraint – her in-out journey of ‘woe is me’ neediness twixt pioneer girl sass, is subtle and endearing.
Photos from the Crescent Theatre
Meanwhile, at the Birmingham Rep, there was an ABBA thing going on.
This review is lazily purloined from Whatsonstage.com, and the photos from Darren Bell of the Rep’s production team.
A whimsical tale of friendship, music, and especially ABBA music, it’s hard not to feel a certain warmth towards The Way Old Friends Do.
Penned by Birmingham actor and writer Ian Hallard and directed by Hallard’s husband Mark Gatiss, The Way Old Friends Do has a gentle humour, a touch of nostalgia and a witty script.
Schoolfriends Peter (played by Hallard) and Eddie (played by James Bradshaw), first performed ABBA songs together as teenagers at a concert in which their fellow pupils derided their musical taste. Reunited 30 years later, the guys decide to try again – by forming the first-ever ABBA tribute band in drag.
They enlist two women, Jodie (Rose Shalloo) and Mrs Campbell (Tariyé Peterside) to take on the parts of Björn and Benny and off they go.
The show follows the ups and downs of the band and its impact on the friendship between Peter and Edward.
ABBA fans will be spotting the song lyrics dripped into the dialogue, lapping up the miscellany about the Swedish supergroup and enjoying the tracks used to move forward the scene changes.
Completing the cast are Donna Berlin as Sally, Peter’s lesbian friend who becomes the tour manager and even doubles up as Benny. Andrew Horton takes the role of Christian, the ABBA fan who inveigles his way into the tribute band, causing problems all round.
The show also features the voices of Miriam Margolyes as Peter’s grandmother, who we only hear through telephone calls, and Paul O’Grady as both DJ and commentator.
A super-trouper of a show, The Way Old Friends Do reminds us all of the part music can play in our lives and our friendships.
FABBA!
jacey666 