by Dee | Mar 4, 2019 | Celebrity, Featured
A late dark day in December, an email pops up in an old email inbox from an unknown address inviting me to a lunch in Margate! Margate? Where is that exactly, somewhere on the South Coast I believe, think I may have visited with grandparents as a child, but not really sure.
On further investigation I discover it is from someone called Richard Selwyn-Barnett. The name rings a vague bell, but I warily reply asking who he is and how he even got my email address, as it is an email I hardly ever use these days. He replies he has had it since the late nineties when he was based at Pinewood Studios, as was I, when he was doing a project with Norman Wisdom.
The response comes that he is an ‘Introducer’, a natural matchmaker, although not in the romantic sense, who puts groups of people together who may have a mutual synergy and share common ground. I am curious and dig a little deeper, he sends me his mobile number and I call it.
Quentin Tarantino & Richard
I have a surprisingly interesting conversation with this man, and he confirms that he is hosting a lunch in Margate, his home town the following month and that it will be attended by film producers, media artists and other industry heavyweights who are going to be there. He names them, and I am impressed, oh what the hell I think, nothing ventured, and even if this guy isn’t for real, the very least I will have achieved is that I have checked out Margate, which is being heralded as ‘the new Shoreditch’. because of the new creative premises popping up, so I will have achieved something on the day.
The drive to Margate was a good one, albeit a little longer than I thought, but I arrived there early to check it out, it was still Winter so the sea gulls were in full voice, but the beaches were deserted. I opted to warm myself up with a cup of hot chocolate in one of the small cafes still open for the locals off season, and eaves dropped on some pensioners taking their morning cuppa, and quickly decided that Margate wasn’t for me as it hadn’t quite ‘arrived’ as a creative hub. Maybe in ten years time!
Richard had organised the lunch at the most exclusive hotel in Margate ‘The Sands’ which seemed strangely out of kilter with the rest of the sleepy English seaside town, with its trendy designer interior and upbeat vibe. I got into conversation with a young bartender who looked equally out of place, as I ordered a drink before the group arrived. He confirmed that the area was due for a major uplift as artists like Tracey Emin were moving back in, and the drab appearance of the old town would soon be history.
As the group arrived, so did Richard Selwyn-Barnett, and he was true to his word as he introduced me to an impressive group of industry achievers, Joan Lane, who developed the award winning King’s Speech film, Bruno Tilley, the first brand creative at Island Records and others who prefer to remain anonymous.
Richard & Justin Chadwick
It was an impressive lunch and afternoon, and really the start of something great. Since this lunch two years ago, several projects have been started, numerous events attended and we have all been introduced to a variety of other industry members who have enhanced our lives.
I have just been told that a new category of Award has recently been created for ‘Best Introducer’ – guess who won it? I think you know – but not before time, as Richard is a rare breed, and he does it for the pure passion of putting people together. I am extremely grateful to him for contacting me after twenty years, and as he says when I try to thank him ‘just blame it on Norman Wisdom’.
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by admin | Feb 27, 2019 | Featured, Glo Arts & Entertainment
When I was invited by Joan Lane of The King’s Speech fame (she was at the helm of its development) to attend a showcase performance of the award winning play THE CLAYKICKERS CHORUS, at The Pleasance Theatre in Islington, I felt hugely privileged.
On several counts because I have great faith in Joan’s judgement, and because Amanda Noar, the Director and the play itself had won both the Kenneth Branagh and the Sylvia Anderson awards respectively in 2018 alongside other emerging talent.
The Claykickers’ Chorus.
L-R. Reece Richardson (Actor), Jordan Turk (Actor), Kevin McMahon (Writer), Simon Pontin (Actor), Amanda Noar (Director)
Visiting the Pleasance Theatre after several years also brought back memories of their triumphant history of more than 20 years of championing innovation, and providing a showcase for new writers and comedians.
As I waited in the foyer for the show to commence, I chatted to the writer Kevin McMahon, an earnest gentleman, who had felt passionately about the subject matter. He outlined the play for me letting me know that he hoped it would eventually end up in Manchester, its birthplace. He had travelled from there that day to see his work performed.
THE CLAYKICKERS’ CHORUS tells the story of men unexpectedly assigned during World War 2 and who had some experience in tunnelling, but who were given the hellish job of creating an underworld to help deviate the path of the enemy. Ironically, two of these men were shot by a passing British officer when they failed to salute him. The soldier’s only punishment was to have one of his stripes taken from him, which seemed to reflect the value of two men’s lives against the rather ineffectual demotion of the shooter by the British forces.
The performance from the three male cast, Alex Phelps, Reece Richardson and Jordan Turk was outstanding, as they demonstrated their odious tasks and recounted the dire conditions of their assignment. They heaved and hauled and soldiered on, but the irony was, in spite of their former tunnelling knowledge, their lack of training of the task in hand as well as their ignorance of protocol, lead them to blindly make the wrong decision when confronted with authority. As if the requirement to stand to attention, but in innocently ignoring the senseless salute, lost their lives with a single bullet through their heads.
Amanda Noar’s Direction was exemplary and reminded me why she had been commended for her work. She understood the core message and had climbed in with the men as they tunnelled their way through the dialogue of the abyss, submerging their fears without redemption as they paid the price for a futile assignment.
Joan Lane had collaborated with Anthony Alderson, the Artistic Director of the Pleasance Theatre to put on the abridged version of the play, as they both felt it needed a showcase for interested parties to become involved in its development. Perhaps a National tour or the Edinburgh Festival were both on the table, and the buzz after the show was promising.
https://www.pleasance.co.uk/
I for one came away with more knowledge of a desolate society of war torn years, uncaring of its people, desperate to win a futile battle with a horrific lack of consideration for human dignity or human life.
We could have been speaking about politicians and the World today, tunnelling our way into to an impossible future, and digging ourselves deeper through sheer desperation and with a shameless lack of humanity or anything that counts.
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by admin | Feb 25, 2019 | Celebrity, Featured
We all know that relationships are a huge part of Hollywood dream, and how the paparazzi feed like hungry predators on the love lives of its icons. But what makes Hollywood and the Oscars the ultimate aphrodisiac? Is it the shared intimacy of performance between the creative forces that govern the silver screen, or just another attempt to evoke attention to its global stage.
We bore witness last night to some of the most amazing demonstrations of love at the Oscars in Hollywood.
The super passionate kiss from Rami Malek, as he was collecting his Oscar for Best Actor portraying Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, as a public display of his love for fellow Actor Lucy Boynton.
Then as Lady Gaga performed on stage beside her co-star from Star is Born, Bradley Cooper the entire Universe looked on as they exchanged the look of love between them at the end of their song.
As so many strive for fame and fortune, do they still believe that Hollywood spells happiness, in spite of the inevitable break up of relationships, with the rocky foundations of love affairs and the slippery slope to heartache.
Or do we just embrace the roller coaster of the rich and famous, as then we don’t have to share the pain, just revel in its glory as voyeurs for healthy escapism, and so that we don’t actually have to be personally entangled.
But we don’t want to rain on your parade, there is nothing wrong with the ultimate fantasy, Disney was built on it and has made it a universal phenomenon. So for all its faults, we are all compelled to tune into the Oscars, and enjoy the ultimate sprinkling of fairy dust from our City of Dreams, so aptly named Tinseltown.
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