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As ever, it’s a bright blue sunny day here at the Hurst, made lovely by the presence of golden daffodils, budding azaleas, dappled things of all make and main, and the delightful presence of our current phalanx of poets - tutored by Patience Agbabi and Patricia Debney - wandering about and capturing the speech rhythms of delirious nature in delicate, limpid verse or brusque, urgent quatrains.
Yes, spring has come to the Hurst, and with it those merry-makers of the English language, the poets. We’ve got a terrific group this week – we have a terrific group every week at the Hurst – who have grasped the Arvon bull by the horns, and are churning out poems by the fistful, as well as cooking up a storm, engaging in exciting debates about issues of import, and having a quiet drink at the end of a long day to celebrate a job well done. Then a quick dip into the dream world of the unconscious, before another day behind the mule that is poetry.
Last week – playwrights, under the wonderful, entertaining tutelage of Tim Fountain and Natasha Betteridge. It was our first open programme week of the year, crowned by a final day of performing plays by all 14 participants, in perhaps the most epic day of theatre since Euripides pulled up stumps, took his bat and ball home, and declared the Greek Empire decayed beyond the reaches of satire.
We’ve got more theatre coming up, of course, with David Eldridge and Robert Holman spending the week with us from May 7 to 12. The guest will be Dominic Cooke, Associate Director at the Royal Court Theatre, who will be joining us in a week famous in theatrical circles for the first performance of John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger on May 8, 1956. And as we’re in Mr Osborne’s lodgings, we were very excited when Dominic accepted our invitation.
So if you have the next Look Back in Anger lodged in you and you just can’t get it out, why not join us in early May? The daffys will be on their last legs, but that’s only because they have to make way for the rhododendrons, blue bells and, you know that flower that’s sort of pink, but kind of white? The thingy-whatsit? Lotsa them, too.
Right, back to the garden to pound out some unsprung villanelles.
Respect.
Pete
(Peter Salmon, Centre Director, Hurst)
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