Clare’s Walk is the latest production by Steve Waters, Director of Studies in Drama at Homerton College, Cambridge. In the words of the Menagerie Theatre’s web page:
“Clare’s Walk takes for its inspiration the nightmarish journey of 1841 by poet John Clare (1793-1864) from the lunatic asylum where he was incarcerated in Epping Forest to his home in Northborough in North Cambridgeshire, along the route of the A1.
“Playwright Steve Waters and actor Patrick Morris re-walked the route in June 2005, looking at how the landscape has changed since Clare’s day, and the development issues the entire region faces, examining the themes aired in Clare’s verse in a modern context: the connection between self and environment, between ownership and dispossession.”
The production has been appearing in small venues along the route Clare walked - we saw it back in April at
Milton Country Park, Cambridge. It is a wonderful one-man performance by actor Patrick Morris who re-walked the route with Waters last summer. We enjoyed it immensely - it has both laugh-out-loud funny moments and deeper heartfelt moments - a magical way to spend 90 minutes, especially if you are interested in the countryside, its past and its future. Personally, I think that it is an important work that needs to be seen more widely. Maybe it could be made into a tv production?
I have come across only one review of Clare’s Walk by Jill Sharp for The British Theatre Guide.
Anyway - you have one more chance to see it. An extra production is being staged this Friday, 14 July, 6.00pm, at
The Junction in Cambridge as part of the
Hotbed 2006 Cambridge festival of new writing for the theatre.
The play’s main source is a short journal Clare kept on his walk. This journal is freely accessible online - near the end of the ebook The Life of John Clare by Frederick Martin (thanks to Project Gutenberg, a large online repository of freely available ebooks). The Library holds many works by and about Clare and we currently have a small display on the first floor commemorating him and Steve Waters’ production.
Other links to John Clare include:
The John Clare Page
The John Clare Society
John Clare weblog [a poem a day]
Poem Hunter - John Clare [full text of 53 poems by John Clare].
Coincidentally, The John Clare Trust reports that, on Tuesday 4 July, it was awarded a ‘Stage One Pass’ from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for its project to buy and restore John Clare’s Cottage in Helpston [near Peterborough] and to open it to the public for the first time. This is where Clare was born and brought up.
Update (September 2006):
Sadly (for us), Steve Waters has left Homerton College to take up a drama post at University of Birmingham as Lecturer in Playwriting. Read his new profile.
I have already mentioned the Cambridge Film Festival which is now underway - see this (brief) post.
Three other major arts happenings are taking place.
First, Cambridge Open Studios 2005, where around 300 artists in all materials open their studios (often their own homes) to the public on the first four weekends of July. This is the 31st Open Studios since the original one in 1974 when a group of six artists launched the scheme. This year there are 190 venues to visit all over Cambridge and its surrounding villages. See them in their actual working environment and there are plenty of works for sale. Excellent for finding unusual and unique presents - yes, why not think ahead and buy now for Christmas? The web site (linked above) has maps shopwing the location of all the venues and lists of their opening days - note that many studios do not open on all four weekends. Look out for the yellow Open Studios logo flags (logo pictured above) outside venues. An excellent free comprehensive printed guide can be found in public libraries, tourist information centres, galleries, Kettle’s Yard Museum (Castle Street, Cambridge, CB3 0AQ) and some shops. Or, you can send a stamped addressed envelope to 12a High Street, Fulbourn, Cambridge, CB1 5DH. The envelope must be A4 size, with 79p (1st) or 58p (2nd) postage.
Next up is the Cambridge Summer Music Festival which runs from Friday 15 July to Saturday 13 August. It comprises a collection of classical music concerts being held in concert halls, colleges, schools and churches in Cambridge. In its 26th year, the Summer Music Festival’s theme is Early Music. Amongst the highlights are three concerts to complement the Fitzwilliam Museum’s Cambridge Illuminations exhibition and an evening with composer Sir John Tavener at the piano (including ‘aspects of’ a new composition) - his music seems to hark back to much earlier times. New for 2005 is Music for Kids - a series of concerts and workshops which children of all ages will enjoy. And a Festive Fireworks Finale will find picnics, fireworks and music under the stars for our first ever outdoor concert.
Another long-running Cambridge tradition is the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival. This year (its seventeenth), eight of Shakespeare’s works are being performed at six historic Cambridge colleges - most of them outdoors in the wonderful settings of the college gardens. Prior to the performances, members of the audience can picnic in these idyllic settings. There will be at least one play performed Monday-Saturday evenings at 19.30 during the eight weeks of the Festival. The plays being performed are: Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like it, The Tempest, Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, and Measure for Measure.
The 25th Cambridge Film Festival starts on Thursday 7th July, covering 10 days until Sunday 17th July. Highlights include a focus on New German Cinema and new (to the UK) films by the likes of Peter Greenaway and Ingmar Bergman and many many more who I have never heard of. There is a downloadable PDF day-by-day film calendar. I have seen a thick glossy A5 booklet around College - this does not seem to be referred to on their site.
From the Arts Cinema mailing:
“The Festival opens with the UK premiere of The Last Mitterand, a delicately nuanced French drama that tells the true story of President Mitterrands’ final months before his death in 1996, and we’re delighted to welcome producer Frank Le Witta and star Jalil Lespert for the Opening Night Gala presentation. Also receiving its UK premiere is American drama Crash, featuring a stellar cast including Matt Dillon, Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Ryan Phillipe and Thandie Newton, which closes the Festival. There are plenty of other UK premieres to choose from: Jim Jarmusch’s Broken Flowers starring Bill Murray; epic action thriller from Russia Night Watch; the satirical Childstar starring Jennifer Jason Leigh; Mamoru’s Oshii’s exquisite Ghost in the Shell - Innocence; and the beautiful Japanese period drama The Hidden Blade. Not to mention the retrospectives, revivals, special seasons, or Q103 [local commercial radio sponsor] Childrens Film Festival with Dubble! [a chocolate bar sponsor]”
