Churchill, Booker and Ibsen – Visions of Utopia

Sabina Head, of Griffith University, Brisbane, has published a fascinating paper in Drama Australia Journal in which she analyses power relationships in Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’, Claire Booker’s ‘Socks Go In The Bottom Drawer’ and Caryl Churchill’s ‘A Number’ and considers how the three playwrights enable their audiences to contemplate alternative futures.

Future Studies is a developing branch of academia which looks at the portrayal of utopias and dystopias within a range of fields including drama.  In this particular article, Sabina uses the technique of causal layered analysis to reveal a play’s depth of innovation – how dialogue and action are informed by underlying beliefs and metaphors.  

“In this half-hour comedy “Socks Go in the Bottom Drawer” (Booker, 1991), two women and their daughter visit a zoo cage to see a most interesting exhibit – a man. He shows off for them and flirts with the girl, who is interested but unimpressed by his attempts at seduction. His keeper then entertains him with a story from the distant past, in which “once upon a time, the world was ruled by men” (ibid. p.15). She then tiptoes out, leaving him to sleep. . . .

” The status transactions are intended to be comic, to make the audience laugh. The metaphor throughout is one of man as a quaint curiosity, of no actual use but seen as a pet to be occasionally indulged in small ways, including the pretence that he is powerful and dangerous. Clearly women control the world; they are beings of power and influence, functioning without men. The metaphors are pushed into contrast in an extreme reversal of traditional male and female roles, throwing macho male behaviour into the spotlight. . .

“The plays discussed may make the present appear remarkable; equally important, they make the future debatable. The story ideas generate public response: condemnation or approval, but above all, debate. Encouraging playwrights to add to these few works is a project worth pursuing if they can inform a broad democratic process.”

To read the whole of Sabina Head’s article, please click on the following PDF  - Forward Theatre and Causal Layered Analysis http://www.jfs.tku.edu.tw/17-1/A03.pdf which was printed in the NJ,36, 2012.

To contact Sabina Head directly, please e-mail her at: sabina.head@uqconnect.edu.au

A 5 minute drama by Claire Booker based on ‘Socks Go in the Bottom Drawer’ was recently published in the Spring 2013 Loose Muse Anthology of New Writing by Women. It is entitled ‘Last Man in Watford.’  To buy the anthology or for more details click  http://www.loose-muse.com

A Tale of Two Cities – Loose Muse hits London and Manchester!

Loose Muse has just launched its third anthology of new writing by women, including work by Ivy Alvarez, Claire Booker, Miriam Halahmy, Sue Johns, Sarah Reilly and Janice Windle.

And only days after a lively launch party at Cotton’s in Clerkenwell, the All Woman Writers’ Night spread its wings and flew north to Manchester for the first of (hopefully) many Loose Muse events organised in that city by local poet and activist Steph Pike. Guest performers invited to Manchester included Agnes Meadows and Claire Booker.

Local poet Aryamati with Agnes Meadows at Manchester’s Loose Muse Night

Thanks to the sheer get-up-and-go savvy of Agnes and her editorial team, the Loose Muse anthology is packed with an eclectic mix of contributions from writers across the UK as well as Greece, Spain, Holland, Finland and Australia.

Celebrating her ninth year as Loose Muse co-ordinator and host, Agnes Meadows is rightly proud of the anthology: “It’s a diverse mix of high quality poetry, short stories and short plays, clearly showing that women can write with strength, passion, humour and imagination.”

Claire Booker performs ‘Last Man in Watford’ at London launch

My own contribution includes a 5 minute comedy called ‘Last Man in Watford’ set in a (dystopian?) future when women rule the world and the few remaining men are exhibited in zoos!                                     To order copies of the anthology (published by Morgan’s Eye Press) or to find out more about Loose Muse events in London or Manchester, please contact Agnes Meadows at agnespoet@gmail.com or ring her on 07789 901 667.  You can also check out the latest updates on Loose Muse by clicking the following link: http://www.loose-muse.com

Poet Angela Brodie at London launch

For more information on Lorraine Clarke whose amazing art-work features on all three Loose Muse covers, please click: http://www.clarke-art.co.uk

For information on Steph Pike and Manchester Loose Muse click: http://www.about.me/stephpike                            

Appreciative audience for Caroline Vero at London launch

Natasha Morgan reads ‘This Sharp Edge’

Fine art and poetry fuse at Elbow Room

Camden High Street in torrential rain -   then suddenly the steaming buzz of inSpiral cafe where scuttled umbrellas rub spokes with 0rganic smoothies, poetry and jazz cello.  It’s the launch of Elbow Room (Volume Two) which has to rate as one of the liveliest launch parties ever.   

ElbowRoom is already proving fine art and poetry can be natural bedfellows. “Volume One was picked up by the bookartbookshop and is now sold out,” says curator/producer Rosie Sherwood.  

Volume Two features art works by Norwegian artist Maren Reese and UK-based Jayne Smith, alongside poetry by Claire Booker, Jonathan Butcher and Harry Man.  Each pamphlet has been beautifully handcrafted and is marked as one of a limited edition.  Canny collectors get cracking!

Look out for ElbowRoom later this year at Turn the Page – the artists’ book fair in Norwich, England’s first UNESCO City of Literature.  To submit poetry or artwork, or to buy a copy of the latest volume, check them out at tumblr.

http://www.elbow-room.tumblr.com

Music from Mina’s Ghost

Poet Jonathan Butcher

Poet Claire Booker

http://www.maren-reese.com   (top left painting – Renegade by Maren Reese)

http://www.jaynesmith.co.uk    (top right painting – Quarry, 2012 by Jayne Anita Smith)

And if you enjoy the contemporary sound of guitar, cello and voice check out Mina’s Ghost at: https://soundcloud.com/minas-ghost/

Orbis publishes dream poem by Claire Booker

Ah those restless, sleepless nights when you gaze (or is that glare?) at your partner’s slumbering form, wishing you could squeeze the sleep potion from their eyes. Where do they go during those hours? And who with?

Check out my latest poem in Orbis (Issue 162) and enjoy a dream journey through constellations – and while you’re there, gather up some wonderful poems by the likes of Maureen Jivani, Catherine Smith, Maggie Butt and Brian Daldorph.

 

To buy a copy of Orbis#162, send a cheque for £5  to the Editor, payable to Carole Baldock at 17 Greenhow Avenue, West Kirby, Wirral CH48 5EL. For more details join Orbis online at: www.facebook.com/n/?group.php&gid=53636000056  Kudos for Writers, for writers who prize writing: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=187955986920

Party ’til you drop with ElbowRoom!

Get yourself over to Camden Town next week for a launch party with attitude – ElbowRoom celebrates its second issue with a cornucopia of poetry, live music and the visual arts. And it’s all for FREE!

The party kicks off at 9pm on Friday 22nd March at hip venue InSpiral, 250 Camden High Street, NW1 8QS.   Poets from both issues will be doing 15 minute sets.  I’m under the spotlight at 9.30 with a selection of my most recent poems, including ‘First Summer’ and ‘Nightingale Ward’ – both of which appear in issue 2.

For more information about ElbowRoom or to submit to the next issue please click on the following link:     http://www.facebook.com/elbowroomzine

A Smörgåsbord of Drama at the Bread & Roses

South London’s best kept theatrical secret came up with six fantastic slices of drama last week, including a 15 minute play by Claire Booker.

The bijou, 50-seater theatre offered a generous platform for six new plays – covering such diverse topics as love, therapy, racism, sex, philosophy and even a post-modern take on Cinderella.

Claire’s play (Blue Line Day) follows a married couple’s struggle with their inner demons. The roles were played with great finesse by Jerry Marwood and Caroline Short – under the able direction of Joanna Greaves.

” It’s always amazing to see how actors and directors find new and often surprising angles to my work.  But that’s the collaborative joy of theatre!”

The Bread and Roses Theatre Company is a group of talented directors, actors and technicians working out of the eponymous pub at 68 Clapham Manor Street, SW4 6DZ.  The Bread and Roses is  just a six minute walk from Clapham Common and Clapham North tube stations, and is well known for its artistic and musical events.  

To find out more about The BRTC or to submit a play or actor/director’s cv, please check out: http://www.breadandrosestheatre.co.uk 

Bookerplays shares stage with grand piano

They really do things in style down in Surrey’s cathedral city of Guildford. Even the poetry venues have crystal chandeliers!

An enthusiastic audience watch ‘Harriet by the Swings’

Bookerplays was invited by Pop Up Poetry organisers Donall Dempsey and Jan Windle to perform two short plays at their regular spoken word event.

Carla Espinoza in the role of Sylvia in ‘Rainbow Baby’

Talented actors Rachel Crowther, Carla Espinoza, Alex Gibson and Natalie Harper shared the stage with a grand piano, double bass and some seriously decorous lighting, as they performed Claire Booker’s ‘Harriet by the Swings’ and ‘Rainbow Baby’ to a rousing reception yesterday at The Bar Des Arts opposite The Yvonne Arnaud theatre.

Pop Up Poetry offers an eclectic mix of music, poetry, spoken word and a generous sprinkling of fairy dust.   What’s more –  it’s all free! For details of where and when please check out the following link: http://www.facebook.com/PopUpPoets

To view a 5 minute film of ‘Harriet by the Swings’ as performed by the same cast at the Lost Theatre, Stockwell, London, last year, please click on the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBHZOSlv2b0&hd=1