At a time when the arts is in crisis, Northern theatre companies need to get their act and actors together. The terrible waste of an evening at Elysium’s ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night’.

May 20, 2026

I blogged in preparation and noted that I had blogged on Elysium Theatre before, forgetting I saw their wondrous A Midsummer Night’s Dream (though, mainly because too elated, I didn’t blog on it – I remember thinking that Bottom was a real force in the play) thus: I have seen Elysium Theatre before and blogged … More At a time when the arts is in crisis, Northern theatre companies need to get their act and actors together. The terrible waste of an evening at Elysium’s ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night’.

Maybe life, at bottom, is quicksand! Comparing Henrietta Moraes’ life ‘to quicksand, deadly calm on the surface but inherently untrustworthy beneath’, Dom Moraes, her third husband is said by Darren Coffield to have ‘worshipped the shifting sand she walked on’.[1] That worship wasn’t quite that of a lasting religion and when it changed it disappeared from sight like a body sunken into quicksand does. However, Darren Coffield allows Henrietta Moraes to speak to us, if fitfully, again. This blog is a reflection on Darren Coffield (2026) Hen: Mistress of Mayhem Cheltenham, The History Press.

May 19, 2026

Maybe life, at bottom, is quicksand! Comparing Henrietta Moraes’ life ‘to quicksand, deadly calm on the surface but inherently untrustworthy beneath’, Dom Moraes, her third husband is said by Darren Coffield to have ‘worshipped the shifting sand she walked on’.[1] That worship wasn’t quite that of a lasting religion and when it changed it disappeared … More Maybe life, at bottom, is quicksand! Comparing Henrietta Moraes’ life ‘to quicksand, deadly calm on the surface but inherently untrustworthy beneath’, Dom Moraes, her third husband is said by Darren Coffield to have ‘worshipped the shifting sand she walked on’.[1] That worship wasn’t quite that of a lasting religion and when it changed it disappeared from sight like a body sunken into quicksand does. However, Darren Coffield allows Henrietta Moraes to speak to us, if fitfully, again. This blog is a reflection on Darren Coffield (2026) Hen: Mistress of Mayhem Cheltenham, The History Press.

‘crush, and snap its pale / Wrist’: Thought and image disturbed by thought. More on Kane Benjamin Crookes’ poems

May 18, 2026

‘crush, and snap its pale / Wrist’: Thought and image disturbed by thought. More on Kane Benjamin Crookes’ poems A little while ago I wrote naively about Kane Benjamin Crookes first volume Blooming Us (see the blog at this link). Promising then to return to it and his next volume at the time, I will … More ‘crush, and snap its pale / Wrist’: Thought and image disturbed by thought. More on Kane Benjamin Crookes’ poems

‘In cascades, folds’: give in to motives that fall away from you and ground themselves.

May 17, 2026

In cascades, folds: verse that gives in to motives that fall away from you and ground themselves. The fold in Leibniz’s philosophy – considered as an image of thought – has received considerable attention during recent decades, mainly because of the work of Gilles Deleuze. For Leibniz the fold often stands for continuous transformation and … More ‘In cascades, folds’: give in to motives that fall away from you and ground themselves.

That’s easy. I saw it yesterday. This is my reflection on Steven Soderbergh’s ‘The Christophers’, seen on Friday 15th May 2026 at Screen 4, 1330, Odeon Deluxe, Durham City.

May 16, 2026

The art of the unfinished: Betrayal, Revenge and Reparation. I reflect in this blog on what it means to ‘forge through’ an unfinished love story. It may be the biggest forgery of all, but does that matter? It certainly doesn’t if you act the role well enough and with attention to that love. This is … More That’s easy. I saw it yesterday. This is my reflection on Steven Soderbergh’s ‘The Christophers’, seen on Friday 15th May 2026 at Screen 4, 1330, Odeon Deluxe, Durham City.

Are there truly literature charts like there are pop charts? Is rating a ‘classic’ book (over or under the consensus level) the vain game I think it is? Is the term ‘classic’ already playing that vain game?

May 14, 2026

This questions prompts something less than an answer to it from me and something more than the kind of cool response, opinion seeking prompts are won’t to expect. First of all, the assumption that anyone and everyone will agree on what is a ‘classic book’, or even what ‘classic’ means in this respect just doesn’t … More Are there truly literature charts like there are pop charts? Is rating a ‘classic’ book (over or under the consensus level) the vain game I think it is? Is the term ‘classic’ already playing that vain game?

I know what ‘gives pleasure’ can never be simple. Let’s consider how we react to the effect of words working together to evoke vision, sound, sensation and tangled meanings.

May 13, 2026

I met a poet in my favourite left bookshop yesterday, The People’s Bookshop in Durham City, and bought his book, Blooming Us. I was searching for more books by Bryher and he knew, as might be expected in someone intensely interested in the poetic movement called Imagism, of Bryher’s sometime lover, H.D. (Hilda Doolittle). I … More I know what ‘gives pleasure’ can never be simple. Let’s consider how we react to the effect of words working together to evoke vision, sound, sensation and tangled meanings.

‘People stared at the narrow limits in front of them, until they neither saw nor heard the rumours at their own border’. Historical novels invent our interest in underrated lives; the likes of which might once have been lived by someone now forgotten, nevertheless. Is Bryher a neglected novelist in part for that reason? A case study based on their novel ‘Roman Wall’ (1955) and the borders of the ‘historical’ novel.

May 12, 2026

‘People stared at the narrow limits in front of them, until they neither saw nor heard the rumours at their own border’.[1] Historical novels invent our interest in underrated lives; the likes of which might once have been lived by someone now forgotten, nevertheless. Is Bryher a neglected novelist in part for that reason? A … More ‘People stared at the narrow limits in front of them, until they neither saw nor heard the rumours at their own border’. Historical novels invent our interest in underrated lives; the likes of which might once have been lived by someone now forgotten, nevertheless. Is Bryher a neglected novelist in part for that reason? A case study based on their novel ‘Roman Wall’ (1955) and the borders of the ‘historical’ novel.

That moment you realise that though a pit seemed to open up in your path, you had other paths to choose.

May 11, 2026

Shadowed by woods, I noticed too latethe fractures in the path we’d trod so long,still thinking I was held upright by themwho claim that in their thoughts you would feel strong.The breaking foundations of that dark pathsoon gapes so wide that a crack becomes the wallof some dark  hole, like coal-black pits God’s wrathOpens for … More That moment you realise that though a pit seemed to open up in your path, you had other paths to choose.

What is ‘local’ and what is ‘custom’? Selecting for preservation is the practice of dominance not community. But who selects and who interprets what it means?

May 10, 2026

What is ‘local’ and what is ‘custom’: selecting for preservation is the practice of dominance not community. But who selects and who interprets what it means? Probably Wordsworth is the primary poet who turned his back as an individual artistic sensibility, and he, of course, was called the Egoistical Sublime by Keats,  on global trends, … More What is ‘local’ and what is ‘custom’? Selecting for preservation is the practice of dominance not community. But who selects and who interprets what it means?

I doubt I would I be the ‘playboy’? This blog is my preparation to see the National Theatre streamed version of the play at the Reel Cinema, Bishop Auckland on Thursday 28th May.

May 9, 2026

I doubt I would I be the ‘playboy’? At the end of John Millington Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World, the so-styled playboy, Christy Mahon, realises that he has been transformed into an incarnated idea destined forever to represent a life of constant playtime and being the object of ‘game’ and joy in the … More I doubt I would I be the ‘playboy’? This blog is my preparation to see the National Theatre streamed version of the play at the Reel Cinema, Bishop Auckland on Thursday 28th May.