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Rupert Brooke Play

Last year some of you may remember I sponsored a CD of the wonderful war poems of Rupert Brooke, read by Andrew Motion and many others, which had touched and inspired me as a young writer. (See my earlier Rupert Brooke post).

The team behind this, The Useful Donkey Theatre Company, is headed by one of the UK's most promising young poets, Antony Dunn. A few years ago Antony won Oxford's highly prestigious Newdigate Prize for Verse - a prize which many years ago was won by my hero Oscar Wilde. (Antony has just had his latest collection of poems, Bugs, published by Carcarnet - do buy it, it is a gem!)

This same theatre company has now produced a one-man play, written by Mark Payton, entitled Rupert Brooke and it is about to go on tour - the dates and venues are below.

The play is the story of the Brooke beyond the myth of a young, beautiful, fallen warrior. It is the story of a far more complex and radical man. Following the legendary 'war' poet from his time at Cambridge to his death in the Aegean Sea, Rupert Brooke reveals a man with a tumultuous personal life, a man not afraid to shock his audience, and a man vulnerably reaching to be 'forever England'.

Saturday 26th September, 7.45pm
Macready Theatre, Rugby
01954 210 176 (Rupert Brooke Society)
01788 534 970 (Rugby Tourist Info - £1.50 booking fee)

Friday 2nd October, 8.00pm
The Cut, Halesworth, Suffolk
www.newcut.org
Box Office: 0845 673 2123

Monday 5th October, 7.30pm
Mumford Theatre, Cambridge
www.anglia.ac.uk/mumfordtheatre
Box Office: 0845 196 2320

Sunday 25th October, 7.45pm
Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury
www.kent.ac.uk/gulbenkian
Box Office: 01227 769 075

Thursday 29th October, 7.00pm
Friday 30th October, 7.00pm
The Carriageworks, Leeds
www.carriageworkstheatre.org.uk
Box Office: 0113 224 3801

Sunday 8th November, 3.00pm & 7.00pm
Monday 9th November, 2.30pm & 7.30pm
York Theatre Royal
www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
Box Office: 01904 623 568

Wednesday 11th November, 7.45pm
Wilde Theatre, South Hill Park, Bracknell
www.southhillpark.org.uk
Box Office: 01344 484 123

Jolly Good Show, Old Bean!

PJ at the Goodwood Revival

Well, the instructions for the annual Goodwood Revival Race meeting last weekend, for historic and classic sports and racing cars, said to dress up in period, preferably in a blazer and cravat, a suitable hat, and a prop, like a pipe. So here I am! I know my old school boater would come in one day! Took the pipe from my collection of smoking memorabilia - I collect lighters, cigarette dispensers, posters, etc.

One of my big ambitions is to race at this meeting myself. I saw Rowan Atkinson racing and Nick Mason, but no authors. Maybe I'll be the first! And ok, I promise to try not to crash! Unfortunately the best prop in the picture, the gorgeous red beast in the background - is not mine. It would definitely look good in the PJ garage... think I'll put it down on my wish list to Santa..... and will wait to find out if I've been a good boy this year.... :-)

My Night Of Ghostbusting!

I was recently invited by Scott and Rebecca Simpson to a night of ghost hunting at Brighton's most haunted house, the handsome Edwardian Preston Manor.

Preston Manor - the most haunted house in Brighton.
(No mean title in a city full of ghosts!)

The house featured in a recent episode of "Most Haunted" and this was their web report: "For the episode filmed at Preston Manor, the TV crew experienced one of their most active nights of paranormal activity. Yvette Fielding, the show's host, said 'We were thrilled by our experiences at Preston Manor. The house has a fascinating history and our investigations were more than fully rewarded. Karl is convinced he was confronted by the Manor's White Lady!'

The drawing room - very spooky and atmospheric

Tales of ghostly sightings and supernatural experiences at Preston Manor go back through history, including Sister Agnes, the medieval nun who helped travellers on their way; a body buried under the patio; a disembodied hand floating by the four-poster bed; the White Lady and the elegant Lady in Grey who descends the grand staircase with nowhere to go. One friendly ghost was even seen trying out a child's toy tractor during the 1960s.

The reports continue with modern day sightings of non-existent visitors, doors locking themselves and lights turning off for no reason, and the ghostly hand holding onto a doorknob.

So full of expectations, and stomachs full of butterflies, Helen (who has been developing as a medium) and I went along, not armed with any ectoplasm-nuking gear, but a small torch and a camera...

Some of my fellow ghostbusters for the night

The place certainly has a spooky atmosphere. We were told of the son of the original owners, Mad Jack, who likes to pinch ladies' bottoms and plays a mean trick with cameras, by draining their batteries for his energy, but perhaps he reckoned he had met his match that night and kept on best behaviour...

Mad Jack, the wayward son, whose ghost likes
to lift ladies' skirts and pinch their bottoms...

I did have one extremely uncomfortable moment, when we went in a child's bedroom, pictured below. Helen and I both felt very bad vibes in there - seriously not a room I would have wanted to sleep in. Afterwards we were told a seven-year old girl had died in this room, and there is now frequent poltergeist activity, with the furniture being moved around during then night, when the house is locked and alarmed.

The haunted child's room

As many of you know I've long been fascinated by the paranormal and have a very open mind. Our bodies give off 2 kilowatts of energy every day, and I'm sure some of that energy must remain behind, trapped in the walls, floors, ceilings of buildings we have been in. Having lived in two haunted houses, I am one hundred percent certain that ghosts exists.

Beginning of spirits contact

The team sitting around a table ready to try to summon the spirits

What I am less certain about is whether they are evidence of an afterlife, or merely a passive replay of the energy of a particular person. There are countless such sightings, from too many people, for them all to be dismissed as fancy. But normally these ghosts do very little, such as simply move across a room, in the same path each time they are seen. What intrigues me far more is the concept of the "intelligent" ghost, such as the ghost of Hamlet's father, who tells him how he was murdered and what he needs to do. Sightings such as these are incredibly rare, but they have been known. As Elizabeth Bowen once wrote along the lines, "Of all the thousands upon thousands of sightings of (intelligent) ghosts throughout the history of the human race, it only needs one to be proven - just one - and our perceptions of our world would be changed for ever."

Peter's Blog

Rupert Brooke Play

Jolly Good Show, Old Bean!

My Night Of Ghostbusting!

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