"Not I"

"Not I" (Samuel Beckett) 1973

Digging BY SEAMUS HEANEY

Digging

BY SEAMUS HEANEY

Between my finger and my thumb   

The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.

Under my window, a clean rasping sound   

When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:   

My father, digging. I look down

Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds   

Bends low, comes up twenty years away   

Stooping in rhythm through potato drills   

Where he was digging.

The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft   

Against the inside knee was levered firmly.

He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep

To scatter new potatoes that we picked,

Loving their cool hardness in our hands.

By God, the old man could handle a spade.   

Just like his old man.

My grandfather cut more turf in a day

Than any other man on Toner’s bog.

Once I carried him milk in a bottle

Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up

To drink it, then fell to right away

Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods

Over his shoulder, going down and down

For the good turf. Digging.

The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap

Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge

Through living roots awaken in my head.

But I’ve no spade to follow men like them.

Between my finger and my thumb

The squat pen rests.

I’ll dig with it.

A Field in England by Ben Wheatley and Amy Jump

Like nothing you've ever seen, and everything you've ever seen. A brilliant representation of the over consumption and delusions of war. An epic non-linear narrative, cinematic and theatrical; Tarkovsky meets Tom Stoppard in a field. 

A Field in England watch the trailer here.

Our Glass House UK Tour 2013

UK Tour Dates



26th February- 9th March 2013 Bradford

13th August - 24th August 2013 Edinburgh

LONDON dates TBC

commonwealththeatre.co.uk

Our Glass House (2012)

I'm currently working in collaboration with director Evie Manning on a piece of site-specific promenade theater, reacting to testimonies from four women and a man about their relationships with abusive partners.

The theme is domestic violence, responding with dance, drama, art and music. In a council house in Bristol you will see an ensemble cast, musicians, illustrators, dancers and carpenters transform a disused building and create an event that is part-gig, part installation, part-theater.

The play has been funded by the Arts Council, supported by Bristol Council and the NHS, as well as many local domestic violence charities.

There is no actual violence in the play. It is hoped that this production will raise awareness and facilitate emotional and imaginative access to this challenging and under-represented social issue.

The play, called Our Glass House is produced by Common Wealth Theater and is taking place in a council house, donated by the local council. This is a full length piece of work.

More details here.

Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)

Brechtian social awareness, Ibsenesque drama with a good mix of Lars von Triers Dogville and The Idiots. A sad, intimate portrayal of the breakdown of a young girl who becomes lost and vulnerable, detached from society whilst looking for a sense of the familiar. The narrative centers around Martha's escape from a Manson-like cult, but is much more about her relationship with her sister, the loss of her mother, and the inability of society to reach out, or locate people who go missing without a trace.

Watch trailer here.