Actors and players in Torquay!

Did you ever hear the tale of the Johnstone twins,

As like each other as two new pins;

Of one womb born, on the self same day,

How one was kept, one given away?

Yesterday evening , we heard that tale and watched the story unfold

on the stage of the Princess Theatre, Torquay.

I've wanted to see this musical for a very long time!

However, during the past few weeks , I've been studying the play

with a GCSE pupil and when I saw that the touring production

was coming to Torquay, that was it!! It had to be done!

Of course, Blood Brothers was not written to be read, picked to pieces and annotated !

Furthermore, Willie Russell always intended it to be a full blown musical

to be watched on the stage... and enjoyed!

And this play has such a very strong story running throughout.

Russell shows the influence that society

has on individuals and how much a person's life is influenced

by their inherited genetics and how much it is influenced

by their environment in which they grow up.

So the 'nature v nuture' debate is very much on the menu!

Along with the theme of social class and inequality,

we have the themes of friendship, money, surrogacy,

superstition, love and guilt.

And then, at the end, there's the question of who's to blame ?

All in all, this play gives so much to discuss and debate and

I thoroughly enjoyed it....one of the best I've seen...

and yes, I did find the tears rolling down my cheeks at the end!

;-(

I do, however, think it quite sad that one of the local schools,

where this book is being studied for GCSE,

said that they couldn't afford to take their students to see this.

Furthermore, the theatre was at least a quarter empty and so surely

they could do more to liaise with such schools

and offer concessionary seats?

Just a thought!

Moving on to another sort of theatre!

The football ground.

We'd spent the afternoon at Plainmoor, Torquay,

watching one of the most boring football matches ever!

The sun was shining and the stage was set for a thrilling,

afternoon of entertainment but the players did not produce

anything startling or magical and, goodness gracious me,

I came away thinking what was all that about?!

With football, you pay your money and you takes your

chance ; there's no guarantee that what's served up

will be tasty and tantalising! And it wasn't!

So come on Gulls, with the play offs in sight and promotion

a possibility , please do better next time!!

;-)

And finally, it's always nice to bump into

a friend when you are least expecting it! As we were about to have lunch

in St Marychurch before the match, who should walk into the cafe

but good friend Margaret and hubby Chris.

Margaret is my writer pal... and like me, she goes everywhere with

her camera!

I received this cheery 'St Marychurch montage' from her,

as I was watching the football!

Thank you !! It cheered up the afternoon!!