August,
although it isn't yet over has been a fairly exhausting month. I don't propose to do anything
else but talk to people about Council Tax direct debits and sleep. I can pretty much do both of these things at the same time as it  is.

First up this month, and of limited interest to those not related to me, is  the wedding of my cousin Oliver. and Vicky, which took place in  County Cork. Only the vicar and his family actually lived there, so it made perfect sense for 90 people to go over there from England, Wales and Australia to celebrate the nuptials.

Well, we all had a great time, and thanks are due to the bride and groom, both sets of parents and the Irish weather, for a very happy gathering. And it was quite a change for me to be in church for a family occasion and  see a bride coming up the aisle rather than a coffin....needless to say it's been a long time since there's been a marriage in the family on this side of the Atlantic.

Click on the picture for a larger view!
Happy families the Shinglers
some of the supporting cast
A very happy couple
sisters (and hats...)
the Hancoxes,scrubbed up
that's the easy bit done..
an unorthodox, but wonderful cake
my wife would like me to say a few words
Oliver & Vicky  14th August 2003
the groom and his best man prepare
After the wedding, I headed north to Drogheda, Belfast and Derry. Click here to read more.
Theatre Review:  "One-day Cricket"
Kennington Oval Open-air Theatre
Produced and directed by the  Gloucester and Surrey experimental  Cricket companies
Edinburgh Festival 2003
My first foray into this year's festival was to see a one-man production of "Under Milk Wood" by Dylan Thomas. Unfortunately I was a little train-and-red wine-lagged throughout the performance during which Guy Masterson portrayed nearly seventy characters rather brilliantly I'm sure, but it was all so bleak and visually monochrome that I had to resist the urge to fall asleep. I feared that if I did drop off to sleep I would wake up shouting "Mwfanwy!" Mwfanwy" or some such nonsense. Click here for Guy Masterson's blurb.

Next up were two comics. I preferred  Mitch Benn to  Jo Caulfield. Mitch Benn was alluringly accompanied by his female Distractions, and served up some witty songs and banter including the incredible Shakespeare meets Eminen rap "Macbeth". Jo Caulfield  displayed her prerequisites as a writer for Graham Norton, relying a little over-much from deriving humour from the sex-life of the audience, but was amusing enough in a back-from-the-pub-after-six-pints kind of way.

The Reduced Shakepeare Company are fond of telling us that Shakespeare's tragedies are funnier than his comedies and there were elements of that in Kaos Theatre's production of Titus Andronicus. I have read that this play has been derided as the Bard's video nasty, but its fast-paced theme of spiralling revenge
seems ever more prescient these days. However, I couldn't help thinking about Manuel shouting "they put Basil in the ratatouille!" when the Queen was told she was eating her sons  in a pie baked by Titus himself. Great fun. Take a bucket with you..
It's hard believe that I had never been to a production of "One day cricket" in my life. A trip in early August to Kennington Oval  open-air theatre, with my longtime friend and fellow gibberish-talker Gary Marson introduced me to this legendary form of the theatre of the absurd.

The theatre-in-the round production, starring two competing amateuish theatre companies from Gloucester and Surrey  saw the central plot unfold on a small central stage whilst the  supporting cast, bizarely closer to the
Gary  is a "One-day cricket" maniac. He has seen dozens of productions like this! Here he poses with leading actors Graham Thorpe, Mark Ramprakash and Jack Russell 
audience, made occasional attempts to attract our attention, running, jumping, eating oranges, whilst the ever-changing principal plyers made exits and entrances at seemingly random moments when an otherwise impassive cap-wearing figure pointed his finger in the air. I can only assume that this figure was an allegory  of  God, trying to bring sense to the  existential nightmare being depicted by the players.

I struggled with some of the more arcane stage direction, but Gary was a helpful guide throughout. It all seemed to make sense by the final denoument, but doubtless the beer and sunstroke helped.
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