the real headliners of galtres parklands festival...

I've just got back from performing at Galtres Parklands Festival and here are my favourite things from the weekend...

the life project week 3: not the foodie blog...

Gluten Free White Chocolate and Coconut Macaroon
from The Black Medicine Cafe in Edinburgh.

Last week I promised you all a foodie blog as an update on how I'm getting on with the gluten free challenge and The Life Project...

This is not that blog, for 1 very good reason...

Tea in Manchester

It struck me that this Blog was born out of three things, theatre, moving to Manchester and, well, tea.

I'm pretty sure I've covered me and theatre pretty extensively, but I seem to have neglected tea and Manchester, so to rectify that, here is a list of my favourite places for Tea in Manchester and the best conversations I've had there. I'm also playing with the importance of place and memory for my new show Love Letters...

The Dark Side of Children and their Literature...

This month over on 4ManchesterWomen.com I have been reviewing Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver.

Yes I read kid's books and call it work... This month death, the sticky end to origami rabbits and a questionable comparison to Harry Potter, take a read now, by clicking here...

New Collaboration...

Now some of you may know that I consider myself to be of a craft nature, I have been told that my flat is like a shrine to blue peter.

However, as much as I like working alone and been a bit of a one woman dynamo, I always want my work to be improving and moving on to that next level.

So with that in mind I have asked the amazing artist Tom Bevan to come on board for Love Letters and design and create the set!

So take a look at his work at Hop Scotch Stop I think it is safe to say, this show, if nothing else, will be nice to look at!

x

I couldn't have said it better myself...

My lovely and very wise friend Hannah blogs over at oopsimavegan.com and though I am not a vegan, she is an absolute wealth of information on generally living a GOOD healthy life.

And well in this post, I couldn't have said it better myself, take a look!

http://www.oopsimavegan.com/1/post/2013/05/lessons-i-continue-to-learn.html

Bel Canto - Book Recommendation!

So you may have seen I have asked to become a guest writer over at 4ManchesterWomen where I will be writing about children's literature and giving a few recommendations here and there. My first article of which you can read here.

Which got me thinking? Why limit it to just children's books?

I go through a good story like I go through cups of tea.

I.e. on more regular occurrence than you would think humanly possible and with a dignified pleasure each time!

So in a bid to diversify my own blog here a bit rather than writing about nothing but theatre all the time, I thought I'd start chatting books too. Because first and foremost i consider myself to be a storyteller.

And with out further ado...

I'm a little late to the party with this one I guess, seen as how Patchett's Bel Canto has seemingly been nominated for as many prizes as it has pages, however, if I've missed it then a few of you probably have too, and this book deserves highlighting!

I picked my copy up on a lazy Sunday or two ago from the Oxfam Emporium on Oldham street then wandered down to a park on Oxford Road to enjoy the sunshine.

I picked the book up, just to flip through the first couple of pages (by which I mean quickly glance at the final ones) and 3 hours later I realised I was bloody freezing, the sun had disappeared, and I wasn't in fact a hostage in some 'godforsaken country' as the book had mesmerized me into thinking but was actually still in Manchester and becoming increasingly surrounded by drunks not terrorists.

There is something beautiful about this book, although slow to start, it captures you so that you truly appreciate the bizarre paradise it depicts.  This is the really clever part behind the novel. Just as the hostages are incapable of explaining the benevolence they begin to feel, neither can I although I do understand it.

Looking at the blurred lines between good and evil, this novel depicts humanity better than I have seen in a book in a long time.

Although I have to admit I really could not stand the musical heroine, even though she charmed apparently every single character in the book, she was the one that as a reader I just did not warm to, or believe for that matter.

That being said, it really isn't about her, and if you can get past that then you are on to a winner with this one.

Just don;t start reading it while enjoying the sunny weather we are having at the moment. I look like a lobster that was cooked wearing lingerie.

Stephanie x

A spot of guest blogging!

As a follow up to my post on the importance of imagination I posted on here I have had a piece published over on 4ManchesterWomen! So if you are struggling for a good children's read then have a look here!

http://www.4manchesterwomen.co.uk/super-mummy/choosing-childrens-books/

Tin Shed Theatre

Hello! Once again I have bin a little quiet lately but fear not I am about to bombard you with bank holiday blogging!

Now, I don't want to start using this blog, to review other peoples work, but I have to give credit where credit is due, and I have always set out to write about my inspiration, so with that in mind let me just say

GO SEE TIN SHED THEATRE!

Now as you may know, I am very heavily involved with The 3MT Venue, as my 'day job' and as an Associate Artist. And one of the biggest perks of this?  Getting to see and meet fabulously talented companies and people from all strokes of ctreative-ness. 

So, when I saw the trailer for Tin Shed's 'Dr Frankenstein's Travelling Freak Show' I was very excited and I wasn't disappointed!

I won't analyse or give anything away but just to say I loved their use of multimedia and the stunning layering of story telling and re-telling tales!

I tend to veer away from characters and plot lines in my 'grown up' work but something about this has definitely hit home, and I have always bin a massive fan of stories with in a story!

Anyway, this is perhaps annoyingly vague, but like I said I don't want to review or give too much away, I just wanted to applaud really, and share the 'knowledge!'

Find out more about Tin Shed Theatre Company here

http://www.tinshedtheatrecompany.com/

Just a quick recommendation...

I've spoken in the past about how much I love magazines, and continuing with my 'inspiration' theme I seem to have going on at the moment, I just wanted to quickly recommend Oh Comely magazine.

Every issue seems to have taken all the jumbled up thoughts in my head and sorted them out into a much more eloquent and stylised order than I could ever manage... it's like head space on a page (speaking of lacking eloquence!)

Particularly relevant in this issue is the article 'keep your eye on the coffee pot' which expresses a thought that I had in my head the entire time I was making Confessions. It's one of the ideas in the piece which is probably not really aimed at the audience but was something that I had to keep reminding myself of, whenever I felt the piece was getting too ranty or negative!

Anyway I won't go on any longer, you should probably just go and pick up a copy or visit the website here at www.ohcomely.co.uk

Stephanie xx