I have been asked by a number of people if I could organise a group to extend the work begun with the Advent Event and other readings I have organised here. The focus will be on understanding poetry as “language in performance”, as something to be read aloud, to be experienced rather than merely understood. After all, nobody ever asks the “meaning” of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony or ‘The Girl With a Pearl Earring’, but they move us just the same.
The group will be open to all ranges of experience. All you will need is an open mind, an ability to feel the power and beauty of language and a willingness to explore these in a group of like-minded fellows in a beautiful building with a lovely acoustic.
I have over thirty years’ teaching experience, coached for the RADA Shakespeare Qualification, and was involved with the Shakespeare Schools Festival for ten years. I don’t know all the answers, but I have a range of useful and effective questions gathered over the years and would be glad to share them as they have enriched my life in good times and bad.
St Petrock’s Church, Timberscombe is offering Thursday afternoons for the group. If you would be interested, I shall be at the Thursday morning Warm Welcome on 1st February [today]. I shall not be asking for any money for the meetings but St Petrock’s would appreciate a donation for the upkeep and heating of the church.
Allan Sutton
Wootton Courtenay 