The Ladykillers - Theatre Royal

We really did not know what to expect with this production. I knew it was set a while ago because of the costumes but that was it.   Just been researching it and I never knew it was originally a British film and it was produced way back in 1955 and starred among others Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers. and a few minutes ago just discovered there was 2004 film version with Tom Hanks!

Graham Lineham wrote this production (most famous I suppose for writing Father Ted) and it starred Michele Dotrice, Shaun Williamson and Clive Mantle. In a nutshell a sweet old lady, Mrs Wilberforce,  rents a room in her higgley piggedly house to a 'professor'. What she doesn't realise is that he is a master criminal and when him and his mates are practising their music in his room, they are really planning a heist. 


The set was wonderful and at first the lopsided house made me feel a bit queasy but your eyes soon adjust. The cast was excellent and were well into their roles. We looked the jokes and really did not expect it to be as good as this. 

I loved the car chase using the remote control vehicles and the performance of the musicians in front of Wilberforce's posh friends. They manage to pass off the 'noise' as modern music. As someone in the play said 'being fooled by art is a pleasure only for the middle classes' or something similar. 

This was an excellent show we are glad we went to see.

The Good Father - Diane Chamberlain

** spoiler alert ** I really enjoyed this book and got to know the characters quite quickly. It revolves around a little girl, Belle, who lives with her single father and who is finding it hard to get y since his mother died in a house fire which destroyed all their belongings and as she was also his childcare, he finds it difficult to find work. He meets someone who says there is a job elsewhere so he naively goes and gets involved in collecting drugs - when he discovers the real job he is distraught and dumps them - not realising that the dealers will be after him and so he can't return to his daughter, whom he left in a coffee shop with a woman (Erin) they befriended a few days before. When he does manage to return it is to discover that Erin has taken his daughter to her mothers (a woman she has never met) so he rushes down there and realises that he still loves his daughters mother and that her father was the one that forced them apart and true love still exists. Erin meanwhile is tackling her own ghosts, as she is still grieving for her daughter who died in a freak accident. But taking care of Belle helps her cope and get her life back on track.
There is lots more to it but it is so easy to see how things can so easily spiral out of your control if you have no-one around to help you

The Help - Kathryn Stockett

This is a WOW book. An excellent book which I will read again and again over the years. I enjoyed the film so thought I would enjoy the book too but even more so. It basically tells the tale of some black maids who have raised white children and in doing so have spent less time with their own children. It portrays the awful attitudes at the time and how most white people thought nothing of their treatment of their maids. I would have been embarrassed, like Skeeter, to have friends like those. The maids get their own back by telling their stories and Skeeter, a want to be writer, puts them together into a book. When it is published everyone is nervous as they don't know if their stories will be recognised and whether they'll be punished, sacked or beaten for telling truth. 

Hidden - Cathy Glass

** spoiler alert ** Another harrowing book. Kathy Glass and all the other foster careers out there are saints. They care for such damaged children and try their hardest together them back on the right track. These children haven't asked for the lives they have led and need a lot of love, care and attention to help them choose the right pathways. This book is about a young boy Tayo, who it is discovered is in the country illegally after his mother kidnapped him from his school. His mum is totally unsuitable - into drink and drugs and associating with all the wrong people - and is constantly moving around. Tayo was one of many children in the country illegally who had been set to work in a sweat factory ... Yes they do exist in the UK and I couldn't believe hope many children are actually 'hidden' in this country ... It is frightening to know so many children are unaccountable for. Despite this lifestyle Tayo is extremely polite although on occasions his anger does spill out. His mum continues to either not turn up or turn up late for contact sessions and shout at him when she does. He continues to believe his dad will turn up for him and despite extensive searches nothing can be found about his dad. Then one day Cathy gets a phone call to say Tayo's dad has been in touch. He had been searching for over five years and hires the best lawyers etc to try and win the custody of Tayo. Here mum, Minty tries to win him back by deciding to hire lawyers too .... Tough she still doesn't contact or phone him. Thankfully she puts the nail in her own coffin by turning up to court late on many occasions and drunk on another. Custody goes to dad and a couple of days later a delighted child goes back to the family who love and cherish him. A wonderful ending to this true tale. It is a pity that they all don't end so happily

Men at Work - Mike Gayle

A Quick Read about a guy who loves his job and who even refuses a promotion as he enjoys messing around so much but all that changes when his girlfriend loses her job and gets a new one working next to him. His life suddenly closes in around him and he starts thinking of ways to get her out of his work life. But he doesn't realise the consequences of his actions until too late.

The Boy In The Cupboard - Shane Dunphy

This book is written by a social worker and incorporates some of the children he worked with. It is distressing to read how some parents think there children can be brought up - a six year old left alone for two weeks with not enough food whilst mum goes on holiday, her excuse was that it was done to her and she thought he'd enjoy the freedom. What world do they live in. This child is one who Shane deals with and tries to befriend. It is no wonder his behaviour is everywhere and he trusts no one. Then there is another little lad whose dad is involved with gangsters and hides food all around his nursery as if he doesn't know when his next meal will be and then the only son of a top gangster who is openly homosexual but whose father refuses to acknowledge him as he wants a son who will take over his criminal business empire!

Cut - Cathy Glass

Cut: The True Story Of An Abandoned, Abused Little Girl Who Was Desperate To Be Part Of A Family -
I wouldn't say I like reading these books, but rather they're a compelling read and as I work in a hospital it might give me an insight into how some of the children who come in are feeling and why they behave as they do.
This book is about when Cathy & John Glass first started fostering. I can't believe how little the foster careers were told in those days. They should never have been put in a situation where the child was a danger to the family. This is the story of Dawn, a tearaway  13 year old, though most of the time she just craved family life. She liked to push boundaries, as do most teenagers, but when she did push them they were pushed further than others. Her behaviour all was a cry for help. When she was five her parents split up and when an aunt and uncle said they'd care for her, while the parents sorted their lives out, they accepted the offer. So for 4 or 5 years she was raised in Ireland and the only contact she had was through occasional phone calls, often the aunt and uncle would say she was outside and couldn't come to the phone.  When they'd had enough of her they put her on a plane and shipped her back to the UK. When no-one collected the girl at the airport social services were called in and she was returned to her mum. But the girl who returned was unruly and hit and spat at anyone. Her mum tried to help her and then she spent time with her dad but neither could cope. She often cut herself to release her feelings of anger. Then she went into care and Cathy and her husband John fostered her. At the end of the book she makes another attempt on her life and this is  the turning point because she is then taken into a teenage residential home which deals with psychiatric problems. There she was finally able to get the help she deserved and it came out that whilst in Ireland she was repeatedly raped by her cousins. Right at the end Cathy gets a phone call from the then 19year old Dawn who has her life on track and is going to teacher training college.

Yesterdays Girl - Anna Jacobs

As with many of her books this one can be read as part of  a series and this one is number 2 of the series dealing with Lady Bingram's aides. 
Another easy read. All about how people coped after the war - the women being forced out of jobs, men being demobbed, the awful welfare system, corruption and new people out to make things better. This book had all of these plus a good story-line.
During the war Vi Gill was a woman's Aide - helping out doing whatever was necessary at the time. Afterwards her role was disbanded and she had to return to her home town but was determined not to tie herself down working in her dad's shop for peanuts. On the way home she meets a demobbed soldier who is returning to his home town too but to a baby his wife gave birth to but who he knows his not his own and no home to offer to his other two children. Both make acquaintances with a pair of genteel sisters who are living very thrifty as their brother spent all the family money. They end up living in the sisters' house paying rent and doing odd jobs as well as others the sisters deem to help. Both characters face problems which they work to overcome. Vi sees a health visitors job advertised and applies for it, against the wishes of some in the town and Joss struggles to get his children away from their maternal grandmother who is making their life a misery.

Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat

Another Lloyd Webber musical which I have never seen before but so glad I did because it was so so good - another WOW award from me. To be honest the first five minutes, where the musicians played the tunes was too long for me and I was thinking that this was not all the show was going to be but then the story teller (Laura Ingram) came on -what an amazing voice - and the story of Joseph (Keith Jack) and his brothers began. At the end they sang so many songs again, our hands were sore from all the applauding we did. 

Greg Davies

Nearly missed this show. Had spent the day out and after getting back and having tea we were settling down for the evening, when I happened to check the diary to see when we were out the following week and lo and behold we were supposed to be out tonight ... in fact the show started about 2 minutes previously. As we'd already got tickets we thought we'd make the second half. You have never seen us move so fast and 15 minutes later we were pulling up outside the Playhouse. Yet was surprised to see people coming out of the auditorium. He had just missed the support act and Greg was due on in about 15 mins. 
He was funny. He talked about discrediting children, his favourite noises (soundscapes), a moral story and a song (about how life would be better as a bonsai tree). Glad we managed to get there in time to watch his session.