Tag: book-review

Looking Back At Devizes Arts Festival 2026

Featured Image: Gail Foster.

Features extracts from reviews by Andy Fawthrop, Ian Diddams and Madelaine Blake.

Does it ever stop?! The weekend is upon us again. I think I might need to skip this one, not getting any younger, and besides I did enough laughing, dancing and meeting interesting people over the past fortnight, thanks to Devizes Arts Festival…..

Celebrating its fortieth anniversary The Devizes Arts Festival really was amazeballs this year, and between our dedicated team of writers we managed to cover a fair chunk of it. Which we will now look back on with a cheap shot clipshow style article, like a nineteen-seventies TV Christmas Special!

So it leaves me to thank all the volunteers at Devizes Arts Festival for such a brilliant job, and making us feel welcome. And our writers, Andy, Ian and our new writer, Madelaine Blake. Thanks also to photographer Gail Foster for her use of the NRWO gig images.

Devizes Arts Festival kicked off like dancing shoes on Friday 31st May with London’s premier salsa orchestra, Salseology. Sacha Dench’ Journeys of the Human Swan and Beatrice Nicholas was showcasing African American classical composers on the following Saturday. Unfortunately we arrived fashionably late, I was busy with Rowdefest, so apologies for missing the opening.

By Monday, Andy is first out of the starting traps, and bangs out three-in-one reviews, all writing related. The first was a new feature at Devizes Arts Festival, the Have-A-Go Workshops, this one by Bath Spa’s Steve Tuffin, of whom Andy reported, “led a very practical class on how to go about writing a personal memoir, or indeed how to approach any form of creative writing. In what could have been a dry, dusty and boring subject, Steve presented a very lively, interesting and, yes, absorbing couple of hours.”

Anthony Horowitz’s “A Life In Murder” came next, to which Andy raved. “Horowitz proved to be a loquacious and captivating raconteur. He had plenty of anecdotes and examples to give, peppering his replies with humour and witty asides.”

And Becky Grey’s “How I Became A Ghost Writer” finished the trio, which Andy called a “sandwich of literary delights.” I couldn’t convince any of our writing team into covering some Sunday walks, and Jemma Brown’s singing country workshop. Not the most energetic bunch, and if you’d hear them sing you’d be thankful!   

By Tuesday I thought I’d better get on the act, and attended a lunchtime recital with Fábio Fernandes. Being honest I didn’t expect much, I mean, it’s just a lunchtime recital, right? How wrong was I?! St Andrews was packed, and Fábio, well I called him “a virtuoso. He came to Devizes to educate as well as entertain, and he did both delightfully.”

Thursday, Andy covered photographer Nick Upton’s Behind The Lens; My Life in Wildlife Film-Making & Photography, saying, “this talk was a great sweep across Nick’s career over 40 years, and covering over 30 countries, but it illustrated not only the man’s undoubted technical and related skills, but also his obvious passion for nature, especially those projects closer to home in the UK.  These included working with hedgehogs, harvest mice, dormice and the re-introduction programmes of cranes, great bustards, otters and beavers.”

While we’re talking beavers…. ermm, I went to see the Scummy Mummies show on that very same Thursday, reporting back that “you’ve never heard so many Prosecco corks popping from the Corn Exchange. It sounded like machine-gun fire in there, aimed directly at testosterone.”

Obviously I had pre-gig reservations, but by the end, I wrote, “as a geezer, you’d be forgiven for assuming this sounds excruciating, and this was certainly my pre-concern too. For if such a format was performed by anyone other than comedy geniuses, I’d still be of that opinion, but it wasn’t. This duo have the timing of The Greenwich Time Ball, are improv masters, and unless you were a subject on Louis Theroux’s Manosphere, wherever your testosterone balance lies, you cannot escape the simple fact that the Scummy Mummies are absolutely and undeniably hilarious.”

If Andy went for the more calming option, Clare Durham and Paul Martin’s “Collecting; An Art, A Hobby Or A Compulsion?” at Wiltshire Museum, reporting it as “a very entertaining session, and another of those little gems that keep the festival running,” he soon donned his gladrags for Robert Vincent, and besides being unaware of his music, Andy called it: “The vocals were soulful, insistent, yearning. The musicianship was spot-on. The songs were meaningful, well-constructed and simply wonderful. It’s been a while since I was this impressed by a band I’d never even heard before, but I was well won over. I was already on 9/10 by half time, and a no-questions 10/10 by the time we got round to the encore.”

They let me out on Saturday, for London-based Celtic folk-punker five-piece Man the Lifeboats. At a gig unlike their usual they might’ve misjudged the crowd. I said, “Man the Lifeboats realised not to judge a book by the cover, the reward for an accomplished and lively band at Devizes Arts Festival, will be these matured attendees rising from their seated positions and gyrating to their irresistible beats like middle-age never happened; and many did, because Man the Lifeboats were stompingly outstanding!” And they were, a great night that one.

Late out to bat, Ian strode confidently to the stumps with Howzat? The Six Sixes Ball Mystery” by Graham Lloyd at Town Hall, calling it “a fascinating talk about _that_ ball, the alleged lies and repeated falsehoods, and the litany of names surrounding it all.” Glad he did that one, I’m not out for cricket.

Andy hit back with a great ball, Bob Holman’s Have A Go: Phone Photography workshop, which was “another one of those little DAF gems which gave our good citizens a chance to actually “have a go”, rather than just sit back passively and be entertained.  And this was definitely not entertainment, much more instructional in nature.”

Ian delivered on former world champion poetry slammer Harry Baker, one poem of which “brought a tear to my eye and a lump in my throat as it echoed feelings of my own for over thirty years now.”

Andy went to Swing From Paris, only to find they were actually from Gloucester and Worcester, but still, he said, “we got two highly entertaining sets of jazz, swing, waltz and gypsy rhythms mostly from the 1930s through to the 1950s, but also featuring tunes from as far back in the 1890s and forward into the 1980s.  There was plenty of humour and self-deprecation throughout as Fenner talked us through the provenance of each number.”

Next, though it was my turn again, on the comedy….

“Milton neurotically fumbles with the microphone stand, but not his wordplay. As is his bed hair, any emotional instability or self-doubt is part of the act; he has us under his spell from the off. You couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the absurdity of his thought-process. I’m now of the opinion his manipulation of language and layered humour is second to none currently in comedy. He has nearly as many relatives as jokes, each one with their own punchline funnier than the next.” That was me, I said that. I took all the prestigious gigs, and this one was utterly hilarious, Milton Jones, and Adele Cliff were so, so funny!

Just when Andy, Ian and myself  thought we had this under the thumb, in comes our new writer Maddie Blake to, not only drastically lower the age demographic of our dedicated team, but also provide us with a brilliant review of Bath artist Karen George’s sketching workshop at The White Chalk Gallery.

“What made this workshop so special,” Maddie wrote, “wasn’t just the chance to improve my drawing skills, but the atmosphere that was created within this group. Everyone appeared so eager and inviting, it was such a wonderful experience to create new friendships and share stories with those with similar interests in the arts. Despite varying levels of experience, the workshop felt accessible to everyone, and no one felt out of place. This workshop didn’t pressure you to create something ‘perfect,’ but something that captivates your enjoyment and experience of the workshop.”

Thank you, Maddie, and welcome to our exclusive and sometimes elusive writers team! So good was this review, I invited Maddie to come to the finale, Nothing Rhymes with Orange, but being I had a personal angle on this one, reporting on this finest Devizes musical output since the Hoax, I really wanted to write it myself. What a great finish to one of the best Devizes Arts Festivals yet.

“Last night proved Nothing Rhymes with Orange are at the top of their game, as they switched old with new seamlessly, and strived to become the universal name we locally knew they could from the very beginning.”

Nothing Rhymes With Orange @ The Corn Exchange Image: Gail Foster

I also said, rather a lot, about the future of the Arts Festival. With a matured demographic in attendance, generally, I try to illustrate how diverse and accepting it is for all ages. The Gen Z fanbase turned out for NRWO, the elder Arts Festival regulars did too, and everyone was kind and courteous to everyone else. That is the magic of the festival, and I hope those younger took home the notion that the festival isn’t a Saga Holiday, and welcomes all!

There were obviously a few events we couldn’t cover, and I apologise to those involved for this, but we tried to capture as much as possible. It was a wonderful year at the Arts Festival, and we look forward to seeing how they might top this one!

If writing these was a competition, though it’s not, for the record, the highest hitting review was Andy’s one on Robert Vincent, followed by Andy’s three-in-one writing workshops, I made level pegging for the third best for the NRWO review, with Maddie’s sketching workshop review, then my review of Scummy Mummies pipped Milton Jones to the post for the fourth highest hitting article.

But we don’t worry about hits here; I couldn’t pick a personal favourite, oh, okay, go on then! It had to be between Milton Jones and Nothing Rhymes With Orange, of course. For Andy, who, let’s face it, did most of the hard work, picked Robert Vincent and Swing From Paris. “But I also thought the various have-a-go events were pretty good. Oh. That’s three!” 

That’s okay Andy, have three, or more. Interesting though; Arts Festival team, the workshops did prove to be a welcomed addition. Same again next year?! 

Devizes Arts Festival Reviews: Steve Tuffin’s Have-A-Go Workshop on Memoir-Writing, Anthony Horowitz – “A Life In Murder”, and Becky Grey’s “How I Became A Ghost Writer”

It’s All In The Writing

Andy Fawthrop

The Devizes Arts Festival is now in its 40th year and, as ever, seems to be in robust health.  Marking the anniversary with 30 wide-ranging events across two weeks in several venues in and around the town, here’s yet another example of D-Town continuing to punch well above its weight in the area of the Arts…..

Whilst there are lots of big, headlining events (see link below to DAF’s website), there’s lots of other more intimate, and interactive, things going on too.  Because it’s not just big bricks you need to build a wall, it’s the quality of the mortar to bond those bricks into something really solid.  The theme, if there is one, of many of these smaller events is about getting involved or “have a go”.  Well Devizine, as you lovely people well know, is always up for a bit of a challenge, so I thought I’d pitch in to three literary-type events this week.  Being no stranger to the publishing world myself, I decided that, apart from listening to one of the UK’s most prolific fiction and screen writers, I’d cast an eye over two things I’ve previously had a go at myself – memoir-writing, and ghost-writing. What could possibly go wrong?  You never know – I might actually learn something.

First up on Monday was Bath Spa’s Steve Tuffin, who led a very practical class on how to go about writing a personal memoir, or indeed how to approach any form of creative writing.  Surrounded by some wonderful sepia-tinted historical photos on the walls of the Cheese Hall (plenty of subject-matter there), Steve led an engaging session. In what could have been a dry, dusty and boring subject (rather like my good self), Steve presented a very lively, interesting and, yes, absorbing couple of hours.  Apart from some great tips, techniques and tools, there was plenty of good discussion and three different short practical writing exercises.

One of the interesting debates, especially in the light of modern politics and celebrity “voices”, concerned the cross-shading between factual/ absolute “truth” and the personal/ relative viewpoint of “my truth”.  The stories weaved by Trump and his cohorts, Raynor Winn’s “The Salt Path” and the Harry/ Meghan psycho-drama, are all evidence enough that “memoir” and “memory” can often be poles apart, thus melding the different worlds of fact and fiction.

Steve cantered through a number of techniques (starting small, finding your voice, controlling the speed, being brave, reading out loud, finding a way in etc), but the key lesson that came out time and time again was the need to “postpone perfection”: get what you want to say down on the page as quickly as possible, then re-draft (many times), edit, and polish. Clearly a technique that we at Devizine have already (ahem) been practising for many years!

Later on Monday evening, the venue switched to much larger Corn Exchange, where a lively audience of about three hundred turned out on a rainy night to hear Becky Grey interview the prolific and versatile author and screen-writer Anthony Horowitz.  Responsible for writing scripts for Midsomer Murders, Foyle’s War, as well as the Alex Rider teen spy series, two modern Sherlock Holmes novels and three James Bond continuation novels, Horowitz is no stranger to hard work and all the tricks and tools of fiction writing. 

Becky didn’t have to work too hard to get the man talking: Horowitz proved to be a loquacious and captivating raconteur. He had plenty of anecdotes and examples to give, peppering his replies with humour and witty asides. Having known he wanted to be an author since the age of ten, discovering that he had both the right skills and a vivid imagination, he was soon set upon the career which has now made him famous. Declaring himself a great fan of Agatha Christie and her skill at plotting, by planting the clues to the “solution” but without giving away the answer before the very last twist, and deliberately laying false trails, Horowitz showed himself to be entirely engaged in, and engrossed by, the techniques of the popular fiction-writer.

His line on the use of AI was that it was a useful, but a clearly limited tool, to be employed with care and discretion, and to understand its limits.  He said that he used AI simply as a research assistant, a search engine to fill in the gaps, simply to save time on researching factual background information, but never to do any actual “writing” that could end up in any of his books or scripts.

And that knotty subject that had emerged during the earlier session in the afternoon, the frequent non-alignment between “my truth” and factual reality, came up again for some more analysis.  The Trumpian world-view, together with a brief commentary of the recent Sturgeon/ Murrell embezzlement fandango were subjected to some light-hearted, but laser-sharp, critique.

Horowitz revealed that he had no set daily “routine” for his writing, that he was useless at reading his own work (for audiobooks), that “cosy crime” was a misnomer (because murder is too horrible to ever be cosy), that he can’t write poetry or romance (his wife had told him that he could never write about a subject that he had no experience of), and that over his career he had systematically killed off every single character who had ever been nasty to him (well, their fictional personas at least!).

After the 45-minute session, Becky opened the floor to audience Q&A for twenty minutes, after which there was plenty of action out front at the book-signing session.  Overall, a very entertaining and engaging evening from an author at the top of his game.

Finally (on Tuesday afternoon), to complete the final layer of this sandwich of literary delights, I turned to BBC Sport’s Becky Grey herself.  In an event sponsored by Wadworth, and held in the wonderfully historic surroundings of Devizes Museum, she spoke about how she had started her career in ghost-writing books and newspaper columns for celebrity sports stars. And the answer was – almost by accident. She zig-zagged her way towards it until, like Anthony Horowitz the previous evening, she suddenly discovered that she had a flair for writing, and that her subject-matter (sports and sports-people) was totally engaging. She seems to have never looked back.

Becky talked of the various sports personalities she’d worked with, and took us through the steps and techniques for tackling that kind of work.  Interestingly she hit many of the same themes and techniques that Steve Tuffin had mentioned the previous day (including just getting the first draft down on paper, refining and editing, picking out the real story etc).  In answer to questions, she also talked about handling the tricky “factual truth” versus “my truth” debate (by challenging, and with a lot of tact!), payment models, red lines, and copyright. 

And finally – yes you’ve guessed it – there was a short exercise, another chance to “have a go”.  And, of course, a book-signing. Another engaging and interesting session.

So there you have it – three events over two days, vastly different in some ways, but nicely inter-connected in others.  And did I learn anything?  Ah – that would be telling!

Anyways, onwards and upwards, with still plenty of great stuff to come over the next ten days, both ticketed and free.  The Devizes Arts Festival continues until the night of Sunday 14th June at various venues around the town.  Tickets can be booked at Devizes Books or online at www.devizesartsfestival.org.uk

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Wife Cooks Husband in Devizes!

A wife cooked her husband on Thursday evening in Devizes. I watched the whole thing unfold, but would have politely passed off any offering of a plate, in favour of my funky KitKat Chunky (three for a quid at Derek’s Deals!) What do you know? I’m way too much like Kenneth for my own liking, for after all, the way to a man’s stomach is……

You can get ice cream at Devizes’ wonderful Wharf Theatre, but not at a dress rehearsal, which is what this was; my apologies if the headline deliberately deceived you! You are here now, and might as well read about me sneaking in my own snack, to watch this wicked black comedy from the writer of The Nativity film series, Debbie Isitt. Opening night is Monday 18th May and the final night is Saturday, 23rd. 

Directed by Alison Warren, The Wife Who Cooked Her Husband may have the conclusion given away in the title, but the lead up to it is an unnerving watch with poignantly satirical dialogue. Set in either the late seventies or early eighties, a time when the practices of patriarchy were being questioned via feminism for a younger generation, their elders upheld the traditions of married life. Ergo, for a middle-aged chauvinist to “part exchange” his older model wife, might find himself undone and exposed by his newer model’s more modern perceptions of marriage.

There’s only three characters in this play, sitting around a dinner table. Flashbacks builds a devilish narrative of a cheating husband, how it emotionally affects his ex-wife, and the new wife too. Jessica Bone plays the ex-wife, Hilary, vividly. The focal point of the play is her building concerns for her marriage, and realisation her suspicions were right. Defining her plight is the emotional rollercoaster which justifies her revenge.

Louisa Davidson is Laura, the scandalous, younger, hedonistic mistress, and she plays it with a realistic front. But as the play delves deeper into Laura’s psyche, and her expectations from her marriage, whilst more radically feministic, are of equal burden to Kenneth, the happy-go-lucky fellow, caught in this love triangle of his own making.

It becomes clear the antagonist was never Laura. Kenneth is the lovable charmer, a gluttoness Elvis fan. Hardly a master of deception, he fulfills his desires uncaringly; the basic caricature of an eighties lad with Peter Pan syndrome; me starting this review with what I ate during the show might well be proof! If Jessica’s abject and sentimental monologues are the backbone of the play, they’re contrasted by Kenneth’s playful ignorance, and therein lies the comedy, dark as it may be.  

Andy Bennett plays Kenneth with comic splendour. One who gets his dinner at home but his love elsewhere, and at this successful beginning there’s a scene of visual comedy gold, as the moment of him ingeniously switching from Hilary to Laura delights him. Once reality takes hold, holes in his lies are exposed, and whilst his thoughts on the matter are exposed too, they’re not nearly as nuanced as either Hilray’s or Laura’s. One could argue a writer creates more realistic characters of their own gender, and in this Kenneth’s characteristics are flatter. Another argument is, of course, that’s the fundamental difference between the genders!

Here is a play which either gender can enjoy, and it is very enjoyable, but after-thoughts might some cause healthy debate! That’s what makes this a great show. The production may not be the best I’ve seen at The Wharf, though that’s a high pedestal, but three days later I’m still pondering its details and the questions it raises; it’s a grower.

While it might appeal more to women, the tensions and stress on relationships caused by an affair should alarm the man more, and they should see it if only to find sympathy for the mess they would create, following their desires without consideration. Young men preaching hyper-masculinity and this manosphere concept, should note this play proves these ideas were standard not so long ago, and didn’t work back then. Because, and here’s the real hitter, Hilary ponders at the conclusion, Kenneth has decidedly average levels of chauvinism, passive with it, and is atypical rather than extreme, but still he’s a manipulator and cheat who deserved his comeuppance.

The macabre ending suggested by the title is therefore expected, but the wait for Kenneth’s fate and Hillary’s justifications are more intensely meaningful than the concussion. While this play is of a simple setup, with a simple and common premise, the more its deeper meanings roll over in my mind, the more I accept that The Wife Who Cooked her Husband is a must-see.  

The Woman who cooked her husband

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Local Author’s Book Reveals Why Devizine Isn’t Funny Anymore

Devizine can reveal how a new book by a local author might possibly be the reason why Devizine isn’t as funny as it used to be….

Devizine, it used to be funny, but sadly it seems it’s not so much anymore. Who took the banana skin from under its flip-flop? Who failed to give it a raspberry on the bouncy belly? Editor and creator of Devizine, Darren Worrow might have discovered why.

He said, “It’s a disgrace. This so-called author Darren Worrow has channelled all his pathetic attempts at humour into his new book Murder at the Scribbling Horse, and hardly bothered sharing anything the slightest bit amusing here on Devizine, as he once did; typical liberties from a loony leftie! And now he expects me to blow my own trumpet and sing his praises; what a pretentious twat! Shamelessly plugging his own book on his own website is surely proof.”

“Set in the fictional Wiltshire market town of Slapam-on-the-Fye, which is nothing like any real Wiltshire market town you might know of, it claims to be a murder-mystery, but the only true thing it murders is English literature.”

“Neither is there any subtlety in it either, like there is with Devizine,” Worrow waffled on sorrowfully wallowing. “Worrow takes no prisoners, has gone all out and created an absolute work of filth; an offensive joke book with a sham narrative, just so he can say disgusting things about various celebrities, politicians and anyone else he doesn’t like, despite the good honest work they’re doing to keep Britain free from logic and empathy.”

“With the mouth of a sailor, it downright disregards any level of intelligence locals might possess, and paints them all as so utterly idiotic the narration of the story has to be conveyed through the point of view of the pub dog; I don’t think that’s funny at all. The dog is a depressing nihilist, who uses the opportunity to put the human world to rights, rather than getting on with telling the story, that’s why it stacks up over 500 pages. 500 plus pages of meandering woke filth, I might add.”

“Using a facade of a murder mystery, in which the frontman to a tribute act is murdered in the pub whilst they organise a fundraising music festival, as the plot thickens like moulded yogurt around his genitalia, it goes as far as disgracefully making a mockery out of petty local politics too. It’s the biggest crime against pop since David Bowie and Mick Jagger’s cover of Dancing in the Street. I’d rather lick that yogurt off than buy this book, but that’s probably what this sick perverted tyrant wants us to do.”

“You’re not going to enjoy reading it, as tea can scold you if dropped in your lap through laughing too much. Therefore I call upon Steer Karma and the government to ban this book for health and safety reasons.”

“This thing wouldn’t have been published under Farage, you know? And thousands of flagpoles will now have to be erected to counteract the unpatriotic damage done, at the taxpayer’s expense too.”

The author of the book, Darren Worrow, rebukes comments made by the Devizine editor, Darren Worrow. “That guy is as thick as a Boxing Day turd and pissing into the wind,” he said. “Other than the fact I have released a new book, the rest is slanderous lies and Devizine will be hearing from my lawyers. Murder at the Scribbling Horse is a fascinating psychological study and critique of the modern world, questioning our nonacceptance of aging and the social and political issues it raises; with added knob jokes.”

The author became irate, claiming, “for eight long years I’ve been tirelessly promoting everyone else for peanuts. I’ve not even had the opportunity of taking a bath since, and I look like a Yeti past its sell by date. It’s about time I thought about myself for a change, and everyone can bloody well return the favour by buying my book!”

Eighties post-punk sensations Johnny Bunion and the Verrucas’ most successful album, The Legend of Castle Grey Scholl, 1981.

Whatever happened to Johnny Bunion? His legend burnt out long before his candle ever did.

But the more pressing question must be, was it connected to the murder at the Scribbling Horse public house in the narrow-minded Wiltshire market town of Slapam-on-the-Fye, some forty plus years later? And if so, how?

To answer this you’ll need to research, and my book, Murder at the Scribbling Horse will be the only way to do that.

If there’s ever any proceeds from the book, they will go to a much needed new Lynx Africa deodorant set, and a Brazilian back, sack and crack wax for the obnoxious author; the twat needs it, he looks like Posie from the Flumps’ rustic vajazzle.

Seriously though, being funny is the only thing I’m serious about. If you laughed at any part of this internal press release you’re a bit weird, and the ideal target audience for my book! You’re going to laugh a kazillion times (that’s a zillion zillions) more with a copy Murder at the Scribbling Horse in your grubby mitts. And even if you’ve no sense of humour, you know a good Christmas present idea when you see one!

You can buy the paperback online here. And the e-book here. It’s out for global distribution but buying direct from Lulu cuts out the middle man and gives the best royalties to the authors. 

Not for sale to children or the over sensitive, though; as if I needed to say!

Murder at the Scribbling Horse is available at Devizes Books for a reduced price of £20, and next Saturday 22nd November, I’ll be in the shop praying to the Norse god of biscuits someone might stop by and purchase a signed copy at the super reduced price of £20!

If you cannot make it, you can message me and I’ll personally deliver you a copy if you live locally. I still need to work out posting & packaging costs, so message me if it needs posting and I’ll let you know about that asap. Happy reading…well, I say that but do I really mean it, I mean, really?!

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Swindon Travel Hub Brings Cruise & Holiday Show to the County Ground

Holidaymakers from across Swindon & Wiltshire are being invited to attend one of the region’s newest travel events this summer as Swindon Travel Hub hosts its inaugural Cruise & Holiday Show at the County Ground on Sunday 5th July 2026….. Taking place in the Legends Lounge at Swindon Town Football Club’s County Ground, the free-to-attend…

Darren Worrow's avatar by Darren Worrow

Still Alice at The Wharf Theatre Raises Dementia Awareness

Valedictorian graduate of Bates College in Maine, and with a PhD in neuroscience from Harvard, neuroscientist Lisa Genova self-published her debut novel, Still Alice in 2007. Acquired for publishing two years later, Still Alice made The New York Times Best Seller list, was adapted for the stage by Christine Mary Dunford of Chicago’s Lookingglass Theatre Company, and spurred a 2014 movie by Memento Films, winning Julianne Moore an Academy Award. Under the direction of John Winterton, The Wharf Theatre brings this poignant play to Devizes……

It’s lovely to be back at Devizes’ cosy and communal theatre. Ian assigned himself our theatre critic and while his brilliant inside knowledge is gratefully appreciated, I figured I fancy this one, as I have a personal angle on the plot. Alzheimer’s Society suggests “every 3 minutes someone in the UK develops dementia,” therefore I imagine many others will find relevance in it too, and if not, might one day.

We found it amusing at the beginning, my Nan in Dad’s car still wearing her slippers for a party, and other trivial mishaps. But the last time I saw her I was saddened to note she didn’t remember me, as she spoke to me of her “husband,” rather than address him as “grandad.” My children were young and understandably apprehensive about going into the care home. But when they plucked up courage my boy stood before her and she was delighted to be face-to-face with who she assumed was me. Here was the relieving point; I realised she hadn’t forgotten me, she just didn’t recognise me because thirty-plus years was missing from her memory; thank you genetics!

The journey between these two points in time was arduous for her and our family. For her it went from confusion to frustration and onto an immune state of obviousness. Lisa Genova wrote Still Alice in first person narrative from the point of view of Alice, a university professor at the height of her career who is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease; it mirrors what we went through, and sheds a fascinating light onto what my Nan must’ve gone through too.

The play honours the narrative perspective by an ingenious method of a personification of Alice’s psyche. With a dual-Alice on stage, the real Alice, played sublimely by Linda Swann, says what she believes she should say, while her conscious shadowing her, equally delivered with skill by a younger version of Alice, Sophie Kerr, offers the audience an insight into what she is thinking. Just as I suggested, with the lost time of my Nan’s mind, Alice perceives herself as being younger, so this age gap works as her sense of reason, until reason runs short in her mind and her consciousness is reduced to the childlike drawing of pictures.

There are many elements to the happenings in the play which anyone who has experienced a loved one going through Alzheimer’s or dementia will recognise, and tears might trickle. There’s periods of thought-provoking awkward silence, intense confrontation at others, when the confusion turns to frustration. There’s poignant reality and touching scenes as the family come to terms with Alice’s deteriorating mind. There’s thought processes from Alice exposed, causing you to identify with her greater than that of her family; a window into the mindset of anyone suffering with this terrible condition.

Overall, akin to a film like Schindler’s List, this is a play you might not want to face, oh, but you must, and you should. 

Still Alice is evoking brilliance, you will leave impelled to discuss the subject further. It raises awareness of this horrifying condition and doesn’t meander from this for any purposes of entertainment. On the impaired particularly, the sentiment is pragmatic, but also in her relationship with her family and their emotions, all poignantly represented and acted with believable precision by John Myles, as the calm under pressure husband, Adam Sturges as the solicitude son, and Kezia Richards as the estranged daughter.

Still Alice raises awareness about Alzheimer’s or dementia in a similar way as Barry Levinson’s Rain Man raised awareness of autism, but only if we could have seen into the mind of Raymond would it be any more comparable. That’s the beauty of theatre, this is a play with the power to change you. 

Still Alice runs at The Wharf Theatre, Devizes from September 1st until September 6th 2025, Tickets HERE or at Devizes Books.

World Alzheimer’s Day is Sunday 21st September. You can find more information about local dementia groups at Alzheimer’s Support, and sign up for their Walk to Remember at Wilton House, HERE.

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Manning Lifeboats, In Devizes!

Manning the lifeboats with Devizes Arts Festival in landlocked Devizes last night, and I didn’t even get a sticker. I did shake a tailfeather out…

Killers, Catalysts and Devizes Author Dave McKenna’s New Novelette

On impulse I speculated, just short of a quarter way through this book and at the conjunction the format of the narrative is sussed, that if the author, Devizes’ Dave McKenna, has a favourite Quentin Tarantino film it might be my favourite too, the lesser acclaimed Jackie Brown. Not for its plagiarism of blaxploitation nor usage of derogatory slangs, rather for the multiple point-of-view conclusion, because The Killer & The Catalyst follows this formula throughout, and this is what makes it engaging….

This and breakneck volatility, conspiracy inducing, disloyal and sadistic action from nearly every character and the intense velocity it’s all delivered with. Coincidently, Dave cites Tarantino as an influence at the back matter, alongside Harlan Coben and Stephen King. Some of the book’s settings are drawn from actual features and places in Devizes. Most commonly the now closed and speculated as haunted Roundway psychiatric hospital, and an alley besides it in which Dave elucidates his inspiration for the story’s events set there were developed from a real incident at the location. It’s with these eerie settings, familiar if you’re local, I find understanding for citing King as an influence, especially to begin with; it feels like a horror, yet while the book has an unnerving ambience, a crime thriller might better pigeonhole it.

It’s causally written in a loose style with nothing academic about it, making it simple to digest, as if the narrator is on equal level to the characters, as if rambling the yarn to his mate in the pub. Breathes a sense of reality into it; the characters talk like you and I, therefore you identity, why not the narrator too? I like this relaxed and contemporary approach, particularly suits the plot and macho target audience; lads need to read more, and if that’s the case, this might be the book for them. Hyper popcorn-munching movie violence fashion this is.

Apostrophes are used instead of speech marks. This, and the abbreviation of okay to ‘OK’ out of speech makes the grammar police inside me cringe, to be honest. Such usages and the out of speech line, “That was a piece of piss,” implies this is hardly Dickens quality! But I’m willing to overlook and ignore these niggly criticisms for this book, because Dave McKenna can weave a story, dammit. He can evoke an appropriate mood within his readers, twist it, and he can suspend you on the edge of your seat. That makes him an author, not an ability to whisk long and misunderstood words (like wot I do to make me sound more intelligent than I is!)

Identifying the protagonist from the antagonist is questionable, when this periodic method of returning to the same opening scene with each point-of-view occurs, and that’s genius and a narrative difficult to construct. It conveys everything is not as it might seem from the angle of each individual and engages you into understanding the bigger picture. That is what makes The Killer & The Catalyst an absorbing and worthwhile read.

With the current state of the literature industry being it’s who you are rather than how good you can write, I wouldn’t imagine finding this on a supermarket shelf alongside ghost-written celebrity autobiographies. This is an example proving the asset of self-publishing, that which a mainstream publisher wouldn’t touch, doesn’t mean a person hasn’t got an exceptional story to tell and the ability in which to write it, it simply means it’s not commercially viable.

People merely need to be brave and take a lucky dip on a rising author, rather than accept what Waterstones throw at them. The Killer & The Catalyst is the good example of this, should you wish to be held in suspense and driven to question which characters were right and which were wrong, not forgoing indulging in some nasty scenes of violence to boot!

You can get The Killer & The Catalyst as paperback or Kindle on Amazon, or pop into Devizes Books for this page-turner, and you’ll look forward to reading future yarns of Dave McKenna, of that I’m certain.

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Pride Where Pride is Needed

Pride month finds me wondering if Pride events are actually needed more in our smaller market towns where awareness and acceptance is perhaps lesser…

by Darren Worrow

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Discover the perfect destination for Walk Your Dog Month at Nightingale Wood

Image credit: Forestry England/Crown copyright.

Forestry England Nightingale Wood invites dog owners to celebrate Walk Your Dog Month this January…..

Walk Your Dog Month is a great opportunity to build your bond with your four-legged family members. It can be tempting to stay indoors at this time of year, but regular walks are essential for a dog’s physical and mental health. The good news is, they’re pretty good for owners’ health too! So, grab a lead and some poo bags, and read on for Nightingale Wood’s top tips for a brilliant Walk Your Dog Month.

Beat the January blues

With festivities over, January can be a difficult month of cold weather and long nights. Spending time in nature with your best friend by your side is a fantastic way to enjoy natural light and fresh air. Physical activity can increase your energy levels and reduce stress. Even a short walk can clear your mind and lift your mood.

Fun for the whole family

Fun awaits the whole family at Nightingale Wood. Spot wildlife, build dens, and splash in puddles.

Dog-friendly environment

With clearly marked paths and plenty of space to roam, Nightingale Wood is the perfect spot for exploring. Choose from three easy-to-follow walking trails or create your own route from the network of surfaced trails and forest roads. There are so many scents and sounds to explore, your dog will never get tired of returning to the forest.

Build your fitness

Fancy trying something different? Look out around the trails for pieces of fitness equipment which have been installed as part of the Great Western Community Forest project.

Canine community

With fellow dog walkers enjoying the forest, there is always someone to pass the time of day with during a walk. Human connection is one of the NHS’s essential ingredients for positive wellbeing. You never know whose day you might change with a smile – or who might change yours.

Don’t miss the chance to celebrate Walk Your Dog Month at Nightingale Wood. Lace up your shoes and head into the woods for an unforgettable adventure.

For more information, visit https://www.forestryengland.uk/nightingale-wood

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After Ruby, Barrelhouse and RowdeFest 26

Images by Jess Worrow A busy late spring weekend across the county, with major events from Bradford-on-Avon to Swindon, but I’m bringing quality acts I…

Chatting with Ruby Darbyshire

There’s the story of one newfound fan who, after her performance, asked Ruby how many copies of her CDs she had, bought the lot and…

Shindig Festival Goes Ahead, with Bob Vylan

After months of speculation, controversy, and local media bias, The Shindig Festival at Malmesbury’s Charton Park has been given the green light….. Despite Newsquest flogging…

Sing Another Love Song with Rosie Jay

Second impressive single from young Salisbury singer-songwriter Rosie Jay is released today. Sing Another Love Song; a sound of the summer…..

Her debut breakup track I Don’t Give a Damn, had an interesting hook, this has too, but is far more optimistic, and eternally beguiling. It is, technically, the better of the two, revealing a potential for eminence in its confident and outstanding delivery. 

If it hints of connotations the infatuation of the theme is one-sided on the part of the author, it’s open-ended for interpretation; maybe the love interest simply doesn’t share their passion for a good love song?! That’s their issue! 

For that’s what this is, breezy and cool, acoustic and pop-folky, with the perfect flowery scent of Kirsty MacColl in both theme, musically and vocally. Such is the magic of local producer Jolyon Dixon, to filter the inner superlative of an upcoming artist and nurture it to the forefront. And in such you’ll hear a similarity with Rosie to his duo Illingworth with John Smith, should you’ve caught them on our live music circuit. Then again, the whole gypsy-esque vibe, there’s hints of Irish, and I’m awarding the Corrs as another comparison; as with MacColl, these are high accolades indeed!

Here this now, it’ll brighten up your day. Yet, gorgeous as this song is, with the blossoming potential it displays, I believe it’ll be rudimentary in a short period of time, and the best of Rosie Jay is yet to come. You need to be here to hear it when it does. 

what else is occurring?!

M3G, De-Anchored

At the end of last year Chippenham singer-songwriter M3G released the single Rooks. I felt it set her bar at a whole new higher level.…

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REVIEW – Devizes Arts Festival – Belinda Kirk @ Cheese Hall 11th June 2024

Right Out Of The Comfort Zone

by Andy Fawthrop

Following a lively few days of entertaining and varied events over this last weekend, we’re now into Devizes Arts Festival’s second week. 

I decided to trundle along to the Cheese Hall earlier this afternoon to find out what Belinda Kirk might have to say for herself.  Stuff about being adventurous, I’d heard.  I settled down into my seat and awaited a comfortable afternoon chat.  But an hour later things had changed somewhat.

Belinda Kirk is a world-record holding explorer, researcher and a leading campaigner promoting the benefits of “adventure” on wellbeing. She’s written the best-selling, award-nominated, book “Adventure Mind: Transform Your Wellbeing By Choosing Challenge”.  She’s led dozens of international expeditions, numerous youth development challenges, and pioneered inclusive adventures for people with disabilities. She established the Explorers Connect organisation and website in order to spread the word about the life-changing impact of adventure. She’s encouraged over 30,000 ordinary people to engage in transformational outdoor challenges. And most recently she’s faced her greatest challenge: to continue to live adventurously since becoming a parent.

Belinda spoke for about 45 minutes before hosting a Q&A session.  In her talk she emphasised that she was not just talking about “being in Nature” (the benefits of which are now well documented), but about engaging with the world in a much more vigorous way by taking up personal and/ or team challenges.  She was talking jungles, deserts, remote places, open seas, and I was just beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable.

Outlining how participating in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme as a sixteen year-old had been a complete sliding doors moment for her, she described how she got the bug to get “out there”.  Over the next few years she joined, and later led, several expeditions, worked for five or six years with that Big Softie Bear Grylls, worked as a diver for a year, and took part in a row-round-Britain challenge.  I was fully awake by now and starting to feel how exceptionally lazy I’ve been all my life.

She discovered how impactful it was to undertake both large and small adventures.  She saw with her own eyes time and time again how people of all ages found these challenges to be, literally, life-changing. And it was then that she began to research the psychology of what was actually going on here.  She described in great detail a major expedition she’d led to cross Nicaragua coast-to-coast with a group of severely disabled youngsters, including (incredibly to me) climbing to the summit of an active volcano.  And there were many other examples and stories too.  Much against my will, I was actually on the edge of my seat listening to this stuff.  And I wasn’t alone either – the rest of the packed audience seemed pretty enraptured too.  She’s an enthusiastic, energetic and very articulate speaker.

Belinda spoke of moving from your “comfort zone” to your “stretch zone” and heading towards your “panic zone”.  It sounded like jargon, but it wasn’t – I was definitely on the same page by now.  Pushing yourself has many benefits in enriching your life – giving yourself new skills and confidence, finding out what you’re really capable of, and (crucially) having some fun.   I’m having some of that!

She finished with a lively Q&A session, before signing copies of her book “Adventure Mind: Transform Your Wellbeing By Choosing Challenge”.  But I couldn’t wait around for that – I needed to get outside into my “stretch zone” to swim the K&A Canal, sort out the problems in The Crammer, and single-handedly remove all the traffic-lights across D-Town.  Then I might sit down with a well-deserved cup of tea and a biscuit.

A solidly entertaining afternoon, and another absolute gem from DAF.

You can find out more about Belinda’s adventuring at www.explorersconnect.com/

The Devizes Arts Festival continues until Sunday 16th June at various venues around the town.  Tickets can be booked at Devizes Books or online at www.devizesartsfestival.org.uk

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Ready for RowdeFest?

Not long now, for Rowdefest! Which, as the name suggests, is in Rowde, near Devizes, on Saturday 30th May, and is a free, community spirited…

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Broken Shadows; New Novel from Wiltshire Author Sorrel Pitts

I arrived in a Wiltshire village aged fourteen from suburban Essex, anxious this was my new home. While my parents awaited keys from the estate agent, they sent my elder brother and I to the shop for milk. Wandering the lane an elderly gent wished us the customary “mornin’.” It left me bewildered; why was he talking to us, he couldn’t possibly know us?! This amusing archived memory of an introduction to the way of life in rural Wiltshire popped into my tiny mind recently, jogged by a book I’ve been reading……

You may’ve seen it on social media ahead of its release on 6th Feb. If you’re active on our music scene you may know the author, Sorrel Pitts, often found at open mics, accompanied by Vince Bell. I caught her at one in Great Cheverell’s Bell and was astounded by her songwriting ability; now I realise I was only skimming the surface.

Sorrel is undoubtedly well travelled but raised in Wiltshire, though if it’s not the picture-painting words describing our landscapes, culture and mannerisms giving this game away, it’s the characters reflecting on foreign lives they’ve built for themselves in comparison to the sensations of a homecoming which illustrates Wiltshire life so vividly, hence my jogged recollection.

The village in Broken Shadows is fictional, but believably set in the Marlborough Downs, west of the town; if you know the area you could hazard a guess to the inspiration. Sorrel was born here, and from the tracks to the primary school and pub, to sacred neolithic stones, and down to the wildlife and weeds defining a scene around a dilapidated barn, her remarkable proficiency of illustrative writing is abounded.

As Steinbeck paints an image of rural Oklahoma to the point you can smell the cotton on the drylands, Sorrel equals in building a visual environment we’re familiar with. Perhaps Hardy would therefore be a better geographical comparison, and like him, Sorrel exemplifies subtle differences between rural working class and the affluence of classic Brontë characters. Though this is modern, mentioning a lack of internet connection, covid tests, or housing developments in the village, as two characters return to the village they grew up in, to recollect their rural upbringings.

With the scene set superbly, you’re in a picture frame, prepped for fictional first-person narrative, building in intriguing layers, diary-like over a two character’s POVs, those of Tom and Anna. The pair begin unattached though schoolfriends, are reunited through a similar circumstance of returning there, Anna to recover from an operation, Tom to care for his dying father. In this connection there’s an archetypal narrative of forbidden love sidelining, the thrill of lust against commitment, amidst an unfolding mystery, Tom’s brother’s unsolved brutal murder in the village when they were children. Anything further might be considered spoilers, needless to suggest, Sorrel rocks the boat of the stereotypical tranquillity of rural Wiltshire, with this mysterious loss and the unveiling its developing backstory.

It takes time to unravel the truth of what really happened, the pace of reading steady, as characters are introduced through various other family or village happenings, and varying amounts of suspicion you will cast upon them. I certainly had my chosen suspects, but when the revelation arrived, the penny will not have dropped, and Sorrel accelerates to breakneck speeds as the climax unfolds, leaving you breathless and unable to put this book down. I swear, right, my wife had to take my Kindle off me so I could get on the school run!

Not sure I like the term “page-turner,” to describe a novel, and until halfway I wouldn’t use it anyway, but if the suspense building in layers will tempt you back to it, I recommend you go for it. Feeling you’re close to summit of the tale when all will be revealed will tie you to the characters and their circumstance personally, and that, my friend, is the sign of a fantastic novel.

It could be set anywhere and would be a great read, the fact it’s local makes it seem that bit more real. You’ll pick up on cultural references and geographic locations, identify with the surroundings, architecture and particularly, the mannerisms of the villagers; it’ll leave it convinced you know Tom and Anna. The stunning wordsmithery of Sorrel is elementary, being the account is written akin to diary entries, there’s nothing to confound you, but the juxtaposition shows that pure competence to weave a convincing, heartstring plucking, and edge-of-your seat story. Sorrel can write, and I was hooked, Sir Michael Parkinson too, apparently! Ah, at least I’ve one thing in common with Parky!

Sorrel has a book signing at Devizes Books on Saturday 17th Feb, find the book available there, or at White Horse Books in Marlborough. Find digital copies on Amazon here.

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Radium on Liddington Hill

Swindon-based adrenaline pumping five-piece Liddington Hill released their first EP for three years, and Radium is highly radioactive….. For most on the North Wessex…