February
A strange month and usually a difficult one
for me. But not quite so bad this
year. I’ve been so busy with all the
diverse and challenging aspects of my life that I haven’t had the time to get
low. Ted Hughes’ black dog of depression has been wandering around the lorry in
the middle of the night but I haven’t paid it much attention. It’s certainly been cold enough. The frost has been shivering through the thin
roof so by 3.00 am I’ve had to brave it most nights and light a fire before
snuggling back into bed with the dogs and enjoy the slow process of the heat
allowing me to go back to sleep. If you’ve been half expecting the next chapter
of my childhood story I’ve not felt quite up to that one yet. Maybe next time.
Life is a lot easier than this time last year and I’ve always believed that if
I can survive until the start of the Six Nations then there’s a chance I’ll
make it through the following two or three months. And what a great start that was. There’s even
light in the evening sky at five o’clock and I don’t need the torch any more on
the seven-thirty am walk with the dogs. And of course now I’m a pensioner I
receive the wonderful monthly payments as a reward for all those years of
contributions. Fingers crossed I will
manage through till May.
The DVD has been progressing well, the
design for the insert is almost finished and next week I’m shooting the last
few sequences and voiceovers. The music
is all recorded, including a new piece which will be the background for the
section about the dogs. I’ve almost
finished the planning for the launch event/world premiere of the documentary at
Wallingford Corn Exchange Theatre (www.cornexchange.co.uk)
on April 25th and I’ve been planning and practising some new magic elements
for it. It should be a good night with
the world premiere of Rhys Edwards’ documentary and Maff Potts playing live
with Mr Alexander’s Ragtime Band.
Weekdays are really full with work for
Cat’s Paw Theatre. Last week we hit the
Wrexham leg of the tour, with one or two very difficult schools. One on special measures which was a tough
challenge in both two-hour presentations.
I’m right at the centre of the piece and had to use all my experience to
keep the little darlings on the topic. The hall was
very cold and noisy fan heaters made the creation of a theatre atmosphere all
but impossible. Interruptions by school
staff coming and going made it difficult for the young people to focus on the
subject. The result is that at the end of the day I felt totally wiped out. What
with all the same challenges that everyone has; coming back to a cold place,
tidying up, chopping logs, lighting a fire, changing out of costume (shirt and
tie and smart trousers) and thinking about something to eat, I was beginning to
go down.
Then yesterday was one of the Rhyl High
Schools. It turned out it was the same
school that had been attended by a celebrity who had been accused and found
guilty of rape a few years ago and has been recently released from prison,
still publicly claiming his innocence.
The school had several of his relatives still there and therefore the
topic was very current. The discussions
were animated and much of the information we gave was entirely relevant to
their views on the case. Afterwards the
teachers gave us very positive feedback and said they would be writing to the
Welsh Government agency that funds us to say how useful, valuable and important
the presentation is. It’s those moments
that make me realise how lucky I am to be part of such vital work. Despite the cold halls, the noisy fan heaters
and the interruptions by all sorts of things, this feedback makes me feel
positive and valuable again.
Sod off, black dog.
All the best from a road near you,
Mr Alexander