Provands Lordship

  Standing in the space of the oldest house in Glasgow, founded in 1471, shows me what is possible when you build something with purpose; it out lasts change. The top floor of the house in Glasgow originally used by both church and hospital has a wooden bench by a window that looks onto the […]
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how to make theatre absurd

  It’s a familiar question.   Tell us a story when you were going about your own business and something completely ridiculous or inexplicable happened. What did you do? I walked into a familiar space with a ticket to a secret show.  The new fashion across our local theatres is to serve up a play […]
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The Joy of St Peter’s

  First, a warning: A lot of what you read here may surprise you. On the surface, it sounds unbelievable. How could something so traditional as a historic church surprise anyone? It is easy to walk by, you know the scenario. A show with heavy marketing, laden down with posters, guided me South. Especially during […]
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Don’t fall… jump into love!

Thomas Dawkins sparkles as Jack, the hero in this Oscar Wilde adaptation, and tops and tails the show doubling as a young writer in search of his sidekick. In both future and past scenarios he finds a muse in the steadfast gaze of Cassandra Foster who plays an assured Gwendolen. Pamela Schermann’s direction presents a […]
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Court fixing up the past

Looking back at my annual August visits to Edinburgh Festival Venue brings alive the stories of a medieval building.   George Riddell changed the front of a building at the top of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile in 1726 and took a step forward for the Scottish Enlightenment. Scotland’s Union with England in 1707 meant the end of the […]
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Bessa Can’t Dance

  This is part of a novel I am slowly working on that reflects the theme of ‘honey and vinegar’, and looks at the role of kindness from others in building a life.     Her parents had such a lust for life no one was around to pick her up from dance lessons or […]
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Around the Mound

Overheard from a window opening onto Edinburgh Fringe… Debbie did something amazing yesterday and the pain went away.  We be both cried. -How are you feeling? Me? -I feel like I want to tell you all my problems Why? -After you said what you did by trade I am not a practicing therapist though -Who are […]
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Flower Power

I found pressed flowers in the attic during a clear out and these dusty first few pages of a novel that look at the power of a flower in a theatre.   A closer view of the stage can be found here!   The school Jack once studied at stood in Edinburgh like a tombstone in evil grey stone. […]
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Palermo Palms

      Villa Julia in Palermo sits facing the coast and uses the brisk sea air to make the perfect environment for the arid plants that thrive in this botanic garden.  The forest garden techniques of planting vegetation at different levels (the oldest technique of horticulture) are referenced with Palms standing as sky scrapers […]
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Sorrento SOS

  That lost tourist on a Naples Street is me. Porto Molo Beverello is ahead not behind me. My left right zigzag hit a dead end because I cropped the pop out map, now swapped for Espresso and invasion stories crafted by cafe owners.  Here I find a new friend; true Napoli.   Enjoy more 50 word stories […]
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