...Another Year On

So here we are one year on and we are still experiencing Lockdown. Personally I am looking forward to getting back on a tennis court again ...not long now.

Although I really have enjoyed walking through the ‘frozen in time’, deserted London Streets. Its so quiet in town that you can really get a good look at the wonderful architecture that normally we would be rushing past on the way to somewhere else.

So stopping...hasn’t been all bad.

Actually with the appointments and meetings gone or transferred to zoom, there has been much more time to get on with writing and thinking about new projects....or even bringing them to fruition.

I was lucky enough to do a series of six Music Programmes on zoom as you can read below in another blog with Dr. Jacqui Norton called The Lyrics , the Music and the Money.

Also I got to work with a great friend and creative partner of mine , David Ian Neville   on a short drama called ‘Secrets’ which we wrote together and David directed. The rehearsal took place on zoom and the actors videoed their performances themselves and sent in the recordings which David then edited together.

It was part of an amazing project called Talent Unlocked that happened when all theatres and entertainment venues had been locked down. This opportunity to work and do something useful was a lifeline to those of us in the Arts. It involved beatboxers, dancers, musicians, actors, artists, poets...all giving their time and work free of charge. Creatives locked down, linking with those who were locked up.

This was the biggest and possibly only arts festival ever staged for England’s prisons and it was launched on December 31st 2020 for eight weeks. It was the brainchild of my friend and colleague Dr. Jacqui Norton from De Montfort University in Leicester and it was screened by WayOut TV, an in-cell TV channel for communication and education in prisons, across 50 establishments in England, aiming to reach potentially 37,000 residents.

You are probably wondering why you are only hearing about it now? Well believe it or not there was ban on talking about it in the press until the Ministry of Justice said it was ok....

This didn’t happened till December and most people were gearing up for Christmas...hey ho!

The reason I am talking about it now is that the whole festival is being repeated and on Sunday night and our short drama’ Secrets’ will be screened again.

So one year on marking the anniversary of ‘lockdown’ it seemed like worthwhile project to give a little ‘shout out’!