Free Fall

Hmm, an interesting few days. I attended a theatre festival for most of it – lots of new plays by emerging writers being performed; a number of writing-craft workshops and of course, plenty of Nottingham’s writing community to chew the fat with. It was organized (and financed) by the Theatre Writing Partnership - an organization whose raison-d’être is to encourage and develop local emerging new stage-writing talent. For the most part, this organization does a very good job (see below left) and is responsible for providing the opportunity to a whole range of aspiring writers to help get their work to a wider audience. Well done, TWP.

We were also treated to a recitation from a local performance group called Blackdrop (if you want more information on this fabulous troupe, click here) aided by slam performance poet Raven (click here) who had made the trip from Dublin especially for this event. Blackdrop is a group of black and mixed race poets who all have Irish blood flowing through their veins and they presented us with a mixture of poetry, song, monologues and percussion in a wild celebration of what it means to be Irish, yet not look it. Some stunning performances from an eclectic bunch of truly talented people.

So hey, a good weekend all round and I made some new friends too! In typical Pilgrim fashion, however, I also made some new enemies – but what the hell, I’ve never been one to stare inequitable iniquities in the face and keep quiet. No, sir.

I won’t explain what I mean by that – it’s all too tedious for words really – but I’m the kind of person who is intolerant of unfairness and favouritism when I see it taking place. But this is all small fry compared with what is happening on the financial markets at the moment. We are all doomed, and the world as we know it is about to collapse. The reason for this? My money (if I had any) is on the switching on of ‘the machine’ last week. Yes, the Large Hadron Collider is the main culprit here, and we shouldn’t be too surprised by this at all. The question is – can we hold on for long enough until it all ends for good (roll on 21st October, that’s what I say). Sucked into the black hole, our cries will be: Goodbye, cruel world...