Artsmonkey Blog

I travel quite a bit in my role as a freelance creative consultant and often at my own expense, so I’m careful about my journeys. One of my favourite journeys is returning home from Brighton.

Brighton, as far as I can tell is like Marmite, you either love it or you hate. I love it. I always meet interesting people, I often learn something new and am usually invigorated by the cultural buzz of the place. My journey there could involve the M25 but for obvious reasons only does so if I need to avoid the racing traffic in the summer. Usually I travel out of Wiltshire into Hampshire and take the scenic route via West Sussex into East Sussex. Skirting past Southampton and Portsmouth along the M27, to join the A27 through Chichester, Arundel and Lancing, before finally dipping into Brighton via the Devils Dyke.

Sometimes if my meeting or event is at a reasonable time, I’ll park at Chichester and get the train in and out which is usually fun and never dull. However, my favourite journey is the one home, when occasionally I have the leisure to travel back along Brightons Regency seafront with the sea on one side, bandstands, mini golf, the rusting silhouette of the West Pier and beautiful architecture from many decades, on the other. The landscape closes in a bit after Hove, passing by Hove Lagoon and more beach huts, then on to Shoreham which gets more commercialised and ‘shipping industrial’.This week I was travelling at dusk and the fishing boats in Shoreham harbour were dramatically lit up as a flock of seagulls circled above in the darkening sky. Shoreham is a mish-mosh of run down industrial, estuary foreshores, maritime contemporary and reviving town with a history, the Rope Tackle Building is a treat to come across as I veer off across the bridge over the mud flats (depending on the tides) past all the new apartments and houses on Shoreham Beach towards Lancing and then Worthing.  

Travelling with glimpses of the sea on one side always raises my spirits and the light that changes, as anyone who lives by the sea will know is magical, suprising, breath-taking often. Always taking the chore out of sitting in any traffic that may occur at any point. And then Worthing, with its seafront Guest Houses and B&B’s. If you turn left as you enter the town you can travel along the Worthing seafront with its theatre on the pier and grand seafront hotels and buildings towards the very Wildian ‘Goring by Sea’ where in the summer I detour via Ferring beach to drink in the salty air and art deco houses. Then on via Littlehampton past Poling through Wick and Lyminster to rejoin the A27 just before Arundel perched so majestically on its hill.  

Then I’m back in the heart of horse and hounds county of West Sussex with its racing of the equine and automotive kind courtesy of Fontwell and Goodwood, only glimpsing the sea again as I approach Portsmouth for another visual feast as Langstone Harbour comes into view. I get one final contact with the sea as I cross the river Hamble before returning to the leafy, earthy loamy views of Wiltshire fields and rolling hills.

It pains me to contemplate what I’ll do if my work stops taking me to East Sussex with its historic sea frontage and the compelling lure of the sea.

Today is November the fifth a day for plots and coup attempts, remember? Well today also marked the official launch of the National Theatre of Wales and boy did they do it in style. Not only were parties being thrown across Wales but Producer Lucy Jones and Artistic Director John McGrath shared the event online with people across the world. Let’s face it the Welsh know how to do Culture, in many ways they epitomise culture and ‘national’ they certainly know all about that, from fighting to retain their language and heritage, to forming their own Parliament to seeding their musicians, writers, actors and artistic talents across the world.

In fact, you have to wonder what kept them so long, well this was all explained at the launch and then we were treated to a filmic feast of what’s in store over the next year (2010) with live links to a school in Bridgend, an artist at the summit of Snowdonia another in a lighthouse and live chat from three young artists in the National Theatre social network chat room 

http://community.nationaltheatrewales.org/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/8344309.stm  

The long and the short is that it is all very exciting and inclusive, as work will be truly national and taking place all over not just city-centric. For us social media queens and geeks there will be digital technology aplenty as the NTW embraces new technology and new ways of taking theatre and art to the people - I can’t wait, the ‘For Sale’ sign is up, my bags are packed and I’m moving (unless that is, train tickets get cheaper in which case, I’ll just commute as I still remember how ‘incomers’ holiday cottages were vandalised and burnt in the seventies).

Whatever, good art deserves a chance and next year I will at the very least, be winging my way to Port Talbot for the finale - Michael Sheens collaboration with poet Owen Sheers who will be staging a contemporary version of the towns ‘Passion Play’.

London’s National Theatre is just that, in London. The National Theatre of Wales promises to be much more, much, much more. 

http://www.nationaltheatrewales.org.uk/