MUSIC+

Classical Music
Cecily Hughes Concert Goers group is going to meet at 2pm on Monday 27 April in the Civic Centre in preparation for a forthcoming concert. This time the talk will be given by Chris Weeks who lectures on music for DACE. The cost will be £2 as usual and the fact that it is held in the Council Chamber of the previous West Glamorgan administration is recompense enough! To judge from earlier presentations which I have attended it will amply reward the time spent by improving your enjoyment of the event.

The concert itself is by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in the Brangwyn Hall for £11.50 to £14.50 at 7.30pm Saturday 9 May, under Tadaaki Otaka. They will play Beethoven's lesser played Symphony 4, perhaps my favourite after the ninth, and Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with Birgit Remmert and Jon Dasak as mezzo soprano and tenor soloists.

Mumbles Jazz and Blues Festival fills the period in between the above talk and Brangwyn concert with four days and 18 concerts of different genres. My particular interest is in the jazz side of this combination and I have pencilled in the two concerts featuring Mornington Locket on saxophone. He visits Jazzland, St James Crescent at least once a year and always excites with his wonderful bebop style and slow ballads. He worked for many years with Ronnie Scott. The first for £12 at 8pm on Saturday 2 May with his quartet including Laurence Cottle, who hails from Mumbles. The second for £8 at 1pm on Sunday 3 May with Dave Cottle trio, the fine rhythm section who back visiting professional soloists weekly at Jazzlands, featuring Morninton Locket and well known British jazz singer Tina May. Another attractive concert is the opening one one for £12 at 8pm Friday 1 May by the Snake Davis Band which should get the festival off to a 'funky' start.

If your interest is on the Blues side then the last for £10 at 8pm on Monday 4 May by Brian Breeze's local Rhythm and Blues Band catches my eye.

Many of the other Jazz or Blues concerts cost £4 or £6. Tickets can be purchased from The Mumbles Tourist and Information Centre 01792 361302 or from Swansea Jazzland on 07802 912789. Doors open 45 minutes before the concerts so be early to get the best seats. Given the demise of internationally known Brecon Jazz after 25 wonderful years there is a big opportunity to build something really important at Mumbles. Its success depends on your support.

U3A Network Jazz Study Day at Narberth on Wednesday 20 May features a concert by the Ken Collier Legacy New Orleans Jazz Band. When I was a student in London in the mid fifties Trad Jazz, sophisticated Coffee Shops, Lonnie Donegan's skiffle and students parading with T-Chest Bass and washboard, were all the rage. My particular favourite was Humphrey Lyttelton who performed every week at the newly opened 100 Club in Oxford Street. His idol was American trumpeter Louis Armstrong, innovator and the first international jazz star. But my next door neighbour in hall raved about Ken Collier.

Ken believed there was a pure New Orleans sound and his mission was to keep this sound alive. The basic tenets were no solos and no showing off, so all his tracks feature ensemble playing and so restrained his his playing you would scarcely know the band was led by a trumpeter. Whether there ever was such a style in an idiom which grew up with marching bands and then turned to red light clubs, environments which sound chaotic to me, is open to question but preserving that tradition was Ken's crusade, and he would have considered Louis Armstrong, let alone Humphrey Lyttelton (with his ever so slightly modernist alto saxophonist Bruce Turner) as turncoats.

The day will cost £14 including lunch, coffee and tea. To book please send SAE and cheques, £14 payable to Narberth U3A, to Tudor Thomas, 11 Beechwood Place, Narberth SA67 7EE. Further information from Graham Goodeve on 01437 741391 or email jggoodeve@tiscali.co.uk, or our Margaret Massey on 01792 205028
The venue is the Nant-Y-Ffin Hotel, Llandissilio. It sounds like a really good day out. I won't be there but that shouldn't count against me as I shall be en-route to Bali that very day.

SMILE TRAIN CHARITY BARN DANCE
Joy Gillard, a U3A member, is organising this event on her own bat at Ostreme Hall on Friday 8 May at 7.30pm. The calling and the music will be provided by the same expert. Profit will go to this deserving charity founded in 1999 who provide free hair lip operations in less developed parts of the world. In addition they have currently trained 23,00 medical professionals in 76 countries including India, Philipines and Brazil.

Please support her fund raising effort, tickets are only £5, please bring your own drinks, though refreshments will be on sale, they will not be free as indicated on last Wednesday's slide show. Various Swansea U3A members have tickets for sale or call Joy directly on 366376. It sounds like a fun evening.

U3A ACTIVITIES for WEEK STARTING 27 APRIL

MONDAY
CHESS and ITALIAN will NOT meet again until OCTOBER
(READING 4 continues on second Mondays, next 11 May at 10.30)

TUESDAY
NEW PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP meets for second time at 10am in the annexe of the Vivian Hall at Blackpill. They hope to include a photo-shoot in Clyne Park so please bring your digital camera and a laptop could be useful.
ART APPRECIATION have hired a coach to Cardiff to visit the Sisley in South Wales exhibition, some also hope to take in the Origins Exhibition run by Elisabeth Walker who gave the Wednesday lecture on The Red Lady of Paviland. The bus leaves Wellington Street opposite Swansea central Tesco at 9.30 and leaves Cardiff for the return at 4pm. As far as I know the trip is fully booked, contact Mo Ellard 363465 to check for cancellations.

WEDNESDAY
JIVE as always at the Monkey Cafe at 10.30
LECTURE at 2pm is 'Diet and Behaviour throughout Life' by Professor David Benton

THURSDAY
FRENCH is cancelled, the group will restart in October.

FRIDAY
TAI CHI at 9.30 and 11am at Hazel Court in the Exercise Room
ARMCHAIR TRAVEL will meet for a talk by Margaret Massey on Petra in Jordan (corrected from earlier issues).

AFGHANISTAN and THE GREAT GAME
The Tricycle Theatre in London have a very special offering until14 June which I find so tempting that I am wondering how to fit into an impossibly tight schedule, that presumes that tickets are still available after a highly positive Newsweek Review on Friday and a four star review by The Guardian's senior critic Michael Billington in today's paper.

They are presenting 12 half hour plays by different authors writing from different perspectives on Afghanistan, covering from the massive British Army defeat at Kabul in 1842 to the present day. Rudyard Kipling was writing about The Great Game in 1900. It covers, British Diplomacy in the early years and our support for the Opium trade, present day Foreign Office at work, USA unwitting supporting the Islamist cause when supplying them with anti-Russian aid, Kabul lost to The Taliban in 1996, 9/11 and present day NATO action.

It is a trilogy with a single part for £13 on weekdays, but the whole trilogy is given at weekends for £36, Part 1 - 10.45am , Part 2 - 2.30pm, Part 3 - 7.30pm. Box Office 020 7328 1000 or www.tricycle.co.uk. It runs daily until 14 June.

It is easy to envisage power theatre can illuminate more economically than any other medium the reality which is Afghanistan, and it does so the viewer to draw his own conclusions, but all leave with a far more comprehensive view of the country, its politics and its history.

I cannot do better than quote the last sentence of Michael Billington's review. 'Something remarkable is happening at the Tricycle, where Afghan history and culture are being made manifest in a uniquely challenging, theatrically exciting way.'

PHOTOGRAPHY +

Photography
Laurence Hopes 362113 contacted me some months ago now with a suggestion for no less than three new groups, but at the time he did not feel confident enough of his own knowledge to lead any of the groups. So he turned to extra mural classes on Photography and armed with new knowledge and a view of formal education he is now to lead a group. A very good example of how to proceed with your pet project.

The group will meet for the very first time this Tuesday 21 April between 10am and 12 at the Vivian Hall, Blackpill, and will continue to do so throughout the summer. At least three people who joined the U3A following the Life Begins at 50+ event have indicated their support. As I understand it, one of the the suggestions is to go out as a group on Photo Shoots and then to study and discuss every ones results. How the group develops is of course in large part decided between the people who join. However it seems likely to be largely complementary to Digital Media which is largely concerned with the digital computer manipulation of photographs, and should be ideal for those whose interest is to improve the quality of photographs they take on trips and holidays, and of family.

U3A Science-Technology Summer Seminar
This is being organised by the Science, Technology and Society Network of The U3A. For those new to the U3A I should explain that certain Groups work as Regional or National Networks. Geology is a popular group which operates across South Wales with a fair proportion from the Swansea U3A. The science seminar is being held at the Ty'r Morwydd Environmental Study Centre at Abergavenny from Monday 17 August to Thursday 20 August and any U3A members (not just members of that Network) are welcome to attend. Anyone interested should contact Nic Griffin 01747-855720 nicgriffin@hotmail.com , or Peter Rockwell 020 8445 3574 peter@rockwell.net

The total cost will be £180 for residents or £120 for day students, including wine for those socialising in the evenings. They are expecting contributions, of general rather specialist level, on Aeronautical Engineering, Navigation, Secret Message Technology in WW11, Polymers/Plastics, Blood Transfusions and the Properties of Light. The main visit will be to SS Great Britain in Bristol Docks.

Politics and Citizenship
Much information was given this month on the European Union ahead of the forthcoming Elections to the European Parliament by Roger Knight and Marjorie Vanston. Most of the discussion was held over until the May meeting.

Margaret Hammond (tel 883680), not for the first time, gave notice of relinquishing the post of convener after the September Meeting with Edwina Hart. She of course is one of the pillars of the U3A, who has also run the Research Group for years, but who now considers the load too heavy - having reached her 85th year. She pleaded for a replacement, and whispered to me that it should not by default land up with the overloaded willing horse Roger Knight.

It is a discussion group which anyone with keen interests in current affairs, moral dilemmas (eg euthanasia or religion), Welsh, UK or European politics, would find stimulating. The next convener would ideally come from the current group, but there is absolutely no reason why it should not be one of the newer and generally younger members. I have attended several sessions, and enjoyed them all. There are clearly many members willing to lead particular sessions, so the main task of the convener is to Chair the meetings and guide the meeting in the choice of the next topic and appropriate leaders.

New members would be welcomed at the meeting on Tuesday the 12 May in the West Cross Community Centre which will be just ahead of the European Elections. There is no other way to find out whether groups are to your liking than to attend and form your own judgement, it is courtesy to contact the convener beforehand.

Roger Knight emailed me details of two web sites relevant to European politics http://euobserver.com/#

http://europarl.org.uk/

Painting for Pleasure
Mary Lane proposes to start a new group under this title for NON-BEGINNERS ONLY on Tuesday October 6 at All Saints Mumbles. Her current group is for Water Colour for Beginners

GROUPS ACTIVITIES
MONDAY
Chess meet for the last time until October at 10 am in Hazel Court.
Italian meet at 10 am at Hazel Court, also for the last time until October.

TUESDAY
Photography first meeting 10.30 at Vivian Hall West Cross
Writing 2 meet this week at 10am at Hazel Court to consider what they have written on 'The Essence of Spring'
Welsh Language/Culture meet every Tuesday until July at 10am in the Vestry St Mary's Church, central Swansea.

WEDNESDAY
Astronomy will meet in the Grove after the lecture to see some film
Art Appreciation Please note that Mo Ellard will be collecting £3 in payment for the trip to Cardiff 28 April after the lecture.

THURSDAY
French will meet at 10am until the end of April. Celia Roberts is taking the group at present due to the illnesses of Steve Johnson and Beryl Edney, who have our best wishes for speedy recoveries. The topic for discussion this week is The Environment.

FRIDAY
History meet at 2pm at the Dolphin on the theme King George 2nd and the Development of the British Empire.
Tai Chi meets 9.30 and at 11am at Hazel Court. Convener Susan Hutson 391058.

MONDAY 27 April
Concert Goers meet at 2.15pm in the Civic Centre to hear Chris Weeks in preparation for the concert with works by Beethoven and Mahler at the Brangwyn Hall on Sat 9 May.


Reading Group 4 Earlier versions of this blog suggested they would be meeting a week Monday, that was incorrect. Their next meeting is 10.30 in Hazel Court on Monday 11 May.

EASTER MONDAY

LIFE BEGINS AT 50+
It is pleasing to report that several of the people at this event subsequently contacted me on receipt of the blog link, and that I was able to deal by email with their queries.

I was also approached by Gill Illingworth the Publicity Manager for the Grand Theatre who wondered about the interest of our members in the hour long lunch theatre on Saturdays in the Arts Wing. Joan and I went last Saturday to try it out, adding it to a week long exposure to theatre including Bath and Bristol of which more later. The play 'Confessions Off Broadway' was written by Louise McLeod who has a Masters in Creative and Media Writing from Swansea University. It was well performed by a cast of four an hour thoroughly well spent dealing with the tensions in a theatrical family reunited in New York preparing for production of their play. Those who read this blog may remember me reporting earlier how my love of theatre was influenced by the beginnings of the Off Broadway Theatre In The Round movement in the late 50's. A production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible made a huge impression. It was written as repost to the vicious McCarthy anti-communist witch hunt which pervaded the States for a decade, of whom Paul Robeson, well known for his connections with Wales was one of many high profile victims.
Details of the Saturday and other daytime programs can be obtained via the Grand and they are also published in 'What's On'.

RED LADY OF PAVILAND
Elisabeth Walker who delivered an excellent lecture recently on this topic informs me, via Esther Searle, of a related lecture which may well be of interest on 14 May at 6.30pm in the Reardon Smith Theatre of the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff. The speaker will be Professor Jim Kennedy, Director of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. His subject will be 'William Buckland', who Elizabeth described as the man who would eat anything - like me who sought after live raw Sago Worms in Borneo, considered a delicacy! - with the sub text 'The man who ate the Heart of a King and discovered the Red Lady of Paviland'. We are welcome to attend, further details at
http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/whatson/?event_id=3561

OPEN UNIVERSITY LAUNCH
Mike Wiseman sent details of free multi media based on-line learning about Wales, its history, coast, BBC Radio Wales archive material, David Lloyd George etc. For details follow the link to www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/wales-cymru .

U3A NEWS
All groups are likely to have made special arrangements for Easter Week so I will report only where I am sure of my facts.

POLITICS and CITIZENSHIP will meet as usual at 2pm tomorrow Tuesday 14 April in the West Cross Community Centre. The topic for discussion will be 'Contacts with Europe'. It may not be of general knowledge that the two members of the group, Roger Knight and Marjorie Vanston, who will lead the discussion are active in the local branch of Support for European Movement. It should develop into the group's usual well informed discussion.

TAI CHI is back on Friday17 April

DISCUSSION Rob James is taking over next year from Roly Govier.

CHRONICLE Don't forget that articles are required for 13 May deadline.

BACK TO THEATRE
MOTO may go drinking water in Shrewsbury but Joan and I indulged in food and theatre for a short break, which in part explains why there was no posting last week.

THE TEMPEST
First stop Royal Theatre Bath for an absolutely outstanding production of Shakespeare's last play. It is often said that the lead character Prospero was Shakespeare, directing matters throughout but at the end taking his last bow, forgiving all his enemies, admitting it was all done by mirrors, and in the final words of the play asking for just a simple reward, the applause of the audience.

It had 5 star reviews at Stratford and is now on tour, but unfortunately Bath is the closest such really good theatre gets to Wales! The production however originated with Janice Honeyman as director at the Baxter Theatre Centre in Capetown , which even in the days of apartheid was allowed to play to mixed races - being part of the university.

It was a very African production, a setting which seemed absolutely appropriate and served to underline the timelessness and reach of Shakespeare whilst illustrating the significance of the plot. Being African meant it was every bit as vivid as the Lion King. The scenery was simply the branches of a tree on which five spirits with full body paint and richly coloured textile clothes move around like monkeys. The spirit world so alien to today's sophisticated westerners is so natural and believable in an African context. A serpent of Zulu cosmology and Chinese dimensions helped spirit Ariel draw up the storm which caused the usurpers to be shipwrecked on the island. There was much use of huge colourful puppetry, but non more effective than a huge Picasso like image of the witch Sycorax (Caliban's mother), a pair of eyes here, a pair of breasts there, a mouth and two giant hands which entrapped Ariel, from whose grasp he was released by Prospero, after his mother had died, and for whom he then controlled the events of the plot.

John Kani a black South African was superb and just right as a symbol of slavery to a colonial power. Anthony Sher a white South African who has spent a lifetime with the Royal Shakespeare Company was equally superb as Prospero the symbol of ruthless colonial power. Atandwa Kani as Ariel, a part often taken by a petite woman with wings, but so much more realistically portrayed here as a powerful young male spirit of the forest. Tinarie Van Wyk Loots was equally as impressive as Prospero's daughter, never more so than in her delight at meeting the first attractive young males of her life and soon becoming Queen of Naples.

Wayne Van Rooyen played the jester beautifully in such a relaxed style with such a broad Africaans accent, as did Elton Landrew as Stephano the shipwrecked drunkard. They too enslaved Caliban and the three plotted to overthrow Prospero. Previously I could not have conceived of Shakespeare spoken in such a accent, but rhythm was perfect and the comic impact was unforgettable.

Four African musicians with voice, guitar, percussion and cello were as essential to create the atmosphere as any cinema sound track.

I have seen it perhaps four times previously and always struggled with the way events were controlled by a colonial tyrant and a spirit. I never expect to see the equal of this production but in my mind I will be able to paint them white and black, colonial europeans and enslaved natives, humour and an underlying spiritual dimension.

ANTONY and CLEOPATRA
On via a very pleasant day at the Fox Talbot Museum in the National Trust Village of Laycock, to Bristol. Then our second visit this year to The Tobacco Factory and a style which could not present a starker alternative, for theatre in the round is minimalist with no scenery and few props where everything rests on the text, the actors skill in speaking and projecting the work of the playwright.

On that first occasion we saw Julius Ceasar which was superb if not quite the equal of last year's unbelievably good five star production of Hamlet (Jamie Ballard) directed by Jonathan Miller. This one lacked a little in comparison with both but we tend to think the fault was in ourselves (as Shakespeare might have said) for neither of us had previously seen a production of this complex play of sexual emotion, political intrigue and empire, neither had we studied it at school, nor even looked for guidance on the Internet. You get out what you put in, and we should have prepared better by reading through the text.

It is easy to find informative discussion of Shakespeare's most popular plays on the Internet, plot, characters, and issues, We would always advise this course as being time well spent, as essential as advance familiarity is to the enjoyment of complex classical music or opera, or modern jazz (well I would say that wouldn't I).

I would find fault only with the pace of some of the speeches where newcomer to Shakespeare roles Alun Raglan, as Mark Antony, struggled with his diction in the crescendo climax of some of the interchanges, and Cleopatra and Octavius Ceasar spoke at the limit of my ability to comprehend fully what was being said. That said it was a very enjoyable production.

The story of The Tobacco Factory goes back only to 1999 when George Ferguson the architect-owner bought the derelict building with a view to opening the following year with a Shakespeare season. In 2000 they duly opened with King Lear with almost no pre-booking and a few days later a cast of fifteen played to an audience of twelve. Toby O'Connor Morse of The Independent gave them a half page rave review and by the end of the five week season all shows were sold out and they achieved a total audience of 8,000. Support faltered in 2006 with Titus Andronicus at 40% capacity and Love's Labour Lost and they closed early. But in 2007 Jonathan Miller agreed to direct Hamlet in 2008. That season with The Taming of the Shrew as well as the wonderful production of Hamlet the total audience reached 22,000 a record and close to capacity. We will be back in 2010 whatever the choice of plays or the economic climate.