Other Woman News…

I am slowly making a return to hapkido training, so I had the first of what I hope will be regular one-on-one sessions with the Other Woman. The battleplan is to run through the full syllabus as I strive to get some sort of fluidity and consistency back and assess where I can still be strong. 

Because of my knee and feet injuries, my kicking is woeful. And because of my lack of consistent hapkido training, a lot of my techniques are pretty rusty. My hands are still OK, though, and my wrist and shoulder locks from standing are still half decent. I can also utilise those in my BJJ sparring. Everything else is pretty ropey, though. Dorothy was a long way from Kansas and I feel a long way from black belt.

But it was joyous to spend an hour getting thrown, tripped and joint locked by my Other Woman. Her friendship remains one of the genuine delights of my life.

In the pub afterwards, we veered away from hapkido and, not unusually, got onto sex and discussed allowed lists. Mine rarely changes and my quintet of women usually features tennis ace Venus Williams, writer Mary Shelley, Teri Hall (1980s porn star and not the lead singer of Fun Boy Three), former Corrie actress Shobna Gulati and French film actress Isabelle Adjani, plus whoever I’m currently obsessed with. At the moment, I am a bit in love with Corrie actresses Kym Marsh and Catherine Tyldesley.

The Other Woman then confessed to a surprise entry on her list: Kevin McCloud, who’s the architectural boffin from TV show Grand Designs. I told the Other Woman that she’d be too much for the posh building nerd and she’d only break him with her gropey hands, leaving him shaken and crying in a corner as he mourned his lost innocence and dignity.

Apparently, this was not considered a compliment.

The Ferryman…

Jez Butterworth’s breakthrough play, Mojo, won rave reviews in 1995, then his 2009 play, Jerusalem, which featured a star turn from Mark Rylance, gained him glowing reviews and critical acclaim yet again.

His latest play, which began life at the Royal Court and has now transferred to the West End, is The Ferryman. And it’s pretty fucking amazing.

In a nutshell, this black comedy drama love story tragedy (it beautifully interweaves elements of all these genres) tells the story of an Irish farming family in the early 1980s on the two days they reap the harvest from the family farm. The back story that drives the drama forward examines how British rule in Ireland and the Troubles have impacted on three generations of the family when a body is found in a peat bog and various chickens come home to roost.

The play scrutinises the hot topic of radicalisation, too, as the story moves towards its inevitably grim and bloody conclusion, which mixes elements of Greek and Irish myth. 

Paddy Considine is the star name leading the cast and helping selling tickets in the West End. He is excellent, but it’s a real ensemble piece with a large group of actors that features children and tweens among its numbers. 

Sam Mendes directs and there’s not a weak performance on the stage, but it’s Butterworth’s writing that is the real standout. At times, it’s poignant and moving, and, at other times, it’s laugh-out-loud funny with some great one-liners from the kids in particular. But it’s touching and eloquent and immensely layered without boasting about its own cleverness, too. Three and a bit hours just flew by.

Essentially, it’s a beautifully crafted play and it’s the sort of thing that’s made me want to write a stage play again after a bit of a lay-off. My effort may not be anywhere near as good as The Ferryman, but I have an astonishingly impressive model to inspire me, and that’s sometimes good enough to produce something that is at least half-decent.

Back on the Baize: Part II...

It's been a rough couple of matches on the county pool front. I'm back in the A Team and I'm playing further up the order, which means I'm usually playing the match-hardened tournament players from other county teams. I'm not quite match sharp enough for that at the moment, so I've been on the end of my worst run at county pool, with 0/4, 1/4 and 0/4. 

I've had a couple of half chances and the record could have been a bit better. But the truth is I haven't been sharp enough to put the chances away, despite a much increased practice regime and the feeling it is starting to come together again. 

I started to fly a little bit in the last match, though, and hit a 3/4 and deserved to win at least 3/4 as well. The simple truth is that it will take a bit of time to be fully match sharp and compete against the best players in other counties. But more consistent form is in the post and it should arrive in the next couple of months.

It's still good to back, though. I have missed competing and I have missed the people.