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wwwcl1thero0advertis0r.co.uk Thursday, October 8,2015 I CLITHEROE ADVERTISER&TIMES


Thursday, October8,2015 www.clithBroeadvertiser.co.uk


CUTHEROEADVERnSER&TIMES I


69 VALLEY REVIEWS


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Bo o k R e v i ew Untouchable Things ByTaraGuha


I was really very flattered when Tara Guha’s publicity managersentmeacopyof Tara’s prize winning first nov­ el to read, writes Pippa Munro Hebden.


The Clitheroe Advertiser and Times carried a feature about heronAugust20.Itstatedthat Tara came from and was edu­ cated in the Ribble Valley and, believe it or not, I was one of her English teachers. I was very impressed with


“Untouchable Things”. Tara’s first novel has won the prestig­ ious Luke Bitmead Award for a writer of the best first pub­ lished work. Itis verydefinite- ly a page turner. I read three quarters of it at one sitting and finished it the next day. The central character is ac­


Wonderful memories of FEATURE


by Sue Plunkett sue.plunkett0jpress.co.uk Twitter: ©clithadvertiser ■


emoriesof DunnowHall atSlaidburn stirred for author


w Roger Atkinson when he wrote about his experiences of the 1940s. DunnowHall was, in


those days, a boarding school for “malady usted children” and Roger Atkinson was one


® ofthose. • Mr Atkinson,nowaged87,


holderoftheOBEandliving at Chester, is a first-time author and his book, “Black­ out, Austerity and Pride”, • looks back at that tumul- . tuous decade, including a ■. . sectionabouthisyearinthe’


Ribble Valley. Dunnow Hall was, accord­


ing to the Clitheroe Adver­ tiser and Times in 1936, “a school for all that large field


o f pupils whose existence has + very briefly and inadequately


hinted at, i.e. those who are - neither delinquent nor de­ fective, but in need of special forms of education.” . The young Roger was sent


there from Wolverhampton by an aunt in 1941 as a ward of • court after his father, badly wounded in the First World War, had died in 1940 and his mother was put into care as “incurable” from multiple


'sclerosis. “I was only 12 years old ;


and very confused about why I was being sent there, but • it was a marvellous school. I .


have nothing but praise for the place,” says Mr Atkinson. The school, founded by


Dr Arthur Fitch, had about 30 pupils at the time, half of them boys and half girls. There were just two teach­ ers, Mr Howarth and Miss Williamson, and a German cook, Gunther Knussbaum, who had fled his country as a refugee.


! „ “The discipline wasn’t


tough, and we could often go out walking or on bicycles,” Mr Atkinson recalls. “It was wartime, of .


course, and we often went but shooting rabbits for food. I remember when 1 shot my fust rabbit having the blood wiped on my face in the old hunting tradition. _


“It wasn’t compulsory to


go to church, but some of us went to Slaidburn Church on Sundays and I had a penny to put in the collection.” His only school outing was


a trip to see “Madam Butter­ fly” performed by London’s Old Vic company, who had been evacuated to Burnley. . The young Roger was later sent to another school, St


Christopher’s at Letchworth,' Hertfordshire, and when the family money ran out for his school fees he had to make his own way. He served in the Army


from 1946 to 1948, gaining promotion to sergeant, and later joined the civil service . as a tax inspector, moving around the country. Howev­ er, he always fondly remem­ bered the Ribble Valley.' “I was not in any field of


combat, so military history and battles are entirely per, ripheral to my book,” Mr Atkinson said. • “Itisasocialhistoryofthe


time, which I think would be interesting to people who lived through it, or students who are looking at that pe- - riod.” Mr Atkinson thanked


Slaidburn Village Archive for its encouragement and help finding photographs of the locality. '


: Dunnow Hall closed as


aschoolini948whenthe „ establishment moved near Leeds, and fell into neglect , until it was restored by the . current occupants.


In addition to Mr Atkin-- ~ . :


son's school memories, his book includes such matters as conscription, rationing,, the black market, the arrival of Americans, prisoners ofwar, changing attitudes to sex, and the longterm


after-effects of the first World War. ' ... • “Blackout, Austerity,


and Pride” by Roger Atkinson is on sale at £20 from Clithe-


' oe Books, Moor Lane, and via the Blackout, Austerity and Pride website.


tress Rebecca who gets drawn into the circle of friends cen­ tred on the charismatic, nar­ cissistic Seth Gardner. The group of disparate,


well evoked characters all have hidden secrets, which Seth manipulates for his own reasons. I liked the structure, mov­


ing between present and past tense and different voices, which is appropriately unset­ tling because there is a mys­ tery at the heart. Tara expertly draws the


reader in with clues, and the device of fragments of a police interrogation inter­ spersed adds to the sense of uncertainty and a dra-


matic denouement to come. Obviously, given my love of


drama, I appreciated the use of scene headings instead of conventional chapters. This adds a terrific theatricality to the plot, accentuated at times by scenes in which the charac­ ters appear to act out elements


of the.action and emotions. The style is fluid and it is


well-written and full of won­ derful literary allusions, which add a depth of interpre­ tation to the characterisation. This is a powerful story


and I look forward to reading Tara’s next novel.


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Back to the 60s delightfully


REVIEW The Family Way: Octagon Theatre, Bolton


Elizabeth Newman’s produc­ tion of “The Family Way” is a delight. Bill Naughton, Bolton’s fa­


vourite playwright, first wrote the script, “Honeymoon Post­ poned” for a TV Armchair Theatre production in 1961. He then turned it into a play, “All In Good Time”, for the Mer­ maid Theatre in 1963 and the screen version starring John and Hayley Mills, “The Family Way", released in 1966. The plot is well known.


Young Arthur Fitton (Harry Long) andhis newbride Violet neePiper(JessicaBaglow) are forced to spend the first few


weeks of their marriage in the home of Arthur’s domineering father Ezra (David Birrell). A sensitive lad, Arthur


finds he cannot consummate the marriage. Eventually Arthur’s moth­


er, Lucy (Barbara Drennan,) and Violet’s parents, Leslie (Colin Connor) and Liz (Kathy Jamison), get involved and- even kind Uncle Fred (John Branwell) tries to help. When Arthur’s boss (Marc


Small) suggests that he could “see to” Violet, Arthur loses his temper and is so angry that the young couple finally make love, despite the attempts by brother Geoff (Max Runham) to interrupt but cleverly pre­ vented by mother Lucy, who is well aware what is going


on. Naughton’s characters are well drawn, with many layers of feeling and hidden strengths and weaknesses. Barbara Drennan and Dav­


id Burrell give wonderful per­ formances, his all bluster and


■ hers sympathetic and percep­ tive. One of the greatest pleas­ ures is Naughton’s dialogue. He is capable of beautifully poignant exchanges coupled with laugh out loud comic moments, Ezra’s confusion at all the euphemisms as his wife and the Pipers try to ex­ plain what is happening to the young couple, and his repeti­ tion of “He walked through here like it were a public con­ venience”, repeated so often towards the end that he only gets as far as “He walked...”’


and the audience are guffaw­ ing.


Akshay Gulati and Anna


Wheatley complete an excel­ lent ensemble cast. Amanda Stoodley’s design


evokes the 1960s and captures the cluttered house where there is little room for privacy and the young couple can hear the family in the other rooms all night. The costumes are very much of the period. This is a lovely drama


with a rather charming inno­ cence which is refreshing in our more outspoken, ‘porno­ graphic’ age. The Octagon’s next produc­


tion in October is Arthur Mill­ er’s adaptation of “An Enemy of the People”. PIPPAMUNROHEBDEN


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Play’s relevance to modern times •


REVIEW The Crucible, Royal Exchange, Manchester


Caroline Steinbeis’ direc­ tion of Arthur Miller’s fa­ mous play “The Crucible” is assured and enthralling, and reminded me of all the quali- tiesofthis celebrated drama. Miller sets his action in


Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692 when an outbreak of mass hysteria led to accu­ sations of witchcraft and executions. .Of course, as he wrote in 1953, the paral­ lels with the actions of the House Un-American Activi­ ties Committee and Joseph McCarthy are clear.


However, the strategies


and dialogue that Miller us- eshavefarwiderresonances andbothmycompanionand I were stuck by its relevance to many contemporary situ­ ations. Ms Steinbeis has assem-


bledanexcellentcast. Thisis a team effort and all the cast give a clear, crisp, well-paced interpretation. The young girls’ hysteria is frightening. The bare design by Max


Jones adds to the intensity of the play. The use of North­ ern Irish accents gives an­ other layer of significance. Thisproductioniswell worth seeing. PIPPAMUNROHEBDEN


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