Dennis Potter's enduring bond with the Forest of Dean is remembered this weekend by none-other than Berry Hill Silver Band. They featured in his first work for television A Land Between Two Rivers, and in his book The Changing Forest. They played in his radio programme A Christmas Forest, and performed for three drama productions A Beast with Two Backs, Cold Lazarus, and Karaoke. The band will be performing at the museum of the the Forest, The Dean Heritage Centre - now home to the Dennis Potter Archive and permanent Potter exhibition. |
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And still the memories keep coming! At a recent talk another fascinating fragment of production memory came to light. In a new "Digital Story" Dr Cherry Lewis remembers when she was an aspiring young actress...
Professor John Cook shows how Dennis Potter's dramas continue to speak to us today, in a wonderfully illuminating piece for The Conversation.
John demonstrates how Potter's analysis of politics in 1965, with Vote, Vote, Vote For Nigel Barton, captured the beginning of a process that would lead to the message driven, highly managed political process we have today From the rarely-repeated single plays to the popular serials, 16 of Potter's works are now available to buy as downloads from the newly launched BBC Store. Amongst the rarer gems are A Beast With Two Backs, Only Make Believe, and Schmoedipus. Each listing on the store is accompanied by a succint write up that includes the context of the play and connections to Potter's other works. This for example on Blackeyes : [extract] The violent and shamelessly ignorant attack on Potter that ensued corrupted his public image for years to come. Blackeyes is not an easy watch, and the circumstances of its creation inform it even more dangerously than those that fed into Double Dare, but now the tabloid hysteria has quelled, watch it again as a flawed but earnest work, ugly, tortured and raging against the hopelessness of its aims, and decide for yourself about it. An exciting edition to the legally available means of viewing DP's work! Saturday 18th July was a sunny day in Lydbrook, the long thin village that stretches down either side of a Forest of Dean valley and terminating at the banks of the River Wye. At the height of the mid-afternoon sunshine over 50 local people were sat in darkness, the only light provided by the projector showing a black and white play from nearly 40 years ago. They were watching A Beast With Two Backs, Dennis Potter's BBC Wednesday Play from 1968 - a play filmed almost entirely on location in and around Lydbrook. Amongst the audience were people who remembered it being filmed, watching it on TV, and some who as school children had taken part. The screening formed the highlight of a day-long exhibition about the play's production, controversy and critical reception, as well as the notorious real-life local event that was Potter's inspiration for the plot. There were a series of talks and discussions led by longtime Potter-studies collaborators Jo Garde-Hansen of University Warwick, Jason Griffiths and Hannah Grist of University Gloucestershire. There were some insightful interventions from Phillippa Turner archivist in charge of the Dennis Potter archive & exhibition at the local Dean Heritage Centre, at one point clarifying the level of detail in Potter's script (having the original manuscript there for all to see). Discussions ranged from if and how Potter should be commemorated locally (a blue plaque?), to what the play tells us about trolling on social media today. As well as Potter enthusiasts from far and wide, organisers were very pleased to also be in the company of Australian born actor Rosalie Horner who played the barmaid in the play. Now a successful film & television journalist Rosalie travelled to the Forest especially for the event. The event brought new detail to the history of the production, aided by the remarkable archive of Lydbrook Historical Society's Lyn Walker that included photographs of the child extras of Lydbrook School pictured in full Victorian costume. Not only were names put to faces, local residents also helped to identify exactly where scenes were filmed. This included local resident Paul Hayler (pictured) who even replicated the camera angle to compare how his house now had stood in then for the mocked-up pub exterior. Although dozens of interviews were completed on the day there are still lots of new leads to be followed up in the coming weeks. The engagement in this event shows that Potter's work - especially 'Potter in Place' - continues to generate an enthusiastic and often impassioned following. Part two of the BFI's two year-long project to screen all extant works of Dennis Potter is under way. Curated by Potter's life-long creative collaborator Ken Trodd, this second instalment explores several of the less well-known, critically acclaimed works including adaptations of Tender Is the Night, and The Mayor of Casterbridge as well as the recently rediscovered recording of Emergency Ward 9. For full details go to the BFi pages here, and for special ticket prices check out the link in a recent Tweet from @DPottermatters Once again Dennis Potter is being held up as the defining figure of UK television drama. Read the article here On what would have been Dennis Potter's eightieth birthday Dan Damon reports from the Forest of Dean for Radio 4's Broadcasting House. What was Potter's relationship withe the Forest and what role did the place and its people play in his work, life and career? Listen in live on Sunday 17th May from 9am (until 10am) or Listen Again via BBC iPlayer. The Art of Invective: Selected Non-Fiction 1953-1994 is being published to mark 80 years since his birth. It includes, "his merciless television columns, penetrating literary criticism and angry writings on class and politics, as well as his sketches for Sixties satire shows including That Was the Week That Was". Published by Oberon Books, available from May. "Hyperlocal memory: A very specific kind of cultural remembering through reference to the production of Potter’s works in the Forest that uses those works to shore up and ‘shore up’ certainties about regional identity and continua of cultural practices"
link to article here |
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