Special Events
Sunday 22nd March 2020
An Evening with Mr T S Eliot
Sixty-five years after his death, “difficult” is still the word most people attach to Eliot’s poetry.
We hope to make it entertaining, and a little easier, with our evening dramatization.
Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 1888 – 4 January 1965) poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic. Born in, St Louis Missouri, to a prominent Boston family, he moved to England in 1914 at the age of 25 and went on to settle, work and marry there.
He became a British Subject in 1927, subsequently renouncing his American citizenship.
“Prufrock” was rejected by the first publisher Eliot offered it to on the grounds that it was ‘completely insane’. It was published though in 1917 and is now regarded as the first great poem of the twentieth century. There followed The Waste Land [1922] and The Hollow Men [1925].
Regarded initially as a controversial figure, he went onto become the most respected avant garde writer of his day. What began as a revolution is now an accepted orthodoxy.
In the history of poetry, there is before Eliot and, after Eliot. Indeed, for many Eliot ranks with Stravinsky and Picasso as one of the three high priests of the Modern Movement.
The Programme
Part One
The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock…………………….. Richard Affleck & Trish Fox
Portrait of a Lady………………………………………………… Ray Feehelly & Denise Stott
The Waste Land*………………………………….. John Ellison; Trish Fox; Ray Feehelly;
Jayne Hockley; Denise Stott; & Richard Affleck
Intermission
Part Two
The Hollow Men………………………………….. Ray Feehelly; John Ellison & Trish Fox
The Hippopotamus…………………………… John Elison; Richard Affleck & Trish Fox
La Figlia che Piange*………………. Richard Affleck; Jayne Hockley & Denise Stott
Preludes………………………………………. Denise Stott; Richard Affleck & John Ellison
Grizabella the Glamour Cat……………………………………………………………… Trish Fox
Rhapsody on a Windy Night…………………………………… Denise Stott; John Ellison
Old Possums Book of Practical Cats –
The Song of the Jellicles………………………………………. Trish Fox & Jayne Hockley
Gus the Theatre Cat……………………………………….. Ray Feehelly & Richard Affleck
The Old Gumbie Cat…………………………. Trish Fox; Denise Stott & Jayne Hockley
The Rum Tum Tugger………………………………………………………….. All the Cats Cast
Book Launch
Sunday 20th October 2019
Craig Stanton Mountain Deviltry
Chilling Book Launch
Local author and bookseller Craig Stanton has written a collection of scary tales based in the Blue Mountains, published by MoshPit Publishing. The book is entitled Mountain Deviltry and weaves fictional stories of ghostly events and horrible happenings in the region, mixing creeping horror with a strong dose of humour. An early response by one reader observed that “it really shows the mindset of the long-term ‘Mountains residents as opposed to the temporary or recent arrivals”.
Craig was born in Katoomba and has lived here on-and-off during most of his life, including the last 12 years, working to source and sell books, mainly of the second-hand variety. He has a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from the Sydney University of Technology and this is his second published story collection – also through MoshPit Publishing of Hazelbrook – the first being an e-book entitled Love Songs & Other Weirdness. His work has been published in other forums including the University of Newcastle’s SWAMP Anthology and the Occult Detective Quarterly magazine. He also works in the comics field, having written for the Swiss-based comic series “Yuggoth Rising” and is currently at work on an upcoming journal entitled “The Black Pilgrimage”.
The launch of this short fiction collection will take place at the gallery on the 20th of October starting at 3.00pm. There will be readings of some of Craig’s work along with some informal discussion and there will be limited quantity of the new book available for sale.