This time last week we were in Chichester – one of our periodic visits, where we stay at 4 Canon Lane and visit the Pallant House Gallery. This year the visit was not quite as lovely as usual – partly because Chichester was incredibly hot and muggy. Also, the exhibition, British Landscapes, A Sense of Place was disappointing. At the end of the week we had my step-son Tom to stay, and went to an outdoor Duke’s Theatre production of Romeo and Juliet at Fairlight Hall on Friday night. Weather was on the brink of pouring with rain… but we survived. On another day we went for a pleasant walk round Rye Harbour and had a good lunch at the Two Sawyers in Pett.
Here is one of my familiar views of the Cathedral from the Bishop’s Palace Gardens, where, as usual, we walked. Philosopher came up with a ripping idea for the current novel – Battleaxe readers will know that Medford and its cathedral are based on Chichester. See this post about our last visit. Anyway – Caroline is mysteriously locked into the gardens by a Person Unknown (could it even have been the Bishop?)
Heaven knows what this means…
Anyway, it was miserably hot and humid walking round the streets… and the gallery was very hot as well. Poor Philosopher came over quite queer. Fortunately, our bedroom was very cool and airy, with a pretty garden view… I wish those bloody Cathedral people would instal proper tellies, though. This is the third visit we have had telly trouble. This time, I missed the Sewing Bee…
So, the exhibition. Given the vast stock of paintings the Pallant House has, and the ready access to other nearby galleries with large holdings of landscape paintings – think the Towner in Eastbourne, we both felt the exhibition was disappointingly thin. I also found it irritatingly curated – it opened with a room entirely devoted to black and white woodcuts etc. Some of them were lovely of course, but would have preferred to seen them in context with other works from the same periods. Also, some artists were very over-represented, like Paul Nash and Graham Sutherland, and others very under-represented – Ravilious, John Nash, John Piper, and some not at all eg big names like Lowry, Hockney, Stanley Spencer… Here’s just one picture, Mark Gertler, Near Swanage. The Jerwood used to have a nicer one… The Irish Yew.
Romeo and Juliet? we really enjoy the Duke’s Theatre productions – have been to several at Fairlight Hall over the years. A small cast of very talented actors, minimal scenery – all very good. The chap who played Romeo, Alfie Jameson, we have seen before just recently – he appears in a short LGBT film ‘Meet Frankie’ written by our old friend Shaun McKenna. The film seems to be doing well- appeared at all sorts of indie film festivals and has been shortlisted for a major prize, the Iris Prize. Anyway, Alfie was very sparky and lively in the parts – as were all his colleagues. As I said, we barely made it out there – it had been pouring with rain much of the day, but just about stopped… Here is a meaningless photo of the ensemble taking their bow. As you can see, the nights are drawing in. It was dark at 9pm…
To finish up, a couple of photos of Rye Harbour. Sadly, the hot weather has meant that the Nature Reserve is afflicted with Avian Botulism – it is a naturally occurring algae that is toxic for birds, and also for dogs. There were lots of notices about it, but what did we see? A man with a load of off-lead dogs, letting them swim in the pools. Fool.
Oh – final, final thing. On 12 September I have got a table at this… for my novels, and also for friends – local poets…
