"Who You Calling A Socialist?"

As people who have seen my performances know, I try to do a short write-up in the programme, relating what's happening in the news to Paul Robeson. I don't always succeed, but I try. The links on each of the city/town names in the previous section let you read each one. In the case of San Francisco, there were two pianists over two days, so I did two, and the second one can be viewed here. For that one, I used the birthday of Jackie Robinson as my theme. In New Westiminster, and on the first day in San Jose, there wasn't sufficient time to get them printed and copied, so those who missed those notes can see them by clicking on the links above.

Since returning to the UK, I have had one performance, in Oxford, the day the death of Hugo Chavez was announced. No doubt about his socialist credentials, and not difficult to make the link between him and Robeson. By chance, very soon after that performance, I read two articles by others better qualified than I to write on these matters, which I would like to share with you, as I think they make very interesting reading: by Hakima Abbas and Dan Glazebrook.
As usual, I found Democracy Now!'s coverage of his passing compelling too.

A FOUR-WEEK RUN! IN THE WEST END!!

So, to those four weeks I mentioned in the heading to this newsletter. I am pleased to say that I have just signed a contract with the lovely little Tristan Bates Theatre in London's Covent Garden, for a residency there for practically the whole of October! I performed there as part of FIRST - A Season of Solo Works in January; they liked me, I liked them, I am ambitious, they are dynamic, and Bingo! The dates are 1st to 26th October, and more details (including sponsorship proposals!) to follow in due course.
Securing the Tristan Bates run turns out to have been the silver lining on a very challenging and snow-disturbed number of performances in January: Halifax (mentioned my daughter in that one!), Colchester, Bungay and London, where audiences were generally small but still very enthusiastic.
The other serious challenge from the New Year was my being forced to cancel the performances at the Black Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, California. They style themselves as "Keepers of Culture", though "Gatekeepers" might be a better description. A lack of trust with ticket sales made me decide to pull out of the contract. When a few days later I saw that they were still advertising Call Mr. Robeson as being performed by someone else entirely!, I decided that my suspicions had probably been well founded. Still, it's good to know that other people are doing their bit to keep Robeson's name alive, even if reviews are mixed, and show titles are imitated. The silver lining on that occasion was two very well attended performances at the East Bay Center for Performing Arts in Richmond, and the beginning of what looks like a beautiful friendship with them. Apologies to anyone who turned up at Black Rep expecting to see my show. I hope to be back in the Bay Area again before too long.