Once Upon a Time There Was a Cat

To York today, where the river was looking particularly lovely in the early Summer sunshine:

and, looking the other way:

and the Department of Archaeology, where Emily is based, at Kings Manor, was looking all rather gorgeous:

We, however, had our minds on High Culture.

We were going to see Rabbit and Hedgehog at York Theatre Royal. Here's the image from the poster:



If you click on the link above and press Play and get the little slideshow, you'll see photographs of Rabbit and Hedgehog: and Hedgehog is played by Ashley Christmas, who is one of the actors represented by the agency that I work for.

Everyone else in the audience had an age in single figures, or was a teacher of very small children, but we enjoyed pretending to be four again, and we joined in with gusto, pretending to eat our birthday cake and singing Happy Birthday.

The show was terrific. Quality drama is quality drama no matter what age it's intended for. A great script, a simple story and the actors were superb: it's a very physical show and they must be very fit, doing two performances a day.

We were a little bit scared when it started to rain and we were worried that Rabbit would get flooded out of his burrow. But, just in case you're thinking of seeing it and this is making you nervous, I think I can safely tell you that no rabbits or hedgehogs are harmed in the making of this play.

As a child I was very easily scared by stories or plays or films. Emily still maintains - with a certain degree of accuracy, it has to be said - that my favourite kind of story goes like this:

"Once upon a time there was a cat, and it lived happily ever after. And it still does."

I think that many plays and pantomimes and films intended for children are scary bordering on the terrifying. But this play hit just the right level - a tiny amount of Mild Peril, but not too much.

A lovely way to spend a morning, and the beauty of York was a bonus.