Exclusive story: Is There Anything Better; Forgotten Suns art; Poem - All The Scenes; House/Disco Mix: Xmas on Planets; Latin for 'chair'; Tales From The UniversE 44 - newsletter from Early Jan 2024
An arcadia of imagination
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1. Short Story
Is There Anything Better
On the third day of 2024 Kev ‘The Director’ walked out of his house on Bulkeley Road, went right towards Waitrose, right again toward The Centre at Poynton.
He stopped at the entrance, opened the perspex front of The Centre at Poynton’s notice board and pinned a large flyer inside.
AUDITIONS FOR
William Shakespeare’s
‘TWELFTH NIGHT’
THIS FRIDAY AT THE CENTRE
On the bottom half of the flyer was an image of Twelfth Night’s Malvolio, the steward of Olivio’s household whose name, in Italian, meant ill will.
Like malevolent in English.
The image scanned from a Wordsworth paperback edition Kev owned since studying the play at Poynton High School. Malvolio depicted in yellow tights, a harlequin’s checkered top, yellow diamonds against red diamonds, a rouged face, his grin a try-it-sucker challenge against anyone who dare out-Malvolio Malvolio.
The etymology of ‘harlequin’ derived from France and the idea of a ‘devil’ or a ‘demon’ Kev had read somewhere.
Kev ‘The Director’ smiled. A nice artistic flourish to use the court jester/schemer in the advert for the auditions as Malvolio was the embodiment of Shakespeare’s tale of partying on the last day of the festive season - 5 January.
Malvolio would have grinned his grin at how the burghers of Poynton acted on New Year’s Day. How cheerful and teeming hope they were. Kev had sat right here, his favoured spot, by the notices sign of the Centre at Poynton, in his new winter coat, snug as the mug of hot chocolate he sipped from the flask his wonderful wife Julia Mae made him for when he did precisely this: take his adored wood-armed chair from his office in the corridor by the hall of the Centre at Poynton to do what he did each new year’s day.
Watch the flow of people on Park Lane take their walks to mark the start of 2024. Kev ‘The Director’ disagreed with Malvolio. Big time. People were sweet to have their hopes sparked by the first day of a new year because all it was really was a new day.
It gave - renewed - faith in the human condition, spirit.
There was no joy in this but some of the same locals with the light in their eyes on 1 January passed today straight-faced; had already forgotten what caused the light.
He should stop one of them and tell them what his darling daughter Belinda Louise had taught him.
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