Henry, move over for Vera

Hello again.

I've found a little time (probably the last until maybe next Sunday) to write again. Today, Sunday, I ran off to the SW London Vineyard and met 2 very kind people whom I'll be seeing next Sunday as well, Lydia and Alan. After that, I ran over to Knightsbridge to purchase my father some tea and then to the Piccadilly Sq. Virgin Megastore (formerly where Tower Records used to be). I spent too much money there, even though I found myself holding way back.

"But what did you do on Saturday?" I can hear you shouting.

I kind of prepped one of my script ideas for my course on Monday, then at the last minute, decided to run down to the National Theatre to see a matinee. I went thinking I'd see Brecht's "Life of Galileo," but impulsively, I changed my mind to Chekhov's "The Seagull," with Juliet Stevenson (the woman who cried a lot in "Truly, Madly, Deeply"). Actually, that's probably the best show I've seen at the National. Chekhov, obviously isn't a barrel of laughs, but you're guaranteed to come out thinking and puzzling and musing about themes of writing, commercialism vs. creativity, mass adulation, and the relation of theatre with itself. It had a lot of levels to it. Unfortunately, time doesn't permit me to go into details if I wanted to cover what I did the rest of the day.

Met up with Harold's and my fringy, filmmaking friend Roy for dinner and off to see Tom Stoppard's newest, "Rock'n'Roll,"which parallels stories in Cambridge and in Prague from 1968-1990. In Prague, we follow the development of the Communist party and how western pop music helped set the tone for freedom. In Cambridge, we follow more or less what Communism meant in England, as well as a parallel of how this woman had met Syd Barrett (of all people) and how the media sort of exaggerated his current state of affairs. His music features prominently and the whole show starts with a young Barrett sitting on top of the woman's (at that time a young girl's) back garden wall. I had only heard that Roger (Syd's real name) had a song at the beginning of the show-- I didn't realize much of the conversation would be about him. Roy poked me and afterwards said, "Man, what a "DIANE" show! You couldn't get more "Diane" than that!"

It's funny as Mr. Barrett had given permission for them to use his music for this show, and there are pictures of him (right up to this year) in the program. It's obvious Mr. Stoppard was touched by his story as I was and uses some of this show to set the record straight and challenge the propaganda media spreads about celebrities, with no thought or care to the authenticity or repercussions on the personalities' lives. I'm sure no one had any idea even a month ago that he would die during this first run of this show.

Strange that I had just walked by his house yesterday, admiring one of the last creative works he was responsible for-- the garden in his front yard. I'm glad I got to come at this point, as his house and yard still bear his marks. I sort of take it as a little divine pat on the back that prayers were being answered, even though I don't know how (sorry to be cryptic, but I've gotta be here).

Well, gotta go... I'm going to do laundry today and get ready to beat an early retreat to Exeter tomorrow morning. I'll be at my course until Saturday the 12th. Sorry this trip will have so few entries, but it's for a good cause. Promise. I just hope I get some direction from this course. Should I go toward writing or toward something else? Maybe this week will answer the first part of the question.

TTFN
Diane