The Influence of Popular Performers on The Political Sphere

Over the last year, since the autumn of 2017, I have been studying for a further year at the University of Kent, in Canterbury. Having completed my undergraduate degree in Drama and Theatre, with Upper Second Class Honours, I decided to stay on and do an MA in Theatre Making.

Towards the end of this MA, I wrote my first ever dissertation (having opted not to write one during my undergraduate degree). This was months of particularly gruelling work, with heavy research and reading into a variety of topics and subjects, albeit ones that I loved.

I decided to write this dissertation on "The Influence of Popular Performers On The Political Sphere." I have long been fascinated with the world of politics, and in recent years I have been fascinated by the potential effect of comedians, musicians, and other types of 'popular performers' have on the world of politics. Hence, I decided to write about that as my topic.

On the 31st August 2018, I submitted the longest single piece of work I've ever written. Despite the stress of it, and not knowing what my lecturers would think, I was immensely proud of it. After blood, sweat, tears and a few all-nighters, I had finally completed my dissertation, and with it, my MA degree. 

This week, I received my marks back for my Dissertation. The feedback from my lecturers who marked it was overwhelmingly positive, and I was delighted.

I got a mark of 72 - a First! It's one of the highest mark of my entire MA, and meant that I got a first overall for my Dissertation module, averaging at a 70.

As a result, I will be officially graduating next month, for the second time, on Friday 23rd November, 2018. I will be leaving the University of Kent, where I achieved an undergraduate and Master's degree, with a 2:1 overall in both, and a string of individual Firsts for modules and assignments along the way.

Anyway, particularly with the vindication of the marks and feedback, I'd now love to share this Dissertation with you. As I say, it's the longest single piece of work I've ever written, at around 13,500 words. There are 3 chapters, an introduction, and a conclusion. But it's up here now, for anyone that wants to read it. For anyone interested in politics (stand-up comedy, grime music or any and all of the above, then you're (hopefully) in for a treat.

(P. S. - In the dissertation, I try to explain Antonio Gramsci's ideas as simply as I can. But if you're having trouble with getting your head around them, then I'd really recommend this article by Georege Eaton: https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/observations/2018/02/why-antonio-gramsci-marxist-thinker-our-times. It places the ideas in a modern context and explains them nice and simply, so might be of particular use in Chapter 2.)

Anyway, enjoy!

H

Everbody's Talking About Jamie - Review

A New Musical by Dan Gillespie Sells and Tom MacRae

14th February 2017, The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield

 Jamie New is sixteen. He’s from Sheffield. And he has a secret; he wants to be a drag queen. Such is the setting for this most unusual of musicals...

The opening number, ‘Don’t Even Know It’, appears to owe something to Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin’s Matilda: school kids in blazer and tie, dancing on old-fashioned desks as we briefly leave the mundanity of the classroom for the fantasy world of the children. Except these aren’t naughty young urchins; they’re Year 11s, about to take their GCSEs, being advised on a future career path. This isn’t so much Roald Dahl, as Russell T Davies - appropriate, given writer Tom MacRae’s history of writing for the Davies-era of Doctor Who. Jamie (John McCrea) is an out and proud sixteen year old, and, as with Davies’s dramas, it’s refreshing to see a gay character so comfortable in his own skin. Jamie is largely accepted and embraced by his multi-ethnic cohort, and in a day and age where RuPaul’s Drag Race is one of the top shows on Netflix, this musical feels firmly placed in the 21st Century. 

Like the Minchin musical that seemingly inspired some of the staging, the composer's voice shines through in every song; fans of Gillespie Sells’s band The Feeling will recognise his ear for a catchy pop tune, and just as easily imagine him singing each song as ‘Fill My Little World’ or ‘Sewn’. But even for those who don’t follow Gillespie Sells’s career religiously, the score is enjoyable and tugs at the heartstrings at the right moments.

Talented newcomer McCrea plays the titular Jamie with an irresistible charm worthy of the boy himself (the musical is based on the story of Jamie Campbell, featured in the BBC documentary Drag Queen at 16.) Jamie’s loving mother Margaret (Josie Walker), tries desperately to juggle being a single mother, enthusiastically encouraging and carefully raising her boy, while trying to maintain the charade that his erstwhile father (Spencer Stafford) still loves and cares for him. Margaret covers for his absence from events in Jamie’s life; after all, no-one wants to grow up resenting their parents. The picture she paints of the distant but ultimately caring father is so tragic that we wish it were true, despite seeing with our own eyes that it isn’t.

But Jamie is about more than that. As Director Jonathan Butterell said at the Q&A afterwards, the show is not actually a niche musical about a 16 year old wannabe-drag queen; but a universal story about a boy and his Mum. There are many ‘Jamies’ out there, he said, and in the current political climate, a story like this encourages those Jamies to be open, proud, and say ‘we’re here, we’re real, and we’re not going away’. In an age of a more socially conservative backlash, exemplified by Brexit and Trump, to, what was, arguably, a growing liberal order, Jamie is a loud proclamation that we should be who we want to be; and, like all good drag queens, it does it in six-inch heels.

_________________________________________________________________

This article was originally written as part of a university assignment. It has been published here, in full.  Everybody's Talking About Jamie has since transferred to the Apollo Theatre in the West End, and now stars Layton Williams in the title role. Tickets available here.

Gene Wilder

Excuse the inaccurate trousers and trainers, but given the comparison I'll make between Wilder's Wonka and a certain other character, then perhaps, some red converse trainers were rather appropriate....

Wow....

R.I.P, Gene Wilder.

Blimey. Quite a thing, to think that he's gone.

Willy Wonka. Always the best.

The Johnny Depp film may have stuck slightly closer to the original book, but nothing compares to this wonderful man's interpretation.

I remember reading an article, several years ago, in an issue of Doctor Who Magazine, which described, in descending order, a dozen or so instances of actors in films or TV shows, who, while not *actually* playing the Doctor, might as well have been, for their interpretation of the given character. Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka topped that list.

Not only was it his wonderful eccentricity, unpredictability and general sense of other-wordly-ness, but his costume, with the bow tie and velvet jacket, is vaguely reminiscent of the Doctor of the time, Jon Pertwee, and his costume in general is very Doctor-ish. Plus, as the article pointed out, all that that scene in the tunnel needed, where he's reciting creepy rhymes, and lights are going off all over the place and with the tension and music building, is that familiar Doctor Who theme sting that came with the cliffhanger at the end of an episode.



I was lucky enough to be able to play a version of Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka at an event in Newham earlier this year, supervising a game where visiting children would look for and find a Golden Ticket. As well as the odd look of wonder and amazement from some kids, I was approached for a few photos and selfies. Much like has often been said about the Doctor, it wasn't so much me they wanted a photo with or had such excitement for, but the affection they had for the *character*, which they would project onto me in portraying it.

It was an immense pleasure sort-of playing a part that really, I feel I could have made more effort to fill the shoes of. I hope that I get the opportunity to do so again at some point, so that I can put even more effort into channeling the indomitable Gene Wilder.

What a thrill.

Sad to see him pass, although he will always live on, for many of us, '...in a world of Pure Imagination...'

Sir Terry Wogan...

Goodnight, Terry.

I'm afraid, while I could sympathise with and feel the collective sense of loss that people felt when it came to David Bowie and Alan Rickman, neither of them had an especially deep, personal connection to my own life. Although they were always sort of there, and I was aware of them, and enjoyed their music (in Bowie's case) or performances (with both of them), I didn't exactly grow up with them.

Sir Terry Wogan was different.

When I think of Terry Wogan, I'm back in my Mum and Dad's old kitchen at home. I'm ten years old, sat at the kitchen table, eating my cereal, in my Sellincourt Primary School uniform, getting ready for the day ahead. I'm listening to this gentle Irishman's voice. Warm, good-humoured, witty, helping us all  (all 8 million of his listeners) to wake up in the morning.

I'm hearing him read Janet and John, and while not really understanding why him, everyone else in the studio, and Mum and Dad, are laughing so much, being amused and bemused by their enjoyment and laughter.



I'm sat watching the Eurovision song contest as he gently pokes fun at all of the acts on show.

I'm watching him host the Children In Need telethon, having a laugh and a joke, struggling to cope with and understand some of the newer elements such as texting, tweeting, using Facebook, etc., but carrying on like a trooper.

I'm sitting at the computer, watching old clips of him hosting Children In Need in his heyday, or doing his chat show - his segments interviewing the stars of Doctor Who, past and present (as well as that one brilliant clip of him interviewing Baldrick while Blackadder supervises).

I don't think that it would be unfair to say that Terry Wogan was a bit past his prime by the end. While there was something so lovely about his commitment to Children In Need, which I think said a lot about him, in the last few years I could see him struggling a bit with the trials and tribulations of such live broadcasting, and I didn't consider it to be a great loss last year when he had to give it a miss on that occasion because of ill health (though naturally I didn't wish him to be in ill health). I remember thinking that, despite being a few years his junior, Terry seemed a fair bit more frail and less able to cope with presenting demands towards the end than his peer, Sir Bruce Forsyth, is currently.



But I, as I'm sure so many others will, remember Sir Terry Wogan in his prime. Whenever they consider that to be, and in whatever medium. Blankety Blank, The Wogan talk show, Children In Need, Eurovision, Radio 2. Everyone has their own special little memories of Terry Wogan.

When I woke up this morning and saw people paying tributes to Wogan, I couldn't believe it. I was in shock. Terry Wogan, gone?

I remember distinctly listening to the last breakfast show link, as it went out. Of course, Wogan would go on to host a live show on Sunday mornings a few months later, but it was never quite as good, or had the same charm, of Wake Up To Wogan.

At the time, watching interviews with people as they heaped praise on Wogan as his time on the breakfast show was coming to an end, and listening to the final show, I got a sense of the enormous love and affection for this man, and I knew I was going to miss his morning show, but I couldn't fully grasp it all, even knowing that he'd been such a big figure in broadcasting for so many decades before. And I wasn't that worried, as I knew I'd still see him on Children In Need.
 
But now, looking back, thinking about him today, I get it.

When I sat and listened to this last breakfast show link again, I felt this great sense of nostalgia, and loss, knowing that Terry Wogan has passed away, and I burst into tears. I find if difficult to stop crying for very long even now. Every time I listen to the clip, I well up.
If you can bear to, I recommend you listen to this. Over half a decade later, it now feels like an even more fitting goodbye from the man himself, who we all felt we knew in some way, all considered like a friend, an uncle or Granddad, even if we'd never met him face-to-face.

The moment that really gets to me is when Terry says "you, my listener". Doesn't that just sum him up? This man had over 40 years of experience, he had an audience on Wake Up To Wogan of over 8 million people...and yet his last, parting remark, as his show always was, was not to address it as if he was talking to millions, not as if he was in front of some huge crowd...

But to one person. An intimate style of speaking just to one person - and yet, he spoke to everyone.

Farewell Terry. Goodnight, Mr Wogan.




“Hang on: there’s 60 million people in the country – what are the other 52 million listening to?” – Terry Wogan, on hearing his radio show audience had passed 8 million....

Snoopy & Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie

On the 9th January, 2016, 3 generations of Mendozas saw The Peanuts Movie - based on the popular comic strips and cartoons by Charles M Schulz.

Dad had always been a huge fan of Snoopy as a child, and this had carried through into adulthood. To this day, we still have the odd Snoopy visible around the house from his extensive collection, and there's at least a few at my paternal Granny's house, too.

Through Dad's love of Snoopy/Peanuts as a child, his parents ended up loving it, and through my awareness of this, I took an interest too. I remember we had a video copy of Snoopy, "Flash Beagle" that I watched a lot as a kid, and at my grandparents house we had a copy of the film "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown." I also watched many of the other films and Christmas Specials over the years, with either Granny and Grandpa or Dad.

When we first heard that Blue Sky Studios were making a feature-length film, we were apprehensive, to say the least. Would it do the original series/films justice? Or would they go too far in trying to modernise it for a Hollywood audience? It could very easily be another Magic Roundabout - which, while I enjoy immensely as a good film in its own right, Dad is right that CGI animated film didn't retain nearly the same level of charm as the original series.


And then, we saw this trailer:

Suddenly, we were at ease. The opening moments, using the 2001: Space Odyssey music, lead you down one line of thinking, especially as the earth morphs into Charlie Brown's CGI head, but then....

That moment where that music stops, Snoopy appears, and the original Peanuts music begins, all worries are dispelled. As Dad said, it was as if those producing the film were quietly saying to the fans, "Don't worry - this is safe in our hands." Even in what is just a 60-second teaser, you can feel the charm and sense of humour that was so present in the original cartoons. Even the style of 3D animation was great - you weren't being given a full 360-degree view of the environment and characters, so it still had a two-dimensional feel to it.

Nevertheless, the use of pop music in some subsequent trailers had made me, at least, a bit more nervous - love pop music though I do, mainstream sounding pop music was never a staple of the Peanuts cartoons and it wouldn't have been great if the film was just filled with an entirely pop-based soundtrack.

So, while quietly confident that I wouldn't be disappointed, I sat down in the cinema with Mum, Dad, my younger brother George, and younger sister Ruby, to see the film. After a few too many trailers, and an Ice Age short featuring 'Scrat' which, while enjoyable, made me feel the Ice Age shark had most certainly been jumped, the film began.

The film was absolutely beautifully done. A true labour of love.

The music, the mood, the sense of humour, all of it felt so faithful to the original cartoon. (Warning: some slight spoilers ahead in the rest of the paragraph): There was no massive, overarching one-off storyline that took the characters to a different place, no grand, Hollywood-style adventure, it felt very much like a compiled mini-series of stories that would be right at home in the original cartoons (albeit with an overrarching narrative running through). Even scenes of Snoopy flying his kennel like a proper plane, seen in the original series but could never have been achieved on the same scale in hand-drawn animation, felt totally faithful to the humour, heart and mood of the cartoons.

Without saying exactly why, I wept at the end. It was the one thing that I felt deviated ever so slightly from lots of the tropes of the old comics and books, but it did so with such class, feeling and narrative reasoning that it felt completely right and justified.

While I'm not sure it would have nearly the same resonance for those who didn't watch Snoopy cartoons or read the Peanuts strips as a child, I do think the film is good enough in its own right to enjoy as a family whether you're familiar with the characters or not.

But if you are, then Snoopy and Charlie Brown will feel extra special. In many ways, it feels like a love letter to the fans, and all those that used to watch it, with lovely easter eggs scattered throughout, lots of laughs, and a good story.

Especially if you have ever enjoyed watching or reading Snoopy/Charlie Brown/Peanuts, go and see this film.

I think I can say, with reasonable certainty - it doesn't disappoint ;)

My Blogger Went To Uni, and All I Got Was One Lousy Blog Post...

Being at uni for a full year, you'd think that a budding writer like me would be using such an exciting new experience to write about it.

Yeah....about that.....

See, not long after I actually arrived at The University of Kent, I got involved with InQuire - the student newspaper. Mum had encouraged me to try to do this as soon as was practical, to further develop my writing skills, practice writing short form pieces to a deadline, all that kind of thi ng.

So, over the course of the year, I've written various articles for InQuire.

The trouble is, given that this blog only really sees sporadic activity at the best of times anyway, then between writing the odd column for InQuire, and working on various essays, then I've not really spent much time blogging about my actual experience of uni. Only one blog post in the last year or so has been specifically focused on uni life, and the rest mostly just reference it in passing.

So, what I thought I'd do, is share some of my articles on here, and you can see what I've been up to in the last year, writing-wise. You can also see how well (or not!) my writing has progressed in that time.

Hope you enjoy!

The Male Feminist - On being a feminist, and a profound (and slightly scary) experience I had, not long after arriving at uni. Published Oct 17th, 2014. 

"I think it's time to face the music." - On The X Factor, and why I now have very little time for it... Published Oct 20th, 2014. 

The Best TV Of 2014 - My pick of some great TV that was broadcast last year. Published Jan 12th, 2015. 

"Oh, I don't vote. It's not like it'll make a difference." - On the importance of voting in elections. Published Jan 27th, 2015.  

Is Canterbury making busking bust? - On the restrictions introduced to busking in Canterbury, and my own experience of buskers, with reference to Charlotte Campbell. Published Jan 30th, 2015. 

Cameron: Refusing to take part in the TV debates, is not only an insult to young people, but shows utter contempt for the electorate as a whole - On David Cameron's refusal to take part in the General Election TV Debates. Published Mar 17th, 2015.

 

E1S4 - Eliot College

A little prior to starting life at the University of Kent, I discovered this blog post, by one of my predecessors. He had lived in the exact same room that I was going to be living in, from 1970-71. It was a weird thing to read about: the experience of someone that had lived in that exact same accomodation - that exact same room.

When I first started at Kent, I had intended to do a little video tour of my room - for those who might not get a chance to see it while I lived there. I was going to do it during fresher's week, but I hadn't really done much to make the room my own. I thought I'd wait til I had some posters up, then do it.

Then, like any student, I was a bit lax when it came to keeping it tidy. I resolved to do it when I had actually cleared up my room.

I then cleaned my room, but kept forgetting about it.

Suddenly, what do you know, 9 months go by, and I was moving out. All I have are these photos of how the room was when it was empty:

This is how I left the room, as its inhabitant in the University's 50th year, ready for a fresher to arrive in September, and start their own journey.

I don't really have any photos of the room as it was with all my things in it, but like the blog post linked above, I can describe it.

The back wall above the bed had two posters: one large Doctor Who one featuring the TARDIS on Gallifrey...

The other, a little more sentimental: this poster, which I designed, from 'A Penny For Your Thoughts' - the Year 13 BTEC Drama production I did at Ashcroft:

And finally, on the wall opposite the bed was a poster prominently featuring Peter Capaldi as The Doctor, with smaller pictures of  each of his 12 predecessors:

The chair below this poster was covered with a lovely fluffy blanket that was given to me by Janice, Paul, Marteli and Eliza the previous Christmas. On the back of the chair was often Matt The Wab:

The notice board had a certificate for Matt, and a letter from my Great Uncle Tony - praising my own letter-writing ability. A source of great pride for me!

My desk had my laptop, and a small digital photo frame which I occasionally switched on when I missed home. Lots of photos from my days at Ashcroft and hanging out at home, many of which can be seen elsewhere on this blog.
The rest of the desk was largely cluttered with various bits and pieces - papers, folders, a fruit bowl that I frequently filled (yes, really!)

My shelves above my desk had various books. Some relating to my course: The Empty Space by Peter Brook. Getting The Joke and Britain Had Talent by Oliver Double (one of the lecturers here at Kent.) Lots of non-curriculum books that I've still not got around to reading properly - Caitlin Moran's Moranthology, Charlie Higson's The Fallen, plenty of Doctor Who books, fictional and factual. At the start of the year I had a jar of peanut-flavoured pretzel nuggets (look them up) and later on in the year I had this prize for one of the articles I wrote for InQuire, the student newspaper:

The shelf below: I'd keep a cereal box or porridge, along with a box of teabags, and then on the other side, various DVDs. Lots of Doctor Who again, but also a few favourite films of mine: Chaplin's The Great Dictator, Peter Morgan's The Deal, The Queen, and The Special Relationship.
Tony Benn: Will and Testament. The Elephant Man, Richard Pryor Live....all sorts.


The very top shelf had two more Doctor Who things, but with some sentimental value attached: models of the TARDIS and a Dalek respectively, originally given to me (on a cake!) by Luciano and his family for my 17th birthday (pictured here):

But really, there's more to the room than those personal touches from the past.

There's the memories made while there too.

Just tiny little things.

Sitting there chatting to Stu on the first day. Talking to Navreet on the first night of fresher's because we both lived in Eliot and didn't fancy queuing for ages to get into Venue having already done the campus bar crawl.
Sitting in there chatting to Gemma and Stu. Having Ciaran over each week to watch Doctor Who in the autumn.

Skype calling Uncle Gordon in Australia. Video calls with Becky, Mÿca & Nicole or Kai, Yasmin, Luciano, Mum & Dad and whoever might be visiting who I otherwise wouldn't be able to see because of being away. 

Hannah, Rosie and the rest of the #MakeItMcintosh campaign team coming round, and housing the props for the video in my room so that they didn't have to lug them around campus.

Recording a 'Happy Birthday' video for my friend Charlotte Campbell.

Dave, Beth, Stu, Gemma and co. hanging around before and after Monkeyshine on a Thursday.

Philippa and Edward joining us to watch silly videos on YouTube til the small hours of the morning.

Watching the Tony Benn film with Rob and laughing at the great man's one-liners.

Watching Wallace & Gromit's The Wrong Trousers for the first time in years with Edward and Ciaran, and getting teary eyed out of nostalgia and realising quite how sad the moments with Gromit in the kennel were.

So many of these are just tiny things. Little moments. But many of them are small, intimate moments of friendship and enjoyment that I will cherish as highlights of my first year.

There are obviously many, many others from my first year at Kent, but they could've happened regardless of where I was living. But these moments were specific to that room.

Eliot may not be much - in fact my friend Alex has some less than generous things to say about the building itself - but for me personally, it was enough.

I've made some truly great friends thanks to being in Eliot. Made some truly great memories.

And despite having a nice, more communal student house (with a proper kitchen!) to live in next year, then I'll miss it.

So long, Eliot College. You were a maze (literally), but for 9 months, you were my home.