When Peter and I first met (let’s call him, for argument’s sake, Hercules because he loves his anonymity, he’s very modest and hopefully it will make him smile) from Suffolk Adults' Safeguarding Board, he told us that we ought to target our talks at bigger audiences. How about, he mused, the theatres in the area. Ever sceptical I merely nodded but credit to Hercules, he has continued to fulfil his promise and yesterday saw the “Berry and Bunt on Tour” continue with our talk at The Seagull Theatre, Lowestoft.
Continuing the theme from our last theatre talk at Bury St Edmunds of ‘grab a celeb’, we were delighted to purloin the services of Suffolk’s very own radio gal, Lesley Dolphin. Lesley had met Peter ten years ago immediately after his diagnosis and had been amazed at how healthy and articulate he was. As Peter’s activities increased and his profile became more widely known, these radio interviews continued to the point when Peter and I had a regular monthly catch up slot with Lesley and her colleagues on BBC Radio Suffolk.
So I was delighted that Lesley agreed to deliver an introduction and conclusion to the talk and also that she read a short passage from “Slow Puncture” as part of the opening and three of Peter’s poems to conclude.
The response from the audience was positive, there was laughter and gasps in equal measure and a whirlwind of book sales in a manic ten minutes at the end of the talk.
And, obviously, just to reassure you that we were not talking to an empty auditorium, the picture of the theatre was before the audience took their seats and is merely to demonstrate what we were faced with on arrival. I know how pragmatic and literal some of you can be...
This talk was put together in collaboration with Suffolk and Norfolk Safeguarding Boards and Peter and I are so grateful for this opportunity. I think this really did demonstrate some great partnership working. Thank you to everyone, not just Hercules, but to his Norfolk counter-part Becky and to Anthony Douglas for their input. And thank you, Johnnie Wright, for taking us by surprise and rocking up to hear Peter talk. Always a joy to receive one of your hugs!
And so to the next show, luvvies….
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