When I was little I absolutely loved Ballet Shoes and indeed, just about anything by the incomparable Noel Streatfield. Ballet Shoes will be presented to my niece at a suitable juncture, although last night on the phone she seemed more interested in chocolate ice creams in the interval than actually seeing Swan Lake. I said - tell Mummy it will be gin and tonics all round; she told Mummy, Mummy said Oh well, you like gin and tonic, don't you E.
Ballet Shoes introduced me to the world of ballet, and also a slight fascination for the Midsummer Night's Dream. School English lessons are guaranteed to kill Shakespeare - we did MND, Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliette, that Scottish play, and, for O Level, Henry IV Part 1. My mother, of course, has the Complete World of Shakespeare in the dining room bookcase, printed on ultra thin paper and with a magical feel about the book. I have been to a few plays - I'm not even sure which ones - there was definitely a Hamlet in Nottingham, a couple at the Royal Exchange, one outside in Southend. It struck me watching, repeatedly, Verdi's Otello, being enchanted by Ades's The Tempest, noticing various colleagues getting over-excited by the opening of booking for The Globe, that maybe Shakespeare had something about him.
Should I acquire a complete works of Shakespeare and read them? If so, what plays should I start on? Should I be brave enough to hunt out a live performance of something and dare myself not to fall asleep?
Give me your opinion.
Or should I just re-read the Noel Streatfield books that sit yet on my booksheleves, and search out ones I haven't read?
I feel a little saddened to note that Noel Streatfield died in 1986. I don't recall this happening, which suggests that there was very little media coverage. Presumably because she wrote 'girls' books' and back then, they weren't considered important.
An under-rated ground breaking genius:
By (1936), Noel was busy on many projects. These included...another play, 'Wisdom Teeth'...at the Everyman Theatre. (It) was of a more serious nature, designed to shock with its two themes of divorce and drugs.
I notice on Amazon it says that Customers who bought books by Noel Streatfeild also bought books by
- Antonia Forest - remember Nicki and Lawrie Marlow and Tim Keith?
- Elinor M. Brent-Dyer - th eincomparable chalet School series
- Frances Hodgson Burnett - The Secret Garden, of course, a true literary masterpiece, but also others
- Johanna Spyri - Heidi, superbly wonderful!
- Enid Blyton - I read a few - it was de rigeur, much to my parents' chagrin, but I don't have magical memories of Enid Blyton, except perhaps of the Island of Adventure, Castle of Adventure etc series. And the Magic Faraway Tree
Missing from this list is Mabel Esther Allan - an author clearly loved by a librarian at Coppice Avenue library - remember that boarding school in Skye, but lots of other quite challenging subject matters for 'young adults'.
I'm a roll now - how about Joan Lingard and her Belfast books, including Across the Barricades
