London Still: Auntie Al

First Prologue

They brought a woman
from the street
And made her
sit in the stalls
By threats
By bribes
By flattery
Obliging her to share
a little of her life
with actors

But I don't understand art

Sit still, they said

But I don't want to see sad things

Sit still, they said

And she listened to everything
Understanding some things
But not others
Laughing rarely,
and always without knowing why
Sometimes suffering disgust
Sometimes thoroughly amazed
And in the light again, said

If that's art I think it is hard work
It was beyond me
So much beyond my actual life

But something troubled her
Something gnawed her peace
And she came a second time, armoured with friends

Sit still, she said

And again,
she listened to everything
This time
understanding different things
This time
untroubled that some things
Could not be understood
Laughing rarely
but now without shame
Sometimes suffering disgust
Sometimes thoroughly amazed
And in the light again said

This is art,
it is hard work
And one friend said,
too hard for me
And the other said,
if you will
I will come again
Because I found it hard
I felt honoured

-- Howard Barker,
from The Bite of the Night

29 October, 2006

Auntie Al

So. Aside from excessively bad hair (due to a combination of a bad seat on public transport and less than desireable humidity levels in The Smoke), these are some pictures of Auntie Al and Neice Hannah in action. Note: white fuzzy jumper thing was chosen with great effort, finally finding it a lovely baby gift shop/pharmacy/communist propaganda & leaflet distributor (a mish-mash sort of a place...)

Anyway! She is pretty incredible, and I cannot escape the delicious feeling of belonging to someone. I can be there for her and take care of her if she is ever in trouble or needs Aunt like advice.
I might be the crazy Aunt: the one with a very strange nocturnal lifestyle who reads The Fountainhead as a bedtime story.
I might be the cool Aunt who brings you along to West End rehearsals or lets you sit on the set whilst filming.
I might be the faraway Aunt. I AM the faraway Aunt, let's not be pedantic.
Anyway. It's great. And it is just the beginning.