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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

Creative Commons LicenseLondon Still is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
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IMPORTANT POSTS

Reflections
  • Things I Would Tell my 17-year-old Self 
  • Lilly 
  • What About Bob? and The Dying
  • Dad: Ten Years
  • Detroit Lift Up Your Weary Head
  • Men of Parts 
  • Los Angeles: Look Deeper
  • Portrait of a Friend: Victoria  
  • The Russia Diaries 
  • Important Teachers: A List
  • Carnegie Hall 
  • Serving Maria


Book-lust
  • Winter
  • Spring
  • Summer
  • Autumn

Obsessions
  • 25 Things 
  • An Open Letter to Angela Lansbury on the occasion of her 90th Birthday  
  • An Open Letter to Rebecca Luker 
  • Favo(u)rite things:  
    • Raindrops on Roses, 
    • Whiskers on Kittens and 
    • Bright Copper Kettles...
    • and, yep, Warm Woolen Mittens
  • Bad Crime Drama
  • No problem is too big that it can't be solved by Jessica Fletcher 
  • In My Life - a photographic project


Theatre
  • On Doing What You Love For a Living 
  • We Do it for That Guy
  • Meeting Sheldon Harnick Parts 1 & 2
  • It's All Greek to Me
  • Behind the Scenes 
  • Letting it go...
  • Secrets of the Self Employed :
  • Part 1 
  • Part 2 
  • Part 3
  • ASK AL - The Serial 
  • An Open Letter to Rebecca Luker 
  • A Letter to Henry 


London (Still)
  • The Red Shoe
  • What The Dickens
  • Domestic Happenings Episodes 1-9 are priceless in their own way, but I am partial to Episode 2: The Christmas Tree Debacle  
  • Upper Class and Laughing Last
  • Ahhhh London: The Brothel &  Ahhhh London: The Poo --yeah, that's a tie.


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London Still
Actor / Singer, Writer
A collection of musings from a life in art...
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©Nick Bantock

©Nick Bantock