Glorious Summer

Several significant things have happened since my last blog post. 

Perhaps the most exciting is that I'm now registered as a student at the University of Birmingham to begin a distance learning PhD in September at the Shakespeare Institute, researching touring Shakespeare in Britain and the Benson Companies in particular.  It is something I've thought about doing a great deal since I finished the MA, eleven years ago, but I've had neither the time nor the finances to do it until now.  I could be spending my retirement cruising round the world, but, in all honesty there's only one place I ever really want to be and that is in Stratford. Even though I'll be a distance learner, the connection will be there, as will the excuse I need to visit frequently, as well as hopefully opening doors to other archives in Bristol and at the V&A.

Going back to university - even remotely - is a huge change in priorities and I'm glad I've waited till now to do it. There's nothing riding on this - no potential job prospects or bigger life ambitions.  It is a purely selfish act, based on my curiosity to see if I can actually achieve it and my desire to explore and try to understand more about these people I've become obsessed with!

Basically, I'm doing it, because I can't NOT do it, if that makes sense.

The second exciting thing came out of the blue last week, when I received a message on my Merry Shrew Facebook page, from a gentleman in York who had discovered this blog whilst researching FRB. He is, in fact, playing the role of Frank Benson in a play at York Theatre Royal which runs until the beginning of August.  The community theatre project 'His Last Report' has been created in conjunction with Riding Lights Theatre Company and is a play about Seebohm Rowntree - of the famous York confectionery family - and his work on trying to relieve poverty in the city - both financial and cultural.  Brynhild Benson's job as a gymnastics instructress forms part of the story and Frank also makes an appearance, playing King Lear.  

His Last Report | York Theatre Royal

Delighted that he'd contacted me, I responded and then, when I started to think about it, I realised that I absolutely had to see the play.  And so, next week, I'm off to York once again, having managed to get a really good stalls seat and I'm treating myself to a night away.  (There will, of course, be the lure of Bettys 'Fat Rascals' to contend with.  I'd better take a big bag...)

Benson toured to York on at least 17 occasions, the first visit being in 1886 and his last forty years later in 1926.  For most of these visits he was at the fabulous Theatre Royal (which I've written about before: ) but for three summers - 1898, 1899 and 1900 - the Company performed in the lovely Museum Gardens, very close to the theatre as part of their 'Pastoral' summer tour.   

I'm thrilled that there is this interest in the Bensons and that his spirit will once again stalk the boards of that much-loved theatre - and equally thrilled that I'm in a position to be able to get away to see it.  

Finally, my periodic browsing on ebay turned up a really fabulous photograph I've never seen before, being sold as part of a huge (and very expensive!) lot of autographed letters.  Unfortunately, the bottom of the photograph is obscured preventing any identification of the costume. I thought Romeo at first, but the chain around the neck might suggest Orlando in As You Like It ?  

(I did wonder if the 'skilful man' was wanted for the theatre company or a sporting team...!)

For Remembrance...

I have just returned from the most wonderful visit to Belgium, accompanying students from the school I where I used to teach and where I am currently serving as a governor (I'm also an 'old girl'!)  The school's Senior Choir - girls from Years 9 to 13 - spent four days performing, sampling the culinary delights of Bruges and enjoying some lovely summer weather.   

Normally, such a visit would not warrant a 'Merry Shrew' mention, but the crowning moment of the week was their contribution to the Menin Gate Last Post ceremony on Wednesday July 9th which was one of the most memorable and poignant experiences I've ever had.

I've posted before about the Bensonian memorial window in what is now the Swan's upstairs foyer -The Merry Shrews of Venice: We few...  Although, as far as I have been able to discover, none of the memorialised Bensonians are on the walls at the Menin Gate, I ran through their names in my head during the one minute silence and then thought of the other members of the Company who had served in both the military and in support roles. This followed the buglers' Last Post and the 'Exhortation' from Binyon's  "For the Fallen", a silence filled with birdsong in the summer evening sun, before the first notes of the choir singing 'Amazing Grace' filled the space.  

Afterwards, the girls explored the monument in more detail, many visibly moved as people came over to recount their reasons for being there and the stories of some of those names.  

The Menin Gate Last Post was something which has long been on my 'bucket list' and is an experience I will never forget.  I'm already plotting and planning how I can return to explore more of the Flanders and French WWI sites.

UPDATE: After bit of internet digging, I have discovered that FRB's nephew, Lieutenant Hugh Cecil Benson is commemorated on panel 46 of the Menin Gate.  An architect by profession, he joined the Rifles in December 1914 and died on 22nd June 1916 at Hooge.  I've also found two accounts - one by FRB and the other by CB - of the Bensons' canteen work for the French Red Cross.  Of the two, CB's is (of course!) the better written and is illustrated with uncredited line drawings, presumably by a house artist at The Windsor Magazine.  Taken together they provide a fascinating glimpse into a very specific moment in time, far away from the world of touring Shakespeare. I've also unearthed several previously overlooked 1917 performances of a condensed 'Shrew' which the pair toured around the Music Hall circuit during the summer and autumn of 1917, in between their two stints at war work.   Performing twice nightly with two or three matinees a week, and supported by a number of variety acts, they varied from one and two night engagements to whole weeks in Glasgow and Birmingham.  Another side-scrape to explore...