Backs of the audience in silhouette, looking at performer Chris Thorpe in silhouette, facing a projected video call

Chris Thorpe talking to a silhouetted audience member

Chris Thorpe playing piano and singing while a technician holds a microphone for him

A brilliant, urgent and striking night of theatre with Chris Thorpe’s ‘Talking About The Fire’ at #Braunton Academy. The most common audience response was “everyone should see this”.

It’s quite a thing that this national tour opened in #NorthDevon.

#ACEsupported #Beaford #ChinaPlate

Paragraph of text featuring a misspelling of cavalry as Calvary

An insightful typo in this week’s @lyngardnertheatre.bsky.social column for @thestage.co.uk online

… and a note that the economy is a subset of the environment, rather than the other way around. Sheesh.

… reposting this in the context of my Climate Change Committee reposts earlier …

The CCC is clear – net zero is essential for the the health of our climate and a chance to cut bills and raise living standards. This report challenges those trying to politicise climate action and hold Britain back. Cutting our reliance on fossil fuels can cut bills by £700.

The recommended Seventh Carbon Budget pathway

We have published our advice on the Seventh Carbon Budget. It is in line with previous Government commitments – the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Carbon Budgets, international commitments, and the Net Zero commitment in 2050.

Lively sell-out crowd at tonight’s #FatDog gig at #ExeterPhoenix

Yep, you win!

Here you are! Power has just returned…

A garden in rural Devon with a covering of snow, enough to render a path and grass only just visible

I bet you can beat this, @lisaschneidau.bsky.social ! #devon #snowday

Brilliant evening at Fat Dog’s sold-out Bristol gig last night 🤯

They’ve added Dillon on percussion for this tour, and the vibe now has a hint of the Happy Mondays during their early all-conquering phase. Epic! Morgan on sax was brilliant too, although I should declare an interest as I’m her dad 😊

A ten-year-old standing next to a river in a North Devon community near a tidal zone. She is standing on land which is projected to be affected by regular climate change-related flooding by 2050. She is holding a hand-made sign reading "When I'm 40, will my walk be under water?"

A ten-year-old on a beach under leaden skies near a pebble ridge, with two horses being ridden towards her in the background. She is holding a sign reading "when I'm 40 will my beach be underwater?"

A ten-year-old in a skate park near a river. The skateboarders behind him are blurred due to movement. He is holdin a sign reading "When I'm 40 will my skatepark be underwater?"

Preparing a talk for Plymouth Uni's Sustainable Earth Institute. Q: how do you make projections of climate-related coastal flooding come alive?

A: Ask the brilliant Gideon Mendel to photograph ten-year-olds in locations that'll flood regularly within their lifetimes. beaford.org/whenimforty #devon

Started the starter pack...
go.bsky.app/C6cqMW9

Two accomplished female musicians playing an evening acoustic gig at the front of a rural parish church, lit by candles in the window alcoves and a few floor lights. The audience fills the pews.

#Devon -based Sound Of The Sirens playing an unplugged set last night in the little rural village of Romansleigh, near Exmoor #beaford

People standing in a Victorian metalwork yard at Treadgolds in Portsmouth UK

… and we still found time to rehearse our new production of West Side Story!

1980 - about 20 years ago
1990 - about 10 years ago
2000 - about 10 years ago
2010 - a couple years ago
2016 - 87 years ago
2019–2023 - last year

A screenshot of the NTS Radio app on iPhone, showing today’s Maria Somerville show.

If laid-back left-field music radio is your kind of thing, it’s worth trying Maria Somerville’s Early Bird Show on NTS radio, 7-9am Mon-Tues. Like Late Junction in its heyday, but with toast.

... and finally for the #Edfringe roundup, Weer by Natalie Palamides really is *that* good. If you can get a ticket for November's run at the Soho, it's well worth it.

Zoe Bullock - Gracie and the Start of the End of The World (again).

A one-woman show about an immortal jellyfish with a crush on Timothee Chalamet and a turtle. Fizzingly performed, and takes some unexpected twists that make it a lot deeper than this description.

#Edfringe

Wright and Grainger - Half Man Half Bull: Theseus.

One of the strongest pieces of gig theatre I've seen. Exuberant and exhilarating retelling of Greek myth, which lands some big themes while wearing them lightly. The soundtrack albums are online and they're banging. #Edfringe

Sh!t Theatre - Or What's Left of Us. By turns funny, fondly iconoclastic, and devastating. It's as good as everyone says it is, except better. "This is a song about death" has never been a stronger punchline.

Also, I’m one of the many with the apparently obligatory post-Edinburgh Covid. Thanking my lucky stars I could get home before it came on.

It was a surprisingly strong #Edfringe this year, though. Highlights for me included: …

Hello. Obligatory first post:

- I work at England’s longest-established rural arts initiative, which is a great job because I get to work with brilliant artists across art forms
- I’m vice-chair of a UNESCO environmental partnership aimed at finding local solutions to global problems