The poet, the playwright, the actress and the storm

Dear readers — She’s been! What did Storm Amy bring you? I got a washed-out Friday night, a head cold, and dog walks so wet my raincoat's gone on strike. But never fear: your steaming hot Monday briefing is here. (This is Laurence speaking, by the way — Abi is still sunning it somewhere.)

Even putting the weather aside, it’s been a sombre week on Merseyside. Last Tuesday, we found out that Brian Patten, one of Liverpool’s most popular poets, had died. Then on Friday, Birkenhead’s Dame Patricia Routledge also left us, aged 96.

In dedication to their memories, we’re focusing on culture in today’s edition. This weekend continues BlackFest, the grassroots arts festival celebrating black culture — read on for an interview with the author of Coleridge-Taylor of Freetown, which will be premiering at the Capstone Theatre this Saturday.

In case you missed it

• Over the weekend, we were meant to bring you Matt O'Donoghue’s explosive piece of investigative journalism. The nature of this kind of reporting, however, sometimes turns up new info and necessitates more digging. So instead, we scrambled Merseyside favourite David Lloyd, who delivered this wonderful and witty look into our market scene. 

• Our first ever politics edition hit last Thursday, featuring live reporting from the fringes of Labour’s party conference at the ACC. Have a look and let us know what you think.
• In light of the horrendous attack on the Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester, both our recommended reads today come from our sister publication, the Manchester Mill. For this piece by our colleagues Ophira Gottlieb, Jack Dulhanty, Jack Walton and Mollie Simpson, all four responded with both incredible speed and sensitivity to events to bring scenes to life for readers. And if you only read one personal perspective about the attack, make it this reflection by Ophira. Clear-eyed and confessional, it concerns the lives of Jewish and Muslim Mancunians in Crumpsall and the capacity of communities to come together in the wake of a tragedy. 

Briefing

A strike by Stagecoach bus drivers has been averted. About 500 staff in Birkenhead, Preston and Chorley were due to stage two seven-day walkouts until an agreement was reached that would see see hourly rates rise to £16.50. Previously, staff had described "huge disparities" in pay between rival bus companies. The settlement means that drivers in Birkenhead will see their pay increase by 10.2% over two years. Unite regional officer Mike Woods said: “Well done to our reps and members. Without their hard work and solidarity, this deal could not have been achieved.” 

Everton have their first Hill Dickinson moment: a last-minute winner by Jack Grealish yesterday ended Crystal Palace’s 19-match unbeaten run and ensured the Toffees are still undefeated at their new stadium. Meanwhile, Liverpool’s own injury-time shenanigans continue to go against them: after beating Bournemouth, Newcastle United, Arsenal, Burnley and Atletico Madrid with last-minute goals, the Reds have now suffered a taste of their own medicine twice in a week versus Crystal Palace and Chelsea. 

A personal reflection: I only met Dame Patricia Routledge once. It was at a Birkenhead showing of a film I’d co-written, so, bizarrely, I was on stage and she in the front row. Blinded by either the unfamiliar spotlight or the shine of celebrity, I didn’t recognise her when she asked about the writing process, and poor Dame Patricia had to suffer through my patronising explanation of the different stages of screenwriting. (“I know,” she politely interjected at last, when I began waffling about the purpose of a film treatment.) Nevertheless, the fact she was there was a testament to her willingness to support local artists well into her eighties, and her kind and magnanimous words afterwards will always stick with me. Although best known as Keeping up Appearance’s Hyacinth Bucket (it’s pronounced “bouquet”), she also gave consummate takes on Mrs Malaprop in Sheridan’s The Rivals and the fierce Lady Bracknell in Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. As Michael Billington wrote on Friday, “There seemed nothing much that Routledge [...] couldn’t play”, and she displayed “a wide-ranging sympathy for humanity in all its infinite possibilities.”

One third of The Mersey Sound anthology, Brian Patten, has also died. Born into a poor Bootle family in 1946, Patten was the youngest of the three ‘Liverpool poets’, the other two being Adrian Henri and Roger McGough. He spent his childhood in terrace by the gasworks in Wavertree Vale, became cub reporter for The Bootle Times, and at 18 moved to Paris, where he scratched a living writing out poems in chalk on the pavements. Though McGough was in London, critics observed there was a definable “Liverpool scene”, and in 1967 Penguin published The Mersey Sound, ordering an ambitious print run of 20,000; the books sold out within a month. But “having helped create a scene, I didn’t want to be part of one,” he recalled. “I wanted to concentrate on the poems.” Patten went on to Top of the Pops fame performing with Scaffold in the late 60s. He achieved strong sales with his collections Vanishing Trick (1976), Grave Gossip (1979) and Storm Damage (1988), and a successful period as a children’s author and poet was interrupted by Armada (1996), which dealt with his difficult relationship with his mother. (Patten never knew his father, and grew up in a household small on affection.) He was awarded the Freedom of the City of Liverpool in 2001. 

The big interview: Tayo Aluko on Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

BlackFest is Liverpool’s annual grassroots black arts festival, started in 2018. The programmers seek to platform music, theatre, film, visual arts and poetry across community spaces and established venues 

This year’s festival has been in progress since September, but don’t worry: there’s still stuff to see, such as an alternative comedy cabaret, and a Shakespeare North “scratch night” for budding playwrights.

One more established playwright who’ll be showcasing his work this weekend is actor, singer, activist and former architect Tayo Aluko. The Nigerian-born, Liverpool-based polymath has written Coleridge Taylor of Freetown, a one-man show about the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Aluko will be performing it at the Capstone Theatre this Saturday but for now, I’ve got him on the phone, live and direct from a packed train to Bolton.

What can people expect from this event?

Tayo Aluko: Two things: a concert, by both amateur and professional musicians meeting for the first time on that day. The second will be my play, which is actually what sparked the whole thing off. Originally I was looking for opportunities to perform it, and was offered the space by BlackFest. Along the way we decided to make more of it as well. 

What was the genesis of the play? 

Tayo Aluko: It started off with the idea of writing something that would give me the opportunity to sing Coleridge-Taylor’s music. I had a hunch I wouldn’t be able to play him myself — he was young, mixed-race, and had a big afro. So I thought, let me find a different character to tell this story, which turned out to be his father, who had been born in Sierra Leone. And it just grew into this thing which deals not just with the history of that country — which is of slavery and resistance — but also looking at the effects of war, such as the sexual abuse of women. 

How did you set about tackling those themes?

Tayo Aluko: When it came to me in that form, I hesitated. I did a reading, and asked specifically for black women to come and see it and see it and judge whether I could have permission to perform it. Thankfully I was given that permission. So on the one hand, we're enjoying beautiful music. On the other, we are looking at issues that are prevalent in the world today that should be tackled by everybody — even, hopefully, sympathetic men.

It’s fascinating that it’s being staged in Liverpool, considering the city’s connection to the slave trade. But I believe there’s also a connection between Coleridge-Taylor — the first modern performance of his Piano Quintet was given in the early 2000s by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic after one of their violinists prepared a score from his handwritten notes. Is it fair to say his music had gone out of fashion before then?

Tayo Aluko: That’s right. Well, after his death, his music was played annually at the Royal Albert Hall until the outbreak of the Second World War, and people would come from all over the country to hear it. But after then, it fell out of popularity. But I’d say in the last 15 years, thanks to the Chineke! Orchestra and other people, he’s become much more popular — Richard Rodney Bennett chose him as a Great Life on Radio 4. 

Why is that? 

Tayo Aluko: I think it’s because his music is so beautiful and so easy. It’s not Stockhausen. And not only was he a musical genius, he was very political for his time. At the age of 23 he attended the First Pan-African conference in London, mixing with the likes of WEB Dubois. 

And that adds to his contemporary relevance. 

Tayo Aluko: Exactly. And I will just say to anyone who would like to take part, even though the call out to musicians has officially closed, I will accept other people who want to participate as performers. 

Photo of the week: 

A lovely portrait of New Brighton by Jim Morris. Thanks for sending, Jim!

Have a photo you want to submit to The Post? Email it to editor@livpost.co.uk for a chance to be featured in our Monday briefings.

Post picks

🥧 Great news: Griffiths, the beloved local bakery shut during the 2017 New Ferry explosion, reopens today. If you fancy one of their famous chicken-and-ham pies, egg custards, or sausage rolls, head down to Bebington Road — people are already camping outside! 

🎛️ Jazz hip hop legends and Ninja Tune mainstays The Herbaliser are playing at Future Yard this Saturday. If you like mind-bending beats, book your tickets here.

🎥 Fact on Wood Street are starting Hallowe’en early with some spooky films from around the world. Our picks this week: An American Werewolf in London tonight, minor cult classic The Changeling on Thursday, and lunatic-fringe Japanese comedy horror Hausu on Friday. Honestly, nothing can prepare you for Hausu — just go and see it and then rant at me in the comments on Monday.