October Reading

Roger Bristol  The Last Bohemians: The Two Roberts, Colquhoun & MacBryde

See post below.

Michael Hastings  Tom and Viv  This is Hastings' most well-known play about the disastrous marriage of T S Eliot and Vivienne Haigh-Wood.  Coincidentally, in a biography of George Devine (a founder of the English Stage Company responsible for the 'golden age' of plays at the Royal Court) I read:

"Devine went along to the New Lindsay production of Don't Destroy Me [by Hastings] and discovered not only that its author had talent but that he was in some danger of destroying himself.  Besides his eight-to-six tailoring job, he was drunk nightly in the Fitzrovian company of Colquhoun and MacBryde ... Devine thereupon 'in a most fatherly manner' warned him off the literary life and the Beaverbrook Press and advised him to get on with writing and finish his apprenticeship: telling 'me in no uncertain terms that Radiguet was a finer writer at this age than I was and young Raymond never required a Colquhoun or a MacBryde to carry him home at night.'"   Irving Wardle The Theatres of George Devine (Cape, 1976) pp.195-196

Geoffrey Household  Rogue Male  First read at secondary school and reread a few times since then.  Still a great thriller.  And due for yet another remake, this time with Benedict Cumberbatch.  Interesting article about it here.

John Russell Taylor  The Art Nouveau Book in Britain

Allan Bryce Amicus The Friendly Face of Fear  Just published, arrived appropriately on Halloween.  I've enjoyed Doctor Terror's House of Horrors and The Skull this year.  While Amicus' output was very mixed to say the least, it would appear that there are still one or two other films worth seeking out.

R K R Thornton ed.  Poetry of the Nineties

David Hare  The Secret Rapture

My play is now finished and I intend to send it to a professional (many advertise their services online,  but one wonders about their real qualifications) to read through and comment on before any further progress.