Happy Days! Trying to sort out new passwords but not doing very well! Roll on help from Susie or a grandson! Hope you get this ok.
The vitriol spewing out of newspapers and the general public is awful. What ever the rights and wrongs of the right royal fall out, I am sorry for Harry and Megan, it must feel as if some giant panjandrum is rolling towards them about to squash them out of existence. In a phone-in on 5Live on Friday the hate filled comments from listeners were horrible to listen too. Newspaper headlines despicable. Your mother would be ashamed of you etc. Diana wasn’t exactly an example of moral virtue.
It all began so well, Megan was the darling of the public, Harry the handsome young prince charming but then it all changed – was it because she became too popular and the danger was she’d over shadow Kate just the way Diana overshadowed Charles? An element of jealousy involved me thinks, Machiavellian forces at work to punish this young man and his wife. I would prefer they dropped all their attempts to get back at the family and just continued to establish themselves as people who care for the environment and do good works for others. Probably not a realistic hope, they are hurting and lashing out just as happens in the best regulated families, Megan is a force to be reckoned with and let’s hope Harry can channel her enthusiasm in the right direction. Ambitious wives are nothing new in royal history. Please Harry, if you read this blog, give it a rest, stop digging a hole you’re unlikely to get out of, don’t give anyone a reason to hang you out to dry, just stop your shenanigans.
Looking back
Mary Moulds, David Marken, Libby Smyth, Sean Kearns, Rory McCollum, Rosie Barry and Marty Maguire in The Shop at the top of the Town at Theatre at the Mill. Photo by Stephen Davison.
Oh Yes, I remember it well. My red coat with a Peter Pan collar, pull-ups and white bootees. And the horror of standing in line to sit on Santa’s knee. Robb’s department store in Castle Place was the centre of the universe come December and a visit to the grotto compulsory. Into the shop where little metal canisters whizzed overhead as the wires carry money to a small wooden cabin high above the counter and down again with the change – no tills, no card, no chip machine. This is where my mother took out a garment on ‘appro’, tried it on at home and either kept it or returned for adjustments to be made, Wouldn’t happen in 2022.
As tattoo parlours take over, there aren’t such stores today except at the Theatre at the Mill. Here until 31st December you’ll find The Shop At The Top Of The Town curtesy of Little Willow Productions.
It’s Christmas 1972 and although Belfast is surrounded by steel barriers, the audience enter to festive music, there’s a buzz of excitement and good cheer and so into a warm and comfy theatre where you’re welcomed to Hoffman’s Department Store. This is a play written by Michael Cameron who has achieved what he set out to achieve, a family show, memories with no moralising or preaching and triggered by his own childhood travelling on the top of the bus to see the lights of Belfast on the way to visit Santa in Robbs – and a long lost photo.
A most enjoyable play filled with local references, conjuring up memories for so many in the audience, it’s peppered with songs written by Michael and music by Garth McConaghie who has managed to create a special melody for each character be it a cabaret number or a tender love song.
This is the empire of Felix Hoffman who escaped war in Central Europe only to walk straight into the arms of The Troubles. It’s not easy for him, the security barriers prevent shoppers coming into town, a wife who likes to go dancing with a different man every night, sorting out his successor as manager. Sighs from many in the audience as they talk of Romanos, the Floral Hall, the Fiesta , the Starlight. I could smell the Old Spice.
But gentle Mr. Hoffman (Sean Kearns) has one thing going for him – his loyal staff. The golden boy (Rory McCollum) is looking for love, his senior lady assistant (Libby Smyth) is hiding a secret but what’s the importance of her annual window display and what is the ambitious Mr, Fenner, (David Marken) hiding, is it his connection to Mrs, Hoffman (Mary Moulds). And what wonders Ciara (Rosie Barry) is the significance of letters addressed to My Dear Friend and pacifying everyone is Mr. Peterson (Marty Maguire) who tries to keep his colleagues calm? And as for the drunken, amorous Santa Claus – a cameo part to savour. As one of the staff comments, the TV show Crossroads didn’t have half the drama of Hoffmans.
50 years ago window dressing was central to a store’s popularity. Big windows revealed wonderful themes all year round. One day, when my friend first got her blue Vespa scooter, we went to show off driving through town, down Donegall Place towards Royal Avenue. We made quite a spectacle in our dirndl skirts and tight Jaeger elastic belts! All was good until we stopped at a red light right outside Anderson and McAuleys . I put my feet on the ground for balance and looked into the huge store window to admire myself but when the red light changed to green, Brenda wizzed off and left me standing legs akimbo in the middle of the road looking like a real plonker. I got a round of applause from some boys waiting to cross the road as I struggled to an upright position.
In the audience on opening night was Greig Keyes who designed many window displays in his time and remembers especially dressing up to 16 windows in the old Bank Buildings. “The Christmas windows were beautiful, Santa’s Grotto with all the animated creatures and elves and then bringing that theme through into the store where queues to meet Santa stretched down three floors and out into Castle Street. Just like Mr. Hoffman, we realised the importance of selling Christmas.”
Ciaran Bagnall’s set features a wide staircase coming into the centre of the stage with a balcony above, a nod to Robinson and Cleavers opposite the City Hall. My memory of that store is twofold, going in to buy gloves for my mother, ignored as ladies with hats were served before me. I decided I’d go back the next day wearing a hat. I was served immediately with a smile. It was a very snobby shop and it surprised me the day I was coming down the grand central staircase to see a very well dressed woman stuffing bars of soap into her bag. It was a dilemma, should I approach her, report her or ignore her. I opted for the last option, to report her could have ruined her life.
For actor Sean Kearns and his companions it was a wonderful chance to look back in time and capture the essence of a store 50 years ago and the reception at the end of the evening must have delighted them.
With direction by Colm G. Doran and choreography by Sarah Jane Johnston, Michael Cameron has assembled a terrific company of players as he says, thanks to the theatre God who has given him just what he wished for this Christmas.
The Shop at the Top of the Hill runs until 31st December 2022. Details at www.theatreatthemill.com
IF IT WASN’T SO AWFUL IT WOULD BE FUNNY – WHO CARES FOR THE WORKING MAN AD WOMAN.
I’m coughing and spluttering today, so many are suffering this head cold thing that’s going around. Keep warm and cosy and it will come to pass.
