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MT26.3 Here's a pretty mess! · The Downing Arts Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Downing Arts Podcast.
• 0:04
  The weather's turned and we're into week two of term.
• 0:07
  Honorary fellow and esteemed theatre practitioner Stephen Unwin
• 0:11
  gave a very enjoyable talk yesterday evening and there are various preparations going on
• 0:15
  for arts events later in term.
• 0:19
  With me in the studio today is member of college staff Harley Jones.
• 0:23
  Welcome, Harley. Hello. Thank you, Louisa. Thank you for having me on the
• 0:27
  show. Well, thanks for coming. We've been trying to do this for ages. Yeah,
• 0:31
  keep having to delay. Anyway, it's great to see you.
• 0:34
  Could you just explain what your role is in college? I know you've
• 0:38
  been here a while. I have. I started. I work in the library. I'm one
• 0:43
  of the library assistants, so most of us are part
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  time. So you'll see me generally on Mondays in the library sometimes
• 0:52
  other days as well. I have been in College since 2013,
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  quite a while now, then started working here sort of almost immediately
• 1:03
  after I graduated. So, yeah, it's been great to be part of the college
• 1:07
  community and see how it's changed since then,
• 1:10
  which it has done a fair amount, actually, but it's always very lovely.
• 1:13
  Yeah. And I suppose you've seen a lot of cohorts through as well.
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  Yeah, absolutely. I mean, quite exciting as a
• 1:21
  member of the library team is when we get books that have been written
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  and published by people that we saw come through as students.
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  That's really. That's always really nice to see. And has
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  the way students use the library changed in the time that you've been here?
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  Because I guess now there's a lot more stuff that's online. Not really.
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  I think the main thing is that's moved to
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  mostly online is the law materials, which was really
• 1:50
  already happening before I got here, but it's really. We've actually stopped
• 1:54
  purchasing the physical law reports every year because they're
• 1:58
  not. They weren't getting used. So it's obviously much more helpful
• 2:02
  when you're a student to be able to click through and follow your citations through
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  these legal cases. Not that I know how law
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  reports really work. Never studying that side of things myself,
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  but yeah, they're. They're not so well
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  used as they once were, sadly. But really, yeah,
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  there's a lot of. We keep getting bits of extra things, so we've got.
• 2:28
  A couple of years ago, we've got some standing desks and
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  we got some sort of laptop stands so that people can use the
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  desks that we already have in different ways rather than.
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  It's quite. You know, the whole thing was built in quite a Fixed way.
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  And we very pleased to try and adapt it to meet particular needs.
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  So that was good. And we got new toilets a few years ago.
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  That was really good. Excellent.
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  Great. So you say you're part time and I know you do
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  a lot of stuff outside of Downing, including being a singer at
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  Eley, is that right? That's right, yes. So I'm one of the six lay
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  clerks at Ely Cathedral and I always have
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  to explain what a lay clerk is, which is a very
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  historic title. That just means a singer.
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  What it means is that we sing every day, pretty much the
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  office, which is, say, evensong. Yeah. As I say,
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  the six of us adults in the cathedral choir, about 50 choristers,
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  girls and boys all together. But they don't sing all at once very often,
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  fortunately. Otherwise we'd be absolutely screaming all the time.
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  Yes. So that's really good. That's a lovely thing
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  to do. And as we record, I'm looking forward to term
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  starting again there, because our singing terms are fixed to the
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  school terms of boys and girls,
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  so that's really it. So we get a nice long summer holiday.
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  Brilliant. And you're also champion Tiddlywinks,
• 4:03
  Is that. What's the name for someone who plays tiddlywinks? A winker is someone
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  who. A winker. Right, okay. Yes.
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  Champion is a funny word. So with tiddlywinks,
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  you play in singles and in purrs like tennis,
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  there's a singles game and a doubles game and they're sort of separate.
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  So in the singles, I'm hopeless,
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  I'm nowhere near. But in pairs,
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  I was lucky for the last couple of years to have a very good partner.
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  And so I am currently national pairs champion, which means
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  that I will get to play for the world pers title again, which I've been
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  a holder of before, again with another very good partner. So we'll
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  get to play for that soon, I hope. Although it's not quite been arranged yet.
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  But, yeah, amazing. It's very cool. It's a good thing.
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  Listeners may already have seen me and Tom
• 4:59
  Scott on YouTube playing tiddlywinks as part of his UK tour.
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  If you haven't, do go and give that a look. And it was filmed in
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  Downing, wasn't it? It was filmed in Downing, yeah. Very kindly. College let
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  us have a room and we put on a little tournament for him, which was
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  very popular. It turns out that if you want people to come and play tiddlywinks,
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  bring a YouTube celebrity along and then they'll flock to It. Even on a Thursday
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  afternoon. And how does one become a winker?
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  I mean, presumably. I mean. Well, did you play when you were younger or did
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  you get to university and start. Or how did you get into it? I got
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  to university and found a flyer from the University Tiddlywinks Club in my
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  pigeonhole at Selwyn, and the club met at Selwyn at that time,
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  and it didn't clash with choir, so I thought,
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  let's see what this is about. And it turned out to be really fun and
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  really engaging and it's difficult
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  to explain, really, but it's sort of. It's a very tactical game.
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  There's a lot of strategic thinking involved, which you wouldn't
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  expect, but as soon as you start playing and see the possibilities of it,
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  it's completely engrossing. And do you practice?
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  Presumably you do. I should practice,
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  yeah. Need to do some practice. But I don't practice as much as
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  I should do. That's the answer, really. I mean, is it treated like a
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  sport? You know, does it. Is it classed as a sport? It is a sport.
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  I have to say these things quite clearly, but it's
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  as much of a sport as darts or snooker or croquet
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  or bowls or any of these sorts of things. You know,
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  it doesn't. It doesn't obviously involve running around, but it's
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  a physical precision game. It's about manual dexterity and.
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  Yeah. Physical interaction with real
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  objects. That means it's a. It's a sport. You can't. You couldn't play
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  it sort of online like you can with chess. So that's
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  what I think means that something is a sport rather than a game.
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  Yeah, no, that makes sense. Wow.
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  Gosh. Well, yeah, best of luck with all of that. Thank you. And just
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  going back to the singing side of things. I know you've. You've been involved in
• 7:12
  Gilbert and Sullivan for a long time. Was that a university thing or did you.
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  Did you do that before you came? No, again, that was a university thing.
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  I ended up. How did I end up getting into that? Good grief. I think
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  it sort of happens to you. But it did happen to me.
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  I. I did start. I started doing that in. Yeah. When I
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  got to university, it took a while for me to get
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  really involved, so I joined the committee of the University
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  Society when I was in my third year. And then because I obviously
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  stuck around in Cambridge and still have done,
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  I ended up being really involved for quite a long time,
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  really, Until Covid, basically. So. Guts.
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  Gosh. That's. That was a Long stent. It was fantastic. And then when
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  we were able to come back after the pandemic and do
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  more shows, I thought, I'll do one last show with the university and then retire.
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  So I did that and that was great fun. And then last
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  year, I was approached by the committee
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  of Girton Musical Theatre, which is a group that is.
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  They're a village group. They're not to do with the college,
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  they're the village society and they're a Gilbert and Sullivan society they've
• 8:29
  been running for about 30 years, I think. And their musical director was.
• 8:33
  Retiring isn't really the right word, but she was. Anyway, she was stepping down
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  anyway, she was stopping doing it and they needed a new
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  musical director, so they approached me and I was delighted to do that.
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  So that was. That was great. A very different model from the university
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  group. Obviously, when you're doing things in university term,
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  things get very compressed and especially theatre. Anyone who's
• 8:58
  been involved in student theatre appreciates how quickly you turn
• 9:02
  a show around. It's manic. And this is much more
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  sedate. Rehearse once a week from September to February
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  and the show's at the end of February. Wow. That is a long time.
• 9:13
  Yeah, but. Well, you say it's a long time,
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  but. Actually, I says once a week, two hours rehearsal, once a week isn't.
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  Isn't heaps. Yeah. So.
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  But we have a good time. We produced a really good show last year and
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  I think we'll do the same again this year. We're doing Princess Ida 25th to
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  27th February in Girton Glebe School,
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  just a short trip up the road, if anyone wants to see
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  it. Do you have a favorite Gilbert Sullivan production? I do.
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  Well, do I? I think I do. They lured me in last
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  year by doing Iolanthe, which was a deliberate ploy because they.
• 9:51
  They know I can't resist an Ayalanthe. That was my first
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  show with the University Society,
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  2011, which was actually the show at the festival
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  in Buxton that year, and we produced a
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  really lovely production of Iolanthy in Buxton Opera House
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  on my birthday, so. Oh, wow. Full circle. It was very special.
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  And so, yeah, Iolanth has got a special place
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  for me, but I do enjoy all of them. They've all got their special things
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  and different moments of joy. Do you find it.
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  I mean, obviously it is different being on the side that
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  you're on now as opposed to being in it, but do you find it easier,
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  harder, more enjoyable? I don't have to Wear makeup, but which I always
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  loathed. Stage maker.
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  Horrible. And you don't have to learn lines when you're not on
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  the stage, which, again, I found very difficult,
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  so I find it a lot easier. And also I've done every Gilbert
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  and Solomon show, most of them, at least three times.
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  So, yeah, so I
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  really know them really well. So conducting them is quite straightforward
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  in that sense, because I don't actually need to stare down at a
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  piece of music very much. I can do it all from memory and I know
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  how the songs should be. Should be. You know,
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  I know ways of doing these songs and ways of. And I've done lots of
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  rehearsals where other musical directors before
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  me have rehearsed them at me and I can remember how they've.
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  If you see what I mean. It's just building on experience that
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  I've got quite a lot of. If you look
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  me up on Camdrum, you can see I've got about 30 credits for
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  Gilbert and Sullivan. With the university, I've done heaps of the
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  stuff and I've done it from all sides, from principal
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  roles, chorus roles, orchestra rehearsal, piano, all of this.
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  So, um, it's just. It's just in. In. In my
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  bloodstream, really. Wow. It must be nice to have. To have a kind
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  of niche thing that, you know, you. You know really well. Yeah,
• 12:06
  brilliant. Well, that's. That's a lot of. A lot of stuff you're involved
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  with. It's brilliant. So, yeah, thank you very much for coming on the show.
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  I'm glad we finally managed to connect. That's all right. And, yeah, I'll see you
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  around college soon. Yeah.
• 12:23
  This week in college, tomorrow evening in the jcr, the music society
• 12:28
  are running an open mic night starting at 9pm do come along
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  and have a go or just listen to your friends. On Sunday morning, the chapel
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  choir have the privilege of singing at the university sermon in Great St. Mary's the
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  University Church. It starts at 11:30 and all are welcome gowns
• 12:44
  required. In the evening, the choir's back on duty at 6 o' clock with
• 12:48
  evensong in the college chapel, followed by refreshments.
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  On Monday 1:30 till 2:30pm, the gardeners are hosting an autumn
• 12:55
  flower arranging session. No need to book, just turn up in the East
• 12:59
  Lodge garden. That's the one opposite the library. On Tuesday at
• 13:03
  6pm in the theatre, the Howard foundation lecture takes place with this year's lecture given
• 13:08
  by Professor Frank Sammon on neoclassical architecture. Ticket link in
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  the show notes On Thursday next week, the Griffin Singers
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  will be meeting in the chapel at half past six for an hour. This is
• 13:19
  a non audition choir for the whole community and all are very welco.
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  More details in the show notes. Whatever's coming up for you this week,
• 13:27
  have a good one and thanks for listening.