Discworld Monthly Issue 233 September 2016
Table of Contents:
1. Editorial
2. News
3. Upcoming Book Releases
4. September Events
5. Future Events
6. Recurring Monthly Fan Meetings
7. Readers' Letters
8. DiscTrivia
9. Rincewind at The Galah
10. Small Gods - Graphic Novel Competition Result
11. Going Postal in Cardiff
12. Wadfest 2016
13. Witch's Vacuum Cleaner and Dragons at Crumbling Castle Competition
14. The End
1. Editorial
Welcome to issue 233. Wow, what a busy month August has turned out to be for us. At the start of the month we travelled 220 miles to London to meet Ray Friesen the illustrator and adaptor of the new Small Gods graphic novel. We had a huge amount of fun meeting Ray who is a lovely man and we got him to sign a copy of Small Gods for us and one as a competition prize which we offered last month.
Then the following weekend we were off to Godmanchester near Cambridge for the wonderful Wadfest 2016 weekend which you can read about later in this issue.
On the 18th August we travelled to Cardiff to see Monstrous Productions' excellent production of Going Postal based on Stephen Briggs' adaptation.
Finally on the 26th - 29th August we spent the weekend in the company of 800 Discworld fans at the 2016 Discworld Convention in Warwick. We had an amazing time, helped to raise a large amount of money for the Convention charities, made new friends, renewed old ones and generally spent most of our time with huge smiles on our faces. You can read all about it next issue.
Along with all the events that we've been to, this month has also seen the release of Terry Pratchett's DISCWORLD Colouring Book, featuring many of Paul Kidby's illustrations carefully reduced to line drawings by Paul himself to ensure each of the drawings is of the best possible quality.
We managed to pick up two copies of The Witch's Vacuum Cleaner at our local Waterstones a couple of days before official publication date. One for our collection and the other to give away this month as a competition prize. We'll let you know what we thought of it next issue.
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August has also seen the release of the Terry Pratchett's Discworld Collectors' Edition Calendar 2017. We haven't got a copy yet but it appears to feature Josh Kirby illustrations so should be worth getting hold of.
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We include all our back issues on our website at discworldmonthly.co.uk where you can also find Terry Pratchett quotes, a full bibliography and links to articles we have written over the years.
If you visit a play or a talk and would like to let the world know about it, please feel free to email your review to info@discworldmonthly.co.uk and we will consider it for publication.
Also if you have written an article that you think we might want to include in the newsletter please feel free to email us at the address below. We will of course give credit for anything we use.
Please let us have any submissions for issue 234 of Discworld Monthly BEFORE Thursday 22nd September 2016.
- Jason Anthony (Editor and Wizzard) info@discworldmonthly.co.uk
- William Barnett (Deputy Editor / Proofreader)
- Rachel Rowlands (News Hound / Feature writer)
- Richard Massey (Unusual Dice Coveter)
2. News
After the huge success of their editions of Mort the Folio Society have released another Discworld book - this time it's Small Gods.
This edition contains seven beautiful illustrations by Omar Rayyan who previously also illustrated Mort.
Presented to match their beautiful Mort edition, Small Gods is a gorgeous book to look at and hold. Its deep red velveteen covers are a delight to the fingertips and the attractive slipcase matches the Mort edition perfectly.
We had an exclusive look at this edition earlier this week. For those asking the question, there will not be a limited edition of Small Gods.
Price 34.95 GBP plus postage in the UK. Small Gods is available to buy today from the Folio Society website www.foliosociety.com/discworld
Discworld.com have announced that it is to enter into a partnership with the estate of the late Josh Kirby, the artist whose illustrations graced the covers of many of Sir Terry Pratchett's books. The collaboration will give these unique and treasured works of art a new lease of life through a range of exclusive, high quality products.
discworld.com/discworld-com-joins-forces-estate-josh-kirby/
Colin Smythe has now released his new and updated website (colinsmythe.co.uk). The new site features a huge amount of information about each of Terry's books. Including details of almost every variant and language release. This really is an amazing resource and one we used to help produce our guide to Discworld 1st Editions available from our website.
discworldmonthly.co.uk/uid/704
'Terry Pratchett's 'artist of choice' on illustrating Discworld' is an article in The Guardian all about Paul Kidby's career and especially that of collaborating with Terry on his books.
discworldmonthly.co.uk/uid/827
Further to the news last month about the Jim Henson company collaborating with Narrativia to make the Wee Free Men, a website called MoviePilot has an interesting article entitled "Why 'Wee Free Men' is the Perfect Cinematic Introduction to Terry Pratchett's Discworld!".
News from Lady Sybil:
The Tiffany Aching saga was shortlisted for the Mythopoeic Society children's literature award. The shortlist is chosen from members' nominations, and the winner is chosen by a committee of judges (unlike Locus or SFX which are chosen by a Readers' Poll).
The winners were announced at Mythcon 47 (August 5 - 8, 2016, in San Antonio, Texas) but sadly Tiffany missed out this year to Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon.
discworldmonthly.co.uk/uid/825
Terry did win the award back in 2005 for A Hat Full of Sky. You can read all about it at:
discworldmonthly.co.uk/uid/826
The issue of SFX with Star Trek on the cover has Jonathan Writght's review of The Long Cosmos (Page 108). On the facing page is a review of Neil Gaiman's new book of collected essays: The View from the Cheap Seats. On page 106 is a note about a documentary called Neil Gaiman: Dream Dangerously which includes an interview with Terry.
3. Upcoming Book Releases
* UK Releases *
The Terry Pratchett Diary by Terry Pratchett and The Discworld Emporium should be published on 13th October 2016. It will be a perennial diary full of remembrances and tributes from some of those who loved him and his extraordinary body of work. With an introduction by Rhianna Pratchett and an afterword from Rob Wilkins.
ISBN-10: 1473208335
ISBN-13: 9781473208339
Transworld are continuing with the Discworld Collector's Library of hardbacks with covers by Joe McLaren. By popular demand, Transworld will expand the collection to include all the adult Discworld novels.
The first four novels will be released on 20th October 2016. We have uploaded an album of the new covers at: discworldmonthly.co.uk/uid/808
The Fifth Elephant (464 pages) www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/085752416X/87
The Truth (448 pages) www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0857524178/87
The Last Continent (416 pages) www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0857524143/87
Carpe Jugulum (416 pages) www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0857524151/87
The four titles listed above should soon be available to pre-order. We believe the RRP for each title will be approximately 12.99 GBP.
Discworld.com have the titles available for pre-order for 20GBP each featuring an exclusive embossing of Terry's signature.
Discworld Emporium have the titles available to pre-order for 12.99GBP each featuring an exclusive book plate.
We really hope they keep the size and format the same as the original Gollancz editions so that we, as fans, can have a complete set of Discworld novels in one consistent format.
The Carpet People (with Mark Beech cover) is due for release in paperback on 1st June 2017.
ISBN-10: 0552573361
ISBN-13: 9780552573368
Author Joanne Harris (via Twitter) has confirmed she has written a new introduction for Wyrd Sisters. We don't have a release date for this yet but we suspect it will be sometime in 2017.
It has been confirmed that the new paperback editions of Mort and Guards! Guards! we mentioned previously will now be released in 2017.
4. September Events
[UK] Paul Kidby's touring exhibition, Discworld and Beyond, is going to spend the summer in Nuneaton. Museum and Art Gallery
Location: Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery, Riversley Park, Coton Rd, Nuneaton CV11 5TU
Dates: July 23rd - Sept 18th 2016. (Tues-Sat 10:30-16:30, Sun 14:00-16:30, Bank Holiday Monday 10:30-16:30)
Facebook: www.facebook.com/paulkidby
Website: www.nuneatonandbedworth.gov.uk/museum
[UK] Greenbrook Methodist Theatre & Pantomime Groups present Wyrd Sisters as adapted by Stephen Briggs
Location: Greenbrook Methodist Church, Greenbrook Road, Lowerhouse, Burnley BB12 6DP
Dates: 31st August to 2nd September
Tickets: Adult 8GBP, Child 5GBP from Wendy (01282 426889) or Sandra (01282 429926)
Website: www.burnleymethodists.org.uk/greenbrook.htm
5. Future Events
[UPDATED: Australia] Brisbane Art Theatre present Guards! Guards!
Location: 210 Petrie Terrace, Petrie Terrace, Queensland 4000, Brisbane
Dates: 8th October - 12 November 2016
Tickets: 31 AUD Adults, 25 AUD Concessions. Group rate 10+ 25 AUD each, 75+ 20AUD each. Student rush 10 AUD (10 minutes before curtain up). Subscribers can redeem tickets for the show. www.artstheatre.com.au/show/guardsguards
[NEW: UK] Bathford Players presents Wyrd Sisters adapted by Stephen Briggs
Location: Bathford Parish Hall, Church Street, Bathford BA1 7RS
Dates: Weds 19th - Sat 22nd October 2016 at 7:30pm
Tickets: 8GBP available from the Bathford Village Shop by phone: 01225 859111 or from www.ticketsource.co.uk/bathford-players
Facebook Event page: www.facebook.com/events/1667203456939738/
Website: bathfordplayers.weebly.com/
[UK] ACE Theatre Company presents Wyrd Sisters as adapted by Stephen Briggs
Location: Chequer Mead Theatre, East Grinstead, West Sussex.
Dates: Thursday 20th and Friday 21st October 2016 at 7:30pm and Saturday 22nd October at 2:30pm and 7:30pm.
Tickets: Evenings 13GBP (concessions 11GBP) / Matinee 11GBP (concessions 9GBP) from 01342 302000 * Card transaction fee applies. *
Website: discworldmonthly.co.uk/uid/821
[New Zealand] Paeroa Little Theatre presents Mort as adapted by Stephen Briggs
Location: Paeroa Little Theatre, 1 Francis Street, Paeroa, New Zealand
Dates: November 9th to 18th 2016.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/PaeroaLittleTheatre/
[New: UK] The Quaysiders present Carpe Jugulum as adapted by Stephen Briggs
Location: Seagull Theatre, Morton Road, Pakefield, NR33 OGH
Dates: 10th-12th November 2016 at 7:30pm
Tickets: 9GBP (8GBP Concessions) - 01502 589726
Website: www.theseagull.co.uk/event/carpe-jugulam/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/QuaysidersTwelfthNight/
[New: UK] Newport Players present Wyrd Sisters as adapted by Stephen Briggs
Location: Dolman Theatre, Kingsway, Newport, NP20 1HY
Dates: 15th-18th November at 7.15pm and 19th November at 2.30pm
Facebook: www.facebook.com/events/1232819446770130/
[New: UK] Leeds Children's Theatre presents The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents as adapted by Stephen Briggs
Location: Carriageworks Theatre, The Electric Press, 3 Millennium Square, Leeds, LS2 3AD
Dates: Weds 16th - Sat 19th Nov 2016
Times: 7pm 16th-18th, 12 noon & 5pm on Sat 19th
Tickets: 12GBP/10GBP concessions Family (2+2) 40GBP (Early bird 1GBP reduction if booked before 23 October 2016). Phone (0113) 376 0318 or visit: discworldmonthly.co.uk/uid/828
[New: USA] The Side Quest are having a Hogfather Book Club evening.
Location: The Side Quest Bar, 17900 Detroit Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio, 44107
Date: Tuesday 6th December at 20:00
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thesidequestbar/
[New: UK] Monstrous Productions present The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents as adapted by Stephen Briggs
Location: The Gate Arts & Community Centre, Keppoch Street, Roath, Cardiff CF24 3JW
Dates: Wed 22nd - Sat 25th February 2017
Times: Doors open at 7pm, Matinee (on the 25th) at 2.30pm
Tickets: 7 GBP (5 GBP concessions) from 029 204 833 44
Website: www.monstrousptc.com
[UK] Bolton Little Theatre present Wyrd Sisters adapted by Stephen Briggs
Location: Bolton Little Theatre, Hanover Street, Bolton BL1 4TG
Dates: 6th - 11th March 2017.
Website: discworldmonthly.co.uk/uid/788
[New: UK] The Lace Market Youth Theatre present Carpe Jugulum
Location: Halifax Place, Nottingham, NG1 1QN
Dates: 22nd - 25th March 2017 at 7:30pm (and 2:30pm on Saturday).
Tickets: 11GBP (10GBP Concessions) from 0115 950 7201
Website: discworldmonthly.co.uk/uid/824
[Germany] All the Witches and denizens of the Chalk are invited to the 5th German Discworld Convention which will take place at Castle Ludwigstein from May 18th to 21st in 2017.
Tickets are available now: www.Discworld-Convention.de
[Netherlands] Cabbagecon 4 - July 2017
The Cabbagecon team is proud to announce a new edition of the one and only Dutch Discworld convention.
After visiting the Ankh-Morpork Assassins' Guild in 2015, we will team up with the Guild of Merchants to explore the great city of Ankh-Morpork some more in 2017.
Come and see the sights, meet the colourful city-dwellers, try the local food and, in general, experience the unique atmosphere of the Disc's most famous city. The Ankh-Morpork Guild of Merchants has gracefully agreed to provide a balanced and representative programme of activities to keep all visitors entertained.
Cabbagecon 4 will be held at the Hotel Carlton President in Utrecht on 1-2 July 2017.
Check out our new website at www.dutchdwcon.nl
[Australia] Announcing The Discworld Grand Tour 2017.
The Ankh-Morpork Tourism Board invites you to a journey of wonder, whimsy, and, er, wossname at *Nullus Anxietas VI - The Discworld Grand Tour - The Australian Discworld Convention.*
The Discworld Grand Tour will be held on 4th-6th August 2017 at the Lakes Resort Hotel, Adelaide, South Australia. This convention will be a way to escape on a luxurious trip to the Discworld to enjoy three (or four) fabulous days of fun and frivolity with your fellow fans of the late, great Sir Terry Pratchett.
You can find out more about Nullus Anxietas VI - The Discworld Grand Tour - The Australian Discworld Convention and chat with other potential tourists at:
Website: ausdwcon.org
Facebook page: facebook.com/Ausdwcon
Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/ausdwcon2017
Twitter: twitter.com/ausdwcon
[New: USA] The Forth North American Discworld Convention will take place from September 1st - 4th 2017 in New Orleans, LA.
[Ireland] The 2017 Irish Discworld Convention will take place from 6-9th October 2017 [the weekend of my 46th Birthday - Ed] at the Cork International Hotel.
Sign up now for entry to all events except the gala dinner (tickets available separately) at:
6. Recurring Monthly Fan Meetings
[UK] The Broken Drummers meet at The Monkey Puzzle, Paddington, London, W2 1JQ, England at 7pm. For more information contact Helen Nicholls on helelnicholls@gmail.com
Also please note that due to email problems some addresses have been lost from the mailing list. If you are not getting Drummers emails and want to, please email Helen Nicholls on helelnicholls@gmail.com
Unless otherwise stated the Drummers meet on the first Monday of each month.
The Drummers are always happy to welcome new visitors. You can find out more about the Drummers at www.brokendrummers.org/ or
www.facebook.com/groups/55107511411/
[Adelaide, Australia] The City of Small Gods is a group for fans in Adelaide and South Australia. They have regular monthly dinner and games nights, longer games days, plus play outings, craft-y workshops, and fun social activities throughout the year. For more info and to join their mailing list, visit: cityofsmallgods.org.au
[Brisbane, Australia] The Pratchett Partisans meet monthly at either Brisbane or Indooroopilly to eat, drink and chat about all things Pratchett. For more info about their next meetup, check out: www.facebook.com/groups/pratchettpartisans/
[Melbourne, Australia] The Victorian Discworld Klatch is a social group for fans of Discworld and Terry Pratchett. We meet monthly for fun activities and to talk all things Pratchetty. Information on our current event can be found on www.facebook.com/groups/VictorianDiscworldKlatch/ or email victoriandiscworldklatch@gmail.com
[Perth, Australia] The Treacle Mining Corporation meet up to celebrate the works of Sir Terry Pratchett, and welcome any fans of science fiction and fantasy.
Join them for their monthly discussion of Discworld, Terry Pratchett and all things sci-fi and fantasy. They meet the first Monday of each month, subject to holidays, and all are welcome.
The group meets up at Carpe Cafe, 526 Murray Street, Perth, WA. Meeting at a cafe means they are under-18 friendly!
For details follow them on Twitter @Perth_Drummers, Instagram perth_drummers, and Facebook www.facebook.com/groups/Perth.Drummers/
Otherwise message Alexandra Ware directly at alexandra.ware@gmail.com
Unless otherwise stated the group meets up on the first Monday of each month.
[Sydney, Australia] Sydney Drummers normally meet on the first Monday of every month.
They meet at: 3 Wise Monkeys, 555 George Street, Sydney, 2000 from 6:30pm
For more information contact Sue (AKA Granny Weatherwax) on kenworthys@yahoo.co.uk
7. Readers' Letters
If you have any letters or comments, please email them to info@discworldmonthly.co.uk
We assume any correspondence is eligible for use in the newsletter unless otherwise stated, including the sender's email address. We may edit your letters by converting them into mini graphic novels.
It is vitally important that you don't pass off other people's work as your own. If you use information from other resources please let us know so we can give proper credit.
* From: "Jesper Koplev" koplev@gmail.com
A far out question, but does anybody know the total word count for the entire Discworld series? (I'm trying to make a list for the longest series read).
* From: "Joanne Campbell" jemron53@gmail.com
I would like to tell you that I am also doing the Memory Walk on September 10th in Notwich.
I lost my lovely mum to the Embuggerance back in 2002 at the young age of 84.
I would like to wish everyone who's doing this all the best of luck.
DWM replies: Good luck and best wishes to everyone that takes place - thank you for "being more Terry".
* From: "Elaine Boot" freddyboot@yahoo.co.uk
I would just like to say a very big thank you to all those who donated to my JustGiving page. Wow you have really surprised me, I've raised 338.75GBP and that's not adding on sponsor form money.
Anyone who wishes to come along and support me on the day are very welcome. I will be at Wallant Park from 10am, the walk starts at 11am in the field in front of the hall. I'm doing the 2k walk and it's an organised event. I will be in fancy dress, wearing Irish colour jester hat and purple long-sleeved top under the t-shirt.
* From: "Jackie Porter"rosenrot2005@hotmail.co.uk
This year in September I will be walking Two Memory Walks for the Alzheimer's Society. One for Sir Terry Pratchett and one for my mum who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease shortly after Sir Terry's passing last year. My sister Annette and I walked the Manchester Memory Walk last year despite the painful joint issues we both suffer from and raised 1100GBP. This year I'm walking the Liverpool Walk on the 4th of September with Annette and the Manchester Walk on the 17th of September on my own (my sister will be in Corfu, how selfish!) I want to raise money so that other people's mums or favourite authors or anyone else doesn't have to go through the same thing. We all know Sir Terry's accomplishments but mum was a hard working nurse who emigrated to Australia in the 1970's and helped dad drive a Land Rover around the whole of Fourecks in a 10 week period, fought wild horses off with a kitchen knife (she thought it was a burglar, the horse was startled but unharmed), cooked kangaroo for the indigenous patients at the hospital where she worked and had me. For some unfathomable reason my parents came back to the UK where life got more boring. Anyway, I hope fellow Terry Pratchett fans will be willing to dig into their digital wallets and sponsor us for the Memory Walks. I've set up a JustGiving page for sponsorships and I would be grateful if fellow readers could also share it with others who might sponsor us. The link is www.justgiving.com/Jackie-porter3
* From: "Jessica Schnieder" JSchneider@ebpl.org
The East Brunswick Public Library in East Brunswick, New Jersey, USA will be hosting a catch-all fandom con on December 3rd from 12pm-4pm.
We are in the planning stages and I, as a Pratchett fan, am hoping to include something at this event for any fellow fans in the area.
Is there anyone in New Jersey who might be interested in presenting or running an activity for fellow Discworld fans? I'm hoping this will be a great way to introduce new fans to the series and connect those in the area with new Discworld friends.
If you are interested, please feel free to email me!
8. DiscTrivia
We're back with five challenging trivia questions for you. Good luck, Jason.
The (hopefully correct) answers can be found at the end of this issue.
9. Rincewind at The Galah
Article by Dr. Rod Pitcher, PhD. (ozzwhispers.blogspot.com.au/)
In this article I discuss Rincewind's escape from Bugarup Jail and adventures on his way to the University. I mention the similarities of The Bugarup Galah to a parade in Sydney, Australia, Roundworld.
While lying in his cell at Bugarup Jail waiting to be hung for a crime he didn't commit, Rincewind finds a message scratched on the ceiling: "Gdy mat. Look at the hinjis. Ned". He looks and finds that the cell door can be lifted off its hinges, allowing him to slip through the gap and escape.
The watchmen are soon after him. Unfortunately for Rincewind, they are good at their job and cause him some problems. They are too clever to be watchmen!
After eating a pie-floater at Fair Go Dibbler's Cafe de Feet, failing to recognise the Bugarup Opera House, and creating a dessert named after an opera singer, Rincewind manages to temporarily elude the watchmen.
While running away, he finds himself surrounded by a parade where there's lots of leather and feathers and other exciting clothing and lots of beer being drunk. He hitches a ride on a cart belonging to a couple of 'female impersonators'. It takes a long while for the truth to dawn, in his innocence.
This, he realises, is a carnival. It's The Galah that everyone is talking about.
While hiding on the gaily decorated cart, Rincewind is reunited with his Luggage. He thought, probably hopefully, that he had lost it.
It has had a stud fitted in its lid and is wearing women's shoes.
When he is spotted by a watchman, Rincewind makes a run for it. Unfortunately he picks an alley with two watchmen in it having a quiet smoke. When the watchmen threaten him, his Luggage deals with the situation in its usual homicidal fashion.
Having escaped the watchmen Rincewind makes his way towards Bugarup University, to see if the wizards there know how to make rain.
Sydney, on Australia's east coast, has an annual parade just like the one in Bugarup, called The Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. The event has been going on since 1978 and now involves many thousands of participants. The floats often have political or social themes of interest to the gay and lesbian community.
One of the popular features of the Mardi Gras, is the hundreds of Dykes on Bikes who lead the parade on roaring motor cycles.
Great fun is had by all, and a large contribution is made to the local economy by the thousands of interstate and international people who come to watch or take part.
Events such as the Sydney Mardi Gras are helping to reduce intolerance and gays are now accepted by most Australians as being entitled to live their lives as they want to. Most thinking people now see it as being none of their business what other people get up to in their own bedrooms.
'Ned' in the message on Rincewind's cell ceiling, known as 'Tin-head Ned' to the locals, might be Ned Kelly, bushranger, bank robber and horse thief, who wore a steel helmet and body armour in his last shootout with the police at Glenrowan, Victoria. It didn't do him much good.
Unfortunately for the story, Ned was never taken alive so was never locked in a jail cell. Also, he lived in Victoria, a long way from Bugarup or Sydney, so it is unlikely that he would ever have been in jail there if he had been caught.
It does make a good story though.
The galah is an Australian pink and grey parrot noted for its lack of intelligence. The word is often used to describe someone who is a bit hard of thinking or acting a bit dumb. It may be a joke but can also be an insult, though the galah doesn't always catch on that he's being insulted. Duh!
You can find out more about the events at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras at the official web-site. There's lots of pictures of interestingly dressed people!
10. Small Gods: A Discworld Graphic Novel Competition Result
Last month we offered a signed copy of Small Gods: A Discworld Graphic Novel as our competition prize. We visited Forbidden Planet in Shaftesbury Avenue, London at the beginning of August where Ray Friesen was signing copies of the book and had him sign one to the Discworld Monthly Competition Winner.
We asked you to send in the answer to the following two questions.
The answers we were looking for were:
We didn't accept Josh Kirby, Paul Kidby or Stephen Player as none of Eric, The Last Hero and The Illustrated Wee Free Men are graphic novels. We also didn't accept Paul Kirby or Josh Kidby either.
We didn't think this competition was that hard but it appears that many of our subscribers did. We had 23 correct entries and 19 incorrect ones. Of those 23 brave souls who got the correct answer, the randomly selected winner of a signed Small Gods: The Graphic Novel is Sara Jane Ray of Hastings in EAST SUSSEX. Your prize will soon be on its way to you.
11. Going Postal in Cardiff
Reviewed by Jason Anthony.
On a very warm Thursday, Rachel and I visited the Gate Theatre in Cardiff for Monstrous Productions' performance of Going Postal as adapted by Stephen Briggs.
Monstrous Productions are not new to putting on Pratchett plays. We have seen three of their previous productions - Night Watch, Witches Abroad and Eric - and enjoyed them all so our expectations were high.
We watched the second of five performances and have to say that the two directors Amy Davies and Edward Thomas have once again done an amazing job of casting. Monstrous Productions seem lucky to have a good ensemble cast and having seen more than one of their productions you start to see some familiar faces. Asher Townsend makes a brilliant Moist Von Lipwig - by the end of the play you'd probably be happy to lend him a few dollars! But I have to say that Asher was often upstaged by Josh Flynn's Stanley who was simply bursting with excitement and enthusiasm. Vertinari was well performed by Michel Dickinson-Smith but I felt he was just a little too young. He had the look and a hell of a lot of dialogue to get through but at times I felt his projection was just a little bit weak.
As to the production itself. The story in Going Postal has a lot going on. From what I can remember it is fairly linear so there is little in the way of subplot that can be trimmed out. This means that by the time you get to the intermission you wonder how they are going to fit all the story in. However the second half seems to condense a lot of story into it. The fire, the gift of the gods and the race are all packed in. And unlike the previous production, Eric (which I felt had left too many threads open), Going Postal has a nice solid conclusion.
All in all it was an excellent production and well worth visiting. We are already planning our next trip in February to see them perform Stephen Briggs' adaptation of The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (a new play for me and something to look forward to).
Oh, and finally, we love the fact that Jes Hynes the star of last year's production of Night Watch while credited as Gryle also got to reprise his role as Sam Vimes near the end of Going Postal. Jes will be directing Wyrd Sisters in Newport in November and Discworld Monthly will be there to review the production.
www.facebook.com/MonstrousProductionsTheatreCompany/
12. Wadfest 2016
Reviewed by Jason Anthony.
Wadfest 2016, the sci-fi family camping event run by fans for fans, took place over the weekend of 12th - 14th August 2016.
We arrived a day early to assist with setting up the site (which didn't actually happen until Friday morning) and pitched our tent as quickly as possible as it looked like it might rain at any moment. Happily the weather decided to cooperate and stay dry for the whole weekend.
So, once set up and fed we met up with other early birds and sat around talking and drinking until the night air cooled enough to make us see the comfort of our sleeping bags.
Friday started with beautiful sunshine, so after a cooked breakfast of champions (bacon sandwiches) and a couple of mugs of tea we set about helping erect various marquees and tents. As the day drew on more and more visitors came to the site and the field began to look increasingly like a campsite. Jem aka Brittany Weatherwax turned up mid-afternoon and we helped him set up the cocktail party marquee ready for that night's party. At this point I returned the Miss Wadfest trophy that I won at last year's event.
The lovely Elaine and Tony were at the event as The House of Freyja, selling some wonderful cloaks, jewellery, boxes and other items of clothing and items of curiosity (see www.facebook.com/House-of-Freyja-158568580902173/).
The opening ceremony took place on Friday afternoon. A few words were said by Vic "Waddy" Wadmore and Ptim Williams, the Wadfest flag was raised and the Wadfest Virgins were suitably initiated (details of which are not to be reported so as not to give anything away to future virgins).
It has become tradition that Friday evening at Wadfest is the unofficial cocktail party hosted by Brittany Weatherwax (the only event of the weekend not organised by Wadfest). This was the 10th cocktail party and several people came dressed to impress (it is not clear who they were dressed to impress and I didn't bother to ask!). The party was a huge amount of fun and considerable quantities of alcohol were consumed. This year Rachel was runner-up in Price Wadfest and Karen Newton was crowned Price Wadfest. Arun deservingly became Miss Wadfest 2016.
On Saturday we decided to have breakfast in the Wood Green Animal Shelter's Cafe (Wood Green own the camp site). A full cooked breakfast was a bargain at just 3.95GBP plus 1GBP for tea or coffee.
Saturday saw most of the organised activities including Smack The Penguin, Zombie Attack and Dodgeball for the kids (of all ages). Also all day long there was a murder mystery to solve. One of the nice things about Wadfest is there is no pressure to take part if you don't want to. We chose to watch some of the events and spent a little time sorting out the lots for the auction.
After dinner and while the murder mystery was revealed we set up the marquee for the auction. We're very pleased to say that we managed to raise just over 525 GBP each for Cancer Research UK and for Wadfest itself to cover some of its costs.
As soon as the auction was over it was time for Wadfest's talent competition. I changed roles from Auction Wizzard to Judge and got ready to be entertained. The Wadfest talent competition is judged not just on talent but more importantly on entertainment value. Which in some cases is a good thing. This year the range of talent on display in the five acts varied from the sublime to the ridiculous. All were highly entertaining but the clear winner was Marie with her amazing dance routine. Once the talent show was completed there was a disco for the rest of the evening.
Sunday started again with a rather nice cooked breakfast in the cafe. We then spent the next couple of hours packing all our camping equipment away. It was soon time to close the event: prizes were given out and the Wadfest flag was lowered on another superb event.
We hope to be able to give you news about Wadfest 2017 as soon as possible and really hope that more of you can come and have a very enjoyable weekend with us next year.
Lots of photos from the event can been see on the Wadfest Facebook page at:
www.facebook.com/OfficialWadfest/ (you don't need to be on Facebook to look at the pictures.)
13. Witch's Vacuum Cleaner and Dragons at Crumbling Castle Competition
This month we have a hardback of The Witch's Vacuum Cleaner and a paperback of Dragons at Crumbling Castle to give away as our competition prize.
All you need to do to enter the competition is answer the following question:
Send your answers, along with your postal address to competitions@discworldmonthly.co.uk before September 23rd. Your address will only be used for sending out your prize should you be the lucky winner. Once prizes are sent out all address details will be destroyed. Entries received after the closing date or sent to any other address will be ignored. No more than one entry per person will be accepted - multiple entries will result in a ban from the competition. Failure to answer the questions or provide your postal address will prevent you from being entered into the competition. Answers to the questions must not be posted to any websites before the competition ends. The judges' decision is final. The competition is open to all readers.
/books_thewitchsvacuumcleaner.php
/books_dragonsatcrumblingcastle.php
14. The End
Please let us have any submissions for issue 234 of Discworld Monthly BEFORE Thursday 22nd September 2016.
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