Last weekend in the one of the most surprisingly lovely churches in the city of Brighton a group of women – and a couple of intrepid men – got together to put on a mad adaptation of Scared Hearts: an attempt to abridge the novel for three voices (myself included) and highlight the fabulous music which the convent choir would have would sung four hundred and fifty years ago.  We had some thirty hours to set up, rehearse, stage and make it work.  The west end actresses, Niamh Cusack and Deborah Findlay, had not seen the text until I handed it to them , but between them conjured up a host of characters, as well as holding the narration as if it was the most exciting Edgar Allen Poe story.  The choir, led by Deborah Roberts and Lauire Straus, both brilliant singers and musicologists, managed to conduct this most divine sound, Kate Hawnt moved between Serafina,  the novice and Serafina, a sublime singer and and the choir, hidden by nuns habits and wimples, processed chanting and playing a host of 117th century nuns as if they were to the manor born. And Nick Renton, who has directed more great television dramas than most of us have had the time to watch, staged the whole thing on a wing and a prayer ( and a lot of candle light)

In the end, the only thing worse than the fear that we would get it wrong, was the idea that  no one would come, but as we walked out to face the audience to our astonishment the church was full.  The adrenaline of performance always carries one through, whatever, but there were moments  as the drama heightened and the nuns sang when the church was so silent, that you could hear the proverbial pin drop.  I hope those who came got as much out of it as we did. It was such a mountain to climb in so little time, but the view from the top was at times quite breathtaking….

My deep thanks go to every one of the Celestial Sirens ( the aptly named choir) and to Niamh and Deborah and Kate for  giving up of their time, talent and boundless energy to take a risk on something new.

We are very much hoping that there will be footage on U tube. Indeed here is a quick look……

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOIWipn3Gbo

And photos here on the website. A week on I think we are all more tired than we could have imagined. Or perhaps that is the shock of living in a country where it seems for this weekend at least  there is no government.  A hung parliament. Even in the most run down convent they managed to vote in an abbess, even if half the votes were rigged. Ah well, the pleasures of modern life.

But in cities like Portland and Nashville after the gig is finished I’ve been lucky enough to find good music to listen to.  (Thank you Jan for driving me round the edges of Portland!)  And i have been knocked out by the bands, and especially,  given what I have been writing about, the women. There are women out there with fabulous voices, great action on the guitar and such stage presence. And it has made me think deeply about Sacred Hearts and how relatively recently it has been that women have the freedom and the respect to be appreciated and noticed as musicians and public performers

In my convent in Sacred Hearts women sung because they were praising God. But what was clear to me researching the book is that they also sung because they loved music and many of them have fabulous voices. They would never be allowed to perform outside the convent, as at the time I am writing it was simply not a respectable job for a well bred woman.

So, as I sat in those bars in Portland and heard Tama belting out Stormy Monday I just wanted to raise a glass to how far history has  brought us

If you know any women out there who like to sing get them to read Sacred Hearts to find out how the managed to subvert the rules,  and then listen to what they sounded like on the podcasts.  You will not  be disappointed

And if you happen to live near Brighton in England , then come to St Batholomews church on May 3rd and hear the book being dramatised with myself and actresses and a whole choir of women who five hundred years ago, might have been nuns.! It will be something. I can promise you.

I am heading off to Australia and New Zealand this weekend for another three week tour. And hope to meet a few of you en route. All details on the site now.

For the rest, please keep on writing. I cannot tell you what a deep pleasure it is to hear your voices. Even the person who hated the end of the book! What can I say. For me it was the only end possible. And I do not say that lightly having lived with the story for the best part of three years. In passing, perhaps  I should add that I had no idea what the end would be until I was deep into writing the book.  This may be a reflection of not knowing what I am doing. Or it may be that sometimes the story only unfolds when you have got lost within it. All thoughts happily listened to on this and other things.

Best

Sarah

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I have enjoyed the many powerful and varied conversations with everyone I have met as I have criss crossed Canada and America and look forward to many more via these pages.   Ann – thank you for the update on the Catholic church”s visitations of American convents. I feel very passionately that we are  watching a bit of history rerunning here and would love to keep talking about it.

I shall be back in October to give some talks in Seattle, Santa Barbara, Chicago and Stanford and then teach for a while at St Loius< but the great thing about the web is one can talk wherever one is. Good wishes to you all. And keep the thoughts coming.

It is quite close to my heart because ,of couse, while the renaissance is known for its beauty and wonder, it was also a time of huge violence and brutality.  That I certainly believe. And given the levels of pain and limits of medicine or even medical hygiene, and the religious emphasis on body versus soul, I thing the human body itself was a more potent , fragile yet powerful object then.  But I throw it open to others to comment. I”m not sure about the ptotocol of an author replying to someone’s review> It might seem a bit self reverential. And thank you for all your comments it feels like we are staring a dicussion now. Yeah!

To those I didn’t get to meet this blog is there for your thoughts and comments. I am trying to get the set up of the site changed so we can all see each other comments together more easily and maybe start discussions. I would happily join in. So throw some ideas and questions out.

To all of you have have bought “Sacred hearts” a great thank you and i hope it does not disappoint, I have come to realise that the best publicity in the whole world is word of mouth and so if it enthralled you then please just pass the word. Eventually we will have a huge forum here talking  about women, the past, spirituality, sexuality, music, art, relglion . You name it. I look forward to it.

Sarah

as to the postulate!  I will send my web master ( great terms isn”t it) a  message today.

thank you to all who have come to listen and join in the conversation.  When you come to read the book do let me know what you thought. I would love to hear it.  now I have an evening off in SF.  life is not all bad!

struggling with a lost voice ( if anyone finds it send it via my website) but looking forward to finding one when I need to. This morning a tv interview with Nancy Pearl the US’s great public ( in many senses) librarian, tonight an event with the university bookshop then on tomorrow to LA.  more planes than a human being ought to take – a carbon footprint  that will take years to recover from. i shall have to walk to Italy for the next decade, but the conversations that come at the end of the events are worth it.

otherwise  as long as i remember to eat it all goes well…..

On Monday I did a great gig in Ben Mcnally’s books In Toronto, but in a huge itlaian restaurant, where of course people yelled and shouted, as italians love to do.  I had brought a cold stowed away in my luggage from London and I had a voice that sounded deep enough to be the only y magnificent. Musica Secreta recorded all the lovelist bits of music which are in the book and ther do indeed have the voices of angels. A real soundtrack of its own. There are samples of it on podcasts and the web site and you can buy the Cd on a link from my site to theirs.  Music Secreta are  women who have given their lives to delve deep into history and bring alive the sounds of women ’s voices as they were 500 yars ago.  They are also enormous fun to work with.

Me – I croak and swallow throat lozenges and with luck some kind of voice will return.,  Otherwise I’ll give the seagulls a run for their money when I hit the ferry out to Victoria island tomorrow. At Cadboro books for anyone local…..

Thanks to you all for your blogs. It makes a real difference to feel one is not alone, even when the hotel room is  empty.   Sarah