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.

Anyway – just to say thank you to Dallas, for the vital engagement of the audience, and the great experience of so many younger faces enthralled by history, AND my tour of the art next morning before the gallery opened. If it hadn’t been for the next plane delay ( three hours this time) to Boulder  I would have been in heaven.

Boulder is high enough to be half way to heaven however. I hope Boulder book shop has found some people also interested in talking history.  More while waiting for the next lane to Portland. Now Portland is a city I have been wanted to visit for a very long time time. Firday (16t) night at Powells. Now that is ambition fulfilled.

take care all of you and keep writing and reading.

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

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…..