Sunday 12 March 2017

The Exceedingly Good Writings of Mr Kipling

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Darla Dryland writes:
Trio Literati: Maggie Mash, Richard Rastall, Jane Oakshott
The wonderful Trio Literati, comprised of Maggie Mash, Richard Rastall and Jane Oakshott, educated and entertained their audience with a captivating account of the life and works of Rudyard Kipling. Combining musical performance, poetry reading and storytelling, we were led through the imaginative journey of Kipling’s creative development. Richard Rastall played Rudyard Kipling himself, providing an emotional insight into the great writer’s many enchanting experiences. Maggie Mash and Jane Oakshott frequently switched from a narrative, external outlook to playing comical roles that interacted brilliantly with Rastall. The Trio were accompanied by Eleanor Rastall on vocals and Jonathan Drummond on the piano, adding another dimension to the intriguing atmosphere. It was absolutely breathtaking.

Eleanor Rastall
I was surprised and excited by the scope of Kipling’s work the Trio introduced to us. They brought to life poems such as ‘If’, ‘The Lie’ and ‘Boots’ and musical performances of ‘Let’s All go Down to The Strand’ and ‘I Wanna be Like You’ from the Jungle book. This innovative yet informative production combined educational purpose with creative involvement and they maintained an active engagement with the audience from start to finish. 

This terrific Trio is definitely one to watch!

Sally Bavage adds:
Darla Dryland, who wrote our blog above, was also very helpful in clearing up after the event.  Furniture moving her speciality!

Audience Comments

The performers sang and spoke so well that even I (a foreigner) could understand everything. The actors were fascinating, musicians were brilliant. I am very happy to know new facts about Kipling. This performance was wonderful and educative.
Diversity was a theme and the show was exceedingly and very pleasingly diverse. Well structured, mixing biography with creative work. Enjoyable performance bringing Kipling to entertaining life.
A lovely mix of poetry, music, biography. I knew only a little about Kipling and hadn't appreciated how interesting his life had been. Another fantastic Trio Literati performance!
A fabulous evening with not a weak link - Trio Literati, with Eleanor and Jonathan created a great and warm rapport with the audience, who clearly appreciated the evening.
A superb evening - varied and witty and it was so good to be at an event where the word could be so clearly heard.
Trio Literati; Eleanor Rastall and Jonathan Drummond are simply delightful. The text, the songs, the production were all first rate, entertaining and educational, funny and thought provoking.
Right venue - quite intimate. So well thought through, it knitted together excellently + lovely performance. We really enjoyed it.
I enjoyed the mix of narrative and song. An interesting mix of material about Kipling and his writings. Learned a lot about him I didn’t know before.
A well researched, comprehensive and witty survey of Kipling's life, times + a glimpse into his art. A sound basis on which to study his works further.
Didn't realise Kipling was such an interesting character - what a wonderful variety of writing and an interesting selection of music and words.
Very interesting and informative as well as enjoyable. Well performed both music and drama. Loved the coconut horses!
A really interesting and thought-provoking mix of prose and poetry. The music added greatly to the atmosphere and made the evening wonderfully varied. Tragedy and humour combined.
Really enjoyable and entertaining selection of pieces encapsulating Kipling and his life and times
Most enjoyable evening. Broadened my awareness of the work of Kipling. Lovely entertaining performances.
A lovely mixture of poetry, story, song and music - nostalgic and very memorable.
As ever, an interesting and esoteric assemblage of diverse material, well presented.
Well done and thoroughly enjoyable because I am particularly fond of Kipling.
A very well-acted tribute to Kipling, with an excellent selection of music and song!
Reminiscent but different. Well presented celebration of Kipling.
A marvellous performance, capturing the spirit of Kipling so well.
A very interesting and enjoyable compilation. New insights into K's life and attitudes.
A thoroughly 'old fashioned' evening - beautifully performed and very informative.
Very good - well presented. A joy to watch.
Very well done + excellent singing and music.
Someone who knows very little of Kipling's life I found it not only educational but also entertaining and fun to watch.
A wonderful evening well in keeping with the ethos of the LitFest.
As always, a stimulating and amusing event. Impeccable acting. Fun and moving.
My first Headingley LitFest event - if the quality and entertainment value of this is representative it must be a very good festival!
Rudyard Kipling has always been just a name to me, synonymous with empire. This evening, he became human.
Enjoyable, and challenging received opinion of Kipling's place in literature.

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