Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from The Dial Up!

It was so lovely to return to live performance and bid 2021 farewell with music, merriment and The Dial Up Family at our Christmas Special this month! Thanks so much to everyone who came, wishing you all the very safest and happiest of festive seasons, and I look forward to seeing you again at the beautiful Kitchen Croxley in 2022! Much love, Alex xx

The easiest way to get involved with The Dial Up Open Mic is to come along! We always make new guests welcome and guarantee you a performance spot if you want one.

Our next event is:

7.30pm on Friday 14th January 2022

at The Kitchen Croxley

198 Watford Road, Croxley Green

WD3 3DB

Bring any sheet music, instruments or creativity you choose! 

Song, dance, comedy, poetry, story telling all welcome! 

Tickets: £5 donation in interval.

The Dial Up Returns!

What a wonderful first event back! Thank you everyone who came and made it such a memorable event. I'm delighted to announce that we will now be at the Amanartis Studio every month, with our next event beinga Christmas Special 2pm on Saturday 4th December! Looking forward to seeing you there, bring your Santa hats!

The photos are from our November Dial Up, some amazing performances and a great time was had by all!

The Dial Up Returns! & Secular Verses published

After a year and a half in mothballs, The Dial Up is finally back! We've found a beautiful and unique new venue in the Amanartis Studios, a converted chapel in the centre of Vicarage Road cemetery. The moment I first visited I knew it would make a perfect home for our much loved celebration of community and creativity. So dust off your instruments, warm up your vocal chords and carve out a space in your diary for The Dial Up Open Mic!

The easiest way to get involved with The Dial Up is to come along! We always make new guests welcome and guarantee you a performance spot if you want one.

Our next event is:

2 - 4pm on Saturday 6th November 2021

at the Amanartis Studios

The Chapel in the Cemetery

Vicarage Road

Watford, WD18 0EJ

Bring any sheet music, instruments or creativity you choose! 

Song, dance, comedy, poetry, story telling all welcome! 

Tickets: £5 donation in interval.

Secular Verses, my new collection of poetry now available to buy on Amazon, explores my experiences as a secularist, atheist and humanist. With poems ranging from the thoughtful and lyrical to the comic and polemic, there's something to inspire every reader's interest and imagination. If you want a sneak peek, two of the poems are copied below, and you can also subscribe to the superb e-magazine Humanistically Speaking were I have a regular spot in Poet's Corner.

What’s a Humanist?

 

They trust in methodologies objective and specific

They describe observed phenomena in a manner scientific

They reject all explanations couched in ghosts or ghouls or spirits

They circumscribe their arguments with naturalistic limits

They ask to see the evidence before they reach conclusions

They prefer to confess ignorance than make up false solutions

They try to meet all human beings with kindness and compassion

And to treat all other animals in corresponding fashion

They’ve no evidence of afterlife, so reasonably deduce

That this is the one life that we have of any earthly use

They put aside the magical claims of many an ancient text

And instead use moral judgement to decide what to do next.

So, in answer to your question, having thought the whole thing through

I’d say it sounds a lot like me. Would you say it’s like you?

Hummingbird

What on Earth more wondrous 

Than a hummingbird exists?

Nature’s glory

Floating sharp, a sliver 

Silver in a liquid air

Purple-dash flash-blue of slicing 

Vibration, mocking gravity

Drinking deep the lees

Of floral nectar hidden

From less specialised imbibers.

Bobbing wonder

Flit of beauty

Pinnacle of process

Evolutionary

Cousin of

All life.

My play Thyestes is now available on Kindle!

THYESTES

Seneca's great Roman Tragedy

in a new version by Alexander Williams

First performed at London's Battersea Arts Centre in 2008, this play script is a gory and gripping reimagining of the notorious revenge myth in which Atreus, father of Agamemnon, avenges himself against his brother Thyestes by murdering his children and serving them up for dinner. Favourably reviewed by The Guardian's legendary theatre critic Michael Billington, this adaptation preserves the bare bones of Seneca's original meaty saga while bringing the horror dramatically forward by ditching the traditional messenger and placing the spine-chilling bloodlust of deranged King Atreus centre stage.

"The Elizabethans may have ransacked Seneca's works, but his Roman tragedies languish in the shade: only Caryl Churchill had been bold enough to translate this classic horror story. Now, Alexander Williams has come up with a radical version that, while spelling out the story's cruelty, ensures we understand the cyclical nature of revenge." - Michael Billington, The Guardian

Thyestes is available here through Amazon Kindle.

Secular Verses: New poetry collection coming soon!

Secular Verses as a new collection of poetry by Alexander Williams exploring the connection between secularism, atheism, humanism and identity in a pluralistic society. With poems ranging from the thoughtful and lyrical to the comic and polemic, there's something to inspire every reader's interest and imagination.

The collection is on schedule to come out later this year, but for those interested in a sneak peek, two of the poems, 'What's a Humanist?' and 'Hummingbird' appeared in the July issue of the superb e-magazine Humanistically Speaking and are copied here for your enjoyment.

Stay tuned for details of the publication date coming soon!

What’s a Humanist?

 

They trust in methodologies objective and specific

They describe observed phenomena in a manner scientific

They reject all explanations couched in ghosts or ghouls or spirits

They circumscribe their arguments with naturalistic limits

They ask to see the evidence before they reach conclusions

They prefer to confess ignorance than make up false solutions

They try to meet all human beings with kindness and compassion

And to treat all other animals in corresponding fashion

They’ve no evidence of afterlife, so reasonably deduce

That this is the one life that we have of any earthly use

They put aside the magical claims of many an ancient text

And instead use moral judgement to decide what to do next.

So, in answer to your question, having thought the whole thing through

I’d say it sounds a lot like me. Would you say it’s like you?

Hummingbird

What on Earth more wondrous 

Than a hummingbird exists?

Nature’s glory

Floating sharp, a sliver 

Silver in a liquid air

Purple-dash flash-blue of slicing 

Vibration, mocking gravity

Drinking deep the lees

Of floral nectar hidden

From less specialised imbibers.

Bobbing wonder

Flit of beauty

Pinnacle of process

Evolutionary

Cousin of

All life.

The Ten Date Rule is shortlisted in The Hope Mill Theatre Playwriting Competition!

So excited to have been shortlisted in the Hope Mill Theatre playwriting competition! Huge thanks to everyone who has helped me develop The Ten Date Rule thus far, let's hope it makes it through to the next stage!

Happy New Year Dial Up Family!

 

Happy 2021 Everybody!

2020 has been an incredibly difficult year, especially for people working in the Arts. I was really upset that the Watford Dial Up, having only just been re-established at the Palace Theatre in January 2020, was forced to come to a crashing close in March due to coronavirus. A lot of my creative projects came to a halt, as they did across the sector, and I only hope that those artists who found themselves struggling and those projects which were forced to stall are given the opportunity and support they need to flourish in 2021.

One project that did manage to go ahead was the Watford Fringe Festival. It was a triumph of will and a bastion of brilliance on what was an otherwise quite bleak horizon. I was delighted to take part as a reviewer for the first time, and look forward to continuing that role in years to come. I was also able to continue my volunteering work as President of the Humanist Teacher Network, participating in an online Sacred Space discussion, and did a few online interviews as a writer talking about my books His Hidden Wings, Wendy the Whale and Black Iris.

The vaccines seem to promise a brighter year, and I for one eagerly await my double dose! I urge anyone who's feeling nervous or unsure to look to the science. The vaccine offers us the best route back to a safe, secure and flourishing society in which our artistic endeavours can once again be enjoyed in the real world as well as in virtual spaces.

So what does 2021 hold? Top of my priority list is finding a way to bring The Dial Up back, so stay tuned! But also, while such gatherings are impossible, I hope to spend more time writing, reading, painting and singing. One thing I will always be grateful to the lockdowns for is encouraging me to finally forge the time and discipline to practice my jazz piano. I'm very determined to keep that up!

No matter what your ambitions, hopes or resolutions for the coming year, I just want to take this opportunity to wish you, your family and friends, every happiness and success. I look forward to giving out some huge hugs as soon as circumstances allow!

Much love to all of you! Yours, Alex xx