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Alex Waldmann and Pippa Nixon: Theatre For All!

By George Moss

@MossRamblings95

Hot on the heels from multiple RSC visitors, two of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s most decorated actors Alex Waldmann and Pippa Nixon paid a valuable visit at York St John to unpack the evolution of Shakespeare’s King John and the true meaning of theatre.

Waldmann and Nixon met during the 2012 RSC production of King John at Stratford-upon-Avon’s Swan Theatre, directed by the magnificent Maria Aberg. The RSC’s plug for the play is that: “King John explores inheritance and illegitimacy and the subsequent political deals and struggle for power. It is one of Shakespeare’s least performed plays.” In retrieving the play from this obscurity, Waldmann starred as King John whilst Nixon performed as The Bastard, the two central characters.

 

  Waldmann, Nixon and the rest of the company created their production from an enthusiastic foundation. Nixon found rehearsals compelling from the start, stating that the “rehearsal room was one of the most creative and brave spaces that I’ve certainly ever been involved in. That play [King John] was a big risk.” Risks and challenges are vital terms frequently found in an actor’s vocabulary, and it is the sense of risk that keeps a play feeling rejuvenated and fresh. After all, if Shakespeare himself was ‘creative’ and ‘brave’ in the writing of his work, then surely the best way to honour this is by following suit. Rather than striving to re-create past performances or simply adding another familiar iteration, the company rightly wanted to add another link in a four hundred year-old chain. As King John is rarely performed, the cast’s previous exposure to the text was limited. Waldmann himself readily confessed that, “I didn’t really get the play [King John], it’s one of his [Shakespeare’s] least familiar plays […] it didn’t really make any sense to me”, a shaky start for a lead actor. Nixon similarly added that, “I didn’t know anything about King John. I’d never seen it, never read it.” This is what fueled the creativity of the aforementioned creative rehearsals, putting a face on the unknown. The ingenuity of the company allowed the production to transform from a place of skepticism and mild dissatisfaction to a natural evolution of King John, a fresh creation. Nixon spoke of director Maria Aberg’s own perspective: “she found it quite impenetrable I think, and for her, making The Bastard a female character and having this particular relationship with King John, and conflating Hubert with The Bastard, sort of made sense for her.” This genius change in the character propelled the production into uncharted territory. Distancing their production from preconceived parameters, their King John began to breathe a life of its own. This is something that Waldmann reaffirmed in a moment of realisation: “All of a sudden the play came to life to me, and made sense, and it all felt that it centered around this intense, destructive complex relationship between King John and The Bastard. Whereas in the original play you get to see these two people at the beginning and at the end, and in the middle their relationship disappears. So suddenly the play made sense to me.” Not only did they unearth a sense of a more linear narrative, but the play was rooted deeper in a vividly intelligible exploration of relationships. Both Waldmann and Nixon still rank this piece and their efforts as ones they are extremely proud of, and with very good reason.    


Not only were the gender paradigms shifted, but the duo’s approach to Shakespeare’s language was also insightful. Where does language end and the character begin? Do they intersect? Is language always reliable? These are questions which layer any production with depth and complexity. Waldmann explained his observation that: “people get obsessed by the words, but often we say the opposite of what we feel […] the language betrays what we’re really feeling […] you’ve got this template, and it’s about finding a way of bringing those words to life.” Though Shakespeare’s mastery of language is often heralded, it would be fair to say that his language has become an entity of its own. As Shakespeare continues to be adapted, Shakespeare’s words are difficult to comprehend to the uninitiated, and deeper meanings are difficult to discover. To combat this, language must not be a confinement to character, but a sandbox to play in. Pippa Nixon spoke about this in great length, stating, “to have the modern meet the classical is great, because I always found there was a slight veil between speaking ‘it’ and feeling ‘it’ and suddenly with The Bastard, because we did so much detailed work about who these people are, the character starts coming alive so much that the text is just a way to access that character […] And that got brought into As You Like It completely, then Ophelia in Hamlet and then it’s gone on to Ariel in The Tempest. It feels like that work had unlocked something, it unlocked this reverence to Shakespeare’s texts and it’s incredibly elastic, you can stretch it and pull it and throw it across the room.” Shakespeare is often thought to be on an untouchable pedestal; that the only way to understand him is through an enormous supply of ‘highbrow’ intellect. But this is not the case at all: you simply need to be in touch with your humanity.

“people miss the excitement and the danger of the stories”

 

Shakespeare’s plays are in large part studies on the human condition. Do academic dissections eclipse all the fun? Waldmann seemed to think so to an extent, stating that “people miss the excitement and the danger of the stories” when the mechanics of a text override the thematic essence. Expectations invade the sense of wonder, of spontaneity and creativity that the theatre strives to fuel. Waldmann notes that, when it comes to accessibility, companies are “trying, but part of it is to do with the performance style, where ‘I don’t really understand what you’re saying, and you’re not a human being, so I don’t really care – I’d rather go and watch something modern, a telly programme.'” It seems from here there is only one way to go, and that is to update the tactics of putting on a show. Shakespeare interrogated the sociopolitical climate of his own era, and it is now time to adapt his work to fit within our own understanding of our world. Nixon shared this sentiment, that some Shakespeare productions today are: “not feeling like it’s evolving and going to more exciting spaces and places”, and this presents a ceiling that can only be shattered by the creative industry. After all, as Waldmann concurred, the theatre is not a museum, but an arena of innovation.

Shakespeare is for all, not only to be studied rigorously by select few, but also to serve its most basic, original purpose: to entertain everybody. Waldmann and Nixon carry this torch high and proud, and it pays off in their audience feedback, according to Waldmann. After a Saturday Matinee performance, Waldmann was beckoned over by a heavily tattooed man from Salford. “I was like oh god, this is it, I am gonna get beaten up before tonight’s show. He said he was from Salford and got dragged down [to the play] by his in-laws and had never been to the theatre before. He said, ‘I didn’t really understand what you’re saying all the time, but I fucking loved that’. And it meant more than any peers saying that.”

Through the fundamental decency of Alex Waldmann and Pippa Nixon, the inherent creativity and humanity of the theatre will seldom be forgotten. Shakespeare would surely  approve.

 

 

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Tiny Sandwiches & Productivity

By Bethany Davies

@Bethanyjoy18

I have a task for you. Look back to a moment, or perhaps sit and look sad in the one you’re in, where you have felt stress over a deadline. Reflect on that feeling (or sit and feel sad with it) where you have more work to do than time to do it in. It’s a common predicament. A lot of us find ourselves in it most days. And yet, that irritating presence of worry still looms over us like the grizzly clouds of York in November.

Now, be sure not to get offended; don’t take it personally. But, you see, if you’re not a writer, this post really isn’t for you. Because these deadlines aren’t any old deadlines. They’re not the filing of the end of year paperwork; the re-stacking of Tesco’s shelves before 5pm; or the need to feed the cat, dog and hamster before a night out with friends. These are the kind of deadlines that demand creativity in a temporarily hollow mind that only sees one thing; a blank page. It’s a killer.

So, what’s the cure?

The first crucial step is to turn Netflix off. Completely off. Remove Facebook from your bookmarks bar and rid the room of people who only want to distract you and make sure you never ever (ever) succeed in life. Lock your phone in a bullet proof safe. Shut the door. Lock the windows. Glue your elbows to the table. With extra strong PVA.

There’s no doubt that you’ll have heard all of this before. So, let me tell you the secret ingredient. Motivation. You don’t need to want to do the work but you need to be motivated. This could be inspired by an anticipation of future greatness or simply the promise of a bowl of coco pops when the work is done.

Tiny Sandwiches

Since we are all writers, unless some of you cheeky few stuck around, we are supposedly holding creative minds that function on inspiration. So, find out what inspires you. Take your creative flare and light it up in the city of York. You live in the city of history and architecture where minds were inspired to create beautiful pieces of art.  Take a laptop or notepad and use the surroundings for inspiration. Climb out of bed and sit in one of York’s quirky independent coffee shops and read your set text for the week. Head off to Betty’s and sit amongst an array of tiny sandwiches and teapots classed as ‘cute’. Whatever works. Try it. Become motivated. And watch as that thick grey cloud looming over you is replaced by a carried sense of accomplishment and productivity.

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Stranger Things: Do We Need The 80s?

Please Ferris, don’t have another day off. 

By Oliver Driver

@OliverDriver20

Check the cinema listings and you’d be forgiven for thinking we’re back in the 80’s. Star Wars, Star Trek and Ghost-Busters are all on the big screen and Flash Gordon isn’t far behind. In this context, Netflix Original series Stranger Things looks right at home. In reality, the Duffer Brother’s mini-series is as alien as E.T. Far from the tepid waters of safe-bet remakes and cash-grab sequels, it’s a retreat into the warm bosom of rose-tinted past.

 

Stranger Things logo

 

Stranger Things doesn’t jump on the table and rub its 80s credentials in your face. We don’t even see the predictable Rubik’s Cube cameo.  It may as well not be the 80s at all, simply ‘a long, long time ago in a galaxy not far away’. What matters is that it’s not now: it’s pre-digital. Like the crackle of a record, there’s comfort to be found in the fuzzy black screen that precedes those synth opening titles. The fiber-optic streaming feels like VHS, and it feels great.

From then on, Stranger Things is laced with nods to its influences. Beginning in the stars, you’re left expecting an Imperial Cruiser to steam through the first shot, leaving a palpable feeling that you’ve seen it all before – and it’s probably because you have. Far from shying away from its predecessors, we spend our time shamelessly cycling away from the “bad men” in radioactive suits, hiding aliens in closets and walks along train tracks (a-la-Stand-By-Me.)

“There are no short cuts and no cheap shots. The roster of characters gradually reveal complexity and depth in dialogue”

Cynically, it seems like the recipe for success: cheap pop-culture shots and familiar plot lines. But that’s in a world where success is measured at the box office and Ice Age 3 comes out on top. And this is exactly the world from which Stranger Things seeks to escape: one where consumerism is omnipresent and mobile phones tether us to our stresses, like landlines to the wall. There are no short cuts and no cheap shots. The roster of characters gradually reveal complexity and depth in dialogue, rather than wandering around explaining the plot and shouting “I love Dr Pepper” (See Real Steel and 90210). Nothing is written with target audiences and marketing in mind.
rubik-cube-1400876325eiT

Rubik's Cube: a predictable 80s pop cultural reference

 

The Duffer Brothers don’t take us to L.A landmarks, but idyllic Indiana suburbs – where garden gnomes go missing and the worst thing to happen was “an owl attacked Eleanor Gillespie because it thought her hair was a nest”. For the charming, carefree (if a little too familiar) gang, it’s home to Dungeons and Dragons, pillow forts and bike rides.

It’s here where the series flourishes, not in the well-rendered monsters, but the formation and interplay of unlikely, yet tender, relationships. For me, the greatest jump came at the fate of misfit Jonathan’s camera, not the faceless ‘Demigorgon’. It’s a world that feels so much simpler than today, but only because they’ve made it so. A time to which we owe so many of today’s horrors, of conflict and greed, the 80s deserves little fetishism. Much like Abraham’s Super 8, Stranger Things is a love letter to a nerdy childhood that just happened to be in the 80s.

The best art comes from love. If you loved the 80s, write that. But we don’t need nostalgia, just because it sells. If we write what sells, those reboots will keep coming. Roll on Ben Hur.

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Melly Still – From YSJ to the RSC

By George Alexander Moss
@MossRamblings95

In a riveting discussion mediated by York St. John Senior Lecturer in Drama David Richmond, famed artist Melly Still discussed topics from her time at York St John, to her directorial efforts in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, currently playing at the Barbican Theatre, London.

Melly Still is a director, choreographer and designer. She has been nominated for four Olivier awards and six Tony awards, including best director for both. In a career going from strength to strength, Still has developed productions with The National Theatre, Blind Wall Festival Opera and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her work has been recognized on an international scale, influencing theatrical circles in Europe, America, and Asia. Needless to say, Still ranks among York St John’s top alumna.

Still’s rationale for choosing to study at York St John University in the 1980s was that, “at the time, it was the only place in the UK that I could find that did theatre, fine art and dance – all three.” Retrospectively, this education route seems like an exhausting shocker. After all, it is not uncommon to find single honours undergraduates in the library engaging in various activities; working, reading, sleeping, crying. It would certainly be remarkable if Still aced three subjects at once, but as is true for many undergraduates, it wasn’t always smooth sailing.

Still highlighted many obstacles that came her way during her time at University. She openly admitted that, “I think I displayed lack of confidence by just not giving a damn at the time”, which for the theatrical arts obviously will not fly. In a subject that relies so heavily upon inspiration and creativity, a stunted student will find it difficult to reap the rewards of study and practice. Coupled with a lack of confidence is untapped potential, and that is something Still evidently had much of. Eventually this potential was unleashed, and Still “started to click with some of the work we were doing […] I really loved it at after that, second, third and fourth years. I don’t think I missed anything. Plus I was making work and putting on shows at every opportunity that wasn’t part of the curricular [activities].” It is often said that University is a time to broaden ones prospects, to participate in as much as possible whilst also, creating our own opportunities. Between the endless hours of Netflix and noise, a sense of maturity is eventually unearthed in the first year, and propels each and every student into the productive years that follow. Or at least that’s what we tell ourselves at 3am whilst devouring another episode of Luke Cage.

Nevertheless, Still began harnessing her talent through the three headed beast of a course. She described it as “really fascinating work – I remember a lot of the tutors. There was this kind of, strangely enough at the time, everything was very, very compartmentalized. At the time, theatre practice was theatre practice, art was art, and there was never a between, they would never meet ever. There was a lack of cooperation between departments at the time. Which seemed nuts to a lot of the students.” Of course, this has been clearly rectified now, with York St John University breathing as a whole by sharing trips, societies and a great many lectures. However, where the artist is confined it could only ever lead to rebellion. Still reflects that it: “Seemed mad we weren’t being able to do mad things on rooftops, and things like that. It was quite conservative, but it helped, because it meant we could sort of push against it. It’s quite easy to shock people here, which some how I found quite incentivising at the time.” Creativity is at its most vibrant when demolishing boundaries and offering new perspectives on a great many things, changing thoughts and feelings for the better. Of course, clambering onto somebody’s roof is also a stellar method of inciting change: hopefully we can expect someone to be on the roof of The White House one day soon.

Still’s continuing hard work eventually led her to where she is today, directing rarely performed Shakespearean juggernaut Cymbeline. Whilst she contemplates that “the tutors encouraged us to be quite experimental at the time”, she later stated that her artistic nuance came: “very late in my career, finding my voice. But I certainly felt I really want to work in a narratively driven, choreographic work”. In the case of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Cymbeline, that voice is on a speaker phone. The play’s pitch is hauntingly that “Britain is in crisis. Alienated, insular and on the brink of disaster. Can it be saved?” Reflecting a vast array of contemporary catastrophes (looking at you brexit), the play has arrived at a time in Earth’s history that is more poignant than ever. This is the crux of what Still is trying to communicate, stating that Cymbeline is “completely about isolationism. England was still struggling with its identity, do we become part of a bigger statehood? Lets reach out to our neighbours. They’re not my words, they’re Shakespeare’s. You can’t help but reach out to those parallels.” It is disheartening to consider whether Britain has come a long enough way in 400 years. Now of course, it is not merely England struggling with a contested identity; America, Germany and a great many other places are facing this question too. It is on this that makes Cymbeline truly vital and Shakespeare a timeless writer.

Ultimately, whether shaking things up at York St John or on a global stage, it is unquestionable that Melly Still makes our world immeasurably bigger.

 

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Recent events

By Dr Kaley Kramer

Lecturer in English Literature

@drkaleykramer

On Wednesday, seminars were quiet – and not just here: my colleagues across the UK shared stories of students in tears, students anxious in ways that permeated discussions; of colleagues unable to teach what had been planned and spending time with their students just listening and talking. The United States is a global superpower and this decision will have impacts beyond their borders – no less than the Brexit vote sent shockwaves in all directions. While we might feel sheltered by distance and difference from the US, we need to take seriously the psychological and emotional effects of the outpouring of vitriol, misogyny, homophobia, racism, xenophobia, and prejudice that marked the presidential campaign and was so carefully and thoroughly reported in UK media. We know, from our own experiences post-Brexit, that political campaigns have cultural effects; that rhetoric used to sway votes can also create an environment that legitimates real violence. University is not separate from the ‘real world’. We are a community brought together for a short time and our borders are permeable: we each bring to this campus our lives, our struggles, our loves; we read literature through all of our experiences. We study the world without ever leaving it.

We stand against that violence.

Dear students: you are beginning, or finishing, or continuing your education in an anxious time. This has always been true but you are new and I would take that anxiety from you, if I could. If you wonder why we demand your best work, why we challenge what is accepted, why we push you beyond your comfort-zone it is because so much of the world asks for only superficial understanding – a sound-bite-click-bait-jingle-commonplace acceptance. Critical thinking breaks the black mirror: literature finds us ‘unexpectedly…living, thinking, acting, and reflecting [in ways that] belong to times and spaces we have never known’. How else, asked Judith Butler in 2013, are we to ‘find ourselves linked with others we have never directly known…to understand that…we share a world?’

Many of us might feel that we no longer recognize the world. And that is without question an anxious state of being. And anxiety produces fear and when we are afraid we forget to be kind. We forget compassion and community. Our world shrinks and we stop looking around us and reaching out for understanding.

Dear students: do not be afraid.

Do not allow fear to silence you. Do not ‘keep calm’. Do not ‘be good’.

Be brave. Listen. Learn. Disagree with each other – with your tutors – with respect and with love. Question what you think you know. Change your mind and change the people around you. We are ethically obligated, continued Butler, to live among those who are different from ourselves, ‘to demand recognition for our histories and our struggles at the same time that we lend that to others’.

Dear students: be kind to each other.

We are here, now. You share a space and time to learn, to think, to take the time you need to look around you and decide what kind of world you will go on to shape. You are all welcome here. You are all precious. We need you all.

The world seems dark and anxious now. But there is a crack, wrote Leonard Cohen (‘Anthem’, 1992), in everything: that’s how the light gets in.

If you would like to read more about York St John University’s commitment to equality and accessibility, please see our Mission Statement (https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/about/university-structure/mission-and-values/).

 

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Moby Dick at the Guildhall

Theatre Mill’s production of Moby Dick is alive as soon as you walk into the Guildhall. My ticket was stamped on the door as I became part of the ‘crew’ and I followed the stewards who, dressed in thick jumpers and boots, asked for my ‘papers’. I was led to the quarterdeck to take my seat, and around me were ladders, ropes, and lanterns hanging from the rafters. Everything including the set was part of the performance, and as an adaptation of a book with such universal themes that spans the entire globe this sense of involvement between the audience and our surroundings was a wonderful addition.

The Guildhall isn’t a traditional theatre space, and despite Graham Kirk’s intricate set design this was able to provide a challenge for some of the actors. “You’ve no idea until an audience is in there, until the whole set’s in there, what’s going to happen,” says Zach Lee, who plays a multitude of roles including Rob, Starbuck, Peleg and Elijah, and was kind enough to chat to me before a performance. “It was only sort of twenty-four hours before we opened where we realised, hang on, there’s an acoustic issue in there.” Yet the setting is so important to the story of Moby Dick that without this design element the significance wouldn’t come across. “To me,” he continues, “that’s magical going in there – I think it’s amazing.”

 

But it wasn’t just the set that brought this to life – the actors seamlessly weaved in and out of various voices under Gareth Tudor Price’s wonderful direction, and they each took on more than one role. It sits well next to Melville’s novel considering the complexity of the narrative; one of the things widely explored in the text is the issue of whether Ishmael is a character or narrator, and whether his voice is constant or weaved in between Melville’s himself. The actors were able to shift their identities without the need for extravagant costume changes or set switches, meaning there was always something new to see them do in every scene. Lee noted how this bought a sense of theatricality to the production: “To me it’s more interesting to do it with no props. At the beginning of a play you set a tone – how’s this going to play, going to look? What are we telling you within the first five minutes? We’re talking to you directly, so you’ve got to be involved or have some sort of investment in it or else it just doesn’t work.” This production is unique in its decision to move the story from its original setting in Massachusetts to the ports of Hull. The use of accents gave the whole production a traditional Yorkshire feeling, yet still retaining the American sense of boyish adventure captured in the novel. As a story which touches on themes of good and evil, madness and sanity, and right and wrong, there doesn’t seem to be much that the setting could change about its messages. But Lee draws attention to the importance of universality in the setting. “It only changed the story in reflection that we’re doing the counter pointing of having the Hull trawlers. It’s a story of working class guys trawling – it’s the same here, it’s the same in Iceland, it’s the same strand of society.”  

 

The one thing that struck me the most about this production was their intense focus on the idea of fate and the question of who controls it. It’s a major theme in the novel and I was particularly struck with the way the line “Ahab beware of Ahab” hauntingly lingered on stage long after it was said. The white make-up on the faces of each actor made them look strangely like ghosts, and heightened the sense that each character was tied to their fate by foreshadowing what is to come. Yet despite the ghostly undertones, I was kept enticed by the lively shifts between actors as characters and the movement of their bodies to mirror the sea and the motion of the boat. The music that ran through the production was a lovely addition. “I love playing music,” Lee confessed. “If we’d have had a bit more time we’d have had a bit more music. Playing in a venue like this – this was unique.”

Condensing such a huge, complex was always going to be a challenge, but Nick Lane and John Godber have proved that in can indeed be possible. Whilst still maintaining the adventure and liveliness, it is a story of a man who becomes his own downfall. Seeing the production in such a unique place with such a talented cast is an opportunity you shouldn’t miss.

Moby Dick is on at the Guildhall until 3rd November. Tickets can be purchased through York Theatre Royal.

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YSJBHM: Comics Reading Group

From Black Panther to Luke Cage, the Comics Reading Group – held at YSJ in the last week of Black History Month – discussed the history and ideas about black characters in Marvel Comics. The initial presentation was an account of the history of black characters in marvel comics as well as some interesting readings of memos and letters specifically about diversity within marvel. While the group talked the atmosphere was friendly and relaxed; the room was full of fans which kept it from seeming like too much of an academic event. Discussion flowed easily after the riveting ice breaker – what superpower would you have? – And led into everyone’s feelings, fears, and even some furies concerning the subject.

black panther

 

It was refreshing to see that everyone had an opinion, as opposed to the awkward silences usually found amongst a group of strangers put on the spot. No matter what experiences of comic books or what racial background people had everyone was talking freely, sharing thoughts and ideas with relative ease. Because of this easiness a great many interesting points came up about the history of comic books and diversity.

 

marvel

Though comic books may not always be considered the highest forms of literature amongst academics, the general populace finds them riveting and (possibly due to the Hollywood obsession with the Marvel Cinematic Universe) inescapable. And it is through the comics and films that Black Panther has come into the public eye and won his popularity. However, this wasn’t always the case.

 

The history of black characters in any form has been a long and complicated one and it was no different for Marvel Comics. Black Panther first appeared in The Fantastic Four, introduced not as a hero, but as an ambiguous character who could be made into a villain if he was not received well by the fans. Though Black Panther wasn’t the first black super hero to get his own series; Luke Cage of Jessica Jones fame was the lucky first, unfortunately this representation was no better. The jive-talking detective was often seen badgering people for his payment after saving them, and eventually lost popularity before returning with the promise of “no more jive talk.”

luke cage

Diversity in these comics didn’t just fail black men however, it failed women of all races quite drastically too. And much like the representation of black characters, the way women are depicted is still very much a work in progress. Titles such as Night Nurse and My Love painted women in submissive, nursesexualised roles that haven’t changed all that drastically considering recent controversy over Black Widow toys being left out of Avengers sales, and Wonder Woman’s poor depiction in Batman vs Superman.

 

There have been massive strides made in both racial and gender equality in comics however, as the reading group did start to discuss towards the end of the session. Black Panther has swept back into the lime light with a new comic series (written by a black artist!!) and even his own film, with the weight of his entire culture on his shoulders as the King of Wakanda. Whilst Jessica Jones portrays women as strong, confident, in spite of abusive relationships, whilst showing an interracial relationship between her and Luke Cage (who thankfully no longer takes payment for his super hero services).jessica jones

Overall the reading group was a wonderful success. Conversation flowed from comics, to film, to history, to the Black Lives Matter movement, and back to comics again. The event was an excellent example of how Black History Month is still relevant and how far we have come as a society, but also how much further we still have to go. The one small issue was the event was that everyone wanted to keep talking, and took to Twitter to continue talking! Hopefully these discussions can be revisited in future events just like this one.
class

 

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Seven Spooky Novels for Halloween

By Rachel Louise Atkin

@rachelatkin_

It’s October! Cue the soundtrack to The Nightmare Before Christmas! Or maybe dressing up in uncomfortable outfits and singing along to animated musicals isn’t your thing, so instead let me recommend you seven books which I think capture the essence of Halloween perfectly. Whether through their use of gothic tropes, ghostly inclinations or murderous tendencies, all of these books are frightening in their own unique way.

 

  1. The Shining, by Stephen King

You might think I could put any old Stephen King book on here, but I’m a firm believer in reading his novels strategically. His prose has developed significantly through the years as he experiments with voice and genre, and many of his classic horror works sit at the beginning of his career. This is why I recommend you begin with The Shining. Turned into a film by Stanley Kubrick in 1980, this novel follows Jack Torrance and his family as they move in to the Overlook Hotel for a season. If it’s not uncanny enough living inside an empty hotel in the middle of winter, there’s also a bunch of creepy ghosts, telekinetic powers and fire extinguishers that turn into snakes. It’s a staple for fans of the horror genre, but I believe it also plays on a fear of confinement that was prominent in Britain during the 18th century. Asylums, like hotels, were places where people were temporarily contained inside individual rooms, and had the same sense of belonging-but-not-belonging.

Can't Look Away, The Lure of Horror Film - The Shining axe (15198227343)

 Hollywood Cinema’s most famous axe?

Prop from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.

  1. War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells

Although usually listed under ‘science fiction’ rather than ‘horror’, this classic is just as terrifying as a ghost story. Set in Victorian England, the novel is told from the point of view of a man who hears that a mysterious ‘shell’ has landed near where he lives. After a few days, the shell starts to open. And it’s aliens. The entire country is thrown into a panic and our main character races to London in an attempt to reunite with his fiancée. I can hold my hands up and say this is the scariest book I’ve ever read in my life. Wells’ descriptions of the way the Martian’s heat-ray sweeps across the ground and their movement through the country on spindly, mechanical legs makes me cringe with fright. Again, this novel has been adapted into film various times – most recently by Steven Spielberg in 2005. The book has such a different atmosphere that all they appear to share is a title, but I guess that’s up to you to decide.

War of the Worlds original cover bw

 

  1. The Silence of the Lambs, by Thomas Harris

This novel is actually the sequel to Harris’ ‘Red Dragon’, but it seems to be better known than its predecessor. It appears in a tetralogy of books surrounding the serial-killer-slash-cannibal Hannibal Lecter, famously played by Anthony Hopkins in the 1991 film adaption. It is a horror novel which feels like it could belong comfortably with crime-thrillers, but it is the horrific descriptions of torture, murder and gore which makes it an extremely uncomfortable read for anybody even slightly squeamish. The head of the FBI Jack Crawford is psychologically manipulated by Lecter, meaning that this book frightens you in a more personal, realistic way than a science-fiction or a ghost story could. Maybe it’s because when you’re reading about something so intimate, it’s hard to distance yourself from the idea that this isn’t fantasy – it’s more about the horrors of real life.

 

  1. Dracula, by Bram Stoker

Another staple of the horror genre, Bram Stoker’s vampire novel is thought to be the work that has sparked our obsession with vampires across the globe. From TV to literature, theatre to comic books, vampires are everywhere, but Dracula is always the name that keeps coming back to us time and again. The novel is told in an epistolary format to get you uneasy from the get-go, and follows Jonathan Harker as he goes to stay with Count Dracula for a real estate transaction. He starts to notice weird things about his host though, and Harker soon realises that he’s become the imprisoned by the Count. Although most people think they already know the story of Dracula, when reading this for the first time I was surprised by how little had been filtered into modern culture from the original text. In fact, all that we really have remaining now is the idea of Count Dracula has a guy with a cape who lives in a castle and sucks blood. I’d encourage you to read the novel, just because it’s a fascinating insight in to what a whole modern subculture has based its entire aesthetic on (looking at you Whitby).

 

  1. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

This is one I haven’t read, but that’s not because I’m lazy. It’s because even the physical idea of this book kind of freaks me out. House of Leaves is something difficult to describe if I don’t have the novel with me, but is famous for being written so erratically and fragmented that sometimes you won’t actually be able to read the words on the page. They might be printed backwards, or they might be overlapping with other letters so all you see is a smudge. Other times there can be only one or two words on a page, whilst on the next there will be text so small you will have to squint to read. As far as I can gauge it is a novel about a haunted house, but readers keep the details of the plot well buried so that you can go into it knowing close to nothing about what’s going on. If this hasn’t intrigued you enough to want to know what the hell this literary creation is, go and find it in a bookshop and flick through it yourself.

 

  1. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson

Most people already know the plot twist at the end of this novella. If you don’t, I won’t spoil it, but the key with this one is to go into it like you haven’t heard anything about it before. The use of science and technology reflected the ideas of rationalism becoming prominent during the Victorian Era, which could’ve made it uneasy for many readers in the way it was being used. In essence, Dr Jekyll has defied God (in a similar way to Dr Frankenstein) and this goes against many of the principles adopted by society. It’s less scary for modern audiences, but the plot-twist at the end still channels some important uncanny elements such as the idea of ‘the double’.

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde poster

 

  1. Locke & Key, by Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodríguez

Locke & Key is one of the best graphic novels I’ve read to date. It follows the Locke family as they move into a new house after the murder of their father. Once inside, they start to find various keys lying around which give them specific supernatural powers depending on which key they use. Intertwined with this are flashbacks to their father’s youth where a ghostly mystery is brewing, and if that doesn’t sound cool enough then you should probably know that Joe Hill is Stephen King’s son. The series has a few nods here and there to some of his father’s classic horror works, but also has its own modern flair and really showcases Hill as a talented writer.

 

I hope you’ll decide to check some of these out before the month is over. If none of them take your fancy, there’s still a wealth of gothic and horror literature out there for you to get lost in. If you think you can handle the monsters, that is…

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Graham Rawle – Unconventional Appearences

By George Alexander Moss
@MossRamblings95

Excitement once again swept through York St John University, as famed author, artist, designer and illustrator Graham Rawle stopped by to deliver an enthralling lecture.

Rawle opened up the talk by confessing that his “background is as an illustrator and designer” and that he “doesn’t have a literary background.” This does not at all infringe on his capability as a writer, however. He has developed regular series for major broadsheets: The Observer, The Times and The Sunday Telegraph Magazine. For The Guardian he concocted the famed ‘Lost Consonants’, collections of panel artistry that depict comedic outcomes when a sentence loses a crucial consonant. Beyond this, Rawle has written several well received novels, such as The Card, Lying Doggo, The Wonder Book of Fun and the core text of his talk: Woman’s World. In addition to all of this, he is a tutor for the University of Brighton’s MA in Arts and Design by Independent Project, and seems to be admirably living several lives simultaneously.

Lost Consonants by Graham Rawle 96 dog baking.jpg
Grahamrawle - collage artwork
 Previously published in The Guardian, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Rawle’s talk focused first on story structure. He explained that a story can be found anywhere so long as it accords with specific sets of rules, giving varied examples such as, “comedians, how they construct a joke, how they can construct a whole act around a joke or series of jokes. I might be looking at exhibition design, and how you navigate a crowd through a space. How to make that feel like a journey, feel like a story. Or the beginning and middle and end of a magic act […]

For Rawle, behind every solid story is strong structure. His claim is that all of these examples, “have a strong three act structure to them […] This patterned three act structure is detectable in lots of areas”.  The basic sequence of the Three Act Structure (exposition, climax, and resolution) determines “How people orchestrate things like a firework display […] It’s the sequence in the way you put these things that deliver the most effective show you can”.

 

“I write fiction, but the books I write have a visual element to them that hopes to carry an additional narrative layer”

 

Rawle suggested that he approached storytelling as someone with a design background, explaining that designers study the fundamentals of something, respecting existing approaches, and then afterward craft something new. This mindset can be seen in his 2005 novel Woman’s World, in which Rawle to put his own spin on the literary. Spelling out his aims in writing such novels he stated, “I write fiction, but the books I write have a visual element to them that hopes to carry an additional narrative layer”. In keeping with the theme of ‘stories to be found everywhere’, Rawle crafted the critically acclaimed Woman’s World (2005), as a bombastic collage novel. Constructed solely by reassembling text snippets from 1960’s women magazines, the novel has been appropriately described by The Times as, “a work of genius […] the most wildly original novel produced in this country in the past decade”.

The unconventional collage construction of Woman’s World complements the journey of its protagonist, cross-dressing man Norma Fontaine. The women’s magazines of the 1960’s translated the ‘woman’s world’ to him, informing Norma how he can best become a woman. Using the collage, Rawle aimed to convey a sense of desperation: “The desperation was about becoming this ‘ideal woman’ […] the idea of a cross-dressing man in 1962, trying to be a woman, to learn how to be a woman, with only his mother who he can’t ask and not being able to go out anywhere, you look back at the magazines through that viewpoint, and it tells you everything you need to do”. The magazines offered a unique window into gender performance, and Woman’s World achieves part of that effect not just through narrative, but through the collage. Powerful and moving, it is a text that transcends time.

The innovation doesn’t stop in his books either. Rawle is taking Woman’s World to film, and stated that “I’m going to collage the whole film, exactly as I collaged the book. So replacing the story with fan clips to try and retell the story of Norma Fontaine.” Of course, the danger with adapting a collage is the danger of not being able to recapture the magic the collage effect had. No matter how well the story itself is adapted, part of the magic comes through the specific mode of imagery. Nonetheless, at the prospect of a film, movie stars came sniffing, such as Tom Hardy and James Franco. Though the two are no longer involved, one thing is clear: that Woman’s World is as adaptable as any of Graham Rawle’s many talents.

The unconventional appearance of Woman’s World, whether on page or screen, is a step toward true originality. To piece together a story through another’s words, to read what the characters themselves could have read, or to even hold a book similar to what the character could have owned, is an enchanting feeling. Ultimately, Graham Rawle pondered that, “the design of a book has been around for such a long time […] It is really interesting that nobody said to Mary Shelley then ‘what do you think a books going to look like in 200 years?’ It’s unlikely she would have said, ‘I expect it will look exactly the same’. It’s really odd!”

In retrospect, we should have asked Mr. Rawle the very same thing.

 

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Black History Month 2016: York/New York Exhibition Launch Night.

by Amy McCarthy

@behindthecritic

Live jazz music fills the air and guests are chattering, armed with a glass of wine. York St. John University has transformed its Arts Foyer into a guided history of 1930s Harlem, New York.

Last year a group of second year English Literature students on the ‘Literature at Work’ module created resources based on the Harlem Renaissance and now their work is on display for staff, students, and members of the public to see. The exhibition includes film, models, photography, and slide shows. To promote Black History Month, the students have the opportunity to talk about their work and express their enthusiasm for the cultural movement.

Although the students created their works of art separately, together the pieces complement each other to display the rich culture of Harlem. One of the works on display is a York/New York trail, where famous Harlem Renaissance landmarks are matched up to locations in York. The brochure is displayed on one of the walls and is accompanied by a short film in which the creators follow the trail they made around York.

Below the York/New York trail is a 3D model of key landmarks from the Harlem Renaissance. Accompanying each building on the miniature version of Harlem is a plaque listing the pop cultural references relating to the locations used.

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Visitors also cannot help but admire the beautiful collages occupying some of the boards at the exhibition. These wonderfully creative pieces combine vintage styling with a contemporary artistic edge to inform the audience about key areas of culture. One golden frame discusses music of the Harlem Renaissance while a few smaller frames look at the works of the great literary mind Langston Hughes.

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At the exhibition launch, the crowded room was testament to how student work is valued. The launch night was a huge success, bringing members of the university and the public together. Attendees left feeling better educated about the Harlem Renaissance, and hopefully inspired to pick up some literature from the era.

 

The ‘York/New York’ Exhibition will be displayed in the Arts Foyer at York St. John University until the end of October.

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Black History Month: Noma Dumezweni talks A Human Being Died That Night.

by George Alexander Moss

Currently enchanting audiences as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre, Noma Dumezweni has enjoyed a varied career on stage and screen including roles in everything from TV favourites Shameless and Doctor Who to Royal Shakespeare Company productions. To mark the opening of Black History Month, Dumezweni came to York St John to discuss her lead role in A Human Being Died That Night at the Hampstead Theatre.

 

Dumezweni began the sell-out event by quite literally drawing in the audience, asking them to gather their chairs closer to where she and YSJ English Literature Lecturer Julie Raby, who mediated the discussion, sat. The move seemed natural for the discussion of a play that demanded enormous personal investment from audiences and actors alike. The play is based on a book-length report by psychologist Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela of her interviews in prison with the head of Apartheid South Africa’s state-sanctioned death squads, Eugene De Kock. Dumezweni played the lead role of Gobodo-Madikizela herself. The play reminds theatre goers that, beneath immoral action, killers are mere people – not always the ‘other’. Dumezweni describes the play as being about the meaning of forgiveness, explaining that De Kock, “was able to apologise to three women whose husbands he had killed. They forgave him, because they felt his remorse.” It may seem initially difficult if not impossible to attribute remorse to such a monster. But in the face of murderous atrocities and sharp racial divides, empathy enabled a more complete truth to emerge, placing a fundamental human attribute into a time of enormous strife.

[He] “was able to apologise to three women whose husbands he had killed. They forgave him, because they felt his remorse”

-Noma Dumezweni, on State-sanctioned murderer Eugene De Kock.

To convey this,  A Human Being Died That Night was original and immersive in its theatrics from the get go; even the Hampstead Theatre’s bar, and its patrons, were part of the performance. On arrival, audience members were lectured on forgiveness by Dumezweni in character as Gobodo-Madikizela. For Dumezweni, this intervention was part of the production’s wider sense of “freedom of things staging wise. You come in relaxed, and its listen to the story, oh no let’s move you, oh shit I have to move all my bags again, oh now everything has gone really quiet. And now you have to be really referential to the space you’re walking in. You are now a witness to something you didn’t know was coming.” Such unpredictability garners attention and marks memories. No doubt this understanding could have inspired Dumezweni’s chair moving tactics. She adds that in the theatre, “there’s a cage, there’s a cell. You’ve just walked into darkness, and Matthew [Marsh]’s sitting in a silver cell, and he’s dressed in bright orange. You the audience, have to go past him before you can get to your seat.” The audience are suddenly no longer bystanders in the proceedings – but part of the production.
Pumla
Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela

Few actors are granted the opportunity to meet those they are playing, but Noma Dumezweni is one of them. However, it wasn’t smooth sailing to meet Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, and Dumezweni’s rationalisation for potentially being denied this opportunity was that “someone is playing you, that you have never met, and using your words. I would be terrified, she must be so nervous, because I was nervous with meeting her. But she did turn up, and I was able to ask her: were you scared? And she went: yeah.”

 

The cast of A Human Being Died That Night had many such remarkable experiences during the course of the production. This included meeting De Kock himself in Victoria Prison.  Dumezweni recalls this as being “an extraordinary thing, when you see somebody you’re supposed to hate. But I think the play helped me go along with this as well to a certain extent. I met a human being, who has taken absolute responsibility for everything he has done in his life […] He realised he was part of a system […] I got to meet him, extraordinary, and I can say gosh, I was able to forgive him. When we talk to people, it becomes a different thing.”

“I met a human being, who has taken absolute responsibility for everything he has done in his life”

-Dumezweni, on meeting “Prime Evil” Eugene de Kock in prison.

Ultimately, A Human Being Died That Night counts on the humanity of the audience to engage on an intimate level with characters that are based on real people. Even in the aftermath of the apartheid, one of humanity’s darkest times, human beings will always have the capacity to understand, empathise and even to forgive.

 

edited by Ollie Driver

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Say Owt! Slam #11

By Jessica Osborne

@p0etry_

 

At its first event two years ago York’s very own Say Owt Slam had to turn away over forty people after unexpectedly selling out. Last Saturday people were still scrambling for tickets at the last minute only to be disappointed.

 

Run by local poets Henry Raby and Stu Freestone who described the slam as “an embracing of the [poetry] scene” the slams held at the Basement seem to always be filled with enthusiastic poetry fans. The slam’s hosts go out of their way to advertise other poetry events around York such as open mics or readings and also set up workshops with their guest poets for those hoping to get inspired, all in an effort to embrace the scene.

say owt slam

Each slam brings old hands and new comers alike to the stage, allowing all writers the perfect platform for building confidence in their writing and even just making their writing known. The most recent slam was no exception to the rule; the room was jam packed with bodies cheering and clicking along to the rhythmic beats of the local poets, booing the harsher judges, and ultimately celebrating spoken word.

 

In recent years we’ve seen poetry sales falling, with sales of the novel rising. With some publishers (such as Salt) dropping single authored collections, why do poetry slams and readings seem to flourish? Has poetry really been usurped by the novel? Or has it simply moved from page to stage, bringing with it a new generation of poetry fans?

 

Tickets for Saw Owt Slam #12 (12th Nov) can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1302007043182788/ (Facebook Event for Say Owt Slam #12) Be sure to book early before they sell out!

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Black History Month events 2016

Black History Month 2016

The School of Humanities, Religion and Philosophy will be celebrating Black History Month this year with an exhibition of student work and a programme of exciting events.

3rd October 3pm – 4pm Quad South Hall

Interview with Noma Dumezweni

Noma is an internationally recognised actress. She has undertaken several Shakespeare roles including Paulina in the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Winters Tale and more recently Alice and Mistress Quickly, as well as working alongside Jude Law in Henry V.

Amongst numerous stage roles, Noma recently directed, I See You at the Royal Court and appeared in the award winning A Human Being Died That Night which toured to the Hampstead Theatre, the Market Theatre Johannesburg and Brooklyn Academy of music in New York. Both plays explore reconciliation and South Africa after Apartheid.

Currently, Noma is cast as Hermione in the sell-out Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in the West End.

This event will be a discussion about Noma’s roles including in A Human being Dies that Night, I See You, and for the RSC in the west end, a production of Henry V with Jude Law

Event starts at 3.00pm, all guests to be seated in Quad South Hall for a prompt start.

This event is FREE but booking is required. Please visit the YSJ online shop to reserve a space.

5th October – 27th October Arts Foyer

York/New York Exhibition

Earlier this year, English Literature students from the ‘Literature at Work’ module were tasked with developing and creating materials that could be used as part of York St John’s Black History Month 2016 exhibition.

Students have created, developed and curated a range of materials which allow us to celebrate the culture of Harlem, New York, right here on our ‘Old’ York campus. The materials include film, collage, photography and 3D models. Each work is an original and unique take on the cultural history of the Harlem Renaissance.  Please come and explore the work and learn a little more about this exciting moment in black cultural history.

 


 

5th October 5pm – 8pm Arts Foyer

York/New York Exhibition Launch Evening

The exhibition will be officially launched with an evening of discussion and live music. The students responsible for the art work and curation of the exhibition will be on hand to talk you through their work and the cultural value they place on the Harlem Renaissance and Black History Month as cultural experiences. The evening will be sound tracked by a four piece jazz band playing wonderful music from the likes of Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday. Come and enjoy a glass of wine with us and celebrate this evocative and enriching cultural moment.

This event is FREE but booking is required. Please visit the YSJ online shop to book your tickets.

26 October, 5.30pm -7pm De Grey 016

Black History Month: Comics Reading Group with Dr Adam Smith

Marvel Comics Superheroes Game Card 13 - Black Panther

Black Panther and Power Man: Marvel Heroes of the Civil Rights Era

Meet T’Challa and Luke Cage, better known in their heyday as Marvel superheroes Black Panther and Power Man. Among the first African-American superheroes to appear in mainstream American comic books each character’s origins are bound up in both the Civil Rights Movement and the popularity of Blaxploitation cinema in the 1960s and 70s. Now, thanks to Netflix and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, both characters are enjoying global popularity for the first time. As part of YSJ Black History Month we invite you to join us for an informal discussion of some of these characters’ most celebrated comic-book appearances.

Email Adam Smith (a.smith3@yorksj.ac.uk ) for a reading list.

This event is FREE but booking is required please visit the YSJ online shop to secure book a place.

27th October 6.30pm – 8pm Arts Foyer

An Evening with Jack Mapanje

To mark the end of York St John’s Black History Month events, human rights activist and award-winning poet Jack Mapanje will be reading from his latest poetry collection Greetings From Grandpa. Jack will also be discussing his memoir And Crocodiles are Hungry at Night, and reflecting on his time as a political prisoner in Malawi. There will be an opportunity to ask Jack questions about his work, and he will also be signing copies of his poetry. In addition, the winner of the YSJ Black History Month Creative Writing Competition will be announced, and there will be a chance to hear the winning entry.

This event is FREE but booking is required. Please visit the YSJ online shop to book your tickets.

 

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Beginning University: a 2nd year perspective

By Tom Young

@tomjonyoung

Beginning university is a time of uncertainties. Will you make friends easily? Can you manage to balance a social life with your academic activities? Is there anywhere local that still serves booze at four in the morning? In a period of your life where everything seems a bit up in the air, there is one certainty that will keep you sane: who you are.

Local boozer: gargoyle on York Minster depicting a Medieval student night out. Perhaps. Credit: SaraJB (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
If there is one thing I can tell you about my first year studying at York St John University, it’s that I discovered more about who I am in that single year than I have throughout the rest of my life. I have worked with a faculty that tailored my education to suit me individually. My lecturers observe what interests me, how I want to work and encourage me to take the path that I have chosen, not one that has been chosen for me. I have been provided with independence, so that I can take pride in knowing that what I achieve is mine. I have been presented with opportunities to work collaboratively with others, to learn how I can contribute to build something bigger than myself. Engaging with alternative perspectives to convey the messages of many feels like the first steps you take to become a member of a global society, one that is intelligent and progressive.

When you are in an environment that constantly challenges you and encourages you to overreach your perceived grasp, you are not just being educated; your identity is being revealed to you. I would argue that the greatest reward you can take away from your time at university is the knowledge that you have your own style, your own method and your own way. With this knowledge, you can begin the rest of your life striding with confidence, excited by the momentum your hard work continues to create. You could be forgiven for believing that success is a fruit that simply needs to be plucked from the tree. Be ambitious, reach out and take what is yours.

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I began my degree with the question “What am I going to do with my life?” and here I am a year later, only a third of the way into my studies, saying “There is nothing I can’t do with my life”. This sense of identity and assurance in yourself is the invaluable certainty York St John University provides you with, the sturdy buoyancy you need in a time that can make you feel like you’re treading water.

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Making the most of Uni

By Rachel Louise Atkin

@rachelatkin_

 

Moving to university is strange – that’s how I remember it anyway. It was strange because it was a complete mess of feelings and I was thinking about ten things at the same time. My moving weekend didn’t start great when it turned out I couldn’t fit all of the books I’d bought with me onto my shelf (I’m a literature student, it’s what we do), but speaking to my housemates for the first time kind of gave me the sense that everybody was in the same boat. We were all a little scared, a little excited, and relieved to know the others were too.

Credit: Carlbob.com (Flickr) CC-BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/carlbob/8297636030
Credit: Carlbob.com (Flickr) CC-BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/carlbob/8297636030

But of course, the worries didn’t go away after the first weekend. I remember spending days and days worrying about what exactly could go wrong in each situation. What if I didn’t learn how to cook? Or I did… but set the kitchen on fire? Or if everyone was smarter than me? Or if I ran out of money? You can’t exactly get rid of fears like this, and questions are bound to plague anybody who is making such a huge step in their life towards independence. But take it from a third year who survived – I don’t really see why I worried about all of that stuff anymore. There are so many things which I wish I could go back and tell myself in first year, just to make the experience that less daunting and more like something I want to look back on with pride. Every experience is one in which you learn something, and though these lessons are important, so is realising that it’s okay to just stop worrying, and enjoy your year.

 

Viking shield wall
Nothing to worry about: York’s been a friendly place for centuries… [Credit: http://www.wyrdlight.com Author: Antony McCallum • CC BY 3.0 (via Wikipedia)]

If there is one thing I wish I would’ve known, it’s that it’s completely okay just to be yourself. For a long time, I tried to please others in the way I dressed, acted, and spoke, but all it did was make me constantly worry about how I was perceived. Being yourself is underrated. Not only does it just make things 100% easier in terms of not always having to make an impression, but I felt that it gave me the confidence to develop my own voice in my assignments. For a long time, I would play on things that other people had said in lectures and seminars because I was too afraid to create my own arguments. Now, I know that’s perfectly okay. Establishing my own critical voice and sense of self made me feel more confident, and I’m much happier overall.

The highlight for me on the course last year was all of the reading. We got through one text every 1-2 weeks per module. And we did three modules per semester. That’s a lot of reading. But I loved it. You think I’m crazy right now, but reading is what I live for. Bear this in mind; there’s so much stuff to read, but it’s worth it. Maybe one week you’ll not want to read a text just because you can’t be bothered. Okay, you do that, but you’ll never know what Barthes meant by ‘Death of the Author’ and you’ll never actually find out the importance of being earnest. The texts are rich with culture, information and ideas which really enhance your university experience. Over the past few years, I have uncovered some real favourites.

On the flip side, don’t stress yourself out with work. Set yourself certain times to do reading and research so that you can give yourself breaks and time to do other things. There are so many amazing places in York. On the first week I walked the walls with my housemates, and it was a great way of getting to know them. The Perky Peacock is a cafe on Gillygate which do amazing coffee (and YSJ students get a discount too). The Castle Museum, Yorkshire Museum and Railway Museum are good places to go on days out, and students get in free to York Minster. On Saturday nights the SU had karaoke, and the Golden Fleece is the most haunted pub in York. Oh, and check out the cocktails in Evil Eye too.

If I have to sum up my advice for you, it’s just to make the most of it. You can’t re-do your first year, and it’s such a great opportunity to try new things and meet new people, as well as laying a good foundation for the rest of your degree. York St John is full of amazing, colourful and creative students and staff – the expanse of sports and societies just shows this. You’ll want to look back on the year knowing that it was the best it could be, so don’t worry about other people, just make yourself happy.

I’m most looking forward to discussing my texts next year. (That’s boring, sorry.) Third year gives you access to a lot of well-known texts and by this point I’ve really developed my confidence. But I’m also going to spend about half of my life in the library because dare I say it – dissertation. Wow. You lucky first years.