By Louise Haile
Ex-Hurtwood student Paul Sellar, talented playwright working across theatre, film and radio, recently enlarged his range with a powerful evening of poetry and storytelling at Cranleigh Art Centre. Fresh from an acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Fringe, Across a Love Locked Bridge, described as ‘a coming-of-age memoir’, explored grief, loss, and most centrally, love, with honesty, wit and a wry self-knowledge that had the audience quietly and immediately absorbed. There was a compact brevity to each piece, which was divided into chapters, introduced with enough detail to clarify, while leaving room always for imaginative engagement. The performance moved us all gently but swiftly through stages of loss and grief towards, if not redemption, well certainly a sense of something understood: the simple power of love.
An extra treat on this special was a rather unexpected reunion of some of Hurtwood’s finest (retired) talents: a testament to the ongoing relationship between staff and students. Ali Morton, Head of Languages and part of the 1970s foundational team; Jackie Quinn – also part of that crew, Head of History and (until recently) ex-mayor of Brighton; Clive Wouters, whose expertise steered Hurtwood’s Theatre through from its early days into the new millennium; James Hartman, whose thespian and psychology talents know no limits and whose teaching skills have enlarged many minds; and last but not least, Richard Jackson himself. Founder and presiding genius of Hurtwood, it was really good to see him, as sprightly as ever in his 80s, and, with Cosmo at the helm, enjoying to the full the creative outcomes of his educational experiment, which is now in its 55th year.
Thank you, Paul, for sharing your painful but illuminating and cathartic work with us all; it was indeed, as one Edinburgh reviewer described it, ‘balm for the soul’. Thanks for your gentle, sparky creativity and sound practical advice. But thanks most of all for your sustained commitment to writing and sharing. You make Hurtwood proud indeed
