Radio review - Light programme

Published Tuesday 16 September 2008 at 11:10 by Lisa Martland

Entertainment without electronic media is unimaginable nowadays, given that in most households it is possible to access radio, television, music and internet when and where it suits.

Time then, suggests John Sessions in Let Me Entertain You, to delve into the past and discover who represented British popular entertainment way before everything was available at the touch of a button. In medieval times, the subject of this series’ first instalment, the nearest one could get to in-house entertainment was when jesters were attached to large households or courts.

Sessions and a team of experts, ranging from performers to full-blown academics, successfully debunked several of the enduring ‘Merrie England’ myths perpetuated first by the Victorians and then later by Hollywood.

The image of Blondel or Alan a Dale’s wandering minstrel, complete with lute and bells, continued into the 20th century thanks to the historical licenses of Danny Kaye and co. Yet the truth was that any medieval performer daft enough to wander aimlessly from pillar to post would have probably succumbed to malnutrition or the Black Death before the week was out.

In reality, these artists took a surprisingly professional approach, cannily identifying where there was money to be made. So they formed their own touring circuit, travelling between major settlements and from one key social event to the next.

Contemporary impressions that entertainment in the Middle Ages existed in spite of the all-powerful religious establishment was again proven to be erroneous. Given the power of the clergy, without some degree of approval, performance would have been driven underground.

The programme provided a powerful antidote to these misconceptions, with Sessions and his cohorts illustrating the key role played by church-ordained Mystery Plays and Holy Day pageants. Perhaps the only caveat to this entertaining and informative account was the lack of more specific reference to the central significance of the feast of Corpus Christi, which first legitimised popular entertainment in the Dark Ages.

Autumn will see the publication of the updated Stage Guide to Schools For Young Performers, the first attempt to list the now considerable number of secondary institutions catering for children with an interest in the live arts.

How timely then to hear Howard Goodall documenting the considerable achievements of so many teachers in successfully nurturing young musical talents. In the first part of his new six-part series, Howard Goodall’s Class Acts, he demonstrated the range of styles on offer in campuses throughout the north-east of England, in particular the weekend school run by the Sage, Gateshead.

It is one thing to read government accounts of educational success, Goodall’s contribution was to let the listener hear for themself the achievement of individual pupils - including one remarkably talented 14-year-old musician and composer.

Subsequent programmes will take us around the rest of Britain, stopping at the likes of LIPA, the Purcell School, the Brit School and Ysgol Glanaethwy in north Wales.

Finally, an honourable mention of another impressive online programme, On the Fringe, which is broadcast via www.resonancefm.com or Resonance 104.4FM if you are listening in London. Hosted by Claire Cooke, Steve McNally and Jessica Beck, it features interviews and reviews related to productions at a host of London fringe and Off-West End venues.

DETAILS

Let Me Entertain You, R4, Saturday, September 13

Howard Goodall’s Class acts, R2, Friday, September 12

On the Fringe, Resonance 104.4FM/www.resonancefm.com