Inhabitants of Kirriemuir are to be treated to a talk on the life and times of William McGonagall next week, given by creative writing teacher Edward Small. The talk is presented by the Kirriemuir Heritage Trust and will take place in the Old Parish Church Hall starting at 7:30pm on Wednesday 5th March.
If anybody is able to attend this event and cares to provide a review, ode, or some other commemoration, I’d be happy to publish it on this site.
Hat tip: Kirriemuir Herald
Now playing at the Cabaret Voltaire in Edinburgh is a one-man show by American comedian Harmon Leon celebrating the career of our favourite bad bard.
Obey McGonagall is on every night between now and 24th August starting at 8:50pm. It’s part of the Free Fringe, which means tickets are free – but you’re invited to make a donation after the show. If you’re lucky enough to be in Edinburgh this month, I hope you’ll give this show your support.
McGonagall fans living in Holland1 may be interested in an event happening in Amsterdam this week:
Challenge Classics and music publisher Deuss Music would like to invite you to the release of the new album of Robert Zuidam: McGonagall-Lieder, on April 24th at the ‘Muziekgebouw aan het IJ’!
McGonagall-Lieder is a song cycle composed by Robert Zuidam with lyrics of the legendary William McGonagall. It is conducted by Oliver Knussen and performed by Katrien Baerts, Pianoduo Post&Mulder and Asko|Schönberg. The work highlights the theatrical sound that Zuidam is known for and has a unique composition of instruments: soprano, four celli, double bass, percussion and the special role for two piano’s.
The texts of this work are from William McGonagall, a poet from Dundee in Schotland who was a weaver with an unshakeable faith in his poetic genius. The Times Literary Supplement once wrote about this legendary writer: “A real genius, for he is the only memorable bad poet in our language”. Robert Zuidam ads: “Bad poetry can be an excellent source of inspiration for a composer. Dante, Virgil, Goethe all evoke reverence and awe, and reluctance to open all portholes in the battleship of the imagination. And not without reason: after all, good poetry is already music in itself, and fares well without support. When Oliver Knussen, composer, conductor, and connaisseur of Scottish paraphernalia, gave me The Complete McGonagall as a Christmas present in 1992, I immediately sensed the musical potential of this remarkable poetry.”
Robert Zuidam, studied composition at the Conservatory of Rotterdam. He was awarded the Koussevitzky Composition Prize for Fishbone, a work for wind instruments and piano, and a Leonard Bernstein Scholarship enabled him to return to Tanglewood as a student. In 2010, Zuidam taught and lectured at Harvard University as Erasmus Professor, and was awarded the Kees van Baaren-Prize in The Hague, for his opera Rage d’amours. The core of Zuidam’s compositional activities lies in the field of vocal music, particularly that of the music theatre.
McGonagall-Lieder will be released on April 24th in Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ during the world premiere of Robert Zuidam’s String Quartet (2013) performed by DoelenKwartet.
I must confess, I’d not heard of Robert Zuidam or his work before despite the McGonagall-Lieder having been completed back in 2001. Clearly a fan of the poet’s work, this excerpt from his website shows he’s little more hazy on the details of his life:
McGonagall recited his poetry at tea circles and soirées at the homes of the upper social strata, or after he had starred, with his wavy locks, on the stage of the Theatre Royal, Dundee, as Richard III, Othello, or Hamlet, amidst a crowd in the foyer surrounding him in adoration.
A version of the man’s career drawn solely from his own imagination, I fear – but then Mr Zuidam didn’t have this website available to him to tell him the truth!
Thanks to serial gem contributor Stephen Midgley for drawing this event to my attention.
Colin Brown writes with more information about the McGonagall Walk taking place in Edinburgh next week:
Edinburgh Peoples Festival in association with the Scottish Poetry Library present…
McGonagall’s Feat
Renowned Actor, Local Historian and Rebustours guide Mr. Colin Brown will conduct a walking talk from World’s Worst Poet and Tragedian Mr. William McGonagall’s grave in Greyfriar’s Kirkyard to the Scottish Poetry Library at 6.30p.m., Thursday 24th May 2012.
Mr. Brown will essay readings from several of Mr. McGonagall’s poems and will venture to describe the life and times of this most tortured genius.
Please attire yourself appropriately.
Tea, shortbread and Dundee cake will be provided in the Library for sustenance and revival.
Minute McGonagall
Participants are encouraged to produce their own poem, in the style of McGonagall, lasting no longer than one minute, which they will be asked to read in the Library.
This event is FREE, but numbers are limited, therefore please avail yourself of a ticket by contacting the Library –
E-Mail – reception@spl.org.uk
Tel – (0131-) 557-2876.
It sounds like a great event, I only wish I lived close enough to Auld Reekie to attend myself. If anybody wants to share their “Minute McGonagalls” with the world at large, do feel free to send them in.
On 24th May this year there’ll be a McGonagall Walk organised by the Edinburgh People’s Festival. The plan is to meet at McGonagall’s grave in Greyfriars Cemetery at 6:30pm, and walk to the Scottish Poetry Library at Crichton’s close.
McGonagall fans in the Birmingham area might be interested in this: the Kitchen Garden Café are combining a Burns Night supper with a performance of William McGonagall and the Mystery of Loch Ness by the rather splendid Don’t Go Into the Cellar theatre company.
This not-entirely-historically-accurate piece is described thus on their website:
Exiled from Dundee for bringing the city into disrepute, Sir William Topaz McGonagall (Knight of the White Elephant, Burmah) travels to Inverness. There, he stumbles upon mysteries manifold involving an imperilled maiden, sinister monks, and the Monster of the Loch itself!
Sounds brilliant! Tickets cost £24.50 and include a three-course meal.
