I don’t expect it to be there. It couldn’t be, could it? Not after all those years? But at least if the restaurant were still there… Well, it would do something, though I can’t think what. I can only think of that little tingle, inside my heart, when I remember the ingle nook. Oh, tingle […]
Matchbox
MATCHBOX OR `My matchbox finally takes his bow.` I knew my publisher would not allow such a long title, so I am beginning with it. I called the last blog Cabbages and Kings and a Matchbox, because I mention a member of my family who could make a matchbox sound interesting. But he got removed. Left out. You […]
Cabbages and Kings
A long time ago, when I had just spent time with a friend who had recently been to Disney Florida, when it was very new. I remember being amazed at how little they had to say about the experience. And I thought how somebody in my family could make […]
History Repeats
HISTORY REPEATS LONDON FIRE. GREAT FIRE OF LONDON History has shown us the Holocaust of the Jews, of American Indians, of the Aborignes. Of women, the black, of the poor. Devastations come thick and fast now: Westminster, Manchester, London Bridge. This week, the fire. Many thinkers have claimed that what happens in the world, including […]
‘What about Sets?’ I asked, carefully…
When you do a fringe show, on a limited budget, especially when it’s essentially, a ‘one-person show’, you’re rather limited about what you can create in terms of set. In past shows, I’ve just not bothered with anything, especially when touring. I mean I did a whole tour with a plastic joke-shop arm as the […]
I haven’t a Stitch to Wear (Fashion Ideas for Performance)
First things first. If you’re going to do a show based on your book, you’ve got to dress in something fabulous and sums up your aesthetic. The thing is, my natural dressage is lazy. I like to refer to it as shambolic chic. I often play other characters, so one has a costume and therefore […]
Hot, Cross Bun
So much to ‘blog’ about, and here’s another from my esteemed quiver. One of my fans asked me yesterday, ‘When are we going to get a new one?’ So, here we go. But where? Bombings and other hells. The election – and, When exactly are we ‘old’? At what age have people the right to […]
Bastardography – A Queer, Creative, Mental Health Theatre Odyssey
It’s just over two weeks before I take the Balham stage to bring my book Bastardography to life. The play’s subtitle is ‘A queer, creative, mental health odyssey’. With a background in theatre (no sniggering at the back, there!) it seems a natural fit to create a unique theatrical experience based on the book rather than […]
What On Earth Do You Do All Day?
Over the years I have become depressed by the continual digs about not having been out to work a great deal in my life. I wonder if anyone has ever considered that it could be that you don’t go to work because you don’t have a job? You may well have entered your child rearing years […]
Mindfulness and The Box
Mindfulness, as I have long understood it, is being in The Moment, whatever you are doing, whether washing the dishes, or something more enjoyable. For whatever you are doing, normally your mind wanders. I guess watching television could be described as mindless. It is certainly a lazy occupation. Other activities may require you to turn […]
Poetic Writing
In the introduction to my poetry collection, I named T S Eliot as my favourite poet; and my favourite poems of his as first Prufrock, then Ash Wednesday, Portrait Of A Lady, and finally Burnt Norton. Eliot has been my favourite for half a lifetime, since being introduced to him at school, but in the last few […]
To Bin or Not to Bin 2
From time to time my son comes round to do what he calls ‘jobs’ for me, jobs that answer to the description of minor maintenance and repairs. He came two weeks ago, so I knew who the culprit was., when I found a few bent screws, an empty glue tube and a dead battery in my […]
Different for Girls at the Courthouse
Jacquie Lawrence hosted a Press Evening in West London last night to promote her new show Different for Girls, a web drama adaptation of […]
Bathroom Surprise
My friend was alarmed when, upon arriving at her hotel, she went straight to the bathroom and saw something, well, not very pleasing. There were the little soaps, the small bottles of shampoo and shower gel… …and the loo roll holder. Well, the loo roll had that welcoming pleat a well-organised environment often sees fit to make for you […]
Trumpton
Poem to recognise an Inauguration Toys in the cupboard Puppets Dummies Stuffed ones all Not real But tho sawdust brains Somehow they move Maybe some little imp Of man Our humans dark side Wanted mischief. People in history Like cruelty Don’t they Public executions Social bullying. So here they come. Marching Sawdust brained But powerful. […]
How to be Human in 2016
Throughout the ages mankind has had to cope with change. New rules, new laws, new discoveries. New faiths. New ideas. In more recent history there has been foreign travel, with the discovery of new foods, new materials. The arrival of train travel broadened horizons. The industrial revolution overall made massive changes to life to working people […]
Old Lady’s Hat
My youngest daughter, once said to me, ’I would eat anything. I’d even eat you!’ She curiously later developed a phobia about Baked Beans. It got to the point where you couldn’t even say those two words, never mind show her a can. So in the event of the world’s end with nothing but me […]
Polari First Book Prize 2016
Polari First Book Prize 2016 – Winner Announced Tonight! The announcement of the winner of the Polari First Book Prize 2016 competition will be made tonight in London’s Southbank Centre at the South Bank’s London Literary Festival by founder and chair of judges Paul Burston. The shortlist for the Polari First Book Prize was announced back […]
Grammar Check
There is so much which needs to be said on the issue of grammar schools. The subject is a minefield. It is presented as a healing blanket under the ‘opportunities for all’ banner, covering the world of education for a society which is itself already in no way equal. Take the child who is so very bright […]
Television has been found guilty of murder in the first degree
Different for Girls is a novel by Jacqui Lawrence, now shortlisted for the esteemed Polari First Novel prize, the winner to be announced in October 2016, and it is also now going to be made into a twelve part television series for the web. But it’s never been charged. The victims have one thing in […]
The Web
For this, the final blog on my poetry, I am giving you just one example of my work. By now, I hope that you have seen enough to whet your appetite. The story of the spider’s web, in this poem actually happened to me. I went out to put something in my dustbin one morning and, discovered […]
Adult Playtime
I saw a notice in my library telling us that one of the librarians was reading to a group of adults. Just as they do to children. He would be reading from The Hitchhikers` Guide To The Galaxy. I had never been interested in that series but joined the group thinking that having it read […]
Some Even More Of Me Poetry
Some Even More Of Me Poetry I am continuing this introduction to my poetry collection with two poems about romantic regret. Some examples of my work, which I have chosen for these blogs, are favourites of our youngest writer, Simon Jay. An achievement to have your work admired by someone at a vastly different […]
Some More Of Me Poetry
SOME OF ME POETRY Pam Ayres titled one of her collections: Some More Of Me Poetry. Here is some of mine. When I first heard of Pam Ayers’ work, apart from having always loathed the shorter form of my name, I decided I could easily write in her style. I stood at the kitchen sink (lots […]
Women of the World Festival 2016
Women of the World Festival 2016 Jacquie Lawrence was one of the five women writers playing to a full house in the Weston Roof Pavilion room as part of a Polari event at the WOW Festival (Women of the World) at the Southbank Centre in the Royal Festival Hall, hosted by Paul Burston. The women writers on […]
To Bin or Not to Bin
TO BIN OR NOT TO BIN? Sitting in a hospital waiting room recently, I decided to visit the Ladies before my appointment. Sitting on the loo – please excuse me, but part of the story – I looked at the large bin in front of me. We are all familiar with bins plastered with notices […]
At Home
There used to be a saying , when I was a girl, ‘ Who’s she when she is at home?’ If you mentioned someone to your parents and their opinion, especially if their opinion was aggravating to your parents, they would ask you to repeat the person’s name, and then say: ‘Who’s she when she’s […]
Show Business
When she discovered that she was, unusually, not going to be with her children for Christmas Day last year, my friend decided she would offer her time to our YMCA, to serve Christmas Day lunch to the homeless and the lonely. Although her children were either abroad or needed more by younger in-laws, she was not […]
Flat Earthers and other twits
There are degrees of uncomfortable conversation where your host might sometime raise the subject of the flat earthers society. Dinner parties where one previously unassuming character pipes up about the divinity, or veganism or even worse, homeopathy. Or there is the awkward racist who tries to pretend they aren’t racist. The unapologetic bigot is, in […]
Who Pays The Ferryman?
The news item about Google and Income Tax, urged me to blog what I have been wondering if I dare write for some time now. Is income tax the last taboo? We were told never to discuss religion or politics. The subject of death has been taboo. Homosexuality was not accepted until recently… Taxation is […]