News, Views, and Statistics

I have had this blog going now for over six months and have posted twenty five pieces. No wonder the garden is a mess. Most have been on specific local plays and musicals I have seen but a couple of mavericks have found their way on here. Mainly horseracing and that enticing Cheltenham, but even Radio Three has not been immune to me sticking my oar in when a Sunday play has taken my fancy. I suppose I just like blogging. But now comes a confession. I also like statistics. Earned my money at it, pouring over numbers for many years. Something has to pay for the ever rising gas bills and the wife’s little extravagances on food and soap powder. Me, I only buy whisky and fags. The rest gets wasted. But to continue the confession. Statistics, figures and numbers, turn me on. Big time. Mainly with the gee gees, horses for the uninitiated, but even the RPI and psephology can get me excited. The latter term is the study of electoral results. Used to read loads of books on them. I must be a sad git.

But winding back to that confession, the only one you are getting here, I have been fascinated by the hits and page views on this little bit of local theatrical life. I have now passed through the 2000 barrier which works out at over 300 a month. See, I am at it already. Amazing, seeing as an earlier blog I tried got three hits in as many months. My first piece on that was on the proposed closure of my local post office. It had been going for 127 years but modern politicians are adept at destroying everything we hold dear. Didn’t set the world alight. In fact it never provided enough of a flame to light one of my fags. But post a piece on your view of someone’s stage cavorting and, hey, you have a blog that folks read. They may love, or hate, or don’t care about what you say. But they read it and I, see reference to sad git, am delighted. So get ready for the statistics. From June to January. From Still Life to A little Night Music. They are all here and some of you will read it. That’s what I and my statistics rely on.

At the time of writing my hits stand at 2061. Okay, doesn’t mean to say anything was read but it expresses the interest. Using page views as a guide Empire Arts Les Miserables leads the field by a comfortable margin. About one in four, 23% to be precise, hone in on that one. It is all those techno savvy kids playing on their pads or whatever turns them on. Bet they have never heard of psepohology. Honourable runners up are Dunstable Rep’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (12%), ACT’s Still Life (11%), and Stage One’s Aladdin (10%). All of these productions got glowing reviews from me so the message must be that slag it and nobody wants to know. Can’t say as I blame them. I only ever read horserace reviews when the nag I have backed has romped in at a juicy price. If it ran or jumped like an iron legged drain I have no wish to relive the agony. Actors and horses, or horse backers, have a lot in common. Except for the number of legs.

Griffin’s Steel Magnolias, that one a tad surprising seeing as it is an historical piece, Luton Light’s A Little Night Music, and Radio Three’s The Lost Sioux of Salford, also figure in the top six or seven. The other eighteen or so, including a couple of iffy reviews, make up the remainder. Off to Wheathampstead Players Time of my Life next week. Alan Ayckbourn. Comedy wrapped in serrated knives. So I am told. Give it a good review and it might get in my top ten. No chance otherwise. That lot down the road can blank you with style. So my statistics say.

Wheathampstead Players – Time of My Life – Thurs–Sat 16^th-18^th February 2012 at 8.00pm. (Wheathampstead Memorial Hall – Marford Road).