For this month’s Pick Six we turned to local playwright, Jane Upton, who’s new show Scenes from a Friendship comes to Nottingham Playhouse from Friday 15 May.
TV Show
I have a crap memory for stuff I’ve watched, but the first show that popped into my mind was the nineties cult hit, This Life. I viscerally remember me and my brother staying up late to watch it after mum and dad had gone to bed. We were wide-eyed teenagers and we hung off every word. I need to watch it again now that I'm older than all the characters.
Notts Spot
Top three runners-up would be Hopkinson Antique Centre, Broadway (obviously), and Nottingham Contemporary. But, The Playhouse has to be my top spot. I’ve seen so much great theatre there over the decades and it’s played a big part in my journey as a playwright. I have great memories of going to panto there with my family as a kid and we reignited the tradition a few years back once we all had our own kids.
Image credit: Molly Standley
Book
I have lots but I recently read Paper Girl by American journalist, Beth Macy. I live in the town where I was born and I often wrangle with that, particularly in the past few years with the rise of nationalism. In the book, Macy, who grew up poor in Ohio, returns to her hometown attempting to discover how and why she’d become politically divided from her family and friends who remained there… I was furiously making notes in the margins.
Song
Who even has a favourite song? It changes every day; songs are magical time machines. June Hymn by The Decemberists makes me think of a moment of hope after a traumatic few months with our second child. Kylie Minogue’s I Should be so Lucky takes me to my seventh birthday party. So many songs make me think of my mum and it reduces me to tears. She used to take me for nighttime drives as a teen to try out mix tapes I’d made – top tier mumming.
Holiday destination
Last year, thirteen of us went to Corfu to celebrate my Dad’s eightieth birthday – my brother, my sister, and our families. Dad booked it two years before, as a massive treat, so the anticipation was palpable. I hadn’t been on an aeroplane in ten years, and our kids had never flown. It was hot every day; we ate watermelon on the beach, got dressed up for dinner, did karaoke, and climbed a massive hill to find a hidden swimming pool in the woods. There was so much magic, a moment in time. I’ll never forget it.
Restaurant
We rarely eat out – because who can afford that?! But on a special occasion my husband and I (I sound like the queen…) love a cosy dinner at Café Roya, Beeston. Neither of us are vegetarian but the food there is stunning. Homecooked, unfussy and rich with unusual flavours. If I’m eating out, I like it to be something I can’t cook (but who am I kidding? That’s pretty much everything).
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