Glastonbury 08

What sets Glastonbury apart from other music festivals? Apart from the size it has a variety of political and social messages to listen to, with this in mind I ventured to the Left Field and the Socialist Bookshop…

Sometimes it easy to be overwhelmed by the right-on nature of Glastonbury. Everything is so green, you’d think Kermit was in charge. Messages about clean water, the evils of big business and Greenpeace promotional videos play inbetween each act either side of the Pyramid Stage. The Guardian’s branding is more ubiquitous than Hay. Oxfam are there in force, even the workers in the bars donate their money to charity.

Visiting The Left Field is almost refreshing in this respect. Not far from the Pyramid Stage, the Left Field is a vast tent with a big stage that flies in the face of convention and starts its music line-up on a Wednesday night. Bands like the Levellers may headline, but a lot of unknown and up-coming acts also perform. Our own Dockers MC for example. However when I visit the stage on Saturday it is mainly empty. This apparently is an on-going problem for the venue. The Guardian festival guide, received by everyone entering the Festival (and subsequently worn around the neck for easy-reading), does not list their vast number of performances, simply because they can’t buy-in to the space required by the Guardian. So much for solidarity. Consequently, the Left Field remains a great surprise for many festival goers, but does still not attract the numbers it deserves.

Tucked into the corner of the tent I found Bookmarks, the Socialist Bookshop. Founded in 1971 as an independent bookshop dedicated to political and left-wing thinking, the Shop is now affiliated to the TUC as their official book-selling partner. I met Becky Reese, who’s been with the Shop for six years and she explained to me the Shop is a special kind of independent. “It doesn’t just travel to Glastonbury, though this is our fifth year here, we also visit other events like Tolpuddle or the Durham Miners Gala. Otherwise we’re permanently based in Bloomsbury, round the corner from the TUC head office.”

I ask Becky what sort of thing sells well at the Socialist Bookshop while at the festival. She thinks that people are looking for answers. “We always do well on books about the environment or different ways of thinking, authors such as George Monbiot and Noam Chomsky get bought. I think Glastonbury is inspirational in helping people think about changing the world.”

Thinking about changing the world, in an increasingly combative marketplace where does she think independents will stand? “It’s very difficult. We’ve just set up the Friends of Bookmarks as a means of ensuring support for the business, and also helping to update and overhaul our website, which we do increasing amounts of trade off. Publishers can help I think by showing more support for independents, but also by helping link to our sites. We realise most online purchasing will be done via Amazon and that’s a shame… They don’t have a good record with trade unions, in fact an attempt to set up a union presence within the business was met with heavy resistance from management.”

As I leave the bookshop I’m delighted to see two of our own titles Six Degrees by Mark Lynas and The Yacoubian Building by Alaa al Aswany prominently displayed. Two titles that will certainly challenge the way you think, if the Left Field tent doesn’t already.

While rocking in my wellies at Glastonbury, I was fortunate to see some very special Shakespeare performed…

The 1623 Theatre Company is dedicated to the performance of Shakespeare’s works in non-traditional spaces. Treading the boards, no. Treading the floor of a cave, yes.

“We did Macbeth underground,” 1623 director Ben Spiller tells me. “It was a cave in the Peak District.” Sitting in the theatre and performance field on a rain-swept Friday afternoon at the festival, Ben looks quite comfortable and jolly in his boots and hat, despite emerging from a tent that contains the rest of the players and is the size of a tiny shed.

In front of the dressing-room-come-backstage-tent, I had just witnessed a selection of Shakespeare’s most famous love scenes performed by a trio of performers, battling on through the rain and the sound of Arabian music coming from a belly-dancing demonstration at the end of the field. The show entitled ‘The Course of True Love’ runs smoothly enough, surviving the coarse observations of two drunk youths who insist on standing right next to the actors. In a little while they’re bored of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the rest of the audience stays to applaud.

Spiller seems unfazed by such challenges though, hoping to strike a deeper chord with audiences by making them think about the spaces that theatre occurs in. “Titus Andronicus should be performed in a slaughterhouse,” he comments. “We want to generate a sense of foreboding about what’s going to happen and make that connection.”

Having worked with schools and colleges and regularly performing the shows ‘Sinful ShaXXXpeare’ and ‘Stand Up Shakespeare’ as well as ‘The Course of True Love’ the next major event for 1623 is Hamlet, being performed in Poole’s Cavern, Buxton.

“We hope to give Hamlet a downright Victorian, gothic edge,” says Spiller. The play is being performed in one of the Peak District’s biggest caves as part of the 2008 Buxton Fringe Festival. Spiller’s enthusiasm is hard to ignore “It will be a truly extraordinary evening, make sure wrap up warm and look out for ghosts!”

And that’s perhaps what 1623 does best, making Shakespeare more accessible, but with oodles of atmosphere to go with it.

It’s called ‘Books’, the tent it’s in isn’t very big, but it does deliver a good read or two. I caught up with the Glastonbury Festival’s oldest bookshop in an interview unexpectedly cut short…

I was at Glastonbury Festival not only to blog it, but also to experience what this massive event had to offer in terms of literary delights. I decided to begin at grass-roots level with ‘Books’. Perched in the Jazz Field amongst shops selling hammocks, noodles and hats, ‘Books’ looks fairly inauspicious, but actually held a neat, little family-run business.

“We’ve been coming for twenty-five years,” explained Polly, a charming woman in her sixties with an Irish lilt to her voice. “We were the first bookshop ever to come here.” Polly is a pleasure to talk to, happily watching the stall with her middle-aged daughter Zoe, while plucking at her banjo and attempting to duel with a drunk young man clutching a ukulele. I had previously approached her husband Ben who had no idea what a blog was and seemed very reticent to talk to me. “He’s a grumpy, northern curmudgeon!” said Polly trying to focus my attention while Ben, clearly agitated hovered behind me.

“I don’t want you to do this, Polly!” he warned, upset at my pen and paper.

Polly did her best to ignore him and carried on. “People thought we were mad, setting up a bookstall here, they said ‘Who’s going to buy books at a music festival?’ but people do you know, it’s nice to sit in the sunshine and read.”

“What sort of things sell well?” I asked.

“Here we go,” Ben harrumphed behind me.

“Good literature mainly,” continued Polly.”People also like buying poetry, I think something gets into their system here.” Something had certainly got into Ben’s system who was now circling me with an angry look in his eyes.

“I’ve had this before you know, one year, the tax man came down, I don’t like people asking questions. This interview is over!” I assured him, I wouldn’t use his real name. “I don’t care, leave now, please just leave.”

Thanking Polly, I requested one last opportunity to photograph the stall. I’ve no idea how long Ben and Polly have left in them, but if you ever go to Glastonbury, visit the Jazz Field and say hello. Just don’t ask them any questions.

Ben, Polly and Zoe’s names were all changed to protect them from the clutches of the evil Inland Revenue.

The Fifth Estate Tent is here. More over at our special Glastonbury blog.

We’re going to Glastonbury Festival! And it’s time we unveiled our little side project – 5th Estate Blog Glastonbury…