REVIEWS
Superbly written, thrillingly read
this is an evening to be savoured
- BBC Radio
Jan has produced a stunning entertainment.
She is a talented, natural performer with an exquisite sense of pace and timing.
It makes no difference when you were born, these ‘slices’ will set you talking for days afterwards
- Helen Oldfield, Affinity PR
Funny, moving and evocative
imagine a female Alan Bennett
- Catherine De Lara, Drama Lecturer, British Council
Delivered with warmth and passion.
I loved the simple storytelling format and, I must say, was held absolutely throughout. The little vignettes were rich in detail and so evocative - the sheer power of the recall was astonishing.
The overall effect was moving in the way that a collection of old family photographs can be: a stimulus to ones own recollections.
Brilliant!
- Ken Wilson, Poet and Graphic Designer
When you think of a slice of treacle tart, you think of something warm,
comforting and very English. Jan Farmery's serving has all of these
qualities and yet, is so much more - it is a slice of time captured,
time regained in a very Proustian way.
The audience was held spellbound by the stories of Dad returning from the Second World War, mother’s response to the death of King George VI,
the vivid vignettes of Grandparents and those wonderfully named Aunties
Min and Modge.
We are with them when they have high tea; winkles, bread,
butter and jam sponge; with Jan when she has to share her bed with
the much corseted Auntie Min, and throughout we are stirred by
comparisons with our own experiences of childhood.
Jan reminds us that those days were not always so sunny and bright,
as in one of her most evocative pieces, when she has to undergo sun-ray
treatment for her asthma, which brought back for me, a memory I had
long suppressed - those goggles and rubber pants that we had to wear;
that strange medical treatment of another time.
One member of her audience likened her work to that of Alan Bennett, and indeed, Jan has that minutely keen power of observation and memory which, along with her passion, energy and performing skill, bring her characters into the room with us, we see them and feel them.
Do try to catch a reading if you can. It is a rich slice of life.
A wonderful evocation of a particular childhood.
- Paul Trigg, Drama Critic for Trinity Guildhall