It has been a long, long time – many months. Since last I wrote online, there has been the fifth anniversary of the blog, a very successful summer play – Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia – and the start of rehearsals for the last production of the year, A Bunch of Amateurs. These are now going on even as I type and from what I hear its going to be another slick, polished and hilarious evening. What else would you expect from the mind of Ian Hislop, alongside Nick Newman?
This period of time has also seen a lot of change in my personal life, a bitter sweet mixture of events that have diverted me from my theatrical pursuits and pleasures. Bizarre to think that not too many posts ago I was waxing lyrical about addiction to amateur theatre. The cold turkey finally kicked in.
So what is this leading to? Well, as I said, the blog has been running for over five years now. I have no idea how many pictures or posts or the number of words committed to its pages, but it has been a rewarding, fulfilling and enjoyable process. Just now reading over some of previous entries has given me a warm glow of nostalgia that makes it all worthwhile.
All things must pass though.
And so, it is time to close the doors on the Matchblog, at least the Matchblog in its current form. I am confident that the Matchbox’s internet presence will continue and indeed improve into a more user friendly website. Though oft promised I never got round to constructing all the links or curating the photos and reports into discrete entries; the blog has always been more of an archive I suppose . And that is how it will remain. I have no intention of erasing any of this and hope that every so often Matchbox folk might take a look through some of these entries and hopefully get their own warm thrill of nostalgia from photos and stories of days gone.
As so many others have done, I will, of course, continue to be part of the group. Indeed, this very weekend I willl be among the Matchbox’s contribution to St Francis Church’s Festival of Peace. Organised by Tim Pearce, this will see a number of us performing and offering dramatised readings in keeping with the Remembrance weekend. And, in a way, that makes the title of this blog all the more appropriate.
I’ll be sure to keep watching the great pieces of theatre produced, help out when I can and, should a discrete cameo arise in the future, certainly venture onto the stage again. However, after 20 years, its time to step back and take stock for a little while. Just a little while.
So thanks, you who have read these ramblings and writings, the insights and inanities. Thank you for the support, thank you for your contributions and, at the end of it all, thank you… and good night!
The Matchblog 