Rattle Tales

It was a breezy, freezy night in Hove last Wednesday but the welcome was warm and the Brunswick Pub buzzed with punters taking advantage of the food and drink offers. Many of them came along to the first Rattle Tales of the season and they weren’t disappointed; the standard of the readings was among the best we’ve had.

Erinna Mettler started off the night with a flash fiction called Feathers telling how the world ends at the hands (or feathers) of depressed angels. Sky News was name-checked as the work of the devil.

Hannah Radcliffe unnerved us all with the tale of a vicar’s wife, vulnerable in a remote rectory with a new baby and an unwelcome guest. The baby monitor crackled and you could have heard a pin drop.

Back to heaven again (anyone would think the Pope had resigned or something) as Ashley Meggitt treated us to a comic tale of death by frozen meat (not horse) and Famous Last Words. Thanks to Ashley for coming all the way from Cambridge to read.

After a short interval, Rattle Tales regular Charlotte Feld enchanted with A Dress In Duck Egg Blue. A restrained and moving piece inspired by the photograph projected during her reading. Charlotte imagined a heart-breaking and ultimately up-lifting story of a mother and daughter stronger than they thought.

Keeping up the colour theme Jade Weighell made us laugh with Blue, a story of a Smartie addict. A spirited reading of a present tense monologue set at a SA meeting that left the audience wondering what happened next.

In part three, experienced rattler Katherine Doggrell took us to mars via travel agent innuendo and a sexless old man. As ever, hugely imaginative and jauntily read.

Tracy Fells re-imagined Little Red Riding Hood in Gretel and the Chocolate Wolf, leaving us with the urge for a hot chocolate.

Julie Taylor rounded off the night with the flash fiction Rhino, about a woman on the look-out for the perfect nose, first it belongs to Sophie Dahl, then an unwitting shop assistant. Aptly titled because everyone knows rhinos are the psychos of the animal kingdom.

There were lots of new faces in the audience and we hope that they enjoyed the show as much as we did. Rattle Tales had some great news earlier in the day; we have been picked by The Independent as one of the ‘i-likes’ at Brighton Fringe. The show is on May 23^rd back at The Brunswick and subs are now open.