A colleague from book-trade days used to tell the story of how, whilst busking in London, the late John Betjeman sat on his fiddle at a party. The tale has the right mix of humour laced with sadness to almost make a Betjeman poem in itself.
Lance Pierson skilfully mixes the light and shade that mark the work of one of England's most popular twentieth century poets. One caveat to ticket purchasers however; Pierson's show is in fact two, the first at 1pm covering Betjeman's life up to the Second World War, the second at 6pm continuing the story. Tickets for the first part purchased at the venue entitle a half price ticket for the second show, although this arrangement does not apply to purchases from the Fringe Box Office.
Venues can make or mar shows, and a possible inability to conform the Lindisfarne Room at St. Cuthbert's Parish Church to something more like a theatre space made this show veer dangerously close to lecture at times. Pierson is an engaging presence and did his best to obviate the tendency, though lowered lighting would almost certainly have helped his performance.
His combination of narrative and poem, frequently splicing the two, informs and entertains in fine style, with a number of clear audience favourites given skilful treatment. Perhaps unavoidably, personal readings, most notably of ‘Indoor Games Near Newbury' came up against Pierson's own, but his obvious genuine love of them makes up for this.
Pierson rightly pushes Betjeman as a serious, purposeful poet, against a populist view of him as "‘jolly" and "the nation's favourite teddy bear" which ignores and denies him the real depth of some of his poetry, as well as his roles as conservationist and critic and the honest "jobbing writer" he had to be to live and bring up a family.
Although much of these aspects of Betjeman appear post-war, and are foreshadowed, for example, in Pierson's fine rendition of ‘Slough', this reviewer found himself wanting a bit more Betjeman and a bit less poet. On the other hand, if Pierson sends even some of his large audience back to read those poems again, ‘The Best of Betjeman' will have achieved a worthwhile objective.
Times: 1pm (17th-21st August (part 1)), 2.30pm (22nd-23rd August (part 1)), 6pm (17-23 August (part 2))
Copyright Bill Dunlop 2009
First published on EdinburghGuide.com 2009