The Westray Wife, Orkney Islands - August 2017

Westray Wife, Orkney

Details of the neolithic Westray Wife.

The Westray Wife, Scotland's earliest representation of a human form. After the Edinburgh Festival this August Val visited the beautiful and historic Orkney Islands.

Tracey Emin And William Blake, Liverpool - August 2017

Tracey Emin and William Blake exhibition at Tate Liverpool, which Val visited on the way to the Edinburgh Festival in August this year. It was great to meet up again with people Val met previously who work at Tate Liverpool. The Live Literature Company has staged much Blake work, so this exhibition was an important visit linked to our work. There was a fascinating voice tape with the exhibition which featured Liverpudlians talking about their response to, in particular, Tracey Emin's bed!

Edinburgh Festival Visiting Arts producer/director meeting - August 2017

Above is a picture of Fergus Linehan, Director of the Edinburgh International Festival talking to the people who attended the Visiting Arts producer/director breakfast meeting at the Edinburgh Festival on August 24th. In the background of the photo is Yvette Vaughan Jones, Executive Director, Visiting Arts.

For 5 years running Val has been invited to be part of this meeting at the Edinburgh Festival representing The Live Literature Company.

Val With Alexandra And Scott At Brown's For A Celebration Tea - July 2017

Val with Alexandra and Scott at Brown's

Val took Alexandra and Scott to Brown's for a celebration tea in July 2017, to thank them for all their support and help running the Study Abroad at Anglo Educational. This is the study centre, the Niagara University Drama students take most of their classes at each Summer.

'Much About Nothing in One Hour' with LLC at Shakespeare's School Room - July 2017

Val with visitors from the United Arab Emirates
whowere in the audience for Live Lit Co's
performance of 'Much About Nothing in One
Hour'. One of the children is disabled and
loved the performance so much that
his mother brought him back the next day.

The Live Lit Co performed 'Much About Nothing in One Hour' at Shakespeare's Schoolroom, Stratford-upon-Avon in July 3rd this Summer. It was performed by students from Niagara University USA, who Val worked with to prepare the performance. The play was adapted and directed by Val Doulton.

Val and Harriet Walter at her 'Brutus And Other Heroines' Book Signing - March 2017

Val with Harriet Walter at her book signing of 'Brutes And Other Heroines'
at The National Theatre. 

Harriet performed in one of the programmes that Val staged at The Cheltenham Festival of Literature.

Val visits Samuel Beckett's grave

Val took this photo at Samuel Beckett's grave when she was
last in Paris at the end of March 2017. 

She put flowers on his grave with the Live Literature Company card as a mark of love and respect.

The Live Literature Company at Amnesty International - October 2016

Sam Haywood debut King's Place concert - October 2016

Val with Sam after his debut concert recital at King's Place, London.

Sam Haywood invited Val to listen to his piano recital on 12th October 2016.

Community Play for the 125th Anniversary of Waterlow Park - September 2016

Val staged a community play, From Estate to Park for the 125th Anniversary of Waterlow Park.

Photo from left to right, Richard Roques (Sir John Lubbock,
Chairman of the London County Council), Val Doulton,
Derek Howard (Sir Sydney Waterlow). Behind the group the
statue of Sir Sydney Waterlow in the park, the inscription on the statue
in the words of Sir Sydney is 'A garden for the gardenless'.

Photo from left to right Dermot Taylor (sculptor Frank Taubman)
with Val in front of Frank Taubman's statue of Sir Sydney.
Dermot studied and acted in Val's Adult Education
Shakespeare group for many years.

Patricia Walby, who organised the whole celebration day sent Val the following words of appreciation for the staging of From Estate to Park:

“The Live Literature Company proved hugely supportive during the 125th anniversary of our local park — Waterlow Park -- in North London.  When one of the six local schools we were working with had to absent themselves at the last minute from one of six plays mapping the history of the park -- we contacted Valerie Doulton in desperation. She and her company, which for this particular play was headlined by Derek Howard, immediately came to our aid, taking over the production with professionalism, speed and enthusiasm and in so doing lifted considerable stress from the organisers.  I don’t know how she did it but I take my hat off to her that she produced 15 minutes of flawless costume drama with Derek Howard in the lead role. I have worked for many years in television drama, and I can say from considerable experience that Valerie and her team are a local treasure which I, and I know many other local people, would like to support in any way I can. In the meantime I look forward very much to seeing new productions for which I know they have plans.”

Edinburgh Festival - August 2016

Dermot Linehan, Festival Director and Chief Executive,
deep in thought as he discusses the future of festivals worldwide. 

Val was one of the guests at the Visiting Arts Producer's Breakfast meeting at Edinburgh Festival 2016.

Val with Lindsey Kemp after his masterclass at RADA - May 2016

Val with Lindsay Kemp, RADA May 2016

Val and Lindsay Kemp ran a Summer workshop together in Todi, Italy. This happened because a dear friend of both of them brought them together for this work. His name is John Spradbery and he worked as Lindsay's Production Manager for many years, touring the world with Lindsay. Prior to this Val, John and Lindsay met in Edinburgh at the beginning of the 1970s and worked in the same building there together. Val was delighted to meet Lindsay and be invited to this RADA masterclass. We both miss John Spradbery, Val gave an address at his funeral 2 years ago.

John Spradbery at his 80th Birthday do.

Satish Kumar, Resurgence and Ecologist magazine event - March 2016

Picture Val took of Satish and his assistant Sharon
at St James's Piccadilly.

Val was delighted to continue Live Lit Co's commitment to environmental issues when she joined Satish Kumar, Founder of Resurgence and Ecologist Magazine, for their special event at St James's Piccadilly in March.

Symposium: Tagore in modern times - March 31st 2016

The Nehru Centre, 8 South Audley St. London W1K 1HF.

The Cultural Wing of The High Commission of India.

March 31st 6.00 pm for 6.40 pm

Symposium: The relevance of Tagore in modern timesThe Chair is the distinguished politician Clare Short

This symposium is the first of two to commemorate the Golden Jubilee anniversary of The Tagoreans, organisation that believes in Rabindranath Tagore’s philosophy of life and draws its inspiration from his creativity in various fields such as literature, music and art. The second symposium will be in September 2016.

We are living in a world beset with various threats to humanity with growing religious conflicts, political repression, poverty and environmental destruction. This event will focus on the importance of Tagore’s ideas and vision to meet these challenges and help to save humanity. Speakers:

•  Dr John Stevens - Leverhulme Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Languages and Cultures of South Asia, SOAS. The main focus of his research is historical, utilizing sources in English and Bengali to promote the understanding of the histories of India and Britain.

• Ragini Mohite - Postgraduate Research Student at the University of Leeds. Her thesis deals with the early 20th century writings of Tagore and Yeats.

• Valerie Doulton - Writer, Producer, Artistic Director of the Live literature Company. She directed and produced William Radice’s translation of The Post Office.

Presented by the Tagoreans.