A journey into adulthood (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

A journey into adulthood

11:46am Friday 19th November 2010 in Highlights By Melanie Dakin

Byron, Shelley, Keats all had Grand Tours on which to learn about the arts and be influenced and enthused by the culture of the Continent. My generation had inter-railing – a more low rent mode of travel perhaps, but an equally important rite of passage.

Poet David Van-Cauter has written a comedy about his youthful experiences on trains across Europe. His semi-autobiographical play, To Hell and Back, which the Woodhouse Players perform as a rehearsed reading on Saturday, details the exploits of four avid gamers as they toss the dice and roll on to the next station.

“My brother and I and two of our friends went round Europe about 20 years ago. We’d never done a trip like that before,” recalls David, who grew up on a diet of Dungeons and Dragons and Warhammer. “We loved role-playing games and rode the trains in a fantasy world. The play is about my life growing up, compressed into three weeks.”

For David and his friends, playing games was compelling, but they were still able to appreciate their surroundings.

“I vividly remember moments and places we went to. We were stuck on the games but were tugged away into the real world all the time.

“In Oslo we stayed with someone we’d met through a fanzine and she had a programme for us. We went to three museums in the morning, had lunch and then to another six museums after that. We were really tired but had been very bad sightseers up to that point.”

The play is about my life growing up, compressed into three weeks

David Van-Cauter

By contrast, David’s characters are locked into the games they play. Their obsessive behaviour is funny to watch, but ultimately, they’re using imaginary worlds to escape their fears.

“The main character lives his life through fantasy. He’s shy and doesn’t like being around people unless he’s talking about games. He hides away from reality, but you can’t live your life avoiding your fears. He’s pretend he’s facing up to them by going on all these quests but it’s all make believe.”

Harsh reality has certainly come crashing into David’s world. Three-and-a half-years ago, his wife, Julia, was diagnosed with skin cancer.

“It started with a mole that flared up but they removed the lymph node and she was fine for quite a long time. She had several more operations as they were trying to avoid it getting into her blood stream but in January this year they found it had spread, and Julia passed away in August this year.

“The last few years have been terrible. I’ve written a lot of poetry, some of it grim, some light-hearted and I shall be dedicating some poems to Julia on the night. Finishing this play has been really helpful. My counsellor has said it’s great that I’m actually even functioning.”

The performance will be raising funds for the Letchworth Garden House Hospice. David’s second collection of poems, Reading Light, was published in May this year. He will be reading his poems prior to the performance.

The Woodhouse Players’ rehearsed reading of To Hell and Back is on at the Welsh Church Hall, 879 High Road, Leytonstone on Saturday, November 20 at 8pm. Details: 020 8504 3872