What's On?

Trouble in Mind

    Alice Childress won an Off-Broadway award in 1956 for this story of a black actress rehearsing a play with a white director who increasingly finds it impossible for the show to go on. Tanya Moodie and Joseph Marcell star in the play directed by Laurence Boswell.

8.30p.m. —10.30p.m, Theatre Royal. Box office: 01225 448844.

Lazarus

    Inspired by the sci-fi (science fiction) novel and movie, The Man Who Fell to Earth, this musical deals with a hero, Thomas Newton. Likely to be the autumn's hottest ticket, the score includes new songs composed by Bowie.

7.00p.m. — 9.00p.m., King's Cross theatre. Box office: 0844 871 7604.

The Gaul

    On the night of 8 February 1974, a fisherman FV Gaul disappeared off the coast of Norway. For people on board, waiting for news was great suffering. Theories began to come up, including the possibility that the boat had fallen victim to cold war. Even when he was discovered, many still felt there were questions that remained unanswered. Mark Babych directs Janet Plater's play.

8.00p.m. —11.00 p.m., Royal Shakespeare theatre. Box office: 01482 323638.

The Suppliant Women

    It is a new version of Aeschylus's 2,500-year-old play about a group of women seeking shelter who make the long journey to escape forced marriage. It was written by David Greig and directed by Ramin Gray. An ancient piece asks a contemporary question: when we are in trouble, who will open their doors and give us a harbor?

8.30p.m. —10.00p.m, Hampstead theatre. Box office: 0131 248 4848.

    You may not  have heard of Ashoka,  but for the past 27 years,this association, founded by Bill Drayton, has fought  poverty (贫穷)and sickness, promoted education and  encouraged small businesses. To support these worthy causes, Ashoka provides money for the world's most  promising "changemakers" seeking to solve (解决) urgent problems and would like to create a  world in which every citizen is a changemaker.

    Drayton believes that anyone can become an agent for change. The important thing is to simply give yourself permission. If you see a problem that you care about, you can help solve it. The young in particular are willing to accept this concept because at heart every child wants to grow into a happy, healthy,  contributing adult. In fact It is many young people's ambition to set up programmes or businesses that improve social conditions. An excellent example is an Ashoka project started in 1995 in Dhaka, which handled the rubbish problem facing the city ,helped local farmers and provided an income for poor people there .

When Masqsood and Iftekhar began to study the problem of all the uncollected rubbish that lay in Dhaka's streets, Attracting tats and disease , they discovered that 80% of it was natural waste . So they educated the poor people in the city to compost (把……制成堆粪)this waste . They knew that they would have a market for the end product because local farmers were struggling with chemical ferntilisers (化肥) which were expensive and had reduced the natural minerals in the soil over the years . At first , they were refused ,but once they were able to persuade them that there was money to be made , the project took off. In 2009 sales were $14,000.

    Drayton is optimistic that in ten years Ashoka will be making really serious ,practical progress in bringing about social change by changing the way we look at economic development.

    Let's pay a visit to some of the most amazing and unusual places in the world, from icy hotels to temples on the side of cliffs（悬崖）.

    Hotel de Glace－Canada

    If you don't mind the cold, this igloo（冰屋）style hotel is certainly for you. Nearly everything, including the bedding, is made of ice! This hotel is so well insulated（隔热）that whatever the temperature outside is, the temperature inside never changes more than a few degrees. It's around 23 degrees to be exact. Since it is made of ice, the hotel does have some dress requirements that can be found on their website. Arctic sleeping bags are provided for every guest, including children. For more information, visit the website: http://www.icehotelcanada.com.

    The Tigers Nest Monastery－Bhutan

    Built directly onto a cliff side, this ancient temple has claimed（声明）its spot since 1692. Rich in history, Tigers Nest is constructed around eight attractive caves on the mountainside. Most of the caves are easy to reach through the natural rock stairways. However, some are more difficult, and can only be reached by shaky rope bridges. Visit the website http://www.bhutantouroperators.net/taktsang-monastery.php for more information.

    Dinosaur Provincial Park－Canada

    Known to be one of the greatest fossil（标本）locations in the world, Dinosaur Provincial Park has nearly 500 specimens（标本）in all shapes and sizes. The park itself has a vast collection of fossils and a unique natural ecosystem. For more information, please visit http://tpr.alberta.ca/parks/dinosaur/index.aspx.

    Leshan Giant Buddha－Sichuan China

    The world's largest Buddha sits on the edge of two great rivers. Construction is believed to have started around the year 713, and at the time of this construction it was the tallest carved statue in the world. All 233 feet of the statue was carved from the surrounding cliffs and preserved （保存）in amazing condition. Even the 2008 earthquake was not enough to shake it. Its website

http://yeschinatour.com/china-guides/china-attractions leshan-giant-buddha-leshan will provide you with more information.

Dear Mom and Dad,

    I'm afraid I have some very bad news for you. I have been very naughty and the school master is very angry with me. She is going to write to you. You must come and take me away from here. She does not want me in the school any longer. The trouble started last night when I was smoking a cigarette in bed. As I was smoking, I heard footsteps coming towards the room .I did not want a teacher to catch me smoking, so I threw the cigarette away. Unfortunately, the cigarette fell into the waste--paper basket. It caught fire.

    There was a curtain near the waste --paper basket. It caught fire too. Soon the whole room was burning. The master phoned the fire brigade. The school is a long way from the town and before the fire brigade arrived, the whole school was on fire. The master said that the fire was all my fault and I must pay for the damage. She will send you a bill for about a million dollars.

    I'm very sorry for this.

    Much love

Sarah

    Jim Denevan is an amazing artist whose work is admired by all, but owned by none--that's because all of Jim's art is created on an unusual canvas（画布）--the soft sand. He sometimes spends days working on a piece, only to see it washed away by the sea or a storm and that is just the way he likes it.

    Denevan discovered his artistic talents about ten years ago, when he was wandering aimlessly on the beach with a stick. He ended up drawing a 12-foot-long fish. Since then, Jim has traveled over 1,800 miles while creating over 600 pieces of sand art.

    Over the years, his drawings have become bigger, but the tools he uses haven't changed--All he needs is a stick, a garden rake（耙子）and most importantly, his lively imagination!

    Just like any good artist, Jim is quite particular about the “quality" of his canvas, sometimes walking for miles, looking for perfect sand. His latest piece of work, which is also the world's largest freelance（自由职业的）drawing, was created in the desert sand of Nevada. It took Jim three trips, eight days and over 100 miles of walking to create this 3-mile work of art. It took the storm just one night to destroy it! However, Jim says he actually enjoys watching the waves or rain, wash his paintings away.

    Jim's art has become very popular over the years and was even the topic of a documentary' （记录片）named “Sandman” in 2015. Jim Denevan is not just about art in the sand — he is also an excellent chef （厨师）and founder of an organization called“Outstanding in the Field”，whose motto（座右铭）is to celebrate food at its source. Accordingly, group dining events are held outdoors on farms, with the diners being treated to a delicious meal. The events, which are held in different farms throughout America, are always sold out the minute the schedule is announced.

    From childhood, Moira loved to write. Throughout school she enjoyed writing, but pursuing it professionally was never a possibility. Her father was a doctor, her mother a nurse. “Medicine was a fairly safe choice,” Moira says, “and writing was a career where it wasn't a certainty that you'd have high income.”

    She became a doctor but still wanted to write something. However, being a doctor was so demanding that she didn't take up writing until her thirties. She produced a novel—a fictionalized version of her travel in China after university. She got excellent reviews. Moira sent it off to as many agents as she could find, and found one who wanted to represent her. Suddenly, it seemed she was on her way as an author.

    “I had one lengthy phone call with the agent where we went through all possible areas that she thought needed polishing. I worked on those and sent it back to her but didn't hear anything.” It wasn't long before Moira found another agent who was interested if she was willing to rewrite it from the first person to the third person. She did the hard work and sent it off again. “I got back a really brief letter: 'Thank you, I'm no longer interested.' It was really disappointing.”

    A decade went by, and Moira found herself eager to write again, this time purely for her own enjoyment. She set herself the challenge of creating a thriller and chose Western Australia as her setting.

    As she was writing just for herself, something surprising began to happen. “The characters took on a life of their own; they started doing things I hadn't thought about. It just flew.” One day, an agent called from Australia. Three weeks later, Moira had a publication deal. Her novel, Cicada, was published in March.

    “Even if it hadn't been published I still gained so much from the process,” says Moira.