Seat M 15

MI5 (Seat M 15)

I was intrigued by the suggestion that one might focus on a piece of furniture and write about it.  I started off with a high borne idea of a throne and given the up-and-coming Coronation of our King, I suppose it is a place for many a writer to begin.  Also, it is a well-worn device that opens up an infinite number of possibilities and devices etc

So, I started again, well almost!  No thrones or ancient artefacts, that have so many stories to tell, but for me an old converted cinema and a particular seat M 15 to be precise and I was sat in it recently watching a live performance of ‘Hobson’s Choice’.  The Priory Theatre in Tynemouth is that converted building.  My wonderful daughter often performs there as an enthusiastic ‘Am-Dram’

Well, what of M 15? It is a seat right at the rear of the auditorium and became my chair of choice a while back.  I still need to stretch out my bad leg and an end seat means I can do just that. It is also at the back and memories of the morons who flicked chewing gum, spit balls etc back in Saturday Morning Cinema in the mid-Sixties have stayed with me. This seat is a ‘back row of the movies’ seat and to the rear only a wall.  Apparently Jimmy Nail sat in M 15 a few nights before (under his real name) and was immediately recognised by the amateur actors on that night.  I sat with my daughter who was only helping out for the production of Hobson’s Choice and agreed to accompany me that night.  She lives with her husband in North Tyneside and it was worth the fifty mile drive to see her and share a passion for the theatre with her.

I suppose I’m cheating a bit or at least stretching the Inspiration Point brief because it was the play that is the connection when it comes to this piece of writing rather than the seat.  Back in 1967 I was sat in an English class at Secondary Modern.  We were reading through – yes you guessed it Hobson’s Choice. I have not read, seen or heard the play since that day until that night in February 2023.  Yet, I felt compelled to go and was glad I did.  I often wonder how the other reader, a lad called David got on in life.

Seat M 15 may have many stories from many lives hidden in its upholstery, but a simple connection going back over 55 years and my unnewsworthy life between those two dates as well as the trillion memories I’ve crammed in all came back in Seat M 15.