Holmes and Watson Live Auditions 2025

Attributed to Joseph Mallord William Turner (English 1775-1851)

Great excitement is being generated by the forthcoming stage production from Centenary Theatre Group featuring the famous crime duo Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson.
Script by Jeffrey Hatcher.
Directed by Gary Kliger.
Audition time: 10am Saturday 23^rd August 2025
Place: Cnr Queenscroft and Halsbury Streets, Chelmer, Brisbane, Queensland Australia.

SYNOPSIS QUOTE:
The world is shocked! The famous detective Sherlock Holmes and his nemesis Moriarty are dead, locked in combat, both falling into the treacherous Reichenbach Falls. Holmes is dead — but is he? Dr Evan’s who runs an asylum on an island, a desolate location, has in his care three men who each claim to be the real Sherlock Holmes. Who can work out which of them is the real Holmes? Who else but Dr Watson. Surely Holmes’ best friend and confidant?

AND: That’s just the start! This is a twisty, teasing romp, designed to baffle and entertain in equal measure.
Come and be part of the theatre fun!

CAST REQUIRED:
Dr Evans – age open though probably best 30s to 50s.
Dr Watson – age open though same range suggested as for Evans.
Orderly at the asylum – age range the same.
Matron/The woman doubling up role – age open dazzle us.
Holmes 1 tall, thin, sharp featured classic Holmes.
Holmes 2 same as H1 but with long hair, moustache and beard.
Holmes 3 same as H1 but shaved head, pale face, glazed look.
The Inspector’s age is open and may double with a Holmes depending upon timing and costuming.
The Client wears a mask/doubles with Moriarty.
Moriarty age open seen in flashbacks.

STAGE NOTE:
There is fight scene choreography needed so anyone with stage combat skills come and make yourself known!
This is an escapade of the most exhilarating kind, perfect as the CTG end of year production.
They cannot wait to have you be a part of it!
So don’t forget Chelmer auditions 10am Saturday 23rd August 2025.

CONTACT:
The Director Gary Kliger on 0417 012 418
Or Julie Collins (Stage Manager) directorjules27@gmail.com
Twitter, Facebook, Website https://centenarytheatre.com.au/
Information CTG enquiry@centenarytheatre.com.au

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
Holmes & Watson audition details received from Centenary Theatre Group Inc, Queenscroft and Halsbury Streets, Chelmer, QLD 4068 Australia.
Sign up to get their opening night news direct.
https://centenarytheatre.com.au/faqs/

I will certainly book tickets when the box office opens.
💗 Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2025

Commissariat, Prison, Asylum? © image Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2022

Does Try Try Again Really Work?

Home baked Vanilla Cupcakes waiting for vanilla icing. Recipe ingredients are 2 3/4 cups plain flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 200g unsalted butter softened, 1 3/4 cups caster sugar, 4 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 cup milk. Preheat oven to 170C and line two muffin trays with cupcake papers.
Food by Dot Bernet © Photographs Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2025
See website for Vanilla Buttercream icing:
https://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/vanilla-cupcakes-L6950.html

A wonderful children’s author I have known for some time, Cate Whittle, posted on her Substack page about success and failure and trying again. A cooking failure was turned around and she will experiment further to refine her recipe.
Read here: https://catewhittle.substack.com/p/having-your-cake

Home baked Red Velvet Cupcake with White Chocolate Icing. Food by Dot Bernet © Photographs Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2025

My reply to Cate was prompted by a happy memory and perhaps an old lesson people could use more often. ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again.‘ Here is what I wrote on Cate’s July Substack page:

“Lovely, just what I needed to read with my cuppa! Your warming newsletter brought back some lovely memories of my daughter’s first foray into cooking. Initially, her first attempts were not that good and one particular dish was a disaster. I said ‘Oh well, let’s try it again and see what happens‘ and fortunately it worked. She is now an excellent cook and will try most recipes including exotic international dishes which are beyond me. We keep a photo file of my daughter’s greatest triumphs. Recently she told me that ‘Let’s try it again‘ day was a pivotal moment for her cooking skills.

Looking forward to another version of your tea cake, Cate!”
Follow Cate’s literary life ‘A Cuppa With Cate’
Substack https://catewhittle.substack.com/

Happy cooking (and eating!)

💗 © Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2025

Food choice by Dot Bernet. Mandarin from our tree. Bread home-baked © Photographs Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2025

‘Happy 6th WordPress Blogaversary Cake’ First attempt Battenberg Cake by Dot Bernet © image Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2023

https://thoughtsbecomewords.com/2023/09/14/review-starberries-and-kee-cate-whittle/
https://catewhittle.substack.com/p/my-books

(1) Strawberries from greengrocer (2) Side Salad by Dot Bernet © Photographs Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2025

A Word for New Life

Our current era has been around for 60 million years and gradually comprised every species including mammals currently living on earth today – regardless of their circumstances or how much they sleep.

What is this Cenozoic Era? A time when Earth’s flora and fauna evolved into those of the present day.

The Cenozoic ‘New Life’ era can also be named ‘Age of Mammals’. Interestingly we humans often don’t care very well for other humans or our animal mammals do we?

My theory: This could be why past civilisations and animal species died out and are still disappearing.

Killing does not make for success in the future.

My slogan: Be kind to a mammal today!

💟 © images Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2025

Hazel outside her treehouse with some of her adorable Aussie mammalian friends. https://www.walkerbooks.com.au/book/9781760657260/

Private Posts and Ekphrastic Writing

Every so often I do a bit of housekeeping on my blog and tidy up the way I have misused a word or left a word out or rearranged a word or… well, you get the idea, it was a cold day and I had nothing better to do. Anyhow, I found this interesting bit of info in my stats folder:

All Posts (626)
Published (617)
Drafts (2)
Private (7)

What’s that discrepancy after ‘All Posts’ and ‘Published’?
I thought I had published all my blog posts!
However, there is a nine-post limbo.

Drafts (2) is understandable, but Private (7)!
I don’t even remember them or what they could possibly contain. Am I bold enough to check? Do I really want to know? Should I just delete them and forget about it?

Ironically I did a blog post about Richard Flanagan’s book ‘Question 7‘ https://thoughtsbecomewords.com/2025/05/10/do-you-know-this-author/

Well, seeing as I am one of life’s hoarders, I am just going to ignore those mysteriously private posts and let them languish there for all eternity. Well, until I get too curious. Maybe I can use one of them next week…

Meanwhile, here is a not-so-private observation about my session at MoB (Museum of Brisbane) Ekphrastic Art Writing session at City Hall. I arrived late due to a public rally, hundreds of protesters calling for justice over the death of Aboriginal man Kuminjayi White while in custody. Fair enough. I slid open the door at MoB and joined a small group of people with pen and paper. Before undertaking the art of Ekphrasis we had visual prompts and some brief writing exercises before heading out into the beguiling gallery to find beautiful treasures old and new to write about in a lucid fashion, arty or otherwise.

Museum of Brisbane is a social history museum and art gallery in Brisbane, Queensland.
Located on Level 3, City Hall, MoB brings our city’s vibrant art, culture and history to life through exhibitions, events, workshops, tours, and MoB Kids activities.
https://www.museumofbrisbane.com.au/

Perversely, I detoured the beautiful/historic artworks, paintings and ceramics to admire the hand-printed posters for local music gigs in Brisbane in the 1970s. Destined for shop windows, brick walls and lamp posts, these raw, colourful and imaginative posters were only glanced at or pulled down, but now are surviving icons of a once vibrant and thriving local music scene. The posters fill a wall in the Museum but my eyes were lured by the Medicine Cabinet of brown, dusty bottles, peeling labels and gruesome details of the contents. Here is what I wrote in a quick attempt to understand a different side to Ekphrastic writing:

‘The Medicine Cabinet’
Pills, potions, powders and poisons. Frowning at me from the past, the names on the small yet ominous corked brown glass bottles and rusty tins with their peeling, discoloured paper labels were enough to make me shudder. Poulticine, good for pneumonia, pleurisy, tonsillitis, abscess, etc, with side effects. ‘Stomach Powder’, ‘Opium’, Bill Beans Laxatives, Alkia, Saltrates, all aimed at curing sufferers ills and chills. Surely Nitrate of Amyl Capsules would do more harm than good? Then there’s the ominous thin brown-ribbed bottle labelled ‘Thyroid/Ovarian’ treatment. I hope patients recovered regardless of the treatment but more often than not the old saying was invoked ‘Kill or cure’ with fingers crossed. There is perhaps beauty in knowing that modern medicines are more likely to save lives.

Wishing you a healthy life and insightful Ekphrasis!

💗 © 2025 Gretchen Bernet-Ward

Ekphrastic writing or poetry is a vivid description of a scene or work of art using active narration and reflection. Inspired by Alice in Wonderland © image Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2021

Dying Art of Limerick Writing

Illustration for Limerick No.(3) Mary Ann Steam Locomotive Maryborough Queensland Australia
© image Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2022

When did you last jot down a limerick? Perhaps at primary school, maybe a rude one at high school, a clever one at work or in a writing class? Chances are you have never heard or read a limerick (depending on your age or location) and if this is the case, you are missing out on centuries of tireless amusement.

In my opinion limericks are not classy nor really poetic, and can be risqué, but they are a fun five-lines with a specific rhyme scheme (AABBA) and a nice sing-song beat ending with a great punch line. Let me show you two examples with classic endings:
(A)
“I sat next to the Duchess at tea,
Distressed as a person could be.
Her rumblings abdominal
Were simply phenomenal –
And everyone thought it was me!” (Anonymous)
(B)
There was an old man of Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket;
But his daughter, named Nan,
Ran away with a man,
And as for the bucket, Nantucket. (Anonymous)

Now I will show you four of my own attempts at limerick writing and notice the rhyming format:
(1)
There was an old lady from Wolfbane,
Day after day she had pain.
She cursed the cold weather,
And her shoes made of leather,
But really she suffered chilblain.
(2)
Brisbane city is deemed arcane,
Said to have sunshine never rain.
Such a fable the locals dictate,
To keep a high tourism rate,
And increase their monetary gain.
(3)
There was a young man from Bugbane,
Who suffered from bad stomach pain.
He ate onions on the job,
His boss said ‘you’re fired Bob’.
So he went home on the early train.
(4)
Wild wind on the beach today,
No children or dogs out to play.
I zipped up my jacket,
Trussed up like a packet,
Then my hat flew into the bay!

I think this blog post is long enough, you can learn more from limerick genius Fred Hornaday:
https://kingoflimericks.com/what-is-a-limerick/
The art of limerick writing is fun – try it.

💗 © Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2025

Illustration for Limerick No.(4) Part of the headland near Byron Bay Lighthouse NSW Australia
© image Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2015

A Day For Mothers

How time flies, my first blog post was 2017 and ideas for blogging still somersault around in my head. On this calm Sunday in May 2025 it is Mother’s Day in Australia.

I am a mother and thoughts of my own dear mother and that of my aunts and women I know flash through my mind. I recall their varied roles in my life, and women who shape the lives of others in millions of families and societies around the world. It is possible to write about the wealth, poverty, injustices and generally low standing of women in most countries including Australia, but what is their true status? What is their role in the history of the universe?

In my opinion, one of the most powerful roles for women, in the world as we know it, is the eternal internal creation. While not ignoring the biodiversity of Mother Nature, without human females, women who give birth, there would be no world. There would be no evolution, there would be nothing ahead. Of course men play a role but generally stand back when events are underway.

Perhaps this creates jealousy? Why bigoted, misogynistic, cruel, political, rule-making men of our current world order put women and mothers at risk by keeping them out of sight, in second place, give them menial tasks, overlook females for promotion, make derogatory comments, portray them on television, in movies and books as the trivial second character, the support, the one answering phones, at home doing the laundry, tidying up or cooking dinner. You can add more diverse roles to the list but usually not a complete reversal although caring sharing life partners do exist.

In 1971 a childless Germaine Greer is quoted as saying:
“Bringing up children is not a real occupation,
because children come up just the same, brought up or not.”
A rather shallow look at the future, I think.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germaine_Greer

With or without conception, the women of Mother Earth are versatile people. Today there are strong female roles and powerful women in all walks of life who do rise above. When they do, it’s a novelty in the press, on social media, and invariably a TV chat show host asks “How do you cope with a family and work?” A man’s world not an equal world yet.

Today I shout out Thanks Mum, Happy Mothers Day because without mothers there would be no living breathing humans in the world today. Including you and me.

💓 Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2025

NOTE: My opinion piece acknowledges birth mothers, first mothers, adoption, surrogacy, LGBTQIA, IVF, child reunification. Parenting is precious. 🌼

Do You Know This Author?

Question One: Has an Australian author won the Booker Prize?
Answer: Yes.

New York Review of Books described Richard Flanagan as “among the most versatile writers in the English language.” The Guardian wrote about ‘Question 7‘ “Blending memoir and history and auto-fiction, this brilliantly unique book by the Booker winner is a treatise on the immeasurability of life.”

Question Two: Do you know this author?
Answer: Richard Miller Flanagan (born 1961) is an Australian writer who won the 2014 Man Booker Prize for his novel ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’ (several reviews here) and the 2024 Baillie Gifford Prize for ‘Question 7’ which makes him the first writer in history to win both Britain’s major fiction and non-fiction prizes.

Question Three: Have you read one or many of Flanagan’s books?

Question Four: If you have read a Flanagan novel do you call yourself a good reader or a stalwart reader?

Question Five: Do you think you are missing out on a literary experience if you have not read these books?

Question Six: Of the three books (pictured above and below) are you likely to purchase at least one?

Question Seven (wink): Do you know how many other books this Aussie author has written? Not a quiz but, hey!

Richard Flanagan has written:
1994 – 2020 Eight novels
1985 – 2023 Nine non-fiction books
1998 – Film ‘The Sound of One Hand Clapping’ (director and screenwriter)
2008 – Film ‘Australia’ (co-writer)
2008 – ‘Wanting’ a complex 19th-century tale set in Tasmania and England involving an Aboriginal girl and novelist Charles Dickens.
2024 – Baillie Gifford Prize for ‘Question 7’

Current Awards and Honours:
Too extensive to list here so please click on the Wikipedia and Penguin Books link for full details and prepare to be amazed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Flanagan
Baillie Gifford Prize:
https://www.penguin.com.au/books/question-7-9781761343483

Inspired? Keen to read something different? Challenge yourself or your book club. My reviews are on the way but meanwhile you can read Aussie WordPress blogger ‘Whispering Gums’ excellent review here.

The above questions are rhetorical.

Penguin: https://www.penguin.com.au/articles/3908-a-introductory-guide-to-australian-author-richard-flanagan
Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Flanagan

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-living-sea-of-waking-dreams-9781761048159

https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/all/the-narrow-road-to-the-deep-north/

Author Richard Flanagan
(PRH Australia)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/09/11/richard-flanagan-question-7-review/

AI Found My Blog!

‘Searching’ Image © Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2022

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I personally dislike AI on the grounds that it does not enhance knowledge, it takes away incentive to pursue and learn. Anyway, I was scanning my stats and noticed that twice I have been viewed and possibly, hopefully, ‘recommended’ by Artificial Intelligence as a source for two readers. Okay, that’s kind of flattering but what post of mine was viewed/recommended? Who was the reader? Will this offer any benefit to me?

Importantly, have I been acknowledged as the original source?

I guess once I put my work out there, it stands to reason it will be seen and read and maybe used, but we bloggers always acknowledge our source or include a website link especially to anything we re-post.

Artificial Intelligence (like most of the internet) has been launched on the world wide web without workable social, legal, ethical or cultural boundaries. Humankind may melt down into one homogenous mass. Perfect conditions for a maniacal dictator.

Lots of questions need to be answered, especially since an AI ‘borrower’ cannot be traced. At least not by me, so I may never know the source or where my material ends up. How can I truly know where my blog posts end up anyway? Certainly readers can cut and paste anything they like but they are genuine readers. I think a faceless nameless Artificial Intelligence is invasive until proven otherwise.

Ask a human novelist about AI rip-offs and AI non-existent royalties.
Meta allegedly used pirated books to train AI.
Jonathan Franzen, John Grisham, Jodi Picoult, George R.R. Martin and others have filed a class-action suit, still unresolved, alleging OpenAI Inc copied their works without permission or payment.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/sep/20/authors-lawsuit-openai-george-rr-martin-john-grisham

Of course many people will benefit. There are quite a lot of AI sites out there, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, etc, the first being Perplexity AI. Also Character.ai is a neutral (as if!) language model chatbot service. Another human job lost? Of course, there are strong opinions on all of this and numerous disagreements for various reasons.

We humans like shortcuts more than memory retention. Ask anyone studying. Internet users can take a detour but often it can misdirect or misinform, as in the case of a person who used ChatGPT for a literary book club review and gave a dry, soulless analysis of the story. In my opinion, do your own homework.

I like to personally do my own web surfing and pick up interesting and genuinely human stuff along the way – alternatively I read words on real paper. Under my mythical (as in not real) Creepy or Could-be section, I imagine one future day an AI bot will activate a microchip implant in a school student’s brain which will find web logs (blogs) or text books and release classic volumes straight into their grey matter.

Unlike young generations before them who opened a real book and discovered the works of Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens, J.K. Rowling, John Marsden, Jackie French and Maurice Sendak, they will probably use an inside-head reading app. I certainly hope not but who knows!

‘Books’ Image © Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2023

If at First…

….you don’t succeed, try, try again. This young wrangler is just as determined as his calf. After a bit of encouragement, then some serious tugging, the calf relinquished its stance and trotted along with the boy. My photograph was taken at the Toowoomba Royal Show, a yearly event showcasing all things country. From animals to artwork, photography, flowers, fruit and wonderfully handmade arts and crafts. Of course there was produce and vegetable displays (a huge pumpkin!) plus cookery prizes and a plethora of handmade goods from soap to hats and even a whip-cracking demonstration.

I am not a fan of sideshow alley so detoured the rides full of screaming people and investigated the horse arena, so beautiful, the precision, the presentation, those trotting horses were as well groomed as their riders. Next was a huge shed full of model trains whizzing around elaborate tracks. The ‘station master’ set up a particularly long train for me to video and he watched on with pride as it weaved in and out of hills down to the railway station with realistic sound against a country town backdrop. Miniature train heaven!

Countless stallholders goods tempted me but those ubiquitous hot chips were a magnet not to be ignored because the weather was rainy and show-goers were wet and feeling the cold. So very unusual for Queensland! On theme, there was an aquatic acrobat display on the lake. After watching the adorable dogs trotting around their own mini arena in the rain, it was time to think about the animals in the huge (dry) sheds across the vast site; sheep, goats, cows, chickens, etc. The rain curtailed some arena events but there was certainly enough to enjoy. The relaxed people, the fresh country air and lush green grass was totally worth it.

The People First Bank Toowoomba Royal Show is an unrivalled production of the very best in entertainment and agriculture displays on the Darling Downs Queensland since 1860.
https://www.toowoombashow.com.au/royal-show/entertainment/

Here is the official version: Every year this show has new entertainment for the whole family, enjoy world class acts, competitions and exhilarating rides in sideshow alley, plus livestock, show judging, produce and crafts. Of course, there is always agricultural equipment for the enthusiast. This year Toowoomba Royal Show was held from 27th to 29th March 2025. Over 500 volunteers assisted during the show. Without their dedication and effort this local event could not function.
If you would like to volunteer at the People First Bank Toowoomba Royal Show 2026, please contact them via email at rasqadmin@rasq.com.au for a great experience.

💗 Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2025

Cyclone Alfred’s Dangerous Downpour

The lavender plant takes a pounding but the rainwater bucket is full 💧 GBW.

How do you photograph a cyclone? It’s not easy because the wind and rain pound down in steady white sheets of water, roads are flooded, power is out and the noise on the roof starts to become very monotonous as does the overflowing gutters and rattling windows. Will the gumtree up the backyard hold on or shed a few branches to survive? Will my family and friends be okay? Will the wildlife creatures be safe from rising flood waters? I fear for farmers and their animals and crops more than I do city dwellers who have been forewarned for days to prepare and take shelter. Tropical Cyclone Alfred originated from a tropical low in the Coral Sea and so much has been put in place to inform and assist those who live and work in South East Queensland. We did lose electricity overnight but power was quickly restored. Alfred was a big powerful cyclone but today it’s moving away, a tropical low, leaving behind heavy rain, rain, rain and a waterlogged city. My thoughts and prayers go out to those who have lost so much already. Praise must be given to those who spoke (and signed) so eloquently via the media to keep us informed. Praise for those workers who put their lives on the line to help others. A big thumbs-down to those idiots who risked their lives and others to pull daredevil stunts. Not cool. Soon I will watch news reports and see pictures of our rain-soaked River City and no doubt there are scary photos online showing what’s going on along the Brisbane River. It floods dramatically and the debris it carries is often mindboggling, boats, cars, bridges, roofs and countless other hapless items washed away in its churning liquid power. Yes, I have an emergency kit packed. I live on the side of a hill so immune to rising flood waters but the creek at the bottom of the street will have broken its banks and be flowing across the road towards homes. Local kids will frolic in it, sewerage, snakes and all. Remember the slogan “If it’s flooded forget it!” Nature keeps us alive but every so often there is a backlash to keep us in line. I respect Nature in all forms, not just from sea surf to mountain ranges, because in many ways Nature has more unexpected power than humans over our life and death here on earth. Stay safe my friends.
💗 © Gretchen Bernet-Ward 2025

TRIVIA FACT
With cyclones being named alphabetically, Anthony was originally the next name to be used starting with A, but the BOM decided to switch to Alfred to avoid any association or confusion with the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Alfred_(2025)#:~:text=As%20the%20seventh%20named%20storm,Coral%20Sea%20on%2020%20February.