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We were deeply moved by the voices in 'Train to Cleveland with John Ruskin'. Dan Callaway & Joey Nicoletti sing with such warmth and intimacy that the music feels less like an interruption than another way the two men learn to listen to one another.

#TrainToCleveland #Ruskin

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“The grownups were supposed to build the sturdy walls, but they couldn’t, so I barricaded myself between library shelves.”
For Michael, art and knowledge became ways of making an unpredictable world hold still.
Then John Ruskin gets on the train...

#TrainToCleveland #Turner

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“Why are we even staring at paintings if we’re not letting them hit us in the gut?”
At the centre of 'Train to Cleveland with John Ruskin' is Turner’s The Slave Ship - tremendous beauty and tremendous cruelty occupying the same canvas.
#TrainToCleveland #JMWTurner #Ruskin

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MICHAEL: “Reading your essays makes me want to rip out my nose hairs.”
RUSKIN: “And the reason for that?”
MICHAEL: “It’s too much. Relax. Be clear. You use fourteen words when four will do!”
John Ruskin meets a PhD student who has had quite enough.
#TrainToCleveland #Ruskin

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A burnt-out PhD student meets Ruskin on a train to Cleveland. But 'Train to Cleveland with John Ruskin' becomes a play about something harder:
What happens when the person who can carry everything finally can’t?
A new play by Dan Callaway & Joey Nicoletti
#TrainToCleveland

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“When you were little, you figured out nobody was coming. And you were right... But now somebody is here.”
Michael learned very young how to survive by needing nobody.
The harder lesson is discovering what to do when somebody stays.
#TrainToCleveland #NewPlay #Theatre #Ruskin

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We so enjoyed Train to Cleveland with John Ruskin at the Circle & Star @ Camden Fringe that we're not quite ready to leave it behind.

We'll be sharing moments from the play, lines that stayed with us & a little of how Dan Callaway & Joey Nicoletti brought it to life.

#TrainToCleveland #Ruskin

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Before the performance, Dan Callaway told Ruskin Society members how the play began.
He discovered Turner through an art-history teacher. Later, at Boston’s MFA, he recognised a Turner across the gallery.
First he saw the sunset. Then he walked closer...
#TrainToCleveland

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Dan Callaway wondered how musical theatre might become more intimate & immediate.
In 'Train to Cleveland with John Ruskin', 2 performers, piano, guitar, Wordsworth & Turner meet in a tiny space.
No spectacle required. The argument is close enough to touch.
#TrainToCleveland