Dear Readers, a few months ago I read that the National Theatre was planning to create a Dyers’ garden, so that they could use the plants to dye their costumes in a sustainable way, so of course I had to have a look. It’s a rather nice space, and on this glorious day there was a young men with his shirt off reading a very serious-looking book, giving the whole place a rather louche air.

The idea at the moment is to start to build up a book of samples of naturally dyed fabrics, and they are also running dyeing workshops, yoga classes and all kinds of other things in what is a rather lovely space – have a look at the video on the link here. It also gives you an idea of how splendid the space is when it’s in full flower.

At the moment it’s a bit more subdued, but there are still some interesting plants…

Dyer’s Woad

The plant above is Woad (Isatis tinctoria), which produces the blue dye beloved of ancient Britons. I can’t help thinking about the Howard Brenton play ‘The Romans in Britain’, shown in 1980 and immediately the target of Mary Whitehouse, for its brutal scene of male rape. 

Interestingly, this plant is described as ‘alkanet’, but it’s the ‘true’ Alkanet, Anchusa officinalis, rather than the Green Alkanet that’s popping up all over at the moment. I can’t find any mention of this plant as a dye plant, though Green Alkanet is supposed to give a red dye somewhat like henna from its roots.

There are some lovely Pot Marigolds, whose petals give a golden dye….

….huge quantities of fennel  (which as anyone will tell you has a bit of a mind of its own….)

…and plenty of rosemary too!

All in all this is a lovely, little-used spot for a sandwich or a break. The National Theatre is a bit of a maze, but if you keep walking upstairs you’ll find the doors to it just below where the Olivier circle starts.

And while we’re at it, I was at the National to see ‘Les Liasons Dangereuses’ with Lesley Manville and Aldan Turner. What a deliciously nasty piece of work this is: the cruelty is very much the point. Who can forget John Malkovich and Glenn Close in the film, along with Michelle Pfeiffer and Uma Thurman? But this play ran for three hours, and had rather a lot of dancing. Dancing is cool, but it’s the relationships between the protagonists that is the point here, and there is a tauter, more menacing two hour play in here bursting to get off. Manville and Turner are both excellent, but the supporting actors weren’t quite as convincing. Never mind. The ladies sitting next to me loved the dancing and costumes, so maybe I’m just being a curmudgeon, as usual.

Some of the aforementioned dancing