David Tennant signing stage door Stratford 10.10.13

Birthday delight from first night, first impressions: Richard II @ RST Stratford-upon-Avon 10 October 2013

Here be VERY limited commentary on the first preview night.  You'll get a fuller review when I've been to see the play once they're properly launched. They're still ironing out little kinks, but they're pretty much spot-on for my money.  Looking forward to the future visits....

Because, yeah, not my final trip.  Multiple visits, moi?!

So this is avoiding spoilers as much as possible, mostly reporting on the experience.  Minor spoilers possible if you haven't heard of David Tennant, Richard II storyline, or capabilities of the RSC to do damn fine shows.

Got it?

So there is the event ---- and then the aftermath

Event - the play

When I saw that the first preview night for Richard II at the Royal Shakespeare Company was scheduled for my birthday, it seemed like fate.  Who could turn  down such a treat? Yes, we all know why I was booking so early (clue: the link will explain why hanging on to book wasn't going to be an option - blink and the fans have nabbed all the tickets).  But I love the RSC and I love going to the theatre.  And I really wanted to see this production.

We arrived in Stratford way early, but this gave ample opportunity to raid the shop (books, jigsaws, postcards - programme, obviously) and to also have a lovely cuppa and cake with a dear friend.  Once in the theatre itself, I was already excited by the stunning set. Majestic about covers it.  And it was especially nice to scour around the space and then frantically draw over more lovely friends to get hugs and kisses before the play began.  Saw a woman waving in the stalls?  That was me getting their attention.  Yay for friends!

There is a nicely minimally spoilering comment piece here. Don't read it if you don't want to know.

The music is astonishingly good, the costumes magnificent (tho a few hems may need taking up to avoid trips and stumbles), and the acting was cracking. Nigel Lindsay was a revelation as Bolingbroke, and seeing Jane Lapotaire back on stage was a pleasure I did not think I would see in my lifetime, but *everyone* delivered on their performances.  Tennant was, suitably, Tennant-esque in his capacity to unpick a part and make it his own. Richard II as per the play ....

(SPOILERS - if you haven't read Richard II or know the story)

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.... is vain, and brought low; he is capricious, and he is brought to realise his folly; he is in charge, and he surrenders power; he is a King in an age of the Divine Right of Kings, and he is raised an angel, flawed and beautiful.

Say what you like about the sort of audience this performance with this leading actor would draw, but until the curtain call, everyone pretty much holds their breath.  There are NO inappropriate squeals - as Tennant rightly noted in the recent Front Row interview, fans are smarter than that and KNOW what to do/not do.

(SPOILERS - if you've never seen Tennant performing on stage e.g. Hamlet)

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There are laughs - director Greg Doran and his cast, including Tennant, are nothing if not adept at finding the right moment to flick a head, emphasise a swift "well...." or mine the possibility of line in broader context. They know how to find it and where (for me) it works.  Wonderful stuff.

And yeah... Richard II dies.

Big spoiler that.

SPOILER FREE-ISH ZONE TO FOLLOW!

The aftermath

And afterwards...

I'll be honest, with my dodgy foot there was never going to be a swift exit.  We positively AMBLED out of the theatre.  And I expected to see the barriers at Stage Door 4 deep.

Instead... one line's worth.  Erm...

Neil and I exchange glances: well, that's almost unbelievable.

"I expected it to be busier than that..." I say

"Go on then" Neil replies, being his usual disreputable self in my downfall.

So I went.  And got a mid-place, second row spot.  And a few minutes later - after pointedly challenging the mutterings of some that they didn't care for anyone else coming out by me firmly saying "thank you" to everyone exiting the building - the intake of breathe came, and Tennant emerged....

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... with plaited hair

He takes his time, at least at first, and several of those lucky enough to be on front row, get photos with him. Oh that I were organised and co-ordinated enough to do that!

As it is I content myself with the scribble signature (neater than the one I got post-Love's Labour's Lost) and as I say "thank you for making this such a great birthday for me" to which he replied in joyful tone "awh, it's your birthday today? Very happy birthday to you!" which pretty much topped off the day just right.* and **

Video proof I have a terrible memory is posted separately.

I could - and perhaps should - have stayed in place, got some photos; hell, even tried to get one for myself.... but ever considerate and aware of the 3-deep behind me, I pulled back saying to those around me "I'm done, let someone else through" which at least one (shorter) woman behind audibly acknowledged.

So, from a day that started with two women presenting the Today programme on Radio 4, through to seeing friends, through to the play itself (Neil loved it btw - good job: he's back in two weeks), and THEN the aftermath.... AND rescued episodes of Doctor Who.... (am sure David will have appreciated that as a nice omen) .... *SQUEE!!!!*

Well, who cares that I had to go to work?  Giddy just about describes the emotions, and my hands were shaking (the cold I tell you) as I tried to text update my gang of friends.

And here's the proof btw!

*A friend asked me about the birthday greeting exchange, thinking me/someone else had told Tennant in advance it was my birthday and the remark from him had been spontaneous.  If it had been, I think I may just have passed out there and then!

**What can I say - my brain was in freefall at getting a happy  birthday. Edited for video proof accuracy as oopposed to my giddy "what happened there?!" Brainfail.

A Cultural Day Saturday 5 October 2013: RSC Candide (Swan Theatre) and Derby Folk Festival (Derby Assembly Rooms)

Candide

Neil and I both studied Voltaire's Candide on our A204 Enlightenment course with the Open University.  So with Mark Ravenhill at the helm, we were rather intrigued by the prospect of an RSC production revisiting Voltaire's satire on optimism (an apt topic in this jaded period of optimism within austerity, as UK chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne would have it).

The RSC do a fine job with Ravenhill's take on Candide - which uses plays within plays, 'real' characters revisiting their past selves, and modern re-engagements with the moral and philosophical debates Candide first explored.

As the RSC site says "This performance includes strong language, violence and reckless optimism." Well, kinda.  There is certainly a lot of humour - both bawdy (as one might expect, nay, require from a Ravenhill project) and cerebral (as he ably proved before in his new translation of Brecht's Life of Galileo and which had a Rullsenberg review in March 2013). Optimism is in contrast harshly slain and interrogated, and rightly so.

Like the novel, it is both disturbing and provocative.  The violence in it (especially in the 'Sophie's party' sequence which brings the problems of optimism into the present day) is archly beautiful, with streamers of red ribbons exploding in slo-mo strobe-lit style like so much blood and guts.  It is black, and red with political destruction.

Am struggling to embed the video but try this RSC Cast interview for Candide.

We both loved it and found it a stimulating (and brilliantly short) play - it rounds off well inside 1 hour and 45-50 mins (Matinee kicked off at just after 1:15pm and we were out by 3pm),

Heartily recommended and runs until 26 October 2013 at the Swan theatre, Stratford on Avon.

Derby Folk Festival

The Folk Festival at Derby has been around for ages, but we've only dabbled in its glories.  It was a big ask to drag my poorly foot to Derby yesterday, but despite the pain it was worth while.  I'd have liked to have fitted in Leyla McCalla for today (Sunday) but I don't think I'll be able to walk the rest of the week if I drag myself out and about for another day before work,

Sniff.

Anyway: last night had glories enough to suffice.

1) April Verch band
My word, this woman is talented.  With Cody Walters and Hayes Griffin to accompany her, the band create a glorious bluegrass sound, and so much more.  Her singing is one thing, but her feet and fiddle-playing are quite out of the world,  She twirls and taps, and she can even play the fiddle at the same time as a real highlight.  A live act treat, but a sound worth pursuing.



2) Melrose Quartet
(Or the Marmosets as I kept calling them in my head - no, I don't why)

Apparently of serious folk royal blood stock, from the UK and Australia, these offered four part harmonies of breathtaking quality and musicianship of the highest order.  I felt giddy by the end of their set - especially as the band will be taking a break now for at least 6 months whilst one of their number gives birth (with just 4 weeks to go when they performed last night, there were the obligatory warning for the tables nearest the stage to practice 'catch').



3) Dervish
The headline act didn't come until about 10.30pm at which point if we had wanted to catch a bus home, we'd have already have had to leave.  Never mind - a taxi ride was worth the wait.  An Irish band of great talent with a crackingly characterful lead singer in the form of Cathy Jordan, whose tales and between-song banter was delightfully entertaining.

With April Verch happy to come up in front of the stage to demonstrate again her deliciously fleet-footed tapping skills, the evening ended with happiness clapped around the venue.  I'd have danced if it wasn't for the fact I can barely walk...

 

On planning ahead

It has to be said that at the moment the issue of 'planning ahead' is feeling rather raw. We're in October and it seems like no time since February when the frantic ticket booking for Richard II. Now that's patently 'planning ahead' on a somewhat ludicrous basis.

At the other extreme, a new policy (semi-predicted in advance but not 'formalised' or notified beyond direct circle) was decided on the Thursday 19th before implementation on the Monday 23rd (and which has since already been 'clarified' - aka changed - twice).

Now these are clearly extremes, but my instinct leans to the former for clarity over the latter. I would sooner know stupid time in advance than at the last minute. I'm not anti-spontaneity,  but time and place and sensible predictions people are likely to smooth my responses.

So I do get rather irritable at the tendency of others (I hasten, not anyone I know online but rather IRL friends and contacts) who will persist in last-minute invitations.  You know what, we usually have a good time if we can go at short notice,  but by lordy it gives me the cranky to know you clearly knew about and/or had been planning for an event for weeks and only thought to invite us the day before.

I can get myself in the mood, gear myself up for social interaction,  if I know about it in advance. I can manage my workload ahead of the event so I'm not trashed before going. But if I'm just landed on with an invitation my instinct is going to go into hyper-crank mode ranting about the lack of notice.  There's transport to sort and crucially FOOD. And a cranky HUNGRY Lisa is not a socially pleasant Lisa to have around you.

I'm just saying.

On running

My sister-in-law is a serious runner ---- she has won the New Zealand 800m National Women's Masters competition, and on Sunday 29th September 2013 came 3rd in an extraordinarily hilly and demanding 10k run in Kinver for Action Heart.  She runs pretty much all the time and is incredibly fit.

This is the amazing Sarah doing the 800m Dunedin Masters games in 2012.

Anyway, today she and brother-in-law completed the VERY HARD Kinver 10k.  Just to give you a sense of the route, there's a MapMyRun view. It's a pretty challenging set of hills that the race includes, and I really won't be doing it anytime soon.

It's pretty amazing that she came in at a time of just over 45 mins, with Mark coming in at just over 60 mins.  That rather puts into a cocked hat mine and Neil's achievements at doing a 2k 'family fun run' (alongside 3-8 year olds, with various parents and few pre-teens) and covering the distance in a mostly-run, and a little bit walked 13-14 mins.  Pah.

Still - Mark and Sarah did great.

Neil and Lisa post-race (note my "UN-healthy U" t-shirt from Nottingham Uni!)

Mark and Sarah post-race

Sarah and Mark pre-race

Next spring I seem to have signed myself up for doing Race for Life - that's 5k (I keep telling myself 3k just to not scare myself witless).  I'll be part of the Art History team from Nottingham Uni (honorary associate member) and I'll be running alongside awesome Gaby Neher who promises we will have Haribo as rewards during training and certainly post-race.

Believe me, Haribo crocs are a REAL incentive, especially when they're the make of Haribo crocs generally only sold in France which are FAR superior to versions sold in the UK!

In praise of Thursday night telly

Peaky Blinders

Educating Yorkshire (though it ain't a patch on Educating Essex, the original and the best)

The Sound of Cinema: the Music that made the Movies


It's almost like they WANT to make it clear this is the digital catch-up age: three excellent programmes all scheduled for 9pm on a Thursday (we missed the potential of The Guilty starring lovely Tamsin Greig, but it seems it wasn't worth the effort - that TOO was on Thursday 9pm).

BBC1 Peaky Blinders
Peaky Blinders is ludicrously stylised and heavily anachronistic in parts (although we're especially enjoying the soundtrack: you can't hate a programme that uses Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' "Red Right hand" as its intro music).

The storyline is barking, the politics no doubt flawed and yet....

It is pretty irresistible   Murphy first came to my attention as The Scarecrow in the Batman Begins movie, and he's since cut quite a role for himself as mesmeric anti-hero types.

His character in Peaky Blinders, Thomas Shelby, will naturally head for a fall one feels (you want it to work, just as you want Aunt Pol, Helen McCrory, to keep slapping these useless blokes about the head), but you can't help rooting for him.  A real gem, slo-mo included.

Channel 4: Educating Yorkshire
Well, it's not the glory that was Educating Essex - possibly the best advert for comprehensive UK education imaginable.  In contrast, the teachers, whilst well-meaning, seem less in control and take a very different approach to interacting with students (please don't claim it's a 'northern thing' though; that's just insulting to everyone).  I'd prefer ties that were properly tied, no shoes on the desks, and no swearing - even faux swearing - at students (it makes the infamous "clear off scumbags" in EE seem positively lightweight).

But the teachers and staff clearly ARE well-meaning, and managing teenagers is no mean feat for anyone to attempt.

Last night, was for me a key episode though, highlighting my personal weak points in these sort of programmes: the relationships between teenage girls.  I've been there, been on the receiving end of rumours, 'friends' setting people against each other, the stress and hurt and anger that goes with it.  I felt for both smart   articulate Hadiqa and the academically struggling but bubbly Safiyyah - both to a certain extent victims of the malice that can be 'the other girls in the group'.

This was the first time in EY that I felt that sense of identification with the situation; something that felt much more live, more of a consistent undercurrent in EE even where events were outside my personal experience.  Young people with Aspergers? I understand that one.  Teenage pregnancy?  Nottingham has (had) an awful reputation in that regard. Frustrated smart teenage girls? Oh yeah. Family circumstances for teenagers that would break any stone heart? Seen it around me. Boys who can't control their anger?  Social media bullying?  Desperately trying to teach the attentive and inattentive simultaneously? Feeling overwhelmed at what you cannot control (among both staff and students)? Pass me the hankies. It's the same production team, so does the difference, that lack of my feeling empathy for both students and teachers in EY, to do with the show or me? I felt it in every episode of EE - recognising the situations, the dramas, the reactions on both sides of the desk.  With the Yorkshire show, it's like the desk is blurred and everything is more uncontained, less well-managed. It's really just to do with a different style of teaching and management, but somehow the flaws at Essex felt like things they were learning from and doing better each time they dealt with similar things. Essex set the standard with Mr Drew and Mr Goddard.  I don't think Mr Mitchell or any of the year heads have yet quite measured up as yet (though Miss Uren has come close, as has Mrs Crowther).

BBC4: the Sound of Cinema series
The Sound of Cinema: The Music that made the Movies has been presented by Neil Brand who is just the right combination of nerdy and knowledgeable, passionate about film and able to communicate it to audiences.  I am fascinated by the use of music in film so this series has been delightful and yet I have learnt things as well.  Wonderful treat.

Makes me want to listen to film scores all over again, whether orchestral scores or popular music soundtracks (did I mention I once wrote about soundtracks for 'Chick Flicks'?)

It's all gone a bit 'Socialism is back!' hasn't it? Fear and loathing in the energy market debate

One can't help feeling that all the fearful yelling about Socialism coming back (if only it were), by the likes of - most of - the national press and Peter Mandelson, is something of a indication that finally Ed MilliB may be doing something right in his proposals around fuel pricing.

If it is hacking them all off that much, getting energy companies et al to be screaming 'foul play!', it's hard to resist the notion that there may be something in the proposals being made by the Labour party.

And if the energy companies try to get around things by ramming prices up before the next election (as they have so repeatedly done regardless of whether wholesale prices are up, down or spinning around) isn't that a huge "I told you so" that would only confirm the complete lack of 'bovveredness' of said companies for the impact of their pricing policies on everyday cost of living?  Wouldn't that prove how toothless the so-called regulators have been of the privatised energy industry (sorry - I mean of course 'nationalised energy industry, except they're owned by OTHER nations than the UK)?  Isn't the problem of more being spent on shareholders than on investment, that said companies are merely paying lipservice to notions of weaning consumers off damaging fossil fuel practices, an indictment of how the market hasn't really worked for this provision we take for granted in the developed world?

And if AFTER any price freeze, prices did rocket again, how would that prove that the status quo of letting the companies and markets do as they please is the right option?

Rubbish at this malarky

It's near ridiculous to think of a lack of blogging as being 'tragic' but I feel so bad about my inability to get online and write.

The ease with which I have shifted to the dread FB - and my ineptitude at finding solutions to cross-post (I should probably just move the blog elsewhere where cross-posting is easier) - do instill in me feelings of remorse for sure.

Does anyone foolish enough to still believe this site is alive have ideas how to get around this?

One of the reasons I have resisted so far in moving to WordPress is not just that I have no aptitude for the task but also that generally moving sites seems to lose all the comments on existing posts (and it is there that I have most fun reminding myself how good I used to be at this lark).

*sigh*

Books, books, books: in praise of libraries

Within an eight day period, I've been inside six great libraries, to varying degrees.  Sometimes just to see an exhibition (and not visit the library per se) and others to just glory in the building and its book contents.

London
The British Library

We kicked things off with the British Library - the building is hardly loved, but the contents are spectacular, and it has very good exhibitions.  The BL suffered from a protracted development of a new site, and the leaving behind of the old Reading Room at the British Museum where it had been housed for so long.  The BM has hardly known what to do with the room since the BL moved out, which is a real shame.  The temporary exhibitions seem to have come to stop. At least at the new BL site, the temporary exhibitions are cracking opportunities to see the breadth of the collections.

We went to see Power and Persuasion, which closes soon: a very good exhibition material as diverse as war propaganda (from all sides), films promoting health (an incredible short on combating venereal disease) and the London Olympics.  With posters, films, printed tracts and books, it shows the diversity of the materials held by the BL and also the slippery nature of the term propaganda which is taken here to include all information designed with the intention to change/inform behaviour and attitudes.

Manchester
Chetham's Library

The library at the famed School of Music at Manchester is a beautiful collection and feels how an old established library should feel.

The John Ryland's Library
or should that be the Enriqueta Augustina Ryland's Library

It's hard to resist a place so gothically beautiful as the magnificent JRL, but it highlights how women are often lost from history.  I came away wanting to know more about the woman who powered the construction and collection of the library far more than about her husband in whose name she developed it.

The redevelopment to extend the space is sympathetic and well-done - keeping the proportions of window spaces is always a nice touch

The Portico Library and Gallery

On his preparations for the trip, Neil had found The Portico was a fellow library of the same group that Bromley House belongs to (our own local subscription library in Nottingham: see below).  The photos on the website don't do it justice though and hidden as the location is at the side of its original entrance (the downstairs is now a pub), many would walk past without realising.

I would heartily yell that Portico should NOT be missed.  It is beautiful (as are the other libraries we saw in Manchester) but the welcome was by far the best.

This was in no small thanks to two factors: first, that we are members of Bromley House (this gave us the right to look at the whole place, and not just the public exhibition space), and second, that we ran into a long-not-seen friend who is closely involved and indeed was attending a meeting of the library trustees.  This meant we had a lovely long visit AND had lunch together in the reading room at the back (a proper treat!)

Nottingham
Bromley House Library

Having had such a warm welcome thanks to our BH membership, I thought it only fit that I pass on the hellos from Emma, Taylor, and Lyn at Manchester's Portico Library to all at Bromley House as the Portico gang were clearly very fond of the wonderful Nottingham library.  Ducking in after having my hair done, it was good to see the progress with some of the internal refurbishments including the new toilets!

I'll reserve judgement on the impact of the new student accommodation on the garden...

Oxford
The Bodleian Library

We had missed the tour (9.15am arrival in Oxford was beyond even our early rising) but we DID go to see the very lovely exhibition on Magical Books covering fantastical tales from across the ages.  Just to see author Alan Garner's beautiful handwriting was enough of a treat.

BeVox flashmob in London 17 August 2013

Most of the time being a member of a choir like BeVox is straightforward in terms of gaining an audience - you tell your friends, colleagues, neighbours and family there is an upcoming performance and advise how to get tickets.

And then there is flashmobbing.

The point of doing a flashmob is that it is unexpected (for those in the vicinity).  It really doesn't work if there are bunches of people waiting around 'for something to happen'.  It can look very obvious.

So it was that around 200 singers gathered in central London to do three performances for Victoria BID (the Victoria Business Improvement District).  This involved singing a medley of Queen songs (arranged by our wonderful BeVox choir leader Tim Allen) in Victoria Train Station, in the piazza of Westminster Cathedral, and outside Buckingham Palace.  The medley consisted of extracts from "We Will Rock You", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "We Are The Champions", "Radio Ga-Ga" and "I Want It All".  It's a bit of a rollercoaster of singing, and brought together not just members of BeVox but also City Voices, Cardiff and the Rodillian Singers.

Tim kicked it all off at each location, solo singing the verses and then gradually everyone joined in.  At first it was just a few people, with the rest of us who had not yet joined in echoing the reactions of everyday folk around us.  Then, on the climatic chorus of "rock you", we ALL joined in.

We had great fun going from location to location, but especially at Buckingham Palace because by then we knew we COULD do it.

It was a heck of day out.... Try searching online for Victoria BID, BeVox flashmob or more to additional videos and information!

http://youtu.be/PZRplnB6jso

The New Doctor

So ridiculously pleased with the choice for the next Doctor.  Worth sitting through whales and the atrocious fluff that was the live programme to see the walk through of Malcolm Tucker.

Requirements for this new incarnation? Please keep the Scottish accent.

Otherwise just bring everything to this role that has been brought to the rest of his career.  One of my earliest memories of Capaldi which made me love him as an actor was when he played a transvestite in Prime suspect 2. He was heartbreaking, funny and capable of being the bad 'guy'. Brilliant performance and he's done great things since then time after time.

I hope he has an absolute blast in this so demanding role.

Books from Scarthin, Cromford Derbyshire

Danny Gregory has a great book available and a lovely blog as well.  dannygregory.wordpress.com/category/books/an-illustrated-journey/

I can't recommend this book highly enough.

It was purchased from Scarthin Books. www.scarthinbooks.com

Norm's decade

Dear Norm - whose blogging is in turns inspiring and a little intimidating (I've become rubbish at this blogging malarky as the technology and means to do it has vastly lagged behind my wherewithal and energy) - has been blogging for a DECADE at Normblog!

Honestly - Norm you put us to shame even as you spur us on!

Aquatopia: a gallery review (to break a bad pattern)

Aquatopia is the new show at Nottingham Contemporary Art Gallery (locally known as 'tempreh). The subtitle of the show is 'The Imaginary of the Ocean Deep', and to be honest I think it is one of the BEST shows that the gallery has done.

What I think I like about it most is that it combines contemporary art with historical material - putting things into context.

It's also a dense show - the galleries feel FULL: and in a white space, all too often the shows have felt thin, feeble, scarcely enough content to fill one room let alone four.

So we get a show juxtaposing Turner's sea monsters alongside Odilon Redon's illustrative visions; we get sea squids of various shapes, sizes and textures (including Spartacus Chetwynd's disconcerting 'enactment' of Hokusai's "The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife", itself a pretty alarming set of imagery), and we get the smooth sculptural flows of Hepworth sat just opposite a 19th century diving helmet.  You get to see Marcel Broodthaer's mussel shells and various of Christian Holstad's sea-squid 'creations' draped around the gallery ---- each called "This is not a life-saving device".  Well indeed.

To accompany the show there is also the usual variety of talks and other events - films screenings, discussions, documentary presentations, workshops etc.  Everything from the Lovecraftian legends to viewing the deep sea world, Hollywood B-movie sea monsters to ocean soundscapes.

It's a bizarre show in many ways - especially in land-locked Nottingham - but it's worth catching here.  For those who want a more 'apt' setting, an expanded version will be shown at Tate St Ives later in the year.

You should come to 'tempreh.

And at least I have broken the bad pattern of not blogging.  I'm getting rubbish at this aren't I though?!

Cats, bunnies and other animals - a partial post

This is a cat being wrestled into loving submission by virtue of having been peskily jumping on the kitchen surfaces.  Same cat had paw stuck in my mug (foolishly the milk had been put in advance and the kitchen left... fatal error!)

I will add to this post but wanted to get something on this blog before I lose it.