'The Woman Who Died a Lot' by Jasper Fforde
26 April 2012
It’s some time since I last visited the wonderfully silly
parallel-universe Swindon inhabited by Jasper Fforde’s literary detective,
Thursday Next (‘First Among Sequels’, reviewed here in April 2009). So it was a
great pleasure to reacquaint myself with Thursday’s friends, family, colleagues
and enemies in Jasper Fforde’s new Thursday Next novel, ‘The Woman Who Died a
Lot’. If you haven’t worked your way through the Thursday Next canon I suspect
this would be completely incomprehensible: even an experienced Nextian has to
pay attention to work out what is going on. This is a tale of the after-effects
of the end of time travel, the use of dodos to explore unpublished fiction and
the difficulties of knowing whether the body you are inhabiting is your own or
a time-limited replica. I’m not sure whether you would call this science
fiction, fantasy or comedy: it’s delightfully silly and very clever. Despite
the complexity of the plot ‘The Woman Who Died a Lot’ felt like light relief
after Fforde’s very different previous novel 'Shades of Grey' (no, not that
one! – reviewed here in April 2011) which I found hard work. I was pleased to
be reminded of the tourist slogan of the Socialist Republic of Wales (“not
always raining”), to finally twig that ‘Thursday Next’ is itself a line from ‘Romeo
and Juliet’ and to discover that there is now an annual gathering of Jasper
Fforde fans in Swindon (obviously) which is inevitably called the ‘Fforde
Fiesta’!
Labels: Books
'Romeo and Juliet' by William Shakespeare
26 July 2012
The final performance of the RSC Open Stages National Showcase
was an amazing production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by Rugby Theatre, directed by
Robert Sloan. In this version, set in contemporary Britain, when the Capulet
boys first taunt the Montagues in the street it is a shockingly brilliant
moment as the Montagues shout back at them in Polish. Portraying the Montagues
as an immigrant Polish community, played by Polish-speaking actors, gives the
play a fascinating modern slant. The Polish characters sometimes speak Shakespeare’s
text translated into Polish (but retaining the rhyming couplets!) but mostly
they speak in Polish-accented English. Most believably, at the times of greatest
emotion they naturally slip back into their native language. The Rugby Theatre
production was excellently acted. Romeo was muscular, tattooed and
shaven-headed but betrayed a childish vulnerability. Juliet was outstanding –
tiny and clearly very young she was excitable, naïve, emotional and totally
believable. This was a very funny production with some assured and witty comedy
in the scenes featuring Mercutio and Benvolio (here a tall, bleached-blond
Polish girl). The Nurse was played almost as a pantomime dame, appearing in
more and more outlandish costumes. Yet it was also an incredibly realistic
production: you could feel the angst of Romeo’s Polish-speaking parents and the
knife-crime violence of the gangs was frighteningly real. Rugby Theatre made
good use of Jon Bausor’s set for the RSC production of ‘Twelfth Night’
(reviewed here in March 2012), Mercutio dangling his feet into the pool of
water at the front of the stage and characters getting temporarily stuck in the
eccentrically angled revolving door. The biggest audience of the RSC Open
Stages National Showcase almost filled the lower levels of the Royal
Shakespeare Theatre and rose to a spontaneous standing ovation at the end of
the evening. It was a brilliant end to two wonderful weekends of amateur theatre
in Stratford-upon-Avon: ordinary people: extraordinary performances!
Labels: Drama, RSCOpenStages, Theatre
'Brush Up Your Shakespeare' by Penny Gorman
26 July 2012
On Sunday evening the RSC Open Stages National Showcase
moved into the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon for its final
two performances. The first of these was ‘Brush Up Your Shakespeare’, a
marvellous production by the Luxulyan Amateur Dramatic Society from Cornwall,
written and directed by Luxulyan member Penny Gorman. ‘Brush Up Your
Shakespeare’ follows a bored schoolgirl, Suzannah, who is persuaded to take a
trip on an open-top tour bus in Stratford-upon-Avon, only to discover that this
bus doesn’t visit the usual tourist attractions. Instead it travels through ‘Villains’,
‘Kings’, ‘Tragic Heroes’, ‘Lovers’ and ‘Clowns’. This allows the show to
incorporate many of Shakespeare’s most famous scenes, visiting the best-known
plays and encountering the most infamous Shakespearean characters along the
way. This was an inventive, ambitious and versatile production, featuring some
great acting and some very ingenious touches. Puck acts as a linking character
throughout the story and is portrayed as a modern teenage girl wearing a hoodie
and a mock-French Connection T-shirt bearing the letters ‘PCUK’. And when the
ass-headed Bottom becomes infatuated with Titania he performs a striptease,
revealing his boxer shorts, the back of which bear the informative word ‘BOTTOM’.
‘Brush Up Your Shakespeare’ was clever and extremely entertaining. It felt
occasionally as if it hadn’t really decided whether it was aiming at children
of Suzannah’s age or adults but it was incredibly enjoyable nonetheless.
Labels: Drama, RSCOpenStages, Theatre
'Much Ado About Nothing' by William Shakespeare
26 July 2012
On Sunday afternoon I joined the crowds in beautiful
sunshine at The Dell, the RSC’s open-air performance space next to the river in
Stratford-upon-Avon, to watch the Royal Navy Theatre Association production of ‘Much
Ado About Nothing’ as part of the RSC Open Stages National Showcase. The stage at The Dell is under an open-sided marquee, with
views through to trees and foliage behind. We had all just found a spot to sit
on the grass in sight of the stage when we were surprised to hear the national
anthem – but of course the Royal Navy Theatre Association would start their
performance with the national anthem. Outdoor performances of Shakespeare
require a different technique: they have to be slightly broader and exaggerated
compared to acting in an intimate indoor theatre. The Royal Navy Theatre
Association really made the play work in this setting. Much of the comedy was
really funny and Sarah Miatt and Tim Stokes were excellent as Beatrice and
Benedick. I was also impressed by Surgeon Captain Mike Howell as Don Pedro. ‘Much
Ado About Nothing’ starts with soldiers returning from a war and there was an
added poignancy to this production knowing that many of the actors have
recently returned from active service in Afghanistan. Using genuine
contemporary uniforms, and with some added naval references, there was a clear
reality underpinning the comedy. Even the uniformed stage crew brought a naval
efficiency to shifting the props and furniture. And it was wonderful to see
this article about The Royal Naval Theatre Association in The Guardian last
week: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2012/jul/17/shakespeare-amateur-theatre-open-stages?newsfeed=true.
Labels: Drama, RSCOpenStages, Theatre
'Hamlet' by William Shakespeare
25 July 2012
Rather than try to condense the whole play into one act, Studio
Theatre from Salisbury, who won the All-England Theatre Festival/RSC Open
Stages Final of the National Shakespeare Competition, presented a performance
of one section of ‘Hamlet’ at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon as part
of the RSC Open Stages National Showcase last Saturday. After a brief (and
extremely effective) résumé of the early scenes of the play, they performed the
central part in full, beginning with the arrival of the players and concluding
with Hamlet’s departure for England. This was a stunning performance – some of
the highest standard amateur acting I have ever seen. All of the cast were
outstanding and the actor playing Hamlet gave an incredible performance which would
bear favourable comparison with some of the highest profile professional
Hamlets of recent years. His movement was compelling and you could see him
thinking of and arriving at his lines rather than merely reciting them. Ophelia
was an intelligent, thoughtful and believable performance. Claudius was
powerful and determined whilst also vulnerable and surprisingly sympathetic. Polonius
was serious and officious – more like Malvolio from ‘Twelfth Night’ than the
buffoon he is sometime portrayed as. It’s hard to convey how thrilling the
Studio Theatre performance was, played very straight without any tricks or gimmicks
– just extremely well-acted. A wonderful example of the heights to which
amateur theatre can climb.
Labels: Drama, RSCOpenStages, Theatre
‘Witches of Macbeth’ adapted from William Shakespeare
25 July 2012
When we held the original consultative weekend in
Stratford-upon-Avon in 2009 at which we designed what became RSC Open Stages,
we asked representatives of voluntary arts umbrella bodies to devise a number
of options for the project. At the end of the weekend we voted on these options
and, famously, ‘competition’ was the winner. We agreed that it was very
important that there should be a competitive element to Open Stages and that
there should be a route through the project for those amateur theatre groups
who take part in competitive drama festivals. The two amateur performances at
the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon last Saturday as part of the RSC Open Stages National Showcase were winners from the
Welsh Regional One-Act Festival and the All England Theatre Festival. Rather than
having to shorten their productions for our RSC Open Stages National Showcase,
these groups had prepared one-act plays that fitted the double-bill format
perfectly. Both were versions of famous Shakespeare plays but they took very
different approaches to creating their one-act versions.
‘Witches of Macbeth’ was a fifty-minute adaptation of the
Scottish Play, consisting of 17 short scenes with greater emphasis on the role
of the witches. In this production, by the Phoenix Theatre Company from Mold,
North Wales, the witches were ever-present, lurking in the background in every
scene. At first this reminded me of Tom Stoppard’s ‘Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern are Dead’ but the witches were far from peripheral to this story.
They hovered, unseen, beside Lady Macbeth, putting thoughts into her head and
words in her mouth. When Macbeth dispatched assassins to kill Macduff’s wife
and children it was the witches he sent. The Weird Sisters were constantly
moulding the story and shaping the Macbeths’ destiny.
As well as the witches, the actors playing Macbeth and Lady
Macbeth were very strong. When she said “give me the daggers” it was an
exclamation of genuine exasperation with her husband. Phoenix Theatre Company
coped well with the vertiginously sloping set of ‘A Soldier In Every Son – The
Rise of the Aztecs’ which dominated the stage of the Swan Theatre, making it
seem like it had been designed for them, The Swan was almost full and there was
a great atmosphere. ‘Witches of Macbeth’ was excellent, rattling through the
story without ever feeling rushed.
Labels: Drama, RSCOpenStages, Theatre
Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert
18 July 2012
The final concert of the Northampton Symphony Orchestra’s
season is always a free Sunday afternoon performance to the Friends of the
Orchestra. This is a lovely way to thank the Friends for their support
throughout the year while also providing the orchestra with the opportunity to
explore repertoire that might not easily fit into a standard concert. This year
the Friends concert featured Wagner’s rousing ‘Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin’
and the mighty ‘March Slave’ by Tchaikovsky. We also played two pieces with
Spanish themes written by French composers – the delightful ‘Espana’ by
Chabrier, with its flamenco syncopation, and ‘Carmen Suite No 2’ by Bizet,
featuring an excellent off-stage trumpet solo by Nick Bunker. This was a short
but heavy programme with some great tunes and powerful themes. I’m not sure
whether our audience in the Cripps Hall at Northampton School for Boys chose to
cluster at the back of the stalls because the view is better from there or
actually started sitting at the front and were propelled backwards by the
volume of the music! It was a lovely concert and a nice way to end our 2011-12
season.
Labels: Concerts, Music
‘MacBeth in Scots’ by William Shakespeare, translated by Robin Lorimer
18 July 2012
Later on Saturday evening the Courtyard Theatre hosted 'MacBeth in Scots', translated from Shakespeare by Robin Lorimer and performed by Edinburgh Theatre Arts as part of the RSC Open Stages National Showcase. From the start we knew we were in safe hands: this was clearly an experienced and confident amateur theatre group. The large cast was packed with talented actors and the staging, costumes and set design were subtle and clever. It was fascinating to spot the most famous lines of the play in slightly unfamiliar form in their Scots versions and I had no difficulty in following the proceedings. Danny Farrimond as MacBeth and Edith Peers as Lady MacBeth conveyed the emotional journeys of the characters with skill and empathy, though Colin McPherson's Janitor almost stole the show in a great comic interlude amidst the tragedy. Edinburgh Theatre Arts will be performing 'MacBeth in Scots' from 6 to 18 August at St Ninian's Hall, Edinburgh, as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.Labels: Drama, RSCOpenStages, Theatre
'Julius Caesar’ by William Shakespeare
18 July 2012
I was back at the RSC Open Stages National Showcase at the Courtyard
Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon on Saturday to see ‘Julius Caesar’ performed by
Rainbow Factory from Belfast. This thrilling, fast-moving production set the
play on the Shankill Road in the early 2000′s. The crowd scenes featured
track-suited teenage mothers with pushchairs and youths in hoodies clutching
cans of lager, in front of sectarian murals. This was a Senate of folding
plastic chairs which became protest placards, brandished by an angry mob. The
young cast brought an urgency and energy to the text, though the lines were often
difficult to hear because of their rapid speed of delivery. There was no
difficulty following the plot, however, which was clearly communicated. It was
an exciting and extremely violent depiction of shifting allegiances and the
power of the mob, with knives, guns and balaclavas to the fore. I don’t have a
cast list to properly credit the actors but Mark Anthony was, for me, the pick
of the performances – an assured actor with the confidence to slow things down
occasionally amid the frantic action. And Cassius, Brutus and Julius Caesar
were also very strong – believable characters who were compelling to watch.
Labels: Drama, RSCOpenStages, Theatre
'Baba Shakespeare' by Emmeline Winterbotham
16 July 2012
As I entered the auditorium of the Courtyard Theatre inStratford-upon-Avon on Friday evening I was listening carefully to the
pre-show chatter. Two RSC front-of-house staff were deep in conversation with
one saying clearly to the other “no, the rules about photography and video
recording are same as for any other show”. Someone at the back of the stalls
was asking his neighbour “which workshop are you going to tomorrow? I thought I
would do the voice one”. And to the side of me someone else was carefully
explaining “yes, some amateur theatre groups do light, easy plays but others do
really ambitious things”. This was RSC Open Stages: some of the country’s best
amateur theatre had come to town.
It was fitting that the RSC Open Stages
National Showcase should begin in the Courtyard Theatre. This was the setting,
in November 2009, for the creative planning weekend at which we designed the
Open Stages project. More than two and half years ago Voluntary Arts brought 65
representatives of national voluntary arts umbrella bodies to
Stratford-upon-Avon for a weekend to work with RSC staff and actors to develop
ideas for the 2012 World Shakespeare Festival. Now, at the end of a journey
that has included skills-sharing workshops that have brought together amateurs
and professionals across the UK, national competitions and more than 260
amateur productions, some of the best RSC Open Stages shows have been given the
opportunity to perform in the RSC’s own theatres in Stratford-upon-Avon,
alongside professional productions from across the world, as part of the World
Shakespeare Festival.
The first National Showcase performance, on Friday, was
by the Tower Theatre Company from London. They performed ‘Baba Shakespeare’ – a
new play written and directed by Emmeline Winterbotham, suggested by the
Merchant Ivory film ‘Shakespeare Wallah’, which itself was based on the real
life experiences of Felicity Kendal’s father’s company ‘Shakespeareana’. Set in
1961, ‘Baba Shakespeare’ tells the tale of a troupe of British actors touring an
India that no longer values their Shakespearean productions as it once did. The
Tower Theatre Company’s production was ambitious and impressive, encompassing a
variety of set-piece scenes that included puppetry, Bollywood dancing and
excerpts from a range of Shakespeare plays. The cast of 26 included a high proportion
of young Asian actors and dancers and the standard of performance was uniformly
high. Ian Recordon and Simona Hughes as Tony and Clare Buckingham, Lizzy Barber
as their daughter, Lizzie, and Cael King as Sanju Rai, with whom she falls in
love, were all excellent – as was Llila Vis as the Bollywood film star Manjula
(played in the original film by Madhur Jaffrey). The ensemble playing was very
slick, with some great comedy, particularly that involving Ankur Chopra as
Gupta.
The Tower Theatre Company felt at home in the large Courtyard Theatre
and the measure of their success was that there were times when I genuinely
forgot I wasn’t watching the RSC and had to remind myself that this was an
amateur theatre production. ‘Baba Shakespeare’ was a great way to start the RSC
Open Stages National Showcase: it is a play about theatre, and about
Shakespeare, and there are references within the text to maybe playing upon the
stage at Stratford one day. Looking at Shakespeare in an Indian context also
emphasises his global reach: this was a fitting first contribution from the UK’s
amateur theatre sector to the 2012 World Shakespeare Festival.
Labels: Drama, RSCOpenStages, Theatre
Olympic Torch Relay
13 July 2012
On Monday morning I was in Milton Keynes to watch the
Olympic Torch Relay go past. I was surprised how many people had turned up at
8.30 am on a Monday morning: it was packed. And it was surprisingly exciting
watching families crowding the route with children sneaking out onto the road
to see if the torch was coming. One boy near me had a cardboard and tissue
paper replica torch and lots of people were eagerly waving flags. There was a
friendly mood with police officers on motorbikes slowing to slap the outstretched
hands of the youngsters as they passed. You can read biographies of each of the
torch-bearers on the London 2012 website and the variety of personal stories
reminded me of the Antony Gormley 'One and Other' project on the fourth plinth
in Trafalgar Square. The actual moment the torch went past was fairly fleeting
but I got a good look at it and I’m pleased to be able to say I was there the
day the Olympic flame came to Milton Keynes. See: http://www.voluntaryarts.org/london-2012-cultural-olympiad/line-the-route-of-the-olympic-torch-relay/
and some of my photos at: http://culturaloutlook.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=torch+relay
Labels: Festivals, Sport
‘Mrs Robinson's Disgrace: The Private Diary of a Victorian Lady’ by Kate Summerscale
13 July 2012
In 'The Suspicions of Mr Whicher' (reviewed here in April
2009) Kate Summerscale constructed a gripping picture of a real Victorian
murder mystery, drawing on a wide range of evidence and research. Her latest
book takes a similar approach to tell the story of a very different court case
from the same era. ‘Mrs Robinson's Disgrace: The Private Diary of a Victorian
Lady’ deals with one of the first divorce cases brought under the new
Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857. Isabella Robinson’s apparent infidelity was discovered
by her husband, Henry, when he came across her incredibly candid personal
diary. It is this diary that forms the main evidence against her in the trial. The
fact that Henry is himself openly unfaithful to Isabella appears to be
irrelevant and the sexual inequalities of the time become more evident as the
divorce proceeds. As in ‘The Suspicions of Mr Whicher’, Kate Summerscale
creates a vivid social history of the Victorian middle classes. It’s amazing how
many key characters of the age (including Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens and
George Eliot) drift in and out of the Robinsons’ lives. I read ‘Mrs Robinson’s
Disgrace’ as an unabridged audio book narrated by Jenny Agutter. I’m not sure
it worked so well as an audio book because the need to indicate, by tone of
voice, which words are quotations from original source material really breaks
up many of the sentences. Though, without this indication much of the book
might sound like a fictionalised account which would have seriously reduced its
power. Nevertheless it’s a fascinating work and a compelling story.
Labels: Books
Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert
6 July 2012
Tchaikovsky’s ‘Manfred Symphony’ is a big, heavy, long and
loud piece of music. Its length and the technical challenges it presents mean
it is rarely performed. I hadn’t heard it before we started rehearsing it for
our latest Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert. The Manfred Symphony feels
quite different from Tchaikovsky’s other symphonies. It’s a programmatic piece,
based on Byron’s epic dramatic poem. At times it sounds almost like a Mahler
symphony. The big tunes are stirring and dramatic and I enjoyed tackling the
recurring horn call solos. I suspect the Manfred Symphony might have been more
fun to play than it was for our audience to listen to but I think we gave a
very presentable account of it at the concert. The rest of our programme included
another infrequently played work by a well-known composer – the overture ‘In
Nature’s Realm’ by Dvořák. This is a gentle, pastoral piece which contains plenty
of echoes of other Dvořák compositions (including the New World Symphony) and seems
to suggest the influence of Mendelssohn. The concert also featured Mozart’s wonderful
‘Clarinet Concerto’, impressively played by John Sharp. The slow movement in
particular is achingly beautiful.
Labels: Concerts, Music
