'The Luminaries' by Eleanor Catton
20 December 2013
Eleanor
Catton broke two records this year, becoming the youngest ever winner
of the Man Booker Prize with the longest winning novel, 'The
Luminaries'. An 832-page novel is a daunting prospect for the reader
but I was intrigued by the reviews and decided to tackle it as an
unabridged audio book (lasting more than 29 hours!), narrated by Mark
Meadows. 'The Luminaries is a complicated crime mystery set in the
New Zealand gold rush of the 1860s. The story opens with Walter
Moody, newly arrived in the small town of Hokitika, walking into the
lounge of the Crown Hotel to discover an odd assortment of twelve men
gathered to discuss a series of violent and puzzling recent events.
The truth about what has happened is gradually revealed through the
eyes of these twelve witnesses before the remaining gaps in the story
are filled in from the point of view of its main protagonists. 'The
Luminaries' is written in the style of a Victorian thriller that
could have come from the pen of Wilkie Collins (such as 'The
Moonstone', reviewed here in June 2009, or 'The Woman in White',
reviewed here in October 2012). On the face of it the story is simple
tale of love, deceit, greed and treachery, made complicated by its
length, the large number of characters, the unreliability of some of
its narrators and the non-linear way in which we encounter the main
events. Beneath this narrative Eleanor Catton sets herself a
remarkable challenge, aligning her characters with astrological signs
and planets and relating their interactions with each other to the
relevant star charts. The lengths of her chapters get shorter as the
book progresses, emulating the waning of the moon as the two
principal characters representing the sun and moon (The Luminaries)
are drawn apart and then together. The thriller plot is intriguing
enough to hold your attention without attempting to understand the
astrological underpinning and Catton creates a massive cast of
distinctive characters whose names seem to take on a poetic quality.
There are quite a few loose ends that do not appear to be tied up
(Who did kill Francis Carver? And what role did Adrian Moody play in
the events?). But I enjoyed my 29 hours in Hokitika, Kanieri and the
Arahura.Labels: Books
Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert
20 December 2013
I
was nine years old when the original Star Wars film came out. My
friend Anthony won tickets, in a Manchester Evening News competition,
to the Manchester première of the film, which made us the first kids
in our school to see it. Needless to say, I was a big Star Wars fan.
When I got a copy of the original soundtrack album featuring the
London Symphony Orchestra (a double LP in a gatefold sleeve
containing a free poster – ah, those were the days!), I poured over
and over John Williams' detailed sleeve notes and the full list of
orchestral players – I can still recite most of the names of the
LSO brass section. So it was a dream come true to perform the 'Star
Wars Symphonic Suite' by John Williams at the Northampton Symphony
Orchestra's Christmas Cracker concert last Sunday. The theme of this
year's concert was 'Christmas at the Movies' and the programme also
included a medley from 'The Sound of Music' by Rodgers and
Hammerstein, Danny Elfman's music for the Tim Burton film 'The
Nightmare Before Christmas' and a selection of James Bond themes.
Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, famously said of
the experience: “Acting in this movie I felt like a raisin in a
giant fruit salad. And I didn't even know who the coconuts or the
cantaloups were.” I felt very similarly about our Christmas
Cracker concert: there was so much going on it was hard to take it
all in. We had a capacity audience of 600 in the Spinney Hill Theatre
at Northampton School for Girls. The stage was packed with a huge
orchestra bedecked in tinsel, Santa hats and reindeer antlers. Quite
a few members of the audience (and some of the orchestra) had come
dressed as their favourite film characters – there was a Clint
Eastwood, a Harry Potter, two Batmans and an assortment of Princess
Leias! At the interval Imperial Stormtroopers were on hand to guide
the audience towards the mulled wine and mince pies. Our excellent
compère, Graham Padden, opened the second half of the concert
stripped to the waist to bang a gong in the manner of the Rank
opening credits. And, two seats to my right, Darth Vader was playing
the third Horn part! It was a challenge to concentrate on playing the
music amongst everything else going on but I think our performance
went well and it was certainly a fantastic, festive occasion.Labels: Concerts, Music
'Richard II' by William Shakespeare
20 December 2013
On
Saturday we were at the Barbican in London to see the Royal
Shakespeare Company's production of 'Richard II'. I think we got some
of the last available tickets when I booked, way back in March. David
Tennant's return to the RSC in the title role in Gregory Doran's
first production as the new RSC Artistic Director made this a very
hot ticket. I had worried that more than eight months of anticipation
might have made for an anticlimax but we were not disappointed. This
was a great production of an unusual Shakespeare play. I had not seen
'Richard II' before but I studied 'Henry IV Part 1' at school and it
was fascinating finally to fill in the gaps in the back-story to a
play I am very familiar with. David Tennant was excellent as the
Messiah-like king, with flowing robes and extremely long hair: his
lightning-quick mood turns and comic asides are amazing to watch.
When we saw him as Berowne in 'Love's Labour's Lost' (reviewed here
in October 2008) I said he was “an electric stage presence - very
hard to take your eyes off him”. The same was true in 'Richard II'
but this was much more of an ensemble piece and there were also
fantastic performances by Michael Pennington as John of Gaunt, Nigel
Lindsay as Bolingbroke (who becomes Henry IV) and the magnificent
Oliver Ford Davies as the Duke of York. Doran's production was very
beautiful with a minimal set designed by Stephen Brimson Lewis making
great use of video projection and amazing lighting by Tim Mitchell.
And I loved the music by Paul Englishby which featured a choir of
three sopranos constantly present on a balcony above the stage
together with a band of off-stage trumpeters. Labels: Drama, Theatre
'Sleeping Beauty' by Sue Sachon
13 December 2013
It’s
that time of year again – oh yes it is! On Sunday we were back at
the TADS theatre in Toddington for this year’s pantomime. ‘Sleeping
Beauty’ was written and directed by TADS stalwarts Sue and David
Sachon. This was a magical and charming rendition of the traditional
fairy story with all the usual pantomimic elements in evidence. It
was an excellently acted and impressively produced show which
thrilled an audience packed with very young children. (Though it’s
interesting to note that handing out sweets to the audience always
makes for the most exciting moment of the afternoon!) In a large cast
Judy Palmer’s gormless palace guard, Emily Venn’s twinkly fairy
godmother and the ever-wonderful Janet Bray (as both a guard and a
fairy) stood out for me. And it was great to see Leanne Lyndsey White
– who was excellent as Audrey in the TADS production of Little Shop
of Horrors earlier this year (reviewed here in May 2013) – giving
another impressive performance as Prince Ferdinand.Labels: Drama, Theatre
'Dodger' by James Benmore
6 December 2013
Great works of
fiction create characters that appear to have an existence beyond the
particular tale being told. It's always fascinating to wonder what
happened to those characters before or after our brief encounter with
them. Literary sequels and prequels have an honourable tradition
(from 'The Wide Sargasso Sea' by Jean Rhys to the Gregory Maguire's
novels 'Wicked' and 'Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister' (reviewed
here in March 2008) and Andrew Motion's 'Treasure Island' sequel
'Silver' (reviewed here in May 2012)). There's something particularly
compelling about those works that take relatively minor characters
from an earlier story and put them centre stage (such as Tom
Stoppard's 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead'). So I was pleased
to discover James Benmore's novel 'Dodger' which brings Jack Dawkins
– the Artful Dodger – back to London six years after having been
transported to Australia for the theft of a silver snuff box at the
end of 'Oliver Twist'. Dawkins discovers that London has changed in
his absence: Fagin, Bill Sikes and Nancy are all dead and the
introduction of the Peelers has made the business of picking pockets
much more hazardous. 'Dodger' takes us back into Dickensian London
but it's not Dickens. The characters are great fun and there's an
intriguing mystery to be solved but this is an easy and enjoyable
read that doesn't attempt a Dickensian style or much social comment.
Still, Dawkins is an engaging young adult and his first-person
narration (with its cockney accent) is entertaining and often very
funny. Labels: Books
