'Fargo' by Noah Hawley
27 October 2017
I’ve just finished watching the third season of ‘Fargo’, Noah Hawley’s superlative TV series inspired by the 1996 Coen Brothers film. [Excessive hyperbole warning: readers who feel that my reviews are too often overly enthusiastic may want to look away now.] I love ‘Fargo’: it’s a televisual work of art – gripping, funny, bleak, beautiful, clever and playful. The male characters tend to be weak and foolish while the women are intelligent and strong. In this third series Ewan McGregor is great as both of the warring brothers at the centre of the story and David Thewlis is an incredibly creepy villain, but the female leads – Carrie Coon as Police Chief Gloria Burgle and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as ex-convict and semi-professional bridge player Nikki Swango – are truly magnificent. I appreciate that ‘Fargo’ may not be to everyone’s taste: the plot is deliberately confusing, with occasional surreal digressions and some brutal violence. But it is a beautifully constructed show, visually stunning and with a wonderful use of music. Season 3 has a running musical theme of New Orleans brass bands, featuring tracks by Minor Mishap Marching Band, Rebirth Brass Band, Youngblood Brass Band and Galactic. But then, for no particular reason, one episode uses Prokofiev’s ‘Peter and the Wolf’, musically labelling each of the main characters as Peter, the bird, the cat, the wolf etc. ‘Fargo’ is a very black comedy drama – excruciating, surprising, hilarious, thrilling and terribly satisfying.
Labels: Drama, TV
‘Luminate Short Encounters’
27 October 2017
On Wednesday afternoon I was at the WHALE Community Cinema in WHALE Arts Centre, Wester Hailes, Edinburgh, to watch ‘Luminate Short Encounters’ – a series of seven short documentary films dealing with various aspects of ageing. These included one of the excellent 'Directed by North Merchiston' films by Duncan Cowles that were commissioned by Luminate in 2016. Each of the seven films were fascinating in very different ways. I particularly enjoyed ‘Bacon and God’s Wrath’ – a Canadian film by Sol Friedman which shows how a 90-year old Jewish woman, Razie Brownstone, having reached a new chapter in her life, begins to question her religion and decides to take the significant step to eat bacon for the first time. And I was gripped by ‘Nae Pasaran’ – a film by Chilean director Felipe Bustos Sierra which reunites three of the Scottish factory workers who, in 1974, refused to carry out repairs on war planes used in the violent military coup in Chile in an expression of solidarity with the Chilean people. ‘Luminate Short Encounters’ was a surprising and thought-provoking collection of short films and, in common with all the Luminate Festival events I have visited this week, was presented by WHALE Arts with a very warm, friendly welcome and copious amounts of free refreshments.
Labels: Film, Luminate2017
‘When We Were Young’
27 October 2017
Also on Wednesday morning I visited the Scottish National Portrait Gallery photography exhibition ‘When We Were Young’ which uses photographs drawn from the National Galleries of Scotland collection to explore various aspects of childhood. It documents the experience and representation of childhood to coincide with Scotland's Year of the Young Person 2018. The exhibition is divided into thematic sections on Family, School, Work and Play and includes some amazing black & white photos from the 1840s through to contemporary digital photography. There are many stunning photos on display but my favourite was the enormous print of Wendy McMurdo’s 199 picture ‘Girl with Bears’, which you can see online at:
https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/57370/girl-bears-royal-museum-scotland-edinburghLabels: Exhibitions, Luminate2017, VisualArt
‘Step into My Parlour’ by Michelle Burke
27 October 2017
On Wednesday morning I was at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh for ‘Step into My Parlour’ – a dementia-friendly event as part of the Luminate Festival. The singer Michelle Burke and pianist James Ross performed songs celebrating the theme of childhood, linked to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s photography exhibition ‘When We Were Young’. Inspired by photographs and documents found in Michelle’s grandparents’ house in County Cork, it was a lovely show which gently prompted the audience’s own memories of childhood. Michelle sang a mixture of Irish folk songs and singalong standards. She has a beautifully clear voice with a strong Irish accent, and reminded me of my favourite Nottingham folk singer, Ruth Notman (albeit with a different accent). There is a real skill in working with an audience with wide-ranging and inconsistent levels of understanding but Michelle managed to keep everyone enthralled. Most of the songs she performed are on her album ‘Step Into My Parlour’ (which features some impressive musical guests):
https://open.spotify.com/album/6JXgn1qDq8aul8DdTBYHSL. You can also see more about the ideas behind ‘Step Into My Parlour’ in this promo film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyoHhBFkYNQ.
Labels: Concerts, Luminate2017, Music
‘Appalachian Autumn’ by Kick the Cat
27 October 2017
On Tuesday evening I was at Dean Bowling Club in the Comely Bank area of Edinburgh to take part in ‘Appalachian Autumn’ – a clog dancing workshop organised as part of the Luminate Festival by Kick the Cat, Scotland's only Appalachian dance group. Kick the Cat meet every Tuesday at the Bowling Club but opened their doors this week for a beginners’ workshop and demonstration. Appalachian dancing is a fascinating missing link between folk dance and tap. Scottish and Irish immigrants brought their clog dancing traditions to the new world and gradually assimilated influences from Native American and African American culture. The clogs were replaced by formal shoes with metal taps on the toes and heels and the dancing became more performance than social, leading to the development of tap dancing. The Appalachian dancing practised by Kick the Cat is a curious hybrid of recognisable tap steps (shuffles, step-ball-changes and heel taps) in a ceilidh format, dancing with a partner and progressing around a circle. Kick the Cat demonstrated some amazing routines and we all then had a go at a sequence of steps, reassuringly titled ‘Dead Easy’. It was great fun in a really friendly and welcoming atmosphere. I’m only sorry I can’t return next Tuesday.
Labels: Dance, Luminate2017
WeCAN workshops
27 October 2017
On Tuesday afternoon I was in The Studio at Edinburgh Festival Theatre for two WeCAN workshops as part of Luminate 2017 - Scotland's creative ageing festival. WeCAN Edinburgh is made up of a group of organisations who deliver creative activities for people with dementia and their carers. The organisations include: Alzheimer Scotland, Festival Theatre, Art in Healthcare, Hears and Minds, Dance Base and Music in Hospitals. On Tuesday the Festival Theatre hosted two dementia-friendly workshops delivered by Dance Base and Art in Healthcare. I joined a group of about 20 people with dementia and their carers for a session of seated dance moves, which proved to be a surprisingly rigorous workout that was great fun. We then moved to tables in the bar area to explore visual art techniques involving chalks, watercolours and pencils – responding to the inspiration provided by an exhibition of works from the Art in Healthcare collection. It was a lovely afternoon, with lunch and afternoon tea laid on by the Festival Theatre, and it was great to see people getting over their inhibitions and expressing themselves creatively in a variety of ways in a very friendly and supportive environment.
Labels: Dance, Luminate2017, VisualArt
'The Caretaker' by Harold Pinter
24 October 2017
On Saturday we were at the Royal Theatre in Northampton to see Christopher Haydon’s production of ‘The Caretaker’ by Harold Pinter – a joint production by Bristol Old Vic and the Royal & Derngate, Northampton. I had only seen ‘The Caretaker’ once before, many years ago, but the play’s three characters were still very familiar. I was struck by the similarities with Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot’ which premiered (in English) in 1955, five years before ‘The Caretaker’, and has a similar sense of ennui (and a similar fascination with the importance of a good pair of shoes). Christopher Haydon’s production features an all-black cast, led by Patrice Naiambana as Davies, which lends a particular frisson to that character’s casual racism. The movement of all three actors was particularly impressive, with each adopting a very distinctive physical style. And Oliver Townsend’s wonderful set focuses the action around a circular stage with floorboards emanating outwards from a central point and an array of oddments of furniture and other collected junk hung vertiginously around the space like a frozen explosion in Steptoe & Son’s yard. ‘The Caretaker’ is a strange play, with little plot but a series of fascinating exchanges and a nagging, sinister atmosphere. This was a very impressive production: you can get a brief flavour of it at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=69&v=T7MqziZl1VwLabels: Drama, Theatre
Dancing at Blackpool Tower Ballroom
18 October 2017
On Saturday we made our third annual visit to Blackpool to dance in the Tower Ballroom. Once again, a group of us from Milton Keynes Dance Centre joined more than 500 dancers at the Wembley Stadium of ballroom dancing for an evening organised by Philip Hurst. I have enjoyed these dances more each year – familiarity helping us to know how to pace ourselves through five hours of dancing. Trying to get into Blackpool on a Saturday evening while the Illuminations are on is a major challenge but there is nothing quite like dancing in the ridiculous grandeur of the Tower Ballroom.
Labels: Dance
'Madness is Better Than Defeat' by Ned Beauman
13 October 2017
Ned Beauman's novel 'The Teleportation Accident' (reviewed here in July 2013) was the best book I read in 2013 (indeed it was my overall cultural Pick of the Year). His new novel, ‘Madness is Better Than Defeat’ (which I have just finished reading as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Eric Meyers) is definitely in the running for a similar accolade at the end of 2017. After setting his previous novel, ‘Glow’ (reviewed here in June 2014), in contemporary London, ‘Madness is Better Than Defeat’ returns Beauman to the kind of historical 20th century setting that seems to suit him best. It tells the tale of two ill-fated American expeditions which arrive simultaneously at a recently discovered Mayan temple in the jungle of Spanish Honduras in 1938 – one party intent on dismantling the temple and transporting it back to New York, while the other had planned to use the temple as the backdrop for a Hollywood film, ‘Hearts of Darkness’. A stand-off in the jungle ensues – and lasts for the next 20 years! But, of course with a Ned Beaman novel, it’s much more complicated than that. He presents at least four explanations for the bizarre events in the jungle, constructing an incredibly complex nest of narratives and never quite explaining who or what we are expected to believe. Like each of his previous books, ‘Madness is Better Than Defeat’ is clever, surprising, baffling, hilarious, and completely bonkers. Beauman writes beautifully witty similes and metaphors
: “overhead there flew a macau with prismatic feathers, like an advance scout for a rainbow”. The plot is deliberately confusing but what this book is really about is the process of narrative. ‘Madness is Better Than Defeat’ takes the idea of an unreliable narrator to new extremes (even offering a rational explanation, of sorts, for the presence of an omniscient third-person narrator). This a jigsaw puzzle tale, told by someone who wasn’t present at most of the events that are recounted. And the timeframe jumps backwards and forwards between 1938 and 1959, only very gradually (and partially) filling in huge gaps in the story. Many of the characters have plenty to say about way you should construct a story – creating a meta narrative about the way the book itself is built. If that sounds perplexing, it is – but in a very entertaining way. This is ‘Citizen Kane’ plus ‘Lord of the Flies’ and ‘Treasure Island’ reimagined by Graham Greene. I loved it.
Labels: Books
Tom Robinson
12 October 2017
Regular readers will know I am a big fan of Tom Robinson who we saw perform many times across the country in the 1990s. After twelve years of ‘retirement’ from touring, it was wonderful to witness his return with a one-off gig at the Jazz Cafe (reviewed here in August 2014). Following a tour to promote a new album in 2015 (reviewed here in November 2015), Tom Robinson is now touring again to mark the 40th anniversary of his first hit single ‘2-4-6-8 Motorway’. With a new band, featuring Adam Phillips, Andy Treacey and Jim Simmons, he is performing the whole of the first Tom Robinson Band album ‘Power in the Darkness’ which was released in 1978 (including some songs the Tom Robinson Band never performed live because they were too difficult!). We were at The Stables in Milton Keynes on Wednesday for the second date in the tour and it was a fantastic evening. Tom Robinson has such a big back catalogue that his concerts usually provide a richly varied mix of musical styles, but this performance of songs from a single album (plus the EP that immediately followed it) strangely felt more satisfying, giving a coherence and consistency to the music. And there are some great songs on ‘Power in the Darkness’ which opens with a brilliant rock number in ‘Up Against the Wall’ and closes with the title track – here updated to comment on the crazy politics of 2017. Tom Robinson was on great form: now 67 years old he needed a little more recovery time between songs but showed no lack of energy in performance. And the band were incredibly impressive. With support from the wonderful Lee Forsyth Griffiths – who we first saw supporting Tom Robinson at The Stables in 2001 – and a rapturous reception from a sold-out audience, it was a magnificent gig.
Labels: Concerts, Music
'Promise and Promiscuity' by Penny Ashton
11 October 2017
‘Promise and Promiscuity’ is “a new musical by Jane Austen and New Zealand’s Penny Ashton” which we saw at the Stantonbury Theatre in Milton Keynes on Tuesday. In this one-woman fringe show, Penny Ashton creates a mock Jane Austen tale, combining elements from ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and ‘Sense and Sensibility’ with contemporary references and some songs. It’s a very entertaining performance and Ashton is an excellent performer. Her physical movement is particularly impressive and helps her to switch rapidly between multiple characters without the need for props or costumes. In her wordless curtain calls as the main characters we instantly knew who each was meant to be. ‘Promise and Promiscuity’ is clearly a labour of love and demonstrates Penny Ashton’s affection for Jane Austen’s novels, while gently poking fun at them. At times I felt it fell somewhere between satirising Austen and simply re-creating an Austen story – not as cheekily postmodern as the improvised ‘Austentatious’ (reviewed here in August 2012) but not quite straight Jane Austen either. Nevertheless it was great fun and Penny Ashton is a very likeable performer.
Labels: Comedy, Drama, Theatre
'Searching for Dr Branovic' by David Tristram
3 October 2017
We first encountered the blissfully silly plays of David Tristram at the TADS Theatre in Toddington in 2009 when the TADS Theatre Group presented his surreal murder mystery ‘Inspector Drake and the Black Widow’ (reviewed here in April 2009). We returned to TADS to see the other two Inspector Drake plays (reviewed here in July 2010 and April 2011) and thoroughly enjoyed them. So it was a treat to discover a new David Tristram play at TADS last Saturday. ‘Searching for Doctor Branovic’ is a very clever farce which is set in a more realistic universe than Inspector Drake but still has some of the same ridiculous but consistent internal logic and a good line in running jokes. The cast in David Sachon’s production were all great but David Hillman as the exasperated Detective Inspector Munroe stood out and Chloe White stole the show as the bewildered widow whose husband appears to be less dead than initially thought.
Labels: Drama, Theatre
