'Big Sky' by Kate Atkinson
30 July 2019
What a treat to return to the world of Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie novels after so many years. The fifth novel in the series, ‘Big Sky’, belatedly follows ‘Started Early, Took My Dog’ (reviewed here in April 2011). Jackson Brodie (and several other returning characters) have moved on since then but ‘Big Sky’ is a familiarly multi-stranded mystery, most of which Brodie the private investigator seems unaware of until it bumps into him. The subject matter is particularly grim this time, with a story of child sexual abuse and modern slavery. But Atkinson manages to find humour in dark corners. I love the way each character’s interior thoughts are frequently answered by someone else (in a kind of flashback to when they had previously discussed the same points). And it was lovely to read ‘Big Sky’ as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Jason Isaacs, who played Jackson Brodie in the TV adaptations of the earlier novels.
Labels: Books
WOMAD 2019
30 July 2019
My annual visit to the WOMAD Festival, in Charlton Park near Malmesbury in Wiltshire, was slightly shorter than usual this year as we were attending a wedding in Lancashire last Friday. But I made it to WOMAD for Saturday and Sunday and experienced near perfect weather – dry and warm, not too hot and not a drop of rain. The music was pretty good too. I saw 14 full performances from across the globe. My highlights included the other worldly ethereal sounds of South Saami singer Marja Mortensson from Norway joiking accompanied by electronics, percussion and tuba. The former child soldier turned rapper Emmanuel Jal from South Sudan is a brilliant showman, performing here with his sister Nyaruach from whom he was separated for 20 years. I enjoyed the exuberant set by Balkan brass/klezmer band Lemon Bucket Orkestra from Toronto. And it was great to see ‘Kraftwerk Re:Werk’ - a symphonic reworking of the classic 1977 Kraftwerk album ‘Trans-Europe Express’ by composers Charlotte Harding and Lloyd Coleman. The performance of this 40-minute, 6-movement piece by Army of Generals and the British Paraorchestra (the orchestra of professional disabled musicians originally formed for the London 2012 Paralympics closing ceremony) conducted by Charles Hazlewood was stunning. I also really enjoyed seeing Orquesta Akokan – a gloriously old-fashioned band from Cuba playing traditional mambo and swing from the 1940s and 1950s. But my pick of the festival was the six piece vocal group San Salvador, from the Massif Central in southern France, who sing in Occitan, mostly a capella but with occasional drums and other percussion. Their scrunchy vocal harmonies (sung by three men and three women) reminded me of my favourite Finnish folk/rock band Värttinä (reviewed here in August 2006) and of the famous Sardinian singing shepherds, Tenores de Bitti (reviewed here in June 2007). I loved how theatrical each of San Salvador’s long and varied songs were, while being performed with a serious intensity. There was no imploring the audience to clap along nor any need to whoop up the crowd – just a hypnotic performance of vocal drones, rapid fire chanting (sounding at times like the auctioneer in a livestock sale) and complex accelerating rhythms. And the massive crowd in the Siam Tent responded with the most genuine and prolonged wave of adulation of the weekend. Take a look at San Salvador performing at Womex 2018 here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgUhP9qQYBw And you can see a selection of my photos from WOMAD 2019 at:
https://culturaloutlook.blogspot.com/search/label/WOMAD2019Labels: Concerts, Festivals, Music
The Anniversary Games 2019
24 July 2019
On Saturday we made our first return, seven years after London 2012, to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London to watch the Anniversary Games IAAF Diamond League Athletics meeting in the Olympic Stadium. It was great to be back, and wonderful to see some high quality, competitive international athletics. Athletics competitions always seem to be meticulously choreographed, slickly alternating between track races and field events so there is always something to watch. Some of the highlights for me from Saturday were watching a magnificent Laura Muir win an impressive 1500, seeing one of the stars of the 2012 Paralympics, Jonnie Peacock, back to winning ways, Norwegian Karsten Warholm setting a new European record in the 400m hurdles, and the Jamaican sprinter Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce running a storming final leg to dip ahead of the Great Britain team in the 4x100m relay. You can see a selection of my photos from the Anniversary Games at:
https://culturaloutlook.blogspot.com/search/label/AnniversaryGames2019 Labels: Sport
'A Midsummer Night's Dream' by William Shakespeare
18 July 2019
We last saw the Lord Chamberlain’s Men when they performed ‘Twelfth Night’ in the gardens of Woburn Abbey in 2009 (reviewed here in August 2009). This all male outdoor theatre company, a re-creation of Shakespeare’s original troupe of travelling players, specialises in traditional performances of Shakespeare plays. There are no modern references, props or gimmicks, just a group of excellent actors in full Elizabethan costume – with all the female parts played by men. On Wednesday we were back at Woburn Abbey to see the Lord Chamberlain’s Men in Peter Stickney’s excellent production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. It was another high quality performance that really gives you an idea of what it might have been like to see the play in Shakespeare’s time. Unlike many of the touring outdoor theatre companies, there is no breaking of the fourth wall, ad-libbing with the audience or pinching food from people’s picnics – just good acting which takes you into the imaginary world of the play and reminds you how good it is, and how funny.
Labels: Drama, Theatre
Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert
16 July 2019
On Sunday I played in the Northampton Symphony Orchestra’s annual Friends’ Concert, bringing to an end our 125th anniversary concert season. This end of season party is an exclusive concert for the Friends of the Orchestra who have supported NSO over the past year. It gives the orchestra the chance to play a variety of shorter pieces that wouldn’t fit into a standard concert programme, and finishes with a buffet for the Friends and the orchestra. This year our conductor, John Gibbons, programmed two English folk songs delightfully arranged for strings by Frank Bridge (‘Sally in Our Alley’ and ‘Cherry Ripe’) followed by the ‘Capriol Suite’ by Peter Warlock, not in the original version for string orchestra but alternating between two arrangements for brass and woodwind. The main focus of the concert was a performance of the two suites from Edvard Grieg’s incidental music to ‘Peer Gynt’, which we played in the order they appear in Ibsen’s play so that John could give the audience his personal interpretation of the story of Peer Gynt (a play he admitted he has never seen!) between the movements. It is a bonkers story – worth watching this excellent Classics Explained YouTube video if you aren’t familiar with it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBgPqhBUE2o The orchestra played beautifully, with woodwind impressing in ‘Morning’, strings showing precision in the chromatic challenges of ‘Anitra’s Dance’ and brass powering us through ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’. But the stars of the show were the tuba and trombone players joining the percussion section for the ‘Arabian Dance’! We finished the concert with the third movement of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Symphony No 6 (Pathétique)’ - that famous glorious march that is usually punctured by the angst of the symphony’s final movement, but here was allowed to remain as a triumphant finale to our concert and our anniversary season.
Labels: Concerts, Music
Wimbledon 2019
12 July 2019
On Wednesday we were very lucky to have tickets for Wimbledon Centre Court where we saw the men’s singles quarter finals between Novak Djokovic and David Goffin & Roger Federer and Kei Nishikori. It was a hot, sunny day and we had great seats quite close to the court. After a close and entertaining first set Djokovic ran away with the first match in straight sets but the four-set tussle between Federer and Nishikori was much closer. It always looked like Federer would triumph but Nishikori never gave up and played some wonderful tennis. At the end of the afternoon we were treated to a ladies’ doubles invitation match featuring Martina Navratilova which was great fun, with Martina (now 62 years old) still playing brilliantly (and winning).
Labels: Sport
'Measure for Measure' by William Shakespeare
12 July 2019
‘Measure for Measure’ has never been one of my favourite Shakespeare plays. I last saw it at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2012 (reviewed here in January 2012) which was the first time it really held my attention. But Gregory Doran’s new production for the Royal Shakespeare Company, which we saw at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon last Thursday, has finally won me over to the play. Apart from moving the setting to 1900s Vienna, this is a very straightforward production which concentrates on the acting. Antony Byrne (who I saw as Antony in the RSC production of ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ reviewed here in December 2017) commands the stage as the Duke and Claire Price (who was so brilliant as Petruchia in Justin Audibert’s RSC production of ‘The Taming of The Shrew’, reviewed here in March 2019) provides the moral voice of conscience as Escalus. Sandy Grierson (Touchstone in ‘As You Like It’, reviewed here in April 2019) manages to make Angelo both loathsome and sympathetic, and Lucy Phelps (Rosalind in that same recent production of ‘As You Like It’) brings an earnest disbelief to Isabella’s reaction to Angelo’s indecent proposal that makes us see the play in a post #metoo context.
Labels: Drama, Theatre
'Much Ado About Nothing' by William Shakespeare
12 July 2019
We first encountered the Handlebards at the 2018 Milton Keynes International Festival, where we saw their all-female troupe performing ‘Romeo and Juliet’ (reviewed here in July 2018). The Handlebards are “cycling actors who carry all the set, props and costume needed to perform extremely energetic, charmingly chaotic and environmentally sustainable Shakespeare plays across the globe”. Last Monday we were in the garden of the Quarry Theatre in Bedford to see the Handlebards’ all-male troupe performing ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. It was a really enjoyable show, with a well-judged mixture of silliness and impressive acting. There was lots of audience interaction, good use of bicycle handlebars and bells and much fun had with the challenges of four actors playing multiple parts in the same scene.
Labels: Drama, Theatre
