'The Realistic Joneses' by Will Eno
26 February 2020
On Saturday we were at the Ustinov Studio at the Theatre Royal in Bath to see ‘The Realistic Joneses’ by Will Eno. Simon Evans’ production is the UK premiere of the play which was first seen in Yale in 2014. ‘The Realistic Joneses’ is a hugely enjoyable quirky battle of words between two couples, brilliantly played by Clare Foster, Corey Johnson, Jack Laskey and Sharon Small. John and Pony have just moved into the house next door to Jennifer and Bob in a village at the foot of mountains, somewhere in America. As the four of them get to know each other through a series of gentle conversations in their back yards, no-one seems to take anything that is said at face value, picking apart the sentences for hidden meanings. And it is hard to tell who is actually telling the truth. The result is an incredibly funny and often puzzling drama that never fully resolves its mysteries but is nevertheless extremely entertaining. The suggestion of something going on beneath the surface of the dialogue reminded me of plays by Sam Shepard and Caryl Churchill, and I wondered whether there was actually some underlying analogy, like the threat of nuclear war as the unnamed fear in Edward Albee’s ‘A Delicate Balance’. But if ‘The Realistic Joneses’ was no more than a witty entertainment it was great fun.
Labels: Drama, Theatre
'Alone in Berlin' by Hans Fallada, translated and adapted by Alistair Beaton
17 February 2020
I had heard of the true story of an ordinary German couple who developed a model for small-scale passive resistance to the Nazi regime in the early years of the Second World War – leaving postcards in public places across Berlin encouraging the people to question their Government’s actions. Hans Fallada’s novel ‘Alone in Berlin’, which fictionalises their story, was described by Primo Levi as “the greatest book ever written about German resistance to the Nazis”. The fact that this novel, originally published in 1947, entered the bestseller list again three years ago is a worrying commentary on our times. And watching Alistair Beaton’s new stage adaptation of ‘Alone in Berlin’ at the Royal Theatre in Northampton last Thursday, there was a noticeable audience reaction to lines about Nazi Germany which seemed equally applicable to Brexit Britain (“Nobody minds being lied to any more”). James Dacre’s production (for the Royal & Derngate Northampton, York Theatre Royal and Oxford Playhouse) features a wonderful rectilinear exaggerated-perspective set by Jonathan Fensom onto which Charles Balfour’s lighting and animated illustrations by Jason Lutes create stunning effects. It’s a bleak tale which explores the different ways people find to cope with a totalitarian system with which they disagree but have little chance of changing. Denis Conway and Charlotte Emmerson are excellent as Otto and Anna Quangel, showing how it is possible to be simultaneously brave, scared, naive, cowardly and determined.
Labels: Drama, Theatre
Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert
11 February 2020
Performing Bruckner’s ‘Symphony No 4’ for the first time is a landmark moment for a horn player and it was wonderful to have the chance to do so with the Northampton Symphony Orchestra last Saturday. The ‘Romantic Symphony’ is a mammoth work: it lasts 65 minutes and the 1st horn is playing for most of that time. It’s a major test of stamina and nerves – particularly the exposed solo at the beginning of the first movement. Having prepared myself carefully for the opening note I was slightly thrown by our conductor, John Gibbons, who gave a fascinating but lengthy description of the piece to the audience before we started playing. My first few notes were a little wobbly but once I got going I think the symphony went extremely well. It was brilliant to be part of a magnificent horn section: the final bars of the first movement, the hunting calls of the Scherzo and the end of the final movement felt thrilling. The whole orchestra rose to the challenge of the symphony very impressively with some lovely woodwind solos and stunning playing by the viola section. But, sorry guys, this time it really was mostly about the horns! The first half of the concert featured the rousing ‘Flying Dutchman Overture’ by Richard Wagner and the ‘Duet-Concertino for Clarinet and Bassoon’ by Richard Strauss. This rarely heard work is a lovely miniature double concerto with the two solo instruments accompanied by strings and harp. Our soloists, Cathal Killeen on clarinet and William Gold on bassoon, were outstanding. I loved the theatricality of their performance as they reached across to page-turn for each other. At one point Cathal walked across to share William’s music stand during a passage of playful conversation between the two instruments. It was interesting to spot some themes in the final movement that also appear in another late work by Strauss – the 'Sonatina no. 2 for 16 Winds' ('From the Happy Workshop') which I played with the Heliotrope Chamber Ensemble in 2016 (reviewed here in April 2016). The NSO performance of the Duet-Concertino was excellent – delicate and extremely entertaining.
Labels: Concerts, Music
'The Personal History of David Copperfield’ by Armando Iannucci
7 February 2020
On Sunday we were at the Odeon in Milton Keynes to see ‘The Personal History of David Copperfield’ - Armando Iannucci’s new film adaptation of the Dickens novel. It’s a sunny film that’s lots of fun. Dev Patel’s David Copperfield is an aspiring writer narrating the story of his life. He watches in on his own birth – reminding me of ‘A Cock and Bull Story’ - Michael Winterbottom’s 2005 film adaptation of ‘Tristram Shandy’. Armando Iannucci’s ‘David Copperfield’ is, unsurprisingly, very funny with some great comic cameos. There are a few nods to Dickens’ social commentary but this is primarily a jolly yarn. Dev Patel displays an impressive talent for accents and mimicry – as does Jairaj Varsani as the young David Copperfield. Peter Capaldi, Hugh Laurie, Tilda Swinton and Ben Wishaw are all wonderful in their larger-than-life performances. I particularly liked Daisy May Cooper as Peggotty. And Morfydd Clark’s Dora Spenlow was infuriatingly lovely! But the most Armando Iannucci scenes were those in the Murdstone factory office with the words of Victor McGuire’s hoarse Creakle being parroted for clarity by Peter Singh’s Tungay – which could have been straight from ‘The Thick of It’.
Labels: Film
