‘Vulture Price’ by Arooj Aftab
17 June 2021
I am grateful to The Guardian’s feature on ‘The best albums of 2021 so far’ for introducing me to ‘Vulture Price’ by Brooklyn-based Pakistani composer Arooj Aftab. It’s a beautiful collection of songs, drawing on traditional Urdu ghazals, accompanied by violin, harp, double bass, and synths, creating a spare texture. The music is a peaceful meditation. The seven tracks encompass a range of musical styles - including jazz, Hindustani classical music, folk and reggae. It’s an interesting and enchanting album.
Labels: Albums, Music
'Macbeth' by WIlliam Shakespeare
9 June 2021
Last weekend we enjoyed our first live theatre since seeing an open air production of ‘Twelfth Night’, in the car park of The Place in Bedford last September (reviewed here in September 2020). On Sunday we were in the lovely surroundings of the Walled Garden at Luton Hoo Estate, on a beautiful summer evening, for a performance of ‘Macbeth’ by the Handlebards. 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”. We first encountered them at the 2018 Milton Keynes International Festival, where we saw their all-female troupe performing ‘Romeo and Juliet’ (reviewed here in July 2018). We saw them again in 2019 in the garden of the Quarry Theatre in Bedford when we watched their all-male troupe performing ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. Sunday’s show was an all-female production of ‘Macbeth’ played for laughs by just three actors. It was charmingly silly and incredibly enjoyable. Handlebards performances tend to be more about the challenges of presenting Shakespeare with so few actors and how the cast overcome them. I’m not sure anyone unfamiliar with the plot of ‘Macbeth’ would really have followed it but I don’t think that mattered. There was some great use made of bicycle accessories and Lady Macbeth went through quite a lot of hand sanitiser trying to clean her hands of blood. This was glorious slapstick tomfoolery and, after so long away from live theatre, it was wonderful to rediscover the joy of being in an audience again.
Labels: Drama, Theatre
'The Final Game' by Caimh McDonnell
4 June 2021
Caimh McDonnell is a former stand-up comedian turned novelist. Having enjoyed ‘The Stranger Times’ - his comic novel which tells the story of a Manchester-based newspaper that reports on the paranormal (reviewed here in April 2021) I have been reading his earlier book ‘The Final Game’. This is a standalone crime novel but features characters from his Dublin Trilogy books. Set in Dublin it follows the members of a private detective agency as they try to work out whether a murder has been committed while simultaneously taking part in a bizarre series of ‘It’s a Knockout’ games to determine who will inherit the dead woman’s fortune. It’s very silly but enjoyable. Caimh McDonnell writes some very likeable characters and, in Jimmy and Phil, has created a lovely odd couple detective pairing.
Labels: Books
