Amp Literary
29 April 2022
On Saturday we made the short journey to the Parkside Community Hall in Ampthill to attend ‘Amp Literary’ - the Ampthill Literary Festival - an event postponed from 2020. The journalist and Sunday Times bestseller Erin Kelly spoke about her ‘psychological gothic’ novels and explained the process of writing her latest book ‘Watch Her Fall’ during lockdown. ‘Watch Her Fall’ is a thriller about a dancer, which uses ‘Swan Lake’ as its inspiration and structure. It was fascinating to hear how she had used the ballet to develop the novel. Erin Kelly was one of the most engaging, articulate and well-prepared authors I have seen at a book festival: we really enjoyed her session. It was also wonderful to rediscover the poet/comedian Henry Normal who I first saw live at a comedy club in Peterborough nearly 30 years ago. Henry Normal disappeared from view as a performer when he set up Baby Cow Productions with Steve Coogan and spent 17 years as its Managing Director. During this time he focussed on writing (he co-wrote ‘The Mrs Merton Show’ and ‘The Royle Family’) and producing shows including ‘Gavin and Stacey’, ‘Red Dwarf’, ‘The Mighty Boosh’, ‘Nighty Night’ and ‘Alan Partridge’. Since retiring from Baby Cow in 2016, Henry Normal has written and performed a lovely occasional series of BBC Radio 4 shows (all still available on BBC Sounds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b09rwvwt) which showcase his brilliant poetry. His poems are alternately childishly silly, beautiful, hilarious and breathtakingly poignant. The Scotsman newspaper called him "The Alan Bennett of poetry". I still treasure my copy of ‘Nude Modelling for the Afterlife’ - Henry Normal’s 1993 collection which I bought after seeing him at the Edinburgh Book Festival. It was very exciting to see him again after so long, in the intimate setting of the Ampthill festival. He is a brilliant performer and had the audience in the palm of his hand. He was there to promote his new book ‘The Escape Plan’ which includes all of the poems from his Radio 4 shows, together with the most popular poems from each of his previous collections. I’m looking forward to reading my signed copy! We finished our visit to Amp Literary with a very enjoyable performance from The Antipoet - an anarchic duo with their own unique blend of poetry, comedy and music.
Labels: Books, Comedy, Festivals, Radio
'Henry V' by William Shakespeare
22 April 2022
On Thursday we were at the Odeon in Milton Keynes to see the NT Live screening of Max Webster’s new production of ‘Henry V’ recorded live at the Donmar Warehouse in London, starring Kit Harrington. This modern dress production creates a disturbingly realistic picture of war in Europe. The intimate setting of the tiny Donmar auditorium gives a claustrophobic feel to the battle scenes. Kit Harrington is very impressive as the King, showing his transition from party animal to inspirational patriotic leader to a cruel victor, guilty of war crimes. Andrew T Mackay’s excellent original music uses a quartet of operatic voices within the cast to evoke an eerie melancholy. And Millicent Wong is great as the Chorus, joining in as part of Henry’s army rather than standing aloof from the action.
Labels: Drama, Film, Theatre
'Straight Line Crazy' by David Hare
21 April 2022
Robert Moses was a legendary urban planner in New York State during the first half of the twentieth century. He invented the concept of the State Park, transforming Long Island into a series of parks to provide leisure opportunities for the workers of New York, to the annoyance of the wealthy families who owned large swathes of the area. He achieved his vision with determination and impatience that didn't wait to be given permission to proceed, often literally bulldozing through, ignoring legal obstacles. And his obsession with the motor car as the vehicle of liberation (despite not driving himself) made many of his developments inaccessible to the poorest communities, with no rail or bus provision. Moses was a fascinating, controversial, larger than life character and I can see the attraction for David Hare, whose new play 'Straight Line Crazy' we saw at the Bridge Theatre in London last Friday. Hare has chosen to dramatise two particular incidents from the life of Robert Moses - in 1926 and 1955 - which form the two acts of his play. Both stories would have made brilliant episodes of the design podcast '99% Invisible' or BBC2 documentaries but they don't quite add up to a completely satisfying stage play. The writing is witty and entertaining but it often feels a bit too much like a George Bernard Shaw play where the characters have unrealistically lengthy conversations about ideas. Nevertheless, we enjoyed Nicholas Hytner's production and its great cast, which included Samuel Barnett, Siobhan Cullen and a show stealing turn from Danny Webb as the sweary, cigar smoking New York Governor, Al Smith. But the main attraction was the chance to see Ralph Fiennes as Robert Moses. I had seen Fiennes in the live broadcasts of Simon Godwin's National Theatre productions of 'Man and Superman' (reviewed here in May 2015) and 'Antony and Cleopatra' (reviewed here in December 2018) but I had never seen him in person before. He didn't disappoint: Fiennes is a compelling presence, a very physical actor whose movement reveals the mood and thinking of his character. His careful attention to gesture and stance reminded me of seeing Kenneth Branagh on stage in 'Ivanov' (reviewed here in September 2008). And his transformation into the older Moses of Act 2 is subtle and convincing. 'Straight Line Crazy' was obviously conceived as a star vehicle for Ralph Fiennes. It's not a perfect play but well worth seeing as an acting tour de force.
Labels: Drama, Theatre
Van Gogh Self Portraits
21 April 2022
When we visited the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, in October 2019, rather than just following everyone into the first room on the ground floor, we thought we would try to beat the crowds by starting on the top floor and working our way down. Unfortunately this wonderful gallery, devoted solely to the life of Vincent Van Gogh, tells his story chronologically, starting with his birth. We managed to start our visit (spoiler!) with his suicide and bizarrely then followed his progress as a painter backwards! Despite this we really enjoyed the museum - and would highly recommend a visit. Last Friday we were at the newly refurbished Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House in London to see the Van Gogh Self Portraits exhibition. In total Van Gogh painted 35 self portraits: this exhibition has assembled 16 of them, including some of the most well known. It’s a small exhibition, but that allows you to spend plenty of time with each picture. And because it is the same face featured in each portrait, the contrast in styles and techniques feels even more fascinating. It’s a lovely exhibition, and it was also great to visit the Courtauld’s permanent collection and to see the beautifully restored rooms which only reopened last November.
Labels: Exhibitions, VisualArt
Glenn Tilbrook
13 April 2022
We probably all know the feeling when you go to a concert you have been really looking forward to and, just as it is about to start, you realise there is going to be a support act before the main attraction. But the support act slot is where many artists get their first break, and I have seen many really impressive support acts. I often wonder how artists choose their support acts: I guess you would want someone who your fans will appreciate - so music of the same broad genre but not too close to your own style because you don't want anyone outshining you at your own game. So when we went to The Stables in Wavendon last Friday to see Glenn Tilbrook from Squeeze, I was surprised that the unintroduced young male singer-songwriter who strode on stage to open the concert seemed to echo Glenn Tilbrook's impressively intricate guitar style and had a falsetto voice that sounded remarkably like the Squeeze front-man. Then, from a few of his comments between songs, I realised we were watching Leon Tilbrook - Glenn's son. Like his father, he is an amazing guitar player and his songs were catchy and likeable. And, like all the best support acts, he didn't outstay his welcome (and returned to duet with his dad in a couple of encores later in the evening). When we last saw Squeeze (at Milton Keynes Theatre, reviewed here in October 2015) Glenn Tilbrook's voice was sounding as good as it had in Squeeze's 1980s heyday. Though he is now a few years older (and strangely looking increasingly like Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys) his voice is still pure and clear. This solo performance gave me a chance to hear most of my favourite Squeeze songs in stripped down arrangements - and to appreciate even more the songwriting genius of Tilbrook and Chris Difford. As I've said here before, you know more Squeeze songs than you realise you do: they have an incredible back catalogue. But it was also interesting to hear Glenn Tilbrook performing some of the covers he recorded for his YouTube channel during lockdown, including the Human League's 'Don't You Want Me'. It was a fantastic gig.
Labels: Concerts, Music
Seville
7 April 2022
We had a lovely holiday in Seville last week – our first trip abroad since 2019. We stayed in a hotel in the middle of the maze-like alleys of Barrio de Santa Cruz - the old Jewish quarter. The weather was lovely – particularly when we heard it had been snowing back home! The old centre of Seville is beautiful. We loved Plaza de Espana - a spectacular fairytale crescent building and courtyard with canals full of rowing boats: it was easy to see why it is often used as a film set. I think the highlight of our visit was the Real Alcazar – the Royal Palace - a fascinating collection of buildings and gardens in Moorish styles with lots of painted tiles, water features and spectacular wooden ceilings. The gardens were extensive and stunning, with palm trees, peacocks, grottos, water gardens and hundreds of orange trees. We saw gardeners shaking oranges out of the trees and gathering them in buckets. Seville Cathedral is also very impressive - the largest gothic church in the world which features the tomb of Christopher Columbus and the stairless Giralda Tower (which you climb via an unusual set of sloping ramps). We also caught the train to Cordoba to visit the Mezquita Mosque-Cathedral - an incredible building: the candy-stripe double-arched columns seem endless, stretching off in mirror-like perspective, but the huge gothic Catholic cathedral inserted into the centre of the older mosque is truly bizarre - a surreal juxtaposition. We visited some beautiful art galleries in Seville and attended a concert by the young Spanish saxophone quartet Synthèse Quartet. But above all it was just lovely to be somewhere different after so long and to remember how good it feels to be on holiday.
Labels: Holidays
