David Sedaris
27 July 2022
When we last saw the American humourist David Sedaris at the Derngate in Northampton (reviewed here in June 2015) he was careful to avoid using any material that had previously been used on his BBC Radio 4 show, treating us to new writing and work in progress. Last Sunday we were at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge for another evening of David Sedaris reading his essays, and almost all the pieces he read were written since he finished his latest book in February this year. It still seems odd sitting in a theatre watching a writer simply reading aloud - but he does it so well! I was struck by how many of his anecdotes seem to come from things people say to him at his book signings. So it was fascinating to see the enormous queue in the foyer at the end of the evening as everyone waited for their moment with David Sedaris, and their opportunity to be featured in his next collection.
Labels: Comedy, Theatre
'Great Circle' by Maggie Shipstead
22 July 2022
I bought Maggie Shipstead’s novel 'Great Circle' purely on the following short recommendation in The Guardian: "shortlisted for the Booker and now the Women’s prize, this is the story of an early female aviator and the Hollywood star who investigates the mystery of her disappearance. A gloriously immersive historical epic." I wasn’t disappointed: ‘Great Circle’ is a compelling saga covering more than 100 years, beautifully written and elegantly constructed. The central tale of the life of aviator Marion Graves is framed by the modern-day story of the making of a film about her. We also see Marion’s life through the perspectives of some of her closest friends and family and through the ‘found narratives’ of letters, diaries and memoirs. It’s an engaging and wide-ranging journey through the first half of the 20th century, interspersed with factual accounts of the achievements of other early aviators. Marion faces some grim challenges - both in her chosen profession and her personal life - which are not always easy reading. But there’s a lightness and wit to Maggie Shipstead’s writing and there is fun to be had for the reader in knowing more about what actually happened to Marion than those making the film have discovered. ‘Great Circle’ feels like an instant classic: I didn’t want it to finish.
Labels: Books
‘Wrong Place Wrong Time’ by Gillian McAllister
15 July 2022
When we saw the thriller writer Erin Kelly at the Ampthill Literary Festival earlier this year (reviewed here in April 2022), one of the authors she recommended was Gillian McAllister. I have just finished reading ‘Wrong Place Wrong Time’ - the new novel by Gillian McAllister (as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Lesley Sharp) and I loved it. This is a crime thriller with a twist. Jen - a successful Liverpool solicitor - witnesses an horrific murder directly outside her house. This traumatic experience has a profound effect on her and when she wakes up the following morning she discovers that it is actually the previous morning and the murder hasn’t happened yet. Armed with her knowledge of the future could she prevent the crime from being committed? The device of travelling back in time to relive the same events in order to try to change their outcome reminded of ‘The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle’ by Stuart Turton (reviewed here in April 2019) and the Netflix series ‘Russian Doll’. But ‘Wrong Place Wrong Time’ is less concerned with the science fiction of time travel and more an exercise in searching your own memory for clues that were there all the time but that you hadn’t noticed before. There were multiple twists in Jen’s story, almost all of which caught me completely by surprise. But the really clever thing about Gillian McAllister’s novel is how it manages to replicate Jen’s experience for the reader, showing you that you had read the clues to each unexpected twist earlier in the book without noticing their significance. I had no idea where the plot was taking me and this made it a very enjoyable and ultimately satisfying read.
Labels: Books
'The Importance of Being Earnest' by Oscar Wilde
13 July 2022
On Saturday we were at the Roman Theatre of Verulamium in St Albans to see the OVO Theatre open-air production of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’. Like their adaptation of ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’ which we saw at the same venue in 2020 (reviewed here in September 2020) the play was interspersed with live music performed by the cast, this time featuring a jazz band interpreting modern pop songs in a 1920s swing style. The production, directed by Adam Nichols and Matt Strachan and musically directed by Tom Cagnoni, was great fun. ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ is such a brilliant play it would be hilarious if you just read the words directly from the script but an excellent cast added a real panache. Charlie Clee was perfect as Algernon Montcrieff but I thought Paul Manuel almost stole the show as Lane the butler - all the funnier for playing it very straight and drole in the manner of Jeeves, and joining in the musical numbers in a bemused expression. It was a lovely afternoon but the heat was hard work for an outdoor audience with no shade to shelter in. By the second half we had retreated to the back row so we could try to escape the sun under an umbrella - feeling like Cecily and Gwendolen in the garden of Jack Worthing’s country house.
Labels: Drama, Theatre
‘The Southbury Child’ by Stephen Beresford
13 July 2022
Last Thursday we were back at the Bridge Theatre in London to see ‘The Southbury Child’ - a new play by Stephen Beresford, directed by Nicholas Hytner. Alex Jennings plays a Church of England vicar who provokes hostility in his rural Devon parish by not allowing a young mother to decorate the church with Disney balloons for her child’s funeral. The drama takes place around the kitchen table of the vicarage as various local residents plead with the vicar to relax his principled stand in sympathy with the emotional devastation of the family dealing with the loss of a child. Stephen Beresford’s script finds gentle humour within a tragic situation and has the feel of an Alan Bennett play. ‘The Southbury Child’ is entertaining and thought provoking, with an impressive cast including Phoebe Nicholls as the vicar’s wife.
Labels: Drama, Theatre
Wimbledon 2022
13 July 2022
We had a fantastic day at Wimbledon on the middle Saturday of the Championships on Court Number One. We saw Nick Kyrgios beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in what many commentators said was the game of the tournament and was certainly the most exciting match we have ever seen in many years of going to Wimbledon. It was a high-quality, but extremely bad-tempered, battle which ended just after 9pm under the roof - making the final set even more dramatic and incredibly noisy. Our seats were high up in the stadium and at times it was quite difficult to know what was going on between the players and the umpire without consulting the BBC Sport app. But it was an electric atmosphere: a genuinely thrilling experience. Earlier we had seen the impressive run of British player Liam Broady come to an end in straight sets against Alex de Minaur. We also witnessed Alize Cornet completely outplaying the World No. 1 and No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek - which was set to have been the story of the day before Kyrgios vs Tsitsipas.
Labels: Sport
Spiers & Boden
1 July 2022
Last Friday we were at the Stables in Wavendon to see English folk duo Spiers & Boden. John Spiers (melodeon) and Jon Boden (fiddle) are the founders of the wonderful folk big band Bellowhead (reviewed here on many occasions, most recently in December 2020). We last saw them as a duo in 2008 (also at the Stables, reviewed here in December 2008) and it's wonderful to see the two of them touring together again after many years devoted to Bellowhead and their own individual projects. Friday's concert mainly featured tracks from their 2021 album 'Fallow Ground' - a great collection of traditional songs and their own new tunes. Spiers & Boden do sound (unsurprisingly) like Bellowhead without the other instruments, and Jon Boden is a brilliant front man, even when his band is simply John Spiers. Here’s one of the tracks from their new album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poFJINnaA4w
Labels: Albums, Concerts, Music
