21 March 2018
We last saw Christopher Eccleston on stage (alongside Jodie Whittaker) in Polly Findlay’s production of ‘Antigone’ at the National Theatre in London (reviewed here in June 2012). As I wrote here, Eccleston was excellent as King Creon, giving a subtle and clever performance, turning his mood on a sixpence and discovering moments of humour amongst the angst of classical Greek tragedy, without resorting to sending it up. So I was fascinated to see what he made of another classical king, working with the same director on the new Royal Shakespeare Company production of ‘Macbeth’ which we saw in Stratford-upon-Avon on Tuesday. Christopher Eccleston was impressive again – a mixture of steely intensity and capricious mood swings, conveying much about the character’s inner turmoil through his movement and body shape. There was some great acting but otherwise I found Polly Findlay’s production strangely flat. The three young girls playing the witches were great – their synchronised speech perfectly co-ordinated – but cute rather than sinister. The idea of the witches reminding the Macbeths of their lost children was clever but its realisation wasn’t scary enough. Michael Hodgson’s ever-present Porter – a seedy janitor keeping an eye on the events of the play and chalking a body-count tally on the wall – was amusing but slightly out of kilter with the rest of the production. But Edward Bennett stood out as an excellent Macduff – an exasperated rational grown-up stranded amid a group of over-reacting adolescents. And Niamh Cusack stole the show as Lady Macbeth, giving a brilliantly physical performance with every muscle of her body betraying her thought processes.
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Friday, March 16, 2018
'The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Hexagonal Phase' by Dirk Maggs
16 March 2018
Long time readers with good memories may recall me writing here in October 2009 about the 30th anniversary of the original radio broadcast of Douglas Adams’ 'The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' (which was to be marked by the publication of an authorised Hitch Hiker sequel by Eoin Colfer). Now, nearly nine years later, the BBC is marking the 40th anniversary (well time is a funny thing!) with a new series on BBC Radio 4. 'The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Hexagonal Phase' (broadcast on Thursdays at 6.30 pm) is written and directed by Dirk Maggs and based on ‘And Another Thing...’ by Eoin Colfer – the sixth book in the famous Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy – with additional unpublished material by Douglas Adams. It’s a real treat for us HHGG fans, with the remaining members of the original cast reunited for another surreal journey through space and time. But for the uninitiated this is probably not the best place to start. 'The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' has become increasingly self-reverential: although a convoluted explanation is provided for why there are now two Trillians, it is no secret that this is merely an excuse for involving both Susan Sheridan and Sandra Dickinson who respectively played Trillian in the original radio series and the 1981 TV adaptation. There are also some poignant tributes to those actors who are no longer available to reprise their roles: in the first episode of the new series we hear The Book explaining the concept of the Babel Fish in the voices of Peter Jones (from the original radio series), Stephen Fry (from the film) and John Lloyd (who co-wrote some of the original series with Douglas Adams). Jim Broadbent does a good job of filling the aching aluminium feet of Stephen Moore’s Marvin the Paranoid Android. And there is an added poignancy now to the appearance of the late Stephen Hawking as The Guide Mark II. See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09th4hf
Long time readers with good memories may recall me writing here in October 2009 about the 30th anniversary of the original radio broadcast of Douglas Adams’ 'The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' (which was to be marked by the publication of an authorised Hitch Hiker sequel by Eoin Colfer). Now, nearly nine years later, the BBC is marking the 40th anniversary (well time is a funny thing!) with a new series on BBC Radio 4. 'The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Hexagonal Phase' (broadcast on Thursdays at 6.30 pm) is written and directed by Dirk Maggs and based on ‘And Another Thing...’ by Eoin Colfer – the sixth book in the famous Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy – with additional unpublished material by Douglas Adams. It’s a real treat for us HHGG fans, with the remaining members of the original cast reunited for another surreal journey through space and time. But for the uninitiated this is probably not the best place to start. 'The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' has become increasingly self-reverential: although a convoluted explanation is provided for why there are now two Trillians, it is no secret that this is merely an excuse for involving both Susan Sheridan and Sandra Dickinson who respectively played Trillian in the original radio series and the 1981 TV adaptation. There are also some poignant tributes to those actors who are no longer available to reprise their roles: in the first episode of the new series we hear The Book explaining the concept of the Babel Fish in the voices of Peter Jones (from the original radio series), Stephen Fry (from the film) and John Lloyd (who co-wrote some of the original series with Douglas Adams). Jim Broadbent does a good job of filling the aching aluminium feet of Stephen Moore’s Marvin the Paranoid Android. And there is an added poignancy now to the appearance of the late Stephen Hawking as The Guide Mark II. See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09th4hf
Thursday, March 08, 2018
'Mum' by Stefan Golaszewski
8 March 2018
I am delighted to have belatedly discovered Stefan Golaszewski’s brilliant BBC Two sitcom, ‘Mum’. The second series is currently being broadcast but series one is still available to watch on BBC iPlayer, see: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b09sykkn. ‘Mum’ is a beautifully written, wonderfully acted, painfully poignant, incredibly funny show. Lesley Manville plays Cathy, recently widowed and surrounded by friends and family ostensibly trying to support her through her grief but clearly more in need of her support themselves. Peter Mullan is Michael – the old family friend who is desperately in love with Cathy but achingly unable to make the first move. Cathy and Michael are surrounded by a cast of ridiculously self-centred and annoying characters who Stefan Golaszewski somehow manages to make sympathetic. Lisa McGrillis is wonderful as Kelly – Cathy’s son’s dim but well-meaning girlfriend. And I loved Cathy’s foul-mouthed aged in-laws, played by Karl Johnson and Marlene Sidaway. ‘Mum’ is quite an old-fashioned sitcom: the action never moves away from Cathy’s house and garden. It has a similar gentle subtlety to Mackenzie Crook’s ‘Detectorists’ as well as the sad smiling feel of a Mike Leigh film. Highly recommended.
I am delighted to have belatedly discovered Stefan Golaszewski’s brilliant BBC Two sitcom, ‘Mum’. The second series is currently being broadcast but series one is still available to watch on BBC iPlayer, see: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b09sykkn. ‘Mum’ is a beautifully written, wonderfully acted, painfully poignant, incredibly funny show. Lesley Manville plays Cathy, recently widowed and surrounded by friends and family ostensibly trying to support her through her grief but clearly more in need of her support themselves. Peter Mullan is Michael – the old family friend who is desperately in love with Cathy but achingly unable to make the first move. Cathy and Michael are surrounded by a cast of ridiculously self-centred and annoying characters who Stefan Golaszewski somehow manages to make sympathetic. Lisa McGrillis is wonderful as Kelly – Cathy’s son’s dim but well-meaning girlfriend. And I loved Cathy’s foul-mouthed aged in-laws, played by Karl Johnson and Marlene Sidaway. ‘Mum’ is quite an old-fashioned sitcom: the action never moves away from Cathy’s house and garden. It has a similar gentle subtlety to Mackenzie Crook’s ‘Detectorists’ as well as the sad smiling feel of a Mike Leigh film. Highly recommended.
Monday, February 26, 2018
Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert
26 February 2018
In the 18 years I have been playing with the Northampton Symphony Orchestra I can’t remember us ever selling out a concert nearly a week in advance, but that’s what happened with last Saturday’s performance. Admittedly it was an appealing programme of film music timed to celebrate 40 years of ‘Star Wars’ and, although it is a grand building, Christchurch in Northampton doesn’t have the largest audience capacity. Nevertheless it was exciting to be playing to a full house. We opened the concert with John Williams’ suite from ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ – a substantial piece of music that shows Williams’ growing maturity as a composer, subtly referencing themes from the earlier ‘Star Wars’ films and playing with various musical forms (as in the ‘Scherzo for X-Wings’). This was the latest concert in our season of music inspired by the visual arts and featured Bernard Herrman’s chillingly familiar music for strings from Alfred Hitchcock’s film ‘Psycho’ which was inspired by Edward Hopper’s painting ‘House by the Railroad’. Apart from another work by John Williams, ‘Adventures on Earth’ from ‘ET’, the rest of the programme celebrated British composers writing for a golden age of British film in the 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s – including two Northampton-born composers. Malcolm Arnold’s music for ‘The Inn of the Sixth Happiness’ blends a typically bold Arnoldian theme with the children’s song ‘This Old Man’ which is sung in the film by 100 Chinese children as they walk through the mountains to escape the Japanese invasion of China. The other Northampton native was William Alwyn whose funeral march accompanies James Mason’s doomed battle through the Belfast snow in Carol Reed’s 1947 film noir ‘Odd Man Out’. It was fascinating to play Richard Rodney Bennett’s ‘Waltz from Murder on the Orient Express’ with NSO leader Stephen Hague – who played on the original soundtrack of Sidney Lumet’s 1974 film. We finished the concert with William Walton’s ‘Battle of Britain Suite’ – the inclusion of which in Guy Hamilton’s 1969 film was apparently due to the insistence of Laurence Olivier. It’s a brilliant piece of music which creates a series of effects in which different instruments mimic the engine noises of the planes, before ending with one of those glorious slow Walton marches. Saturday’s programme was a test of stamina for the orchestra which showcased each section of the NSO but felt like a particular triumph for the brass and percussion. It was an exhilarating concert of serious film music chosen by NSO Music Director John Gibbons to remind us of those many accomplished composers who wrote huge amounts of wonderful music for films that are now largely forgotten. It was great to discover some of this music for the first time and to give it a live performance to a packed audience.
In the 18 years I have been playing with the Northampton Symphony Orchestra I can’t remember us ever selling out a concert nearly a week in advance, but that’s what happened with last Saturday’s performance. Admittedly it was an appealing programme of film music timed to celebrate 40 years of ‘Star Wars’ and, although it is a grand building, Christchurch in Northampton doesn’t have the largest audience capacity. Nevertheless it was exciting to be playing to a full house. We opened the concert with John Williams’ suite from ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ – a substantial piece of music that shows Williams’ growing maturity as a composer, subtly referencing themes from the earlier ‘Star Wars’ films and playing with various musical forms (as in the ‘Scherzo for X-Wings’). This was the latest concert in our season of music inspired by the visual arts and featured Bernard Herrman’s chillingly familiar music for strings from Alfred Hitchcock’s film ‘Psycho’ which was inspired by Edward Hopper’s painting ‘House by the Railroad’. Apart from another work by John Williams, ‘Adventures on Earth’ from ‘ET’, the rest of the programme celebrated British composers writing for a golden age of British film in the 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s – including two Northampton-born composers. Malcolm Arnold’s music for ‘The Inn of the Sixth Happiness’ blends a typically bold Arnoldian theme with the children’s song ‘This Old Man’ which is sung in the film by 100 Chinese children as they walk through the mountains to escape the Japanese invasion of China. The other Northampton native was William Alwyn whose funeral march accompanies James Mason’s doomed battle through the Belfast snow in Carol Reed’s 1947 film noir ‘Odd Man Out’. It was fascinating to play Richard Rodney Bennett’s ‘Waltz from Murder on the Orient Express’ with NSO leader Stephen Hague – who played on the original soundtrack of Sidney Lumet’s 1974 film. We finished the concert with William Walton’s ‘Battle of Britain Suite’ – the inclusion of which in Guy Hamilton’s 1969 film was apparently due to the insistence of Laurence Olivier. It’s a brilliant piece of music which creates a series of effects in which different instruments mimic the engine noises of the planes, before ending with one of those glorious slow Walton marches. Saturday’s programme was a test of stamina for the orchestra which showcased each section of the NSO but felt like a particular triumph for the brass and percussion. It was an exhilarating concert of serious film music chosen by NSO Music Director John Gibbons to remind us of those many accomplished composers who wrote huge amounts of wonderful music for films that are now largely forgotten. It was great to discover some of this music for the first time and to give it a live performance to a packed audience.
Friday, February 23, 2018
'How to Stop Time' by Matt Haig
23 February 2018
Matt Haig’s novel ‘How to Stop Time’ (which I have just finished reading as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Mark Meadows) has a great premise. Its narrator is old: if you saw him you would probably think he was about forty but you would be very wrong. Tom Hazard was born well over 400 years ago on 3 March 1581 in a small French chateau. He seemed to be a normal boy, but from the age of 13 he started to age much more slowly than everyone around him. Tom is not alone: there are other people with his ‘condition’, living out a series of lives across centuries, constantly having to move to new places and reinvent themselves every few years to avoid being taken for witches. This sense of the same person living multiple lives reminded me of David Mitchell’s excellent 'The Bone Clocks' (reviewed here in October 2014). It’s an interesting narrative device: this a novel about time travel in which the traveller only moves through time in one direction, very slowly. Tom’s tale is told in flashback, gradually filling in his time in Shakespearean London, on Captain Cook’s voyages to the Pacific Islands and in Paris in the Roaring Twenties. But this time traveller never brings the hindsight of the future to these historical settings, just the accumulated experience of his long long past. Unfortunately Matt Haig lays out the whole premise in the first few pages of the novel rather than allowing the reader to piece it together. And, while he very effectively evokes the melancholy of being someone who outlives everyone he ever loves, ‘How to Stop Time’ feels like a short story expanded into a novel.
Matt Haig’s novel ‘How to Stop Time’ (which I have just finished reading as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Mark Meadows) has a great premise. Its narrator is old: if you saw him you would probably think he was about forty but you would be very wrong. Tom Hazard was born well over 400 years ago on 3 March 1581 in a small French chateau. He seemed to be a normal boy, but from the age of 13 he started to age much more slowly than everyone around him. Tom is not alone: there are other people with his ‘condition’, living out a series of lives across centuries, constantly having to move to new places and reinvent themselves every few years to avoid being taken for witches. This sense of the same person living multiple lives reminded me of David Mitchell’s excellent 'The Bone Clocks' (reviewed here in October 2014). It’s an interesting narrative device: this a novel about time travel in which the traveller only moves through time in one direction, very slowly. Tom’s tale is told in flashback, gradually filling in his time in Shakespearean London, on Captain Cook’s voyages to the Pacific Islands and in Paris in the Roaring Twenties. But this time traveller never brings the hindsight of the future to these historical settings, just the accumulated experience of his long long past. Unfortunately Matt Haig lays out the whole premise in the first few pages of the novel rather than allowing the reader to piece it together. And, while he very effectively evokes the melancholy of being someone who outlives everyone he ever loves, ‘How to Stop Time’ feels like a short story expanded into a novel.
Friday, February 16, 2018
'The Alternatives' by Aditya Chakrabortty
16 February 2018
‘The Alternatives’ is a new series of articles and podcasts from The Guardian which looks at communities who are working out their own answers. Two weeks ago Guardian journalist Aditya Chakrabortty interviewed Preston councillor Matthew Brown about how the city has successfully adopted ‘guerrilla localism’ (see: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/31/preston-hit-rock-bottom-took-back-control and: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/commentisfree/audio/2018/jan/31/the-alternatives-how-preston-took-back-control-podcast). And this week he spoke to Hazel Tilley, a long-time resident of the Liverpool neighbourhood of Granby, about the remarkable regeneration of the area sparked by a few individual citizens taking it upon themselves to clean up the street where they live. This led to the securing of substantial public and private investment, the development of a community land trust to take houses into collective community ownership and the involvement of architects Assemble – who went on to win the Turner Prize for their work on Granby Four Streets. (See: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/14/community-liverpool-residents-granby and https://www.theguardian.com/politics/commentisfree/audio/2018/feb/14/the-alternatives-how-liverpool-suburb-upended-housing-market-podcast.) It’s a fascinating story – all the more powerful for hearing it (on the podcast) through the voice of one of the local people who made it happen. And there are clearly many parallels with Voluntary Arts’ ‘Our Cultural Commons’ series of articles (see: https://www.voluntaryarts.org/Pages/Category/our-cultural-commons).
‘The Alternatives’ is a new series of articles and podcasts from The Guardian which looks at communities who are working out their own answers. Two weeks ago Guardian journalist Aditya Chakrabortty interviewed Preston councillor Matthew Brown about how the city has successfully adopted ‘guerrilla localism’ (see: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/31/preston-hit-rock-bottom-took-back-control and: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/commentisfree/audio/2018/jan/31/the-alternatives-how-preston-took-back-control-podcast). And this week he spoke to Hazel Tilley, a long-time resident of the Liverpool neighbourhood of Granby, about the remarkable regeneration of the area sparked by a few individual citizens taking it upon themselves to clean up the street where they live. This led to the securing of substantial public and private investment, the development of a community land trust to take houses into collective community ownership and the involvement of architects Assemble – who went on to win the Turner Prize for their work on Granby Four Streets. (See: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/14/community-liverpool-residents-granby and https://www.theguardian.com/politics/commentisfree/audio/2018/feb/14/the-alternatives-how-liverpool-suburb-upended-housing-market-podcast.) It’s a fascinating story – all the more powerful for hearing it (on the podcast) through the voice of one of the local people who made it happen. And there are clearly many parallels with Voluntary Arts’ ‘Our Cultural Commons’ series of articles (see: https://www.voluntaryarts.org/Pages/Category/our-cultural-commons).
Friday, February 09, 2018
'Novilunio' by Redi Hasa and Maria Mazzotta
9 February 2018
‘Novilunio’ is an intriguingly uncategorisable album by Albanian cellist Redi Hasa and southern Italian vocalist Maria Mazzotta. The ten songs suggest folk, jazz, classical, French chanson, pop and some Latin American rhythms. It’s a delightful mix – gentle, tuneful music with a melancholic air made distinctive by the ever-present ‘cello. You can get a flavour of the album at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=BBd-r6Ao3L0
‘Novilunio’ is an intriguingly uncategorisable album by Albanian cellist Redi Hasa and southern Italian vocalist Maria Mazzotta. The ten songs suggest folk, jazz, classical, French chanson, pop and some Latin American rhythms. It’s a delightful mix – gentle, tuneful music with a melancholic air made distinctive by the ever-present ‘cello. You can get a flavour of the album at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=BBd-r6Ao3L0
Friday, February 02, 2018
'Before the Fall' by Noah Hawley
2 February 2018
I’m a big fan of ‘Fargo’ – the TV series inspired by the 1996 Coen Brothers film (reviewed here in October 2017). So I was interested to see glowing reviews for ‘Before the Fall’, the latest novel by Noah Hawley who created and writes the TV series. ‘Before the Fall’ (which I have just finished reading as an unabridged audio book narrated by Jeff Harding) is an intriguing thriller. In August 2015 nine people board a private jet for the short flight from Martha’s Vineyard to New York. What happens next makes all of them potential suspects in a horrific crime. Hawley unspins his carefully constructed plot piece by piece, mixing the aftermath of a shocking event with the backstories of each of the protagonists in turn. Like the investigators in the story, the reader is quick to leap to a series of possible explanations before the truth gradually emerges. The characters are all very well drawn (and Jeff Harding’s narration brings each of them to life in the audio version). The fall from grace of the mega-rich and the resulting media frenzy reminded me of Tom Wolfe’s novels ‘The Bonfire of the Vanities’ and ‘A Man in Full’. ‘Before the Fall’ is a gripping page turner.
I’m a big fan of ‘Fargo’ – the TV series inspired by the 1996 Coen Brothers film (reviewed here in October 2017). So I was interested to see glowing reviews for ‘Before the Fall’, the latest novel by Noah Hawley who created and writes the TV series. ‘Before the Fall’ (which I have just finished reading as an unabridged audio book narrated by Jeff Harding) is an intriguing thriller. In August 2015 nine people board a private jet for the short flight from Martha’s Vineyard to New York. What happens next makes all of them potential suspects in a horrific crime. Hawley unspins his carefully constructed plot piece by piece, mixing the aftermath of a shocking event with the backstories of each of the protagonists in turn. Like the investigators in the story, the reader is quick to leap to a series of possible explanations before the truth gradually emerges. The characters are all very well drawn (and Jeff Harding’s narration brings each of them to life in the audio version). The fall from grace of the mega-rich and the resulting media frenzy reminded me of Tom Wolfe’s novels ‘The Bonfire of the Vanities’ and ‘A Man in Full’. ‘Before the Fall’ is a gripping page turner.
Friday, January 26, 2018
The Blockheads
26 January 2018
Last Friday we were back at the MK11 venue in Kiln Farm, Milton Keynes, to see The Blockheads. Regular readers who are keeping count will know this is the sixth time we have seen the band since our first encounter in July 2007, the last time also being at MK11 (reviewed here in December 2016). But this time the usual set-list of Ian Dury-era favourites was interspersed with songs from The Blockheads’ new album, ‘Beyond the Call of Dury’. At first listen the new songs sounded instantly and unmistakably Blockheads with catchy tunes, funky beats and those clever, dry, witty lyrics – but with occasional contemporary references to mobile phones etc. The Blockheads were on fine form – blending cheekiness, silliness and fun with incredibly slick musicianship. They always put on a great show and it’s always a pleasure to see them still going strong.
Last Friday we were back at the MK11 venue in Kiln Farm, Milton Keynes, to see The Blockheads. Regular readers who are keeping count will know this is the sixth time we have seen the band since our first encounter in July 2007, the last time also being at MK11 (reviewed here in December 2016). But this time the usual set-list of Ian Dury-era favourites was interspersed with songs from The Blockheads’ new album, ‘Beyond the Call of Dury’. At first listen the new songs sounded instantly and unmistakably Blockheads with catchy tunes, funky beats and those clever, dry, witty lyrics – but with occasional contemporary references to mobile phones etc. The Blockheads were on fine form – blending cheekiness, silliness and fun with incredibly slick musicianship. They always put on a great show and it’s always a pleasure to see them still going strong.
Monday, January 15, 2018
'A Passage to India' by E.M. Forster, adapted by Simon Dormandy
15 January 2018
On Saturday we were at the Royal Theatre in Northampton to see a new adaptation, by Simon Dormandy, of E.M. Forster’s ‘A Passage to India’ in a joint production by the Royal & Derngate and simple8, directed by Sebastian Armesto and Simon Dormandy. I have fond memories of a very good stage version of ‘A Passage to India’ by Shared Experience at Milton Keynes Theatre in 2002 and this new version was similarly impressive. With a minimal set, the focus was very much on the actors and this was a strong ensemble piece, with a large cast collectively becoming a carriage, a train, an elephant and the Marabar Caves. Original music by Kuljit Bhamra was performed live on the stage, with the combination of ‘cello and tabla emphasising the Anglo/Indian confrontations in the story. The cast were all very strong with particularly impressive performances by Asif Khan as Dr Aziz, Liz Crowther as Mrs Moore and Richard Goulding (who we last saw as Prince Harry in Mike Bartlett’s 'King Charles III', reviewed here in January 2015) as Fielding.
On Saturday we were at the Royal Theatre in Northampton to see a new adaptation, by Simon Dormandy, of E.M. Forster’s ‘A Passage to India’ in a joint production by the Royal & Derngate and simple8, directed by Sebastian Armesto and Simon Dormandy. I have fond memories of a very good stage version of ‘A Passage to India’ by Shared Experience at Milton Keynes Theatre in 2002 and this new version was similarly impressive. With a minimal set, the focus was very much on the actors and this was a strong ensemble piece, with a large cast collectively becoming a carriage, a train, an elephant and the Marabar Caves. Original music by Kuljit Bhamra was performed live on the stage, with the combination of ‘cello and tabla emphasising the Anglo/Indian confrontations in the story. The cast were all very strong with particularly impressive performances by Asif Khan as Dr Aziz, Liz Crowther as Mrs Moore and Richard Goulding (who we last saw as Prince Harry in Mike Bartlett’s 'King Charles III', reviewed here in January 2015) as Fielding.
Friday, January 12, 2018
‘Angstrom: The Man Who Wasn't Dead’ by Joel Morris and Jason Hazeley
12 January 2018
This week I stumbled across the first episode of an excellent new radio comedy series. ‘Angstrom: The Man Who Wasn't Dead’ (on BBC Radio 4 at 6.30 pm on Wednesdays) is a very silly parody of Scandi-crime TV series, written by Joel Morris and Jason Hazeley. Matthew Holness plays Knut Ångström – a brooding, alcoholic, maverick Swedish detective from the tough streets of Oslo. The absence of a body, or any evidence that anyone has been killed, doesn’t stop Angstrom treating every incident he encounters as a potential murder. It’s a loving pastiche of ‘The Killing’ (reviewed here in December 2011), ‘The Bridge’ (reviewed here in January 2014), ‘Wallander’ etc. Wonderfully childish and very funny – I’m really looking forward to Episode 2. You can listen to ‘Angstrom’ at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09l0ds8
This week I stumbled across the first episode of an excellent new radio comedy series. ‘Angstrom: The Man Who Wasn't Dead’ (on BBC Radio 4 at 6.30 pm on Wednesdays) is a very silly parody of Scandi-crime TV series, written by Joel Morris and Jason Hazeley. Matthew Holness plays Knut Ångström – a brooding, alcoholic, maverick Swedish detective from the tough streets of Oslo. The absence of a body, or any evidence that anyone has been killed, doesn’t stop Angstrom treating every incident he encounters as a potential murder. It’s a loving pastiche of ‘The Killing’ (reviewed here in December 2011), ‘The Bridge’ (reviewed here in January 2014), ‘Wallander’ etc. Wonderfully childish and very funny – I’m really looking forward to Episode 2. You can listen to ‘Angstrom’ at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09l0ds8
Friday, January 05, 2018
'Reservoir 13' by Jon McGregor
5 January 2018
One of my favourite episodes of ‘Hancock’s Half Hour’ is ‘The Missing Page’ (written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson in 1960). Tony Hancock is reading a salacious murder mystery (‘Lady, Don't Fall Backwards’ by Darcy Sarto) but when he gets to the end the last page has been torn out, depriving him of the identity of the killer. Desperate to know whodunnit, Hancock sets out on a quest to find the missing page. The idea of a crime novel without a solution feels inherently frustrating but Jon McGregor’s wonderful new novel ‘Reservoir 13’ very effectively subverts the genre. ‘Reservoir 13’ (which I have just finished reading as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Matt Bates) starts with the disappearance of a 13 year-old girl, Rebecca Shaw, who has been staying with her parents in a holiday cottage in a small Derbyshire village over the New Year. “When last seen she’d been wearing a white hooded top with a navy-blue body warmer, black jeans and canvas shoes. She was five feet tall, with straight, dark-blond, shoulder-length hair.” This description of the missing girl is one of several phrases that are repeated so often through the novel they become poetic mantras. As the villagers join forces to search the moors and the police investigation begins to probe into all aspects of village life, Jon McGregor plays with our expectations, suggesting all the familiar tropes of a crime novel. But soon it becomes clear that the disappearance of “Rebecca or Becky or Bex” is really just a hook for a beautifully drawn portrait of life in a small rural community. The seasons pass, and then the years, and we get to know many of the villagers, following the interlocking network of their personal stories in an elegant and completely believable soap opera. McGregor writes in short, simple sentences which have a poetic quality that reminded me of that other literary picture of a village and its inhabitants, Dylan Thomas’s ‘Under Milk Wood’. McGregor’s omniscient third-person narrative makes no judgements, merely reporting events as they happen in a flat, matter-of-fact tone which seems to make them strangely more poignant. Events are also presented with the assumption that we already know the protagonists: there is no backstory and time moves relentlessly forward throughout the novel. I don’t think it is too much of a spoiler to reveal that we never find out what happened to Becky Shaw (though there are plenty of hints about a range of possible explanations). But this doesn’t make ‘Reservoir 13’ a frustrating read: it is an unusual and compelling novel and I didn’t want to finish it. It was very exciting, therefore, to discover the companion podcast series ‘The Reservoir Tapes’, being broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and available to download as free podcasts. In the 15 episodes of ‘The Reservoir Tapes’ Jon McGregor has written individual perspectives (‘Charlotte’s Story’, ‘Vicky’s Story’, ‘Deepak’s Story’ etc) which cast light on events before and after Becky Shaw’s disappearance. The podcasts introduce some new characters that don’t appear in the novel and many of them relate to a period before the start of the novel. But they completely integrate with what we know from the novel, forming an elaborate jigsaw puzzle in which everything starts to become clear – apart from the one thing we really want to know: what happened to Becky Shaw? See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b097n5h3 or search for ‘The Reservoir Tapes’ in your podcast app.
One of my favourite episodes of ‘Hancock’s Half Hour’ is ‘The Missing Page’ (written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson in 1960). Tony Hancock is reading a salacious murder mystery (‘Lady, Don't Fall Backwards’ by Darcy Sarto) but when he gets to the end the last page has been torn out, depriving him of the identity of the killer. Desperate to know whodunnit, Hancock sets out on a quest to find the missing page. The idea of a crime novel without a solution feels inherently frustrating but Jon McGregor’s wonderful new novel ‘Reservoir 13’ very effectively subverts the genre. ‘Reservoir 13’ (which I have just finished reading as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Matt Bates) starts with the disappearance of a 13 year-old girl, Rebecca Shaw, who has been staying with her parents in a holiday cottage in a small Derbyshire village over the New Year. “When last seen she’d been wearing a white hooded top with a navy-blue body warmer, black jeans and canvas shoes. She was five feet tall, with straight, dark-blond, shoulder-length hair.” This description of the missing girl is one of several phrases that are repeated so often through the novel they become poetic mantras. As the villagers join forces to search the moors and the police investigation begins to probe into all aspects of village life, Jon McGregor plays with our expectations, suggesting all the familiar tropes of a crime novel. But soon it becomes clear that the disappearance of “Rebecca or Becky or Bex” is really just a hook for a beautifully drawn portrait of life in a small rural community. The seasons pass, and then the years, and we get to know many of the villagers, following the interlocking network of their personal stories in an elegant and completely believable soap opera. McGregor writes in short, simple sentences which have a poetic quality that reminded me of that other literary picture of a village and its inhabitants, Dylan Thomas’s ‘Under Milk Wood’. McGregor’s omniscient third-person narrative makes no judgements, merely reporting events as they happen in a flat, matter-of-fact tone which seems to make them strangely more poignant. Events are also presented with the assumption that we already know the protagonists: there is no backstory and time moves relentlessly forward throughout the novel. I don’t think it is too much of a spoiler to reveal that we never find out what happened to Becky Shaw (though there are plenty of hints about a range of possible explanations). But this doesn’t make ‘Reservoir 13’ a frustrating read: it is an unusual and compelling novel and I didn’t want to finish it. It was very exciting, therefore, to discover the companion podcast series ‘The Reservoir Tapes’, being broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and available to download as free podcasts. In the 15 episodes of ‘The Reservoir Tapes’ Jon McGregor has written individual perspectives (‘Charlotte’s Story’, ‘Vicky’s Story’, ‘Deepak’s Story’ etc) which cast light on events before and after Becky Shaw’s disappearance. The podcasts introduce some new characters that don’t appear in the novel and many of them relate to a period before the start of the novel. But they completely integrate with what we know from the novel, forming an elaborate jigsaw puzzle in which everything starts to become clear – apart from the one thing we really want to know: what happened to Becky Shaw? See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b097n5h3 or search for ‘The Reservoir Tapes’ in your podcast app.
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
'Dark' by Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar
19 December 2017
I’ve just finished watching ‘Dark’ – the first German language commission from Netflix. This 10-part TV serial is a science-fiction thriller set in a small town in southern Germany. Superficially it has a lot in common with that other Netflix hit ‘Stranger Things’ (reviewed here in August 2016 and November 2017) but ‘Dark’ is much, well, darker. ‘Dark’ is written by Jantje Friese and directed by Baran bo Odar. It soon becomes clear that this is a time travel tale with an incredibly complex plot. To follow it you need to piece together a jigsaw involving three family trees over at least three generations, as you encounter many of the family members at several points in their lives – but not in the order you would expect. This family saga aspect, set in a small German town, reminded me of Edgar Reitz’s epic ‘Heimat’ films. ‘Dark’ also has elements of ‘Back to the Future’ and Steven Moffat’s brilliant 2007 Doctor Who episode, ‘Blink’ (starring Carey Mulligan). I really enjoyed the challenge of trying to unpick the complicated plot and it was terribly satisfying to work out some of the connections and twists just before they were revealed. The acting is great and the casting of the younger and older versions of each character is amazing. Highly recommended, with two caveats: don’t be tempted to binge-watch – you will need time between episodes to process what on earth is going on!; and make sure you select the original German-language version with subtitles rather than suffering the dubbed American voices.
I’ve just finished watching ‘Dark’ – the first German language commission from Netflix. This 10-part TV serial is a science-fiction thriller set in a small town in southern Germany. Superficially it has a lot in common with that other Netflix hit ‘Stranger Things’ (reviewed here in August 2016 and November 2017) but ‘Dark’ is much, well, darker. ‘Dark’ is written by Jantje Friese and directed by Baran bo Odar. It soon becomes clear that this is a time travel tale with an incredibly complex plot. To follow it you need to piece together a jigsaw involving three family trees over at least three generations, as you encounter many of the family members at several points in their lives – but not in the order you would expect. This family saga aspect, set in a small German town, reminded me of Edgar Reitz’s epic ‘Heimat’ films. ‘Dark’ also has elements of ‘Back to the Future’ and Steven Moffat’s brilliant 2007 Doctor Who episode, ‘Blink’ (starring Carey Mulligan). I really enjoyed the challenge of trying to unpick the complicated plot and it was terribly satisfying to work out some of the connections and twists just before they were revealed. The acting is great and the casting of the younger and older versions of each character is amazing. Highly recommended, with two caveats: don’t be tempted to binge-watch – you will need time between episodes to process what on earth is going on!; and make sure you select the original German-language version with subtitles rather than suffering the dubbed American voices.
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
'Antony & Cleopatra' by William Shakespeare
13 December 2017
On Tuesday I was at the Barbican in London to see the Royal Shakespeare Company production of ‘Antony & Cleopatra’ starring Antony Byrne and Josette Simon. Incredibly, I last saw Josette Simon on stage in 1995 as Katherina in Mihai Maniutiu’s brilliant production of ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ at Leicester Haymarket. 22 years later, she is still a striking, mercurial performer, playing a capricious Cleopatra with a childlike playfulness and petulance. I had never previously seen ‘Antony & Cleopatra’. It’s one of those Shakespeare plays that relies on people immediately and unquestioningly believing the word of a messenger who arrives to tell them someone has died – without any evidence of the veracity of the message. But the central relationship between Mark Anthony and the Queen of Egypt is very believable and well played in Iqbal Khan’s production. I also liked Ben Allen who plays Octavius Caesar as a public schoolboy who feels upset and disappointed when his opponents won’t play fair. The original music, composed by Laura Mvula, is an interesting mix of rock, folk and classical which uses a worldless female singer (Zara McFarlane) to create a mystical, ancient world feel.
On Tuesday I was at the Barbican in London to see the Royal Shakespeare Company production of ‘Antony & Cleopatra’ starring Antony Byrne and Josette Simon. Incredibly, I last saw Josette Simon on stage in 1995 as Katherina in Mihai Maniutiu’s brilliant production of ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ at Leicester Haymarket. 22 years later, she is still a striking, mercurial performer, playing a capricious Cleopatra with a childlike playfulness and petulance. I had never previously seen ‘Antony & Cleopatra’. It’s one of those Shakespeare plays that relies on people immediately and unquestioningly believing the word of a messenger who arrives to tell them someone has died – without any evidence of the veracity of the message. But the central relationship between Mark Anthony and the Queen of Egypt is very believable and well played in Iqbal Khan’s production. I also liked Ben Allen who plays Octavius Caesar as a public schoolboy who feels upset and disappointed when his opponents won’t play fair. The original music, composed by Laura Mvula, is an interesting mix of rock, folk and classical which uses a worldless female singer (Zara McFarlane) to create a mystical, ancient world feel.
Milton Keynes Sinfonia concert
13 December 2017
There was much disappointment last Sunday when the annual Northampton Symphony Orchestra Christmas Cracker concert had to be cancelled because of the snow. It’s the first time in the 17 years I have played in the orchestra that we have cancelled a concert. A great shame for everyone who had been looking forward to dressing up as their favourite hero or villain (the members of the orchestra as much as the children in the audience!) Fortunately the snow arrived on Sunday morning and didn’t affect the Milton Keynes Sinfonia concert which I was playing in on Saturday evening. I made one of my occasional appearances with Milton Keynes Sinfonia in a popular programme which included the Sibelius Violin Concerto, played by the exciting young soloist Charlotte Moseley, and Tchaikovsky’s ‘Symphony No 5’. I was ‘bumping’ the 1st horn part to allow the Principal Horn player, Kate Knight, to concentrate on a beautiful performance of the big horn solo in the slow movement of the symphony. Tchaikovsky 5 is a very exciting piece to play but must be one of the most exhausting works in the repertoire: by the end of the last movement I was relying on Kate to support me as my stamina waned. It was a lovely concert and it was great to see a packed audience at the Church of Christ the Cornerstone in Milton Keynes.
There was much disappointment last Sunday when the annual Northampton Symphony Orchestra Christmas Cracker concert had to be cancelled because of the snow. It’s the first time in the 17 years I have played in the orchestra that we have cancelled a concert. A great shame for everyone who had been looking forward to dressing up as their favourite hero or villain (the members of the orchestra as much as the children in the audience!) Fortunately the snow arrived on Sunday morning and didn’t affect the Milton Keynes Sinfonia concert which I was playing in on Saturday evening. I made one of my occasional appearances with Milton Keynes Sinfonia in a popular programme which included the Sibelius Violin Concerto, played by the exciting young soloist Charlotte Moseley, and Tchaikovsky’s ‘Symphony No 5’. I was ‘bumping’ the 1st horn part to allow the Principal Horn player, Kate Knight, to concentrate on a beautiful performance of the big horn solo in the slow movement of the symphony. Tchaikovsky 5 is a very exciting piece to play but must be one of the most exhausting works in the repertoire: by the end of the last movement I was relying on Kate to support me as my stamina waned. It was a lovely concert and it was great to see a packed audience at the Church of Christ the Cornerstone in Milton Keynes.
Thursday, December 07, 2017
'Symphony No 4' by Sergei Taneyev
7 December 2017
I am grateful to Lee Dunleavy for recommending, on FaceBook, the 4th Symphony by Sergei Taneyev which I have been listening to this week (in the Naxos recording by the Novosibirsk Academic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Thomas Sanderling). I must admit I had never heard of Taneyev, a Russian composer born in 1856 who died in 1915. He he studied piano at the Moscow Conservatory with Rubinstein and composition with Tchaikovsky, who became a close friend. Taneyev later taught at the Conservatory himself, where his pupils included Rachmaninov. He wrote four symphonies, although the first three were not published until long after his death. Symphony No 4 was published in 1901 (as No 1) is a powerful, romantic work which shows the influence of Tchaikovsky and also reminded me of another Russian work, ‘Symphony No 5 (The Heroic)’ by Alexander Glazunov which I played with Northampton Symphony Orchestra earlier this year (reviewed here in March 2017). I am definitely going to listen to more Taneyev.
I am grateful to Lee Dunleavy for recommending, on FaceBook, the 4th Symphony by Sergei Taneyev which I have been listening to this week (in the Naxos recording by the Novosibirsk Academic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Thomas Sanderling). I must admit I had never heard of Taneyev, a Russian composer born in 1856 who died in 1915. He he studied piano at the Moscow Conservatory with Rubinstein and composition with Tchaikovsky, who became a close friend. Taneyev later taught at the Conservatory himself, where his pupils included Rachmaninov. He wrote four symphonies, although the first three were not published until long after his death. Symphony No 4 was published in 1901 (as No 1) is a powerful, romantic work which shows the influence of Tchaikovsky and also reminded me of another Russian work, ‘Symphony No 5 (The Heroic)’ by Alexander Glazunov which I played with Northampton Symphony Orchestra earlier this year (reviewed here in March 2017). I am definitely going to listen to more Taneyev.
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
'Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz' by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman
29 November 2017
Some time in 2001 I heard someone on the radio talking about a novel that was going to tell the story of the childhood of the Wicked Witch of the West from L Frank Baum’s ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’. Even though the book had not yet been published in the UK, I was hooked by the concept. During a trip to Seattle in 2002 I bought a copy of 'Wicked' by Gregory Maguire at the wonderful Elliot Bay Book Company store and I loved it. It has since become a bestseller and spawned a Broadway musical, which has now been running at the Apollo Victoria in London for 11 years. Last Saturday I finally got around to going to see it. I think I had been put off by the initial critical reviews and worried that the show wouldn’t live up to Gregory Maguire’s novel – an incredibly complex tale which is both an exercise in magical realism and (strangely) believably realistic. (As is his other novel 'Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister', reviewed here in March 2008.) ‘Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz’, directed by Joe Mantello, is great fun: an impressive spectacle with an amazing set (by Eugene Lee), stunning lighting (by Kenneth Posner) and a huge cast. It’s a rock musical with solid music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. But it’s really worth seeing for three reasons: 1. it is rare to see a mainstream musical with two strong female leads (it would definitely pass the Bechdel test) – Alice Fearn as Elphaba and Sophie Evans as Glinda are the stars of the show; 2. the book by Winnie Holzman is brilliant – incredibly witty, quickly pricking any emerging pomposity, with some beautifully hidden references to lines from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and many laugh-out-loud quips; and 3. anyone who grew up watching the 1939 MGM film will love this reverential ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead’ alternative viewpoint on some of the key events in the original story.
Some time in 2001 I heard someone on the radio talking about a novel that was going to tell the story of the childhood of the Wicked Witch of the West from L Frank Baum’s ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’. Even though the book had not yet been published in the UK, I was hooked by the concept. During a trip to Seattle in 2002 I bought a copy of 'Wicked' by Gregory Maguire at the wonderful Elliot Bay Book Company store and I loved it. It has since become a bestseller and spawned a Broadway musical, which has now been running at the Apollo Victoria in London for 11 years. Last Saturday I finally got around to going to see it. I think I had been put off by the initial critical reviews and worried that the show wouldn’t live up to Gregory Maguire’s novel – an incredibly complex tale which is both an exercise in magical realism and (strangely) believably realistic. (As is his other novel 'Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister', reviewed here in March 2008.) ‘Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz’, directed by Joe Mantello, is great fun: an impressive spectacle with an amazing set (by Eugene Lee), stunning lighting (by Kenneth Posner) and a huge cast. It’s a rock musical with solid music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. But it’s really worth seeing for three reasons: 1. it is rare to see a mainstream musical with two strong female leads (it would definitely pass the Bechdel test) – Alice Fearn as Elphaba and Sophie Evans as Glinda are the stars of the show; 2. the book by Winnie Holzman is brilliant – incredibly witty, quickly pricking any emerging pomposity, with some beautifully hidden references to lines from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and many laugh-out-loud quips; and 3. anyone who grew up watching the 1939 MGM film will love this reverential ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead’ alternative viewpoint on some of the key events in the original story.
Thursday, November 23, 2017
'La Belle Sauvage' by Philip Pullman
23 November 2017
Searching back through my blog, I was pleased to discover that when I wrote here about Susanna Clarke’s brilliant novel ‘Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell’ (reviewed here in April 2008) I noted the similarity between Clarke’s parallel universe and those of Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' novels. While ‘His Dark Materials’ was inspired by Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’, Philip Pullman’s new trilogy of young adult novels, ‘The Book of Dust’, take Spenser's ‘The Faerie Queene’ as its underlying theme. And in the first of these new novels, ‘La Belle Sauvage’ (which I have just finished reading as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Michael Sheen), Pullman’s characters’ initial encounters with the fairy world are very reminiscent of ‘Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell’. It was great to return to Philip Pullman’s alternative Oxford – a contemporary world that feels strangely old-fashioned, where familiar places are populated by people with animal daemons. ‘La Belle Sauvage’ is a prequel to ‘Northern Lights’ – the first ‘His Dark Materials’ novel – and shows us that novel’s hero Lyra Belacqua as a baby, given sanctuary in Godstow Priory to hide her from the Magisterium. This tale is told through the eyes of an eleven-year-old boy, Malcolm Polstead, who lives with his parents at the Trout Inn, across the river Thames from the Priory. It’s more than 15 years since I read the ‘His Dark Materials’ novels and reading ‘La Belle Sauvage’ was like re-encountering an old friend. I had forgotten how good Philip Pullman’s writing is and how genuinely thrilling he makes his stories. ‘La Belle Sauvage’ is incredibly scary and exciting (particularly with Michael Sheen’s dramatic narration). These novels are aimed at children but deal with some very serious themes. Ultimately they seem to be very well observed, sometimes funny, sometimes painful, reflections on the process of growing up. This new Philip Pullman novel was a real treat and I can’t wait for the next two books in the series.
Searching back through my blog, I was pleased to discover that when I wrote here about Susanna Clarke’s brilliant novel ‘Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell’ (reviewed here in April 2008) I noted the similarity between Clarke’s parallel universe and those of Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' novels. While ‘His Dark Materials’ was inspired by Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’, Philip Pullman’s new trilogy of young adult novels, ‘The Book of Dust’, take Spenser's ‘The Faerie Queene’ as its underlying theme. And in the first of these new novels, ‘La Belle Sauvage’ (which I have just finished reading as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Michael Sheen), Pullman’s characters’ initial encounters with the fairy world are very reminiscent of ‘Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell’. It was great to return to Philip Pullman’s alternative Oxford – a contemporary world that feels strangely old-fashioned, where familiar places are populated by people with animal daemons. ‘La Belle Sauvage’ is a prequel to ‘Northern Lights’ – the first ‘His Dark Materials’ novel – and shows us that novel’s hero Lyra Belacqua as a baby, given sanctuary in Godstow Priory to hide her from the Magisterium. This tale is told through the eyes of an eleven-year-old boy, Malcolm Polstead, who lives with his parents at the Trout Inn, across the river Thames from the Priory. It’s more than 15 years since I read the ‘His Dark Materials’ novels and reading ‘La Belle Sauvage’ was like re-encountering an old friend. I had forgotten how good Philip Pullman’s writing is and how genuinely thrilling he makes his stories. ‘La Belle Sauvage’ is incredibly scary and exciting (particularly with Michael Sheen’s dramatic narration). These novels are aimed at children but deal with some very serious themes. Ultimately they seem to be very well observed, sometimes funny, sometimes painful, reflections on the process of growing up. This new Philip Pullman novel was a real treat and I can’t wait for the next two books in the series.
Friday, November 17, 2017
'Follies' by Stephen Sondheim
17 November 2017
Stephen Sondheim’s 1971 musical ‘Follies’ is rarely performed, largely because it requires an enormous cast. Laurie Sansom’s splendid 2006 production at the Northampton Royal & Derngate (reviewed here in November 2006) cast local amateurs as the ageing Follies girls, with a professional cast playing the leads and the ‘ghosts’ of their younger selves. Dominic Cooke’s new production at the National Theatre (which we saw as a NTLive broadcast at the Odeon at Milton Keynes Stadium on Thursday) uses a cast of 37, plus a 21-strong orchestra. It’s a stunning production with Vicki Mortimer’s massive set showing the crumbling carcass of a condemned theatre constantly rotating on the huge stage of the Olivier. ‘Follies’ is a bitter-sweet show, full of set-piece songs in which the older women each reprise the hits of their youth. Sondheim’s songs are pastiches of the style of those early 20th century Follies shows, but with more knowing poignancy. Dominic Cooke’s production is of the highest quality with great music and dancing. The singing, in particular, is excellent – from the operatic contributions of Josephine Barstow and Bruce Graham, to musical standards by Di Botcher (‘Broadway Baby’) and Tracie Bennett (‘I’m Still Here’), to brilliant song and dance numbers by Dawn Hope (‘Who’s That Woman? (Mirror Mirror)’) and the wonderful Janie Dee (‘The story of Lucy and Jessie’). And it felt impossible not to cry at Imelda Staunton’s heartbreakingly beautiful performance of ‘Losing My Mind’ – the melancholic climax of the evening. The nature of the show, with its roll call of solos by each of the characters, invites audience adulation throughout and the reaction of the audience at the National Theatre on Thursday seemed to grow more exuberant with each number. It’s always a slightly-detached experience sitting in a cinema watching the relay of a live show, but on this occasion the final curtain prompted spontaneous applause from everyone at the Odeon Milton Keynes – and, on screen in the Olivier auditorium, the audience were all on their feet for the most enthusiastic standing ovation I have seen for years. This was a brilliant production of ‘Follies’ and it is amazing for it to be playing in London at the same time as Christopher Wheeldon’s production of ‘An American in Paris’ (reviewed here in April 2017) and Mark Bramble’s production of ‘42nd Street’ (reviewed here in August 2017). All three could make a strong case for being the best musical you will ever see: we are so lucky to have seen them all this year.
Stephen Sondheim’s 1971 musical ‘Follies’ is rarely performed, largely because it requires an enormous cast. Laurie Sansom’s splendid 2006 production at the Northampton Royal & Derngate (reviewed here in November 2006) cast local amateurs as the ageing Follies girls, with a professional cast playing the leads and the ‘ghosts’ of their younger selves. Dominic Cooke’s new production at the National Theatre (which we saw as a NTLive broadcast at the Odeon at Milton Keynes Stadium on Thursday) uses a cast of 37, plus a 21-strong orchestra. It’s a stunning production with Vicki Mortimer’s massive set showing the crumbling carcass of a condemned theatre constantly rotating on the huge stage of the Olivier. ‘Follies’ is a bitter-sweet show, full of set-piece songs in which the older women each reprise the hits of their youth. Sondheim’s songs are pastiches of the style of those early 20th century Follies shows, but with more knowing poignancy. Dominic Cooke’s production is of the highest quality with great music and dancing. The singing, in particular, is excellent – from the operatic contributions of Josephine Barstow and Bruce Graham, to musical standards by Di Botcher (‘Broadway Baby’) and Tracie Bennett (‘I’m Still Here’), to brilliant song and dance numbers by Dawn Hope (‘Who’s That Woman? (Mirror Mirror)’) and the wonderful Janie Dee (‘The story of Lucy and Jessie’). And it felt impossible not to cry at Imelda Staunton’s heartbreakingly beautiful performance of ‘Losing My Mind’ – the melancholic climax of the evening. The nature of the show, with its roll call of solos by each of the characters, invites audience adulation throughout and the reaction of the audience at the National Theatre on Thursday seemed to grow more exuberant with each number. It’s always a slightly-detached experience sitting in a cinema watching the relay of a live show, but on this occasion the final curtain prompted spontaneous applause from everyone at the Odeon Milton Keynes – and, on screen in the Olivier auditorium, the audience were all on their feet for the most enthusiastic standing ovation I have seen for years. This was a brilliant production of ‘Follies’ and it is amazing for it to be playing in London at the same time as Christopher Wheeldon’s production of ‘An American in Paris’ (reviewed here in April 2017) and Mark Bramble’s production of ‘42nd Street’ (reviewed here in August 2017). All three could make a strong case for being the best musical you will ever see: we are so lucky to have seen them all this year.
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert
14 November 2017
Northampton Symphony Orchestra’s 2017-18 season features music inspired by the visual arts. The opening concert, at Spinney Theatre in Northampton last Saturday, included William Walton’s overture ‘Portsmouth Point’, inspired by Thomas Rowlandson’s 1872 satirical print of the same name. Rhythmically, it’s a fiendishly difficult piece to play with constant changes of time signature and syncopated figures which create an exciting depiction of the bustling port. ‘The Frescoes of Piero della Francesca’ by Bohuslav Martinu presents similar challenges to the orchestra, with few downbeats coming where you expect them. It’s a lovely three-movement work which creates a shimmering sound-world capturing the atmosphere of Piero della Francesca’s paintings. Ralph Vaughan Williams’ ‘Job: A Masque for Dancing’ is a rarely performed one act ballet, loosely based on William Blake’s ‘Illustrations to The Book of Job’. I'm still finding it hard to believe it is more than 32 years since I last played ‘Job’ – in a series of 3 staged performances by the Manchester Youth Orchestra at the Royal Northern College of Music in January 1985. When we started rehearsing the piece for this NSO concert memories came flooding back of that seminal musical experience and I was amazed how well I remembered the detail of the horn parts. Our performance on Saturday featured wonderful solos by Stephen Hague (violin), Sarah Mourant (oboe), Naomi Muller (clarinet) and Graham Tear and Helen Taylor (flutes). I don’t think anyone would dispute, however, that the concert was dominated by Dinara Klinton’s amazing performance of the ‘Piano Concerto for the Left Hand’ by Maurice Ravel. Written for the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein who lost his right arm during the First World War – by Ravel who had been an ambulance driver on the other side in the war – it was a poignant piece to play on 11 November. The concerto is a dark, brooding work which opens with a menacingly deep contrabassoon solo – beautifully played by Frank Jordan. Listening to a recording it seems impossible that the piano is being played with only one hand. It was fascinating to see the young Ukrainian pianist Dinara Klinton making the seemingly impossible not only possible but musically stunning. I can confidently say that no-one who was at the concert will ever forget her performance. Dinara Klinton gave herself the luxury of using both hands for her encore – one of Liszt’s ‘Transcendental Studies’ (the full set of which she recorded for Genuin Classics in 2016: you can watch her playing them at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDHZC7b4u4I). The NSO negotiated these four unfamiliar and challenging pieces very impressively (though with much furrowed brow concentration!) to present an intriguing and unusual concert which was a tribute to Music Director John Gibbons’ inventive programming and effective conducting.
Northampton Symphony Orchestra’s 2017-18 season features music inspired by the visual arts. The opening concert, at Spinney Theatre in Northampton last Saturday, included William Walton’s overture ‘Portsmouth Point’, inspired by Thomas Rowlandson’s 1872 satirical print of the same name. Rhythmically, it’s a fiendishly difficult piece to play with constant changes of time signature and syncopated figures which create an exciting depiction of the bustling port. ‘The Frescoes of Piero della Francesca’ by Bohuslav Martinu presents similar challenges to the orchestra, with few downbeats coming where you expect them. It’s a lovely three-movement work which creates a shimmering sound-world capturing the atmosphere of Piero della Francesca’s paintings. Ralph Vaughan Williams’ ‘Job: A Masque for Dancing’ is a rarely performed one act ballet, loosely based on William Blake’s ‘Illustrations to The Book of Job’. I'm still finding it hard to believe it is more than 32 years since I last played ‘Job’ – in a series of 3 staged performances by the Manchester Youth Orchestra at the Royal Northern College of Music in January 1985. When we started rehearsing the piece for this NSO concert memories came flooding back of that seminal musical experience and I was amazed how well I remembered the detail of the horn parts. Our performance on Saturday featured wonderful solos by Stephen Hague (violin), Sarah Mourant (oboe), Naomi Muller (clarinet) and Graham Tear and Helen Taylor (flutes). I don’t think anyone would dispute, however, that the concert was dominated by Dinara Klinton’s amazing performance of the ‘Piano Concerto for the Left Hand’ by Maurice Ravel. Written for the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein who lost his right arm during the First World War – by Ravel who had been an ambulance driver on the other side in the war – it was a poignant piece to play on 11 November. The concerto is a dark, brooding work which opens with a menacingly deep contrabassoon solo – beautifully played by Frank Jordan. Listening to a recording it seems impossible that the piano is being played with only one hand. It was fascinating to see the young Ukrainian pianist Dinara Klinton making the seemingly impossible not only possible but musically stunning. I can confidently say that no-one who was at the concert will ever forget her performance. Dinara Klinton gave herself the luxury of using both hands for her encore – one of Liszt’s ‘Transcendental Studies’ (the full set of which she recorded for Genuin Classics in 2016: you can watch her playing them at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDHZC7b4u4I). The NSO negotiated these four unfamiliar and challenging pieces very impressively (though with much furrowed brow concentration!) to present an intriguing and unusual concert which was a tribute to Music Director John Gibbons’ inventive programming and effective conducting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)