Month: October 1998

The House Among The Stars by Michel Tremblay, Orange Tree Theatre, 31 October 1998

Our Richmond-fest continued with this Canadian (or should I say Quebecois?) play. My log was pretty clear on our take:

Dreadful, we almost missed it due to bad weather and road condition, but still left at half time.

Nick Curtis in The Standard was kinder than that, although still awarded it a blob:

Tremblay Curtis StandardTremblay Curtis Standard 28 Oct 1998, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

The local Chronicles spoke highly of it:

Tremblay Starr ChroniclesTremblay Starr Chronicles 05 Nov 1998, Thu The Feltham Chronicle (Hounslow, London, England) Newspapers.com

No doubt Janie and I enjoyed our Don Fernando dinner afterwards, despite the play.

Homage To Marc Chagall, Wigmore Hall, Chagall Trio & Samuel West, 25 October 1998

Sunday night at “The Wig” to see this concert by the Chagall Trio, peppered with readings from Marc Chagall’s autobiography delivered by my old schoolmate, Samuel West.

We heard:

  • Dmitri Shostakovich – Piano Trio No 2 in E Minor, Op 67              
  • Philip Grange – Homage to Chagall       
  • Igor Stravinsky – Rag-time for Eleven Instruments         
  • Aaron Copland – Vitebsk – Study on a Jewish Theme    

Janie is partial to a bit of Chagall, visually, and is fascinated by Chagall’s life story, so the whole idea seemed to tick a lot of boxes for us. It was indeed a super concert that pleased us.

Equally Divided by Ronald Harwood, Richmond Theatre, 24 October 1998

We were on a Richmond kick that quarter, for some reason, with three visits to The Orange Tree and two visits to the Richmond Theatre. Coincidence really, I should imagine.

Janie liked it more than I did.

That is my log’s pithy conclusion.

Excellent cast, with Stephanie Cole, Stephanie Beacham, Benjamin Whitrow & Gerald Harper. Christopher Morahan directed it. A transfer from Bath, as was often the case at Richmond.

Here is the Theatricalia entry.

Here is Jody Lindbeck’s take on it in the local gazettes:

Equally GazetteEqually Gazette 23 Oct 1998, Fri Ealing and Acton Gazette (Ealing, London, England) Newspapers.com

Reading that review 25 years later, all I can think of is the wonderful Peter Cook quote: “I go to the theatre to be entertained. I don’t want to see plays about rape, sodomy and drug addiction – I can get all that at home.“

Nash Ensemble At The Wigmore Hall, 13 October 1998

I think we must have been experimenting a bit at The Wigmore Hall for this one, as I don’t think of this music as being Janie’s taste. Perhaps I was especially keen to encourage her to hear the Richard Strauss songs…or at least i was keen to hear them performed live. Olaf Bär certainly gave them some baritone oomph.

We heard:

  • Ludwig van Beethoven – Trio in B Flat Op 11 for Clarinet, Cello and Piano         
  • Gustav Mahler – Kindertotenlieder for Voice and Ensemble     
  • Richard Strauss – Five Songs    
  • Arnold Schoenberg – Verklarte Nacht Op 4 for String Sextet.

I sense that I enjoyed this concert more than Janie did.

Nikita’s Restaurant, 10 October 1998

Photo “borrowed” from Google.

In those days we sometimes went to restaurants on a Saturday night. On this occasion, a posh Russia restaurant named Nikita’s.

Gone now, 25 years later, but still with a website – here’s a link to it.

Here’s a scrape of it in case the website has gone once you get here.

No doubt several of Janie’s clients put her onto it, no doubt the following rave review in The Standard encouraged them:

Nikita's StandardNikita’s Standard 22 Sep 1998, Tue Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

It was very good.

Sperm Wars by David Lewis, Orange Tree Theatre, 3 October 1998

My log is silent on this one. I think we quite liked it but clearly didn’t rave about it. Our diaries add nothing. Not even the fact that, almost certainly, we went to Don Fernando afterwards for a Spanish meal.

The local gazette papers had a rave review for this piece:

Sperm Harrison GazettesSperm Harrison Gazettes 16 Oct 1998, Fri Ealing and Acton Gazette (Ealing, London, England) Newspapers.com

Nick Curtis in The Standard was less sure:

Sperm Curtis StandardSperm Curtis Standard 23 Sep 1998, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com