Janie and I were partial to the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and also we are Telemaniacs, so this concert was an obvious one to book, even coming so soon after another delicious-looking Baroque concert on the preceding Sunday.
We were not disapointed.
We heard:
Georg Philipp Telemann – Volker Ouverture in B flat major TWV55:B5
Johann Sebastian Bach – Harpsicord Concerto in D minor BWV1052
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi – Concerto Grosso in A minor Op 3 No 8 RV522
Georg Philipp Telemann – Ouverture La Bizarre in G major TWV55:G2
To the bus station we went that Saturday to see Lulu very early in the Almeida run. The theatre was being refurbished that season – hence the bus station.
This play might have benefitted from the more intimate atmosphere of the Almeida Theatre itself. The coldness of the bus station served to emphasise the absence of warmth in a sex worker’s craft.
With Anna Friel, Oliver Milburn and Alan Howard taking lead roles and Jonathan Kent directing, it was always going to be a well put together show. Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry.
Nicholas de Jongh was captivated by Anna Friel’s Lulu, but several of his critic colleagues were not. The following piece from the Standard shows the critical divide.
Janie and I were similarly conflicted over this one It wasn’t just about the bus station setting. Wedekind’s work is open to wide interpretation and this version seemed to be hedging its bets.
Our friend, Michael Billington, expressed similar sentiments well:
I remember quite liking the play and being impressed by the cast, while feeling that “we can get all that at home”…or at least, at Doug and Paul’s home.
Excellent cast: Mark Bonner, James McAvoy, Linda Bassett, Sean Gallagher, Michele Austin and Vilma Hollingbery, directed by Kathy Burke.
Charles Spencer in The Telegraph rather liked this one:
One For The Road sent a driver on something like this
Friday 16 March 2001 – Dinner At Mike & Marianna Smith’s Place In Kennington
I have written at length about me and Janie spending occasional evenings with Mike and Marianna, either at their place or ours. My favourite memory of those – sadly my last memory of seeing Mike, is this one:
There won’t have been music-making in 2001 – that element came later – but there will have been good food and convivial chat. I think, on that occasion, Janie drove and therefore drank little. Mike and Marianna evenings were not particularly boozy affairs, but they were very pleasant ones.
Saturday 17 March 2001 – Dinner At Doug & Paul’s Place In Streatham, Featuring The Duchess And “One For The Road”
Doug and Paul were a couple that Janie and Pauline had met on holiday together before Janie and I got together – presumably 10 years at least before this evening. Pauline had kept in touch with them and they invited the three of us to their house in Streatham for dinner. Their place was just a few blocks away from my parents place, but visiting my folks didn’t come into it.
What did come into it was the use of a chauffeuring service that Janie and I had previously used couple of times, named “One For The Road”. You booked the service to drive you home in your own car. The chauffeur would arrive at an appointed hour on a collapsible bike, which they would stow in the boot of your car while they drove you home.
There was only one problem with this service, which we encountered to our shame on this occasion; you had to pre-book the time of departure.
Janie thought 10:45pm would be ideal after a 7:00 arrival, but she hadn’t accounted for the perfect storm of Doug & Paul’s desire to show off every last feature of their new home, their painstakingly slow preparation/serving of food, together with Pauline’s classic ability to spin out every one of her many yarns when holding forth, interspersed with inter-course cigarettes a plenty.
“…and let me tell you another thing…”
Doug and Paul seemed to be luxuriating in showing us their feature-packed home and listening to Pauline’s fables.
Janie and I, although somewhat refreshed by nibbles and starters, were far from sated, foodwise. More than sated, interior design and Pauline-yarn-wise.
Janie dropped a couple of hints, before expressing significant concern, around 10:00, that our driver was arriving at 10:45 and that we hadn’t progressed yet to the main course.
Doug and Paul hurried themselves to finish preparing and then serve a main dish. The driver arrived while we were still eating that dish. We finished it hurriedly.
Thanks ever so much for dinner, but we really must go now,
said Janie.
But what about dessert?
blurted Doug…or Paul…or both.
The Duchess was a little disappointed. She no doubt had several more tales of her derring-do up her sleeve and had been looking forward to relating them over pudding, coffee and cigarettes.
We never saw Doug and Paul again.
I don’t think we ever used the One For The Road service again either.
I needed to do some electronic archaeology to ascertain that John White & I ate at Cigala that night. But I do remember the evening and the restaurant well. A great meal and, at that time, a rare opportunity to meet up.
Work was at full pelt at that time for both of us, plus John was up to his elbows in little ones. Here’s a quote from our e-mail exchange arranging this one:
We must get something in the diary. Call me at the office. Here all day Friday. Home is usually not good because I am either in the middle of cooking, eating or controlling children. When you rang on Monday I was literally up to my elbows in vomit. Joy. Don’t ever have children.
Cigala was a new opening at that time and had been getting rave reviews. Here’s Jay Rayner, for example.
I ate “well posh” all day that day. I had spent the morning running a Fishy Bourse game at St James’s Palace for delegates at a Marine Stewardship Council event. I got Prince Charles to hand out fluffy fish in the prize-giving, which I thought was pretty cool and His Royal Highness didn’t seem to mind.
The Daily Telegraph was strangely silent about the fluffy fish.
Lunch included the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) as well as the MSC (coincidentally, John White was soon to move on to the timber trade and encounter FSC certification a lot).
Fortunately for we guests, the St James’s Palace chefs cooked MSC product rather than FSC product. Even more fortunately, at that time, Western Australian rock lobster was one of the few species MSC certified, so that’s what we ate. It was delicious. I mean, someone has to eat that sort of thing.
I subsequently discovered that my mum called Linda at our office several times to ask for more copies of the photograph below – she must have sent the darned thing to everyone she knew…and maybe even some people she didn’t know.
Oh mum!
Prince Charles, John Gummer and me, with the fluffy fish cunningly hidden about my person
Very unusual for us and almost unheard of at The National. Fabulous cast: Toby Jones, Clare Higgins, Karl Johnson, Michael Culkin, Gary Lydon, Declan Conlon, Monica Dolan, Tony Rohr.
What went wrong? In truth, we don’t tend to recall the bad experiences unless they are bad for a memorable reason Let’s see if the reviews help me.
Twos tars from Michael Billington…”dated Dublin Ionesco”…that’s NOT good:
…so thoroughly expected to enjoy Kevin Elyot’s next play, Mouth To Mouth, which indeed we did. Not quite to the same extent as The Day I Stood Still – Mouth to Mouth was quite dark – but still we liked it a lot. Fine acting and thought provoking writing.
Here is the Theatricalia entry. Michael Maloney, Lindsay Duncan, Adam Godley, Peter Wight, Andrew McKay, Lucy Whybrow and Barnaby Kay, directed by Ian Rickson. What’s not to like?
