Word-Play was definitely not a miss for us, far from it, although Janie did find the short scenes with the actors playing different characters in different times and places more than a little disconcerting.
But we both agreed that the acting by all five cast members; Issam Al Ghussain, Kosar Ali, Simon Manyonda, Sirine Saba, and Yusra Warsama, was superb. Many of the scenes worked terrifically well, especially the more intimate ones. Word-Play is a very ambitious piece of writing and we shall certainly look out for Rabiah Hussain’s work again.
You find out who your friends are when you go to this sort of concert…
…or more realistically, The Wigmore Hall management finds out who its friends are.
Frankly, I booked this concert because I fancied hearing the Liszt transcription of Beethoven Seven, which, in the end, Igor Levit decided not to perform. Never mind. This is the concert programme he chose instead.
Anyway, the “Friends Party” aspect was secondary in my mind.
Janie and I didn’t know that the Friends of Wigmore Hall had been going for 30 years. We are mere arrivistes at the place, starting our adventures there a mere 25 years ago, in 1998, with this concert:
..for which we befriended the place and then attended pretty regularly (several times a year, pandemic aside) ever since.
After saying some fine words about how important the Friends of Wigmore Hall is to the hall and how important the hall is to his artistic life, Igor Levit played Schumann and Brahms instead of the Liszt.
After the concert, maintaining the Brahms and Liszt theme (did you see what I did there?) a drinks reception with Champagne for those who like alcoholic fizz and sparking elderflower presse for those who, like me, prefer their fizz non-alcoholic during the day.
On departure, Janie and I decided to thank John Gilhooly, who has been running the place extremely well for years, for the party.
Janie and I confessed to not having been supporters for all 30 years. John told us that we didn’t look like those who had been supporting for 30 years. Perhaps he underestimated our ages and wouldn’t have guessed that we have supported for 25 of the 30.
We then chatted briefly about John’s campaign to try to introduce a younger audience to the Hall, which Janie and I applaud. John then made a slightly off-colour remark about the reception being a bit of a legacies marketing campaign event…”but not directed at you two, obviously”, he said.
So I suppose we’d better remove The Wigmore Hall from our bequests list, then. 😉
…but wait! An opportunity to snap up a pair of returns…Good ones?…Quarter-finals Tuesday on Court One? Yes please!
So there we were again.
Forgive us if we look a tiny bit smug
The weather forecast was less than special but if you are on Court One you are guaranteed your main action of course.
As it turned out, it looked as thought the weather would hold through the morning, so we did our usual thing of setting off reasonably early to catch a bit of smaller court action before our main event.
First up, we fancied seeing some juniors tennis and chose Viktor Frydrych (of Great Britain) v Darwin Blanch (USA) on Court 12.
We saw Frydrych win the first set but I thought Blanch the more promising player given the age difference, plus the power and accuracy Blanch demonstrated at such a young age.
We moved on to Court 3 to catch the first set of a doubles match: Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski v Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson:
Umpire Fergus Murphy explains the rules to all four of themSkupski top, Thompson belowKoolhof serves as Skupski waits to pounce
Koolhof and Skupski started slowly and looked a little out of sorts for the first 10 minutes or so, then quickly seemed to find their footing on a blowy day. Never let it be said that I don’t spot winners when I choose our morning of outer court viewing.
Still looking a bit smug
Then we needed to hot-foot it to Court One to be sure to catch the start of the quarter final action. Jessica Pegula v Marketa Vondrousova.
Do we look a little out of breath? We were there in time, just about. The nice lady with the pink cardigan behind us turned out to be even more of a tennis badger than us – she’s a self-confessed addict.
In truth, I wasn’t expecting this to be a great match because I thought that Vondrousova’s lack of form/experience on grass would be exploited by Pegula. What do I know?
In the end, it was actually a great match, with twists and turns and passages of great tennis.
Pegula top, Vondrousova below
After the rain/roof delay, Vondrousova took control and turned the match around. We were very impressed with her but still, frankly, did not expect her to win the tournament – I don’t suppose many people did. Still, well done her.
Rishi Persad asked Marketa Vondrousova penetrating questions of the “how does it feel to reach the semi-finals at Wimbledon?” variety. “Crazy” was Marketa’s pleonastic response word.
Next up, Jannik Sinner v Roman Safiullin. We were very excited to get a look at Sinner live, as we think he is a player with great potential. Again, I thought this match might be a one-sided affair as Safiullin has neither a track record on grass, nor going deep in slams. Again, this turned out to be a better match than we expected, with Sinner winning in four sets.
Safiullin serving, Sinner receivingApparently Sinner’s Gucci bag caused a fashionista stir
After that, rather than stick around for Invitation Doubles (or “Old Git Doubles” as I rather impolitely tend to call it), we took advantage of the improved weather and headed back to Court 3 where Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff were taking on Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva in third round doubles action.
Lovely views across Wimbledon from our seats thereRichard Haigh officiatingLaura Siegemund top, Vera Zvonareva belowJessica top, Coco below
This was also the perfect opportunity to finish our picnic before going home. We had enjoyed our prawn and mayonnaise sandwiches during the Ladies Quarter-Final, but hadn’t felt hungry for our pork and apple sauce ones until after the Men’s Quarter-Final.
Sandwiches duly finished and Court One crowd mostly dispersed, we took our leave of Wimbledon towards the end of that Ladies Doubles match and wended our way home, “super tired but super happy”, as the young folk say.
Janie and I really enjoyed this play/production, which we saw in preview. The acting was superb. The direction and design very high quality, as we have come to expect at The Royal Court over the decades.
This play was seemingly superficial, yet beneath its slight surface are some fascinating issues of our times. The “joke” that this family is spending its together time with each individual surfing their own virtual world quickly became tiresome – especially as some of audience members nearby were finding it hilarious. But that humorous conceit was soon revealed as a foreshadowing of some darker elements of the characters’ inner/virtual worlds.
Yes, as some of the critics have said, not a lot happens, but this particular “not a lot” is both amusing and highly thought-provoking.
OK, I have a confession to make.
When I booked this, my main criterion for booking it was a recollection that one of Michael Wynne’s previous plays, The People Are Friendly, had pleased us both a lot.
2002, we saw this at The Royal Court (not yet Ogblogged)
Soon after the start of Cuckoo, which shares a couple of the lead actresses and Royal Court production aspects with The People Are Friendly, I realised that we had not liked The People Are Friendly; we found it soap-opera-ish and not to our taste. I was confusing The People Are Friendly with Richard Bean’s England People Very Nice:
I shall revisit the play text of The People Are Friendly before writing up our 2002 experience, as it is possible that I will read more into that play now than we did 20 years ago.
Anyway, apologies to Messrs Wynne and Bean for the confusion. The word “People” in the title shouldn’t be enough for such a muddle really. I just jumped to a conclusion…
…and talking of conclusions, Janie and I both thought the ending of Cuckoo was really rather wonderful, both as a coup de theatre and also as a piece of stage design.
NewsRevue has been running for ever. OK, not quite for ever, but since 1979. It is the world’s longest running live comedy show, as affirmed by a Guinness World Record. Some people describe it as “The Mousetrap of comedy”, except in this case it is perfectly acceptable for me to confess, “I dunnit”.
I wrote for the show from 1992 until I ran out of steam towards the end of the 1990s. But I still hang out with the self-styled Class of ’92, e.g.:
We’ve lost some great characters over the years. In the last 12 months, sadly, we lost our founder and mentor, Professor Mike Hodd.
So when Emma shouted out that the Edinburgh run this year was to be at the Pleasance Grand, was dedicated to Mike and that the show would be previewing for a short while at the Canal Cafe Theatre, I decided to make the effort. (Not much effort in my case crossing from one end of W2 to the other). I checked my diary, booked a convenient slot and shouted back that I had grabbed a seat on Table 2, suggesting that other “Ninety-Two-niks” might choose to join me.
In the event, Barry Grossman, Mark Keegan, Jonny “Two Phones” Hurst and a couple of members of Jonny’s visiting family made up our table.
The show is good, as I’d expect for an Edinburgh run.
Lots of big numbers – a long Spice Girls medley to start and similarly long Queen one to finish.
Slightly less variety of material, in my opinion, than in our day, but then the culture of a fairly large group of comedy writers gathering most weeks, sharing ideas and watching the show before scattering to the four corners of the South-East and writing stuff…is ancient history.
Some of the news stories felt very early 1990s – an exhausted, useless Tory Government unable to control its (and our) own destiny. Royal family nonsense…we even had a “Camilla Queen” section of the Queen medley which echoed interestingly the late great Debbie Barham’s “No Camilla Queen” song from the mid 1990s.
I could go on…
…actually I already have.
It was great to see fellow writers at the Canal again – we usually meet in chain restaurants these days – and it was great to see the show again – my first visit since the pandemic.
I had planned to spend the whole of Days Two and Three at Lord’s, before taking guests on Day Four. As it turned out, following the wonderful trip Janie and I took to Eastbourne earlier in the week, I had a few things to sort out on the Thursday morning and didn’t get to Lord’s until about 2:15, by which time England had started to make a better fist of the match.
More in hope than expectation, I asked the friendly stewards in the pavilion if there was anything going in there. “Not really”, they said, “there might be the odd seat at the Allen Stand end, but you’ll probably get a better seat in the members’ overflow area”. That area was located just beside the sightscreens at the Nursery end, being seats roughly the equivalent to pavilion terrace ones but on the other side.
That seemed like a good idea to me and off I went. The view I achieved is depicted in the headline picture. I made a mental note to head for a similar location the next day without bothering the pavilion stewards.
I also took a selfie.
I chatted a bit with the members around me. A youngish man (by MCC standards) was devouring a whippy ice cream (a 99) when I arrived and soon went off to get a double-whippy (is that one named a 198, my arithmetical mind wonders?). Soon after that, he decided to move elsewhere. During that short period, he shed his membership pass twice – the first time being saved by a kindly gentleman sitting behind him and the second time saved by me. Perhaps it was embarrassment that drove him away.
But others around me were also suitably into the cricket, informed and friendly, making for a pleasant afternoon/early evening.
England were doing well but perhaps I put the kybosh on the team by wandering around to the other side in search of a slightly different view and strategic placement for a swift exit before stumps, as wickets fell just as England seemed to be taking control.
Day Three: Friday 30 June 2023
I did indeed head to the same spot again for Day Three, where there were some different people with whom to share the pain. Mostly members, but a few refugees from public areas where, for one reason or another, they were unhappy with their environment.
A very pleasant visiting couple from Yorkshire shared thoughts about the differences between Lord’s and Headingley. I suspect they had a super time the following week when they went to the third test at their home ground.
The gentleman next to me was from Dorset – although I suspected not originally from there – so it came as a bit of a surprise when it transpired that the “Yorkshireman” turned out to be a Lancastrian by origin, as did the Dorset (yes, a person from Dorset is supposed to be known as “a Dorset”); indeed both from The Fylde with mutual friends from school. Only at Lord’s.
I moved on just before tea, hoping to meet up with Alistair Robson and others from the circle surrounding the Doctors Of Leamington.
Needless to say, the normally thriving Champagne Bar was dead quiet in the absence of tennis this year.
After failing to find Alistair about 10 minutes into the tea break, I thought I might find a seat in the pavilion for the final session, which indeed I did. A gentleman from “Death Row” had the good manners to announce that he was going home at tea time, so I took root on his seat, reducing the average age on that row by some significant amount, I shouldn’t wonder. It was nice to see some Ashes cricket from there without actually joining the death row cohort just yet.
Janie joined me at the flat for the later part of the evening and a Four Seasons Chinese meal, as we had both eaten sparsely earlier that day.
Day Four: Saturday 1 July 2023, With Janie, Ian Theodoreson and Sally
…so I was delighted when I learnt that there were some wheelchair access places still available for the Saturday, which was the day Janie was joining me and is a day that makes parking a whole lot easier in Ian and Sally’s…indeed everybody’s…circumstances.
Game on.
I was on picnic duty and had ordered bagels from Papa Joe (Haminados), which meant an early start and a pleasing constitutional before driving to Maida Vale for Lord’s.
Janie and I got to Lord’s a bit earlier than Ian and Sally, just to make sure the arrangements were in place, but we needn’t have worried. As one of the stewards on that level explained, “we never quite know exactly how many people are going to want to sit with each wheelchair guest, but we always find a way”.
Ian and Sally appeared to know more people there that day than we did, although we did run in to Alan and Alex Curtis.
The cricket was a mixture of enthralling and baffling at times; mostly the former.
Me and Ian enthralled. Sally resting her eyes ever so slightly.
As always with such occasions, the day flew by. England were in a poor position at the start of the day, then an improved one, then by the end of the day a poor one again. But England still had a chance.
Day Five: Sunday 2 July 2023
Ian Ward interviewing the wounded (Nathan) Lyon
At the end of Day two, I realised the game was likely to spill into the fifth day, so took the precaution of securing a guest seat for Janie, so we could see the end of the match.
We headed for the Lower Tavern (not to be confused with the Tavern Concourse, which was out of bounds to members). Very happy with our seats, we were.
Before the start of play, we chatted with Westy and Brigitte who were seated nearby. Also John Franklin (from Moreton) and his family.
A very different vibe to the crowd on Day Five. We had some younger people sitting around us, plus an older Bajan gentleman named Charles whose face I recognised but with whom I had not spoken before. We chatted with him quite a lot throughout the remainder of the match, as did the young fellows sitting next to him.
The young fellows, along with most of the crowd, were pretty vocal once Jonny Bairstow was out by a form of stumping that many, me included, consider an unsporting (albeit legitimate) mode of dismissal.
Then, once Ben Stokes unleashed an explosive (although in the event insufficient) attack with the bat, it all got very exciting. On one occasion, the young men behind us crashed into each other while leaping with joy, sending a small shower of wine our way, for which they didn’t stop apologising for the rest of the afternoon. They even wanted to pay our dry cleaning bill – an offer which we declined.
It doesn’t get much wetter…I mean better…than this
Once the foreseeable ending became inevitable, Janie and I made a polite exit to avoid the crush at the gate.
We’d had tremendous entertainment that day – indeed the whole match. So disappointing that England came off second best, but in truth England had performed second best on balance, for more of the match than the Aussies.
