This Wigmore Hall lunchtime concert was a bit unusual.
Camerata RCO is the scaled-down chamber orchestra bit of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. They are making a bit of a reputation for themselves playing scaled-down versions of enormous symphonies, such as this sixth one by Anton Bruckner.
…we decided to book three days of Eastbourne tennis for 2024: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Tuesday Evening
On the Tuesday evening we met Linda Wrobel (formerly Linda Phillips) for dinner. Linda lives in Bexhill, which, me being a died-in-the-wool Londoner, seemed to me to have no proximity whatsoever to Eastbourne. But last year, when I posted about our Eastbourne trip on Facebook, Linda messaged me wondering what the hell Janie and I were doing in Eastbourne without contacting and meeting Linda!
Linda first came to our Airbnb to have a look around, then we wandered round to the same Thai place that Janie and I had tried the previous year.
So deep in conversation were we, that we completely forgot top take pictures of each other or of the food. Here is a picture of Janie with the food from the previous year.
It was a very enjoyable evening with Linda.
After that, three days of tennis and picnics.
We took an infeasible number of photographs on those three days, which could do with some editing into a highlights album. If you like canonical, the 200 or so pictures are in the following album:
Wednesday
On the Wednesday we saw:
Sebastian Baez v Miomir Kecmanovic
Jelena Ostapenko v Katie Boulter;
Emma Raducanu v Jessica Pegula;
Taylor Fritz v Thiago Seyboth Wild (actually we just watched the first five games of that last one).
Here are some sample pictures from the Wednesday:
Baez servesKecmanovic servesBarrista serves
It was a very hot day, that Wednesday, hence the iced coffees quite early in the day.
The Boulter bounceThe Pegula poseThe Raducanu Racket MarchFritz in the FrameThe Cyborg Wildebeest
Thursday
On the Thursday we saw:
Flavio Cobolli v Billy Harris,
Jasmine Paolini v Katie Boulter,
Daria Kasatkina v Emma Raducanu,
Taylor Fritz v Juncheng Shang (again we just watched the first five games of that last one).
Cooler and breezier, it was, on the Thursday and the Friday.
Colourful Flavio“Cousin” Billy grey in contrastPocket-Rocket PaoliniDashing DariaHark At these TwoWe can’t wait to see Juncheng Shang (depicted) play Zhizhen Zhang (who we saw last year), if only to hear umpires and commentators trying to distinguish between the names.
Friday
On the way to the ground, Janie took some pictures along the front. She even made me park up so she could photograph the bandstand
On the Friday we saw:
Leylah Fernandez v Madison Keys,
Daria Kasatkina v Jasmine Paolini,
Max Purcell v Billy Harris,
Leylah……you’ve got me on my (Madison) KeysJasmine & Daria chat with Kader “Barry White” NouniGiving the serve MaxEastbourne seagull – conspicuously indifferent to tennis and to being photographed.
In short, we had a really great time in Eastbourne.
But now, having heard them and seen them some more, I realise that The Gesualdo Six are now beyond boy band. They are to 15th/16th century Chansons de Regretz what Taylor Swift is to the 21st century heartbreak song.
Further, the Ges-Ges Boys, much like Tay-Tay, are mastering the art of social media management. When Owain Park announced from the stage that “you can find us on TikTok”, I wondered:
whether he was joking,
how many members of the Wigmore hall audience understood what he meant by TikTok,
was I the only person in the Hall (other than the Ges-Ges Crew) who had a TikTok account.
I can’t be sure about the answer to the second and third question, but I can confirm that Owain Park wasn’t joking.
They are also very good at merchandising. On my 2018 visit Owain tempted me to buy a pre-release version of their first album – English Motets (which includes the track embedded above from TikTok, as it happens). This time he persuaded me to be among the first to buy Queen Of Hearts, the latest album.
To be honest, I don’t really need much persuading and I can confirm that the Gesualdo Six recordings are excellent.
The Gesualdo team themselves staffed the merchandise and payment gadgets during the interval, chatting kindly (and at some cases at length) with the patrons who queued up to buy the recordings. I believe they did that all again at the end of the gig.
I wondered to myself whether Taylor Swift was doing this at her Wembley Stadium concerts – I have heard that she engages with her audience like no other. Possibly Tay-Tay is still there at Wembley, selling, signing and chatting.
Almost all the stuff we heard was from this new Queen of Hearts album. Did I mention that it is available from The Gesualdo Six website – click here. We are loving listening to the albums. I also bought Josquin’s Legacy to add to my collection.
Before the interval we heard:
Antoine Brumel (c.1450-1512) Sub tuum praesidium (pub. 1520)
Josquin des Prez (c.1450-1521) O virgo prudentissima
Loyset Compère (c.1445-1518) Plaine d’ennuy/Anima mea
Antoine Brumel Sicut Lilium
Jean Mouton (c.1459-1522) Ave Maria … virgo serena (pub. c.1520)
Johannes Prioris (fl. c.1485-1512) Dulcis amica Dei (pub. 1508)
Owain Park (b.1993) Prière pour Marie (2023)
Jean Lhéritier (c.1480-1551) Sub tuum presidium a6
After the interval:
Josquin des Prez Petite camusette (pub. 1545)
Antoine de Févin (c.1470-1511) Fors seulement (pub. c.1515)
Jean Mouton De tous regretz
Anon Se je souspire/Ecce iterum attributed to Margaret of
Austria
Costanzo Festa (c.1485-1545) Quis dabit oculis (1514)
Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade (b.1989) Plaisir n’ai plus Commissioned by The Gesualdo Six (2023)
Johannes Prioris Consommo la vita mia
Nicolas Gombert (c.1495-1560) Tous les regretz (pub. 1544)
Below is a video of them singing Josquin’s O Virgo Prudentissima – one of the pieces we heard.
This group is the real deal. Janie and I floated home after the concert.
Lots of pleasant events in my diary in one mid-June week:
18 June – MCC real tennis club night;
19 June – lunch with Stuart Harris after session with accountants;
20 June – real tennis follwed by a bit of Middlesex v Surrey at Lord’s followed by Jazz in the Crypt at St John Smith Square…or should I say Sinfonia Smith Square;
22 June – dinner with Simon & Timothy… & Ella.
Club Night
The last tennis club night of the current season – we’ll resume in September – had seven of us engaging in various doubles battles until the last four of us standing were worn out.
Lunch With Stuart Harris
The next day, I met up with my very first former tennis doubles partner – albeit “lawn” rather than “real” – Stuart Harris. (No relation).The tale of our great seminal tennis tournament victory in 1974 can be seen by clicking here or below.
Following a most enjoyable Zoom, we decided to meet up properly for lunch. Fitting that Stuart suggested John Lewis’s 5th floor restaurant, as that location was well suited to Cavendish Square accountants and was also faintly reminiscent of Pratts restaurant at the John Lewis store in Streatham, where my dad used to like to take me for tea on rare, cherished occasions during my childhood.
It was great to catch up with Stuart again after all these years. We had lots to talk about and a couple of hours flew by. Stuart’s jokes have not got better over the decades, whereas mine have. That’s one of my jokes, btw. Why isn’t anybody laughing?
LOrd’s For Tennis & T20
Real tennis was fun. Then I had some time to kill, not least because the T20 match was to be a late kick off due to the football Euros match. I got some reading done on the pavilion sun deck while holding some suitable seats for me and Janie. Janie arrived in such good time for the match that we were able to eat first. Good idea, really, as we’d neither of us had lunch.
Yum
Middlesex did its usual “flatter to deceive” bit, looking good for the first 15 overs of the Surrey innings.
Janie and I were not heavily invested in this match, as we had long-since planned to abandon ship in favour of SJSS and a jazz evening there.
Jazz In The crypt with emma raWicz & Dave preston
Emma Rawicz is seen as one of the brightest young jazz talents around. Saxophone too – Janie’s favourite. She, together with her friend Dave Preston, another bright young thing in the jazz world – guitar in his case – were to do a jazz impromptu set of their latest stuff.
No second innings at Lord’s for us – off to collect Dumbo who drove us across London to St John’s Smith Square.
But wait…
…there are balloons and signs of a party as we arrive. The place is no longer named St John’s Smith Square – it had that very day been rebranded as Sinfonia Smith Square. Get it right.
Thus, instead of the promised St John’s Smith Square crypt jazz concert, we saw a Sinfonia Smith Square crypt jazz concert.
Here is a video of the two of them, plus a pianist on this occasion, playing one of the cool jazz pieces they played for us: Vera:
Emma comes across as a warm-hearted young woman, who spent more time plugging Dave Preston’s latest album, Purple / Black…
…than she spent plugging her own latest material. The album Chroma, seeing as you asked:
We really enjoyed the concert and for sure will now be looking out for Emma and Dave – yes we feel as though we’ve done enough to be on first name terms with them both.
Dinner With Simon, Timothy & Ella at their place
Simon & Timothy have a recent addition to their family: Ella. One of the purposes of our visit was to have dinner and a good chat with Simon & Timothy. But the main purpose, obviously, was to meet Ella and take her the present that we have been accumulating for her since we learnt of her imminent arrival – our spent, balding tennis balls.
“Ella” depicted by a lookalike actress
Naturally we didn’t take photographs of young Ella – Simon and Timothy don’t want her to turn into a vain, lens-loving gal…
…in any case, she’d probably just eat the photos. Apparently Ella will try to eat almost anything. She certainly made a good attempt at one of my elbows while I was eating and made headway with the first of the 15 balls we took for her. That collection of balls is not expected to last long. Janie and I will need to play yet more tennis.
Simon cooked a splendid meal:
asparagus soup;
roast chicken with roasted vegetables;
strawberries and cream.
Very English summer, which, coincidentally, is the way the weather seemed to be turning that weekend. At last.
It was a very enjoyable evening which flashed by all too quickly.
The third event: Streatham BBYO alums gathering at Bill’s Covent Garden
Dinner At Claudia & Richard’s Place, 1 June 2024
Claudia & her pot
The weather didn’t smile on us for drinks & nibbles outdoors – Janie and I had a quick guided tour of Claudia’s lovely garden before dashing back inside to warm up – but the warmth of the hospitality made up for the chilly evening.
Jonathan does the wine waiter bit
Claudia likes to show off her culinary skills and thus chose to serve a coulibiac as the centrepiece of her superb meal.
With thanks to Anthea for taking this picture of the coulibiac on my phone – not all blogs have their food porn pictures snapped by world class fashion photographers, you know.Anthea tries unsuccessfully to encourage these two “kids” away from their phones and towards their dinner. Honestly, kids these days with their phones…Janie’s attempt at food porn photographyMy attempt at food porn photographyJanie’s pud
It wasn’t all about food. It was great to catch up with old friends again (Anthea, Claudia and Richard), plus meet some new (to us) folks in Jonathan and Joanne. Jonathan’s greyhound provided some additional entertainment, not least when it went missing in the house for a while and search parties scattered to find it.
A super evening – thanks Claudia.
Dinner At Maurizio Barca With Simon Jacobs & Graham Greenglass, 5 June 2024
A few weeks before this dinner, I saw Graham Greenglass in person for the first time in decades at the sad occasion of Fran Erdunast’s funeral evening prayers. Graham and I had re-engaged by e-mail and I had even put Graham back together again with Fran, who was a cousin of his, back in 2021. We had every intention of meeting up back then, but I let that ball drop at that time. My bad.
Coincidentally, Graham’s name had come up again a few weeks before the sad Fran news, when I attended and spoke at the Gresham Society annual dinner:
As a small token of thanks for my speech, Professor Tim Connell presented me with the canonical book about The Guildhall – Guildhall: City of London: History Guide Companion: A History and a Guide:
I had meant to get in touch with Graham about that happy coincidence, but in the end it was Fran’s sad demise that triggered the reunion.
While pondering how best to set up a proper meeting, I recalled that Graham and Simon were also good friends back in the day…
Graham and Simon in 1979
…so I e-mailed the two of them to suggest that we three meet again. The idea found favour.
Simon somehow found time to fit us in, despite his sixth album having just been released ‘n’ all:
Graham’s book you may only sample for free, whereas Simon’s album can be heard in full
Compared with the others, I felt a little bereft of relatively recent published materials…apart from the 3000 or so pieces here on Ogblog.
The Scarsdale Tavern was my initial choice of venue, but that place is especially picky about arrival times, which they felt sure we would understand. We did understand that their proposed timings suited the Scarsdale rather than us, so we chose instead to eat when we wanted to at Maurizio Barca, which was a quiet, friendly, local Italian place on the North End Road. Little did I know that Graham’s mum’s family hailed from that part of London, so it was a bit of a spiritual reunion with his family’s ancestors, as well as a reunion with a couple of relics from Graham’s own past.
We had a very enjoyable evening, despite signally failing to put all of the world’s problems to rights by talking them through. Perhaps it will need another get together or two to complete the solving of those.
Streatham BBYO “Annual” Gathering, Bill’s Restaurant, 6 June 2024
David, Linda, Sandra, Wendy, Liza, Andrea (and me behind the lens).
In a break with tradition, we gathered the week after half term holiday this time, but then Sandra is now the last of our clan still working in the education sector and was able to make this date.
Unfortunately Mark was unable to make it in the end for health reasons, but still seven of us gathered, which isn’t bad at all.
Andrea and Wendy were fashionably late, as always. Except that both announced well in advance that they would be late and ended up arriving earlier than we anticipated given that they had said that they’d be late. Does that mean that they were early?
No matter, we all had a good chat over palatable food and a few drinks.
The stuff I have been writing up from my 1974 diaries proved strangely pertinent to much of the chat.
Sandra seems to have forgiven me for needing to be reminded that she suffered along with me and others at the hands of Miss Aaron at Brixton cheder…
…I even seem to be forgiven for bringing back Sandra’s nightmares about those unpleasant experiences.
Andrea and Wendy keenly anticipate me reintroducing them to Stuart (no relation) Harris, through whom all three of us met before the BBYO days and with whom I have recently re-engaged after finding my earliest tennis memories in that 1974 diary.
This year I partnered Richard Prosser, with whom I had partnered successfully for The Dedanists’ against The Hamsters in the autumn. We came close in The Lowenthal, qualifying for the semi-final but losing narrowly there to the eventual winners, Candida Nicholls, who partnered my former winning partner, Sebastian Wood.
Needless to say, everyone’s a winner on the Dedanists’ Society day, as we get to play together, eat together and raise some dosh for the good cause together.
Smiling faces in the headline photo tell the tale.
24 May, The Dedanists’ v The Jesters Match & Dinner
Yes, dinner is at least as important, if not more important, for these Dedanists’ events in May. Most of the Jesters who join in are also Dedanists – there is often some doubt as to which team each participant will represent. I ended up representing The Dedanists’ partnering François Menagé, from Paris, whom I had not met before. With such a name, I imagined a French gentleman and wondered whether I needed to master the French words for “up”, “yours” etc. in order to communicate successfully during play. But François Menagé turns out to be a Franco-Mauritian who was educated in England and with whom I was able to swap tales of Mauritius from 40+ years ago:
I’m sure François would agree that neither of us played quite at our best. For sure we were bettered by my nemesis Candida and her partner Richard Pettit, who both nevertheless made splendid dinner companions at the meal afterwards.
I always enjoy these Dedanists’ occasions – this May 2024 double bill was no exception.
The piece is basically an adaptation of a book by Maggie Nelson, which is a narrated story, more in the form of a poetic meditation than a novel.
All of the cast were excellent: Emma D’Arcy, Kayla Meikle & Ben Whishaw – especially the former.
The use of film projections and intriguing props, which we often find a distraction when we see them used in theatrical productions, worked extremely well in this piece. I have subsequently read the book and realise that the visual devices were, in a way, a distraction from some of the words, but in a good way given the dramatic sense those devices gave to the production.
Reviews are out now, although we saw a preview. (IT has taken me a few weeks to get around to writing this up). Click here for a link that shows the reviews. The reviews are mixed. londontheatrereviews.co.uk shared our feeling that this was as an excellent example of theatrical productions using projections. But I sense that Susannah Clapp in The Observer was more intrigued by the piece than overboard about it. Time Out found it a bit obscure, as did theartsdesk.com
Click through the preceding link, read the reviews…and if you get the chance, see the show and decide for yourselves!
Long in the planning, this week off was a much-needed short vacation for me and Janie, having had no holiday time for yonks.
Yet we nearly didn’t even get started, as I had some sort of mishap at the start of the weekend before we set off.
Saturday and Sunday 11 & 12 May – Something’s Afoot
I woke up on Saturday morning feeling sore just under the lateral left ankle. Janie said I had been thrashing around, seemingly in pain, during the night. She had assumed cramp. I had no recollection of such thrashing but this felt like more than cramp.
An attempt to run it off playing tennis on Saturday morning (perhaps a foolish move) did not help; indeed I couldn’t even walk by the time we got home. Despite us spending Saturday afternoon and evening doing the RICE routine with the foot, come Sunday morning, I could still take no weight on the foot and was really concerned that our trip might be in jeopardy.
I thought I should inform Alastair Robson, one of The Doctors Of Leamington, who had organised the tennis and luncheon aspects of the trip: Leamington on the way up on the Monday and Moreton Morrell on the way home on the Friday.
Me & Alastair, no doubt talking balls, at Leamington in 2023
I regret to inform you that I have done myself a mysterious mischief around the ankle…Janie heard me scream out in pain during the night Friday (I have no recollection of it) and/but I had some sensitivity below my lateral ankle yesterday. I thought I could “shake it off”, as the young folk say, but by last night and this morning I was more or less completely non-weight bearing.
We suspect the anterior talofibular ligament, which is utilising its right to remain silent but is looking more than a little guilty this morning.
The upshot as of this morning is that I cannot weight bear on that leg again yet, let alone run. I am hopeful that my condition will improve quite rapidly but I don’t suppose I’ll be properly balanced/mobile again for a while.
I am happy to present myself at the tennis courts Monday and Friday to do the best I can, but the best I can might not be much good. Janie and I would love to lunch with you if the friendly games and lunches go ahead, either with me or without me playing the tennis.
Alastair sent a quintessentially retired-doctor’s (or more accurately, a quintessentially Alastair Robson) reply:
Aargh! But never dismiss the power of prayer (the Dr using irony as treatment – lost on some of the patients)…
There will be a pro knocking around in both clubs on the days in question, so we could always rope him in as a fourth, if need be…
Anterior talo-fib ligament?- a very flash diagnosis: going for Honours, I presume.
A small sacrifice – a goat, say – to Jupiter might speed healing rate.
‘Better soon’ – as I also used to say a lot –
We did consider prayer and/or goat sacrifice – after all, the doctor had recommended it and you should always listen to the doctor, but decided to persevere with the RICE method. Within a few hours, I detected improvement and wrote again to Alastair:
When you have a podiatrist in the house, the phrase “sprained ankle” is simply not specific enough. I’m certainly not aiming for yet more flashy honours at my age and stage!
Janie and I are neither praying to God, nor gods, nor sacrificing any beasts in hope rather than expectation. But elevation yesterday evening, immobilisation overnight, ice this morning and the more meaningful sacrifice of the hour of lawn that Janie and I should be playing this morning, is, so far, paying significant dividends. I’m still hobbling but can weight bear again now and the intense pain has subsided.
Your Plan B regarding the pros availability as substitutes sounds ideal in the circumstances. Given the trio of talent that would remain on show if I were to need to stop, the pros will no doubt be resorting to prayer and caprine/ovine sacrifice for the next 24 hours/few days respectively.
See you tomorrow as planned.
Monday 13 May – Leamington For Tennis, Then On To Stratford-Upon Avon
By the Monday morning my left foot felt much better and I was happy to drive (which mostly works the right) and give the real tennis a try.
John Yarnall & I partnered well, I felt
Remarkably, I was barely hampered at all and I thought played pretty well, John Yarnall & I partnering well against Alastair and Norman Hyde. The latter two, me and Janie went to lunch at Cote, then Janie and I set off for Stratford.
We got to our Airbnb cottage around 17:00, which gave us time to dump our things and go off to the local Waitrose to get some provisions, before getting ready to go out to the theatre.
Our lovely cottage was located to the south-west of the centre, being about 10 minutes walk from the central shops, restaurants and theatres.
It was a bit wet in the evening, but still we strolled to The Other Place for our show, English, which I have written up separately – click here or below.
The weather relented into a very pleasant late afternoon.
On our way to the talk, we stopped at Marcos, which I had assessed as “the deli most likely” for our trip. I was a bit short of the sort of coffee I like so we bought a pack of cafetière coffee. We showed interest in the food too, but I suspect Tony was not expecting to see us again when we departed on Tuesday, as he greeted us so warmly the next morning when we returned for bread and lasagne.
The talk about English was very interesting – described in the above piece about our visit to the show…or click here for that link.
After the talk, but before our dinner at Lambs, we had a drink in the garden of The Arden. This was a nice treat for us, as we stayed at The Arden last time we stayed in Stratford, in 2019, but the weather had not smiled enough for us to take a drink in the garden that time.
We enjoyed ourselves at Lambs so much Janie forgot to take “food porn” photos of our dinner. Take our word for it, it looked as good as it tasted. We ate:
Crispy Sweet Chilli Duck Salad with watercress, beansprouts and cucumber
Pan-fried Calves Liver with creamed potato, wilted spinach, pancetta and crispy shallots
Pork Chop with grilled hispi cabbage, creamed potato, crispy shallots, cider and bacon sauce
Bennett’s Farm Ice-cream
Yum.
Wednesday 15 May – Tennis, Town & Terrace
The weather was lovely on this day. We resolved to get some bread and some portions of lasagne from Marcos, which would enable us, together with the provisions we had already procured, to self-cater that day.
Problem was, we resolved to get to Marcos reasonably early to secure bread, but hadn’t taken into account the fact that the pasta dishes are not ready that early.
Had we phoned in advance…
Still, no hardship having a couple of hours to kill in Stratford. We decided to wander around town and also wander across the bridge to the Sports Club, to investigate tennis possibilities in person.
We bought some doggie gifts in the dog shop for Kim’s pooch. Then some sandals for me and shoes for Janie in the shoe shop. Then we strolled by the river and across the bridge to the sports centre.
The Sports Club people were friendly enough – they let us look at the tennis courts and informed me that I could register as a guest and pay to play if we wanted to. The courts are mostly carpet, with three being “euro clay” -i.e. synthetic clay (sand-like stuff) on a matting base. We thought we’d like to try the latter.
We strolled home via Marcos, where our lasagne and bread was waiting for us. Then we booked our tennis and readied ourselves for battle.
It took us both a while to get used to the clay-like bounce and/but we had a very good game on that surface, so we resolved to return the next morning, weather permitting.
After a light, late lunch of bread and prawn cocktail, we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon on the lovely, sunny terrace of our cottage. Then a restful evening in, enjoying our lasagne with salad and wine.
Thursday 16 May – Tennis, Coffee Shopping & Theatre
So taken had I been with the coffee I bought from Marcos (PNG Fire Dance from Monsoon Estates Coffee) I did some Googling and discovered that the company was a local importer/blender. I called them on the Thursday morning and they said that we could visit their place. I had booked a 10:00 tennis court so we agreed to visit Monsoon at 11:30.
We had another really good game of tennis. Glad I booked 10:00, as the threatened showers started soon after we finished playing – indeed while we were on our way to Monsoon.
Monsoon Anne
Anne and Chris at Monsoon were super friendly and helpful. We left with 3kg of coffee beans and the wherewithal to order more from them on-line once we need more.
Me, ready to make off with the stash
We stopped at Waitrose on the way back to get some cheeses and grapes for our lunch. We figured that those, plus some smoked mackerel we had procured on our first visit, would get us through this day.
A splendid late lunch of cheeses followed by some rest before the evening show made for a very enjoyable day. Plenty of time to get the salad ready for our post-show nosh too.
We saw The Buddha of Suburbia that night, which I have written up separately – click here or below:
A light supper on our return was just the ticket, as we didn’t get home until 10:00ish. It rounded off a great day very nicely.
Friday 17 May – Home Via Moreton Morrell & The Antelope Lighthorne
We said goodbye to our lovely little cottage in Stratford, setting off a little too early for our appointment at Moreton. We had ordered some more of Marco’s bread so stopped there on the way out of town, then went and had a quick look at the Welcombe Hills Obelisk/monument.
Been there, seen it, done it.
Then on to Moreton, where I was to partner Alastair this time, against the combined forces of Peter Mason and Bernie Spratt. For some reason Janie only shot video of this epic match. Fortunately for you, only a few seconds of “footage” survived.
The Moreton floor has been completely redone since my last visit. I found it hard to adjust to the new surface at first, but played reasonably well towards the end. The pairings worked well to make a good game.
The Antelope Lighthorne was a very pleasant country pub in which to take lunch and decompress after our efforts. Peter was unable to join us on this occasion but the four who remained, me, Janie, Alastair and Bernie, had a thoroughly enjoyable lunch.
An event-free drive home – how come I can drive 90+ minutes out of London without incident, while the London driving seems to be close to an incident or near miss every 90 seconds? – enabling us to unload and enjoy a relaxing Friday evening at home.
It had truly been a fun-packed and enjoyable break.
To round off our short break in Stratford, we had arranged to see The Buddha of Suburbia.
I read this novel “back in the day” and remember really wanting to like it and enjoying the subject matter yet not liking it all that much as a novel. I also recalled that it had been turned into a TV series “back then”, which I didn’t see but which I imagined might have been a better medium for the story than the novel.
Thus, all those months ago when we planned this trip, I told Janie that I fancied seeing this show and she needed little persuading.
We are so glad we chose it.
The Swan was an excellent setting for this production
We pretty much agree with the main points that flow from the reviews. On the whole we are not mad about long shows, but this seemed a breeze to us despite being close to three hours long (including the interval).
The 1970s look and soundscape was a trip down memory lane for us, much as it was for Hanif Kureishi I suppose. The main sentiment is joyous celebration of the era and coming of age, but there was plenty to think about too, in terms of the ugly aspects of that era, not least overt racism.
We sat in the front row, which got us caught up in the one small piece of audience participation in this show. That was mostly directed at Janie but also, in the end, also at me.
Maybe I shouldn’t have worn THAT shirt.
Still, we survived the experience and anyway Janie and I are used to people laughing at us.
At the time of writing there is as yet no sign of a West End transfer, but surely this wonderful piece will lend itself to a decent and successful run in The Big Smoke.
We saw a preview on our first night in Stratford-Upon-Avon. The next day, we went back for a talk and discussion with several of the creatives for this production.
Janie and I really enjoyed this play/production. We had just arrived in Stratford on a four-day short break and were quite tired that evening. Nevertheless this play held our attention throughout, making us smile., laugh and think in equal measure.
It is set in an “English As A Foreign Language” class in Karaj, Iran, c2008. A class of four, each with their own reason for wanting or needing to attend this class and gain a “Test-Of-English-As-A -Foreign-Language” certificate are taught by a hugely enthusiastic Iranian woman who loves the English language and tries to instil that enthusiasm in her variously enthusiastic, reluctant and/or cognitively-conflicted students.
A recipe for some interesting drama, which is exactly what we got.
As we saw one of the last previews, I suspect that little will have changed since we saw this production. Having said that, as we ascertained at the talk/discussion the next day, director Diyan Zoya is very hands-on in working with a cast to improve continuously throughout and beyond the preview period.
In the discussion, we saw and heard from not only Diyan Zoya but also Maria Tarokh (movement and cultural advisor) and Sara Amini (assistant director text and dialect). The discussion was led by Conrad Lynch, who has produced the show.
We thought the play and production excellent. Reviews have started to come out (he says, writing just a few days after the press night). This link is a search term that should find most or all of them. The reviews so far have been mixed, with Dominic Cavendish in The Telegraph not liking it a lot and Arifa Akbar in The Guardian slamming it. Yet it gets good or excellent reviews from Amya Ryan in the Times, Michael Davies in WhatsOnStage and Catherine Love in The Stage to name but three others.
Perhaps best to see it and judge for yourselves – Janie and I thought it was 90 minutes very well spent in the theatre.
