The Mistress Contract by Abi Morgan, Royal Court Theatre, 8 February 2014

This is a very interesting play, based on a true story about a man and a woman in California  who agreed a formal contract for “mistress services”, at the behest of the woman.

The true life couple also taped a great deal of their conversation; a resource that was utilised for the story.

For me and Janie, it worked much better as a conversation point than it worked as a drama. These were consenting adults after all and it seems that the arrangement worked well for them; the persevered with it into their extreme dotage. Perhaps that explains why the reviews were mostly indifferent.

Still, excellent cast and well produced, as you’d expect from the Royal Court. The piece certainly got me and Janie talking afterwards. I think we went to the Four Seasons for Chinese that evening – I don’t know why that thought pops into my head nearly four years later.

Here’s the Royal Court’s resource page on the production.

Here is a link to reviews and stuff.

Below is the trailer vid:

Dinner At Noura With Jamil And Souad, 7 February 2014

Every so often, Jamil and Souad insist on taking me and Janie out for a meal. We occasionally get a chance to reciprocate, but not as often as we are hosted.

On this occasion, not for the first time, they chose Noura; a fine Lebanese restaurant in Belgravia; a place where our host couple is well known.

Janie and I love Lebanese food; Jamil and Souad know how to help us choose; to some extent favourites and known treats, to some extent things we might not have tried before.

As always with those two, an excellent meal in excellent company.

Kim Micky & DJ For Dinner, Noddyland, 25 January 2014

My diary is not very forthcoming about this evening.

I have a vague feeling that Janie sourced a high quality capon for this meal.

This is not to be confused with the tough old boiler chickens referred to as capons that I discuss in the middle of this history piece from 1967 – click here.

In any case, you can be sure that Janie cooked a very good meal and that we all had a very enjoyable evening.

The Pass by John Donnelly, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 18 January 2014

I recall Janie wondering why we had booked this, when we reminded ourselves on the day about what we were going to see. A play about footballers and sex and stuff.

Here is a link to the Royal Court resource on The Pass.

Actually we both really enjoyed this play; it was full of energy, with a good mix of entertainment and issues to think about. Janie and I found lots to talk about afterwards.

Here is a link to a search term that digs out the reviews and stuff.

Here is the promo and explanatory vid:

I think we kept it simple foodwise after this one, with either sharwarmas from Ranoush or perhaps Mohsen for Iranian food.

 

 

Rapture, Blister, Burn by Gina Gionfriddo, Hampstead Theatre, 17 January 2014

It seemed like only a week since we last went to Harry’s and then The Hampstead…

…but this one did less for us.

I seem to recall finding the whole evening a bit irritating and we really didn’t like this play.

It’s had great reviews so don’t take our word for it.

Emilia Fox doesn’t do much for us and the play seemed very laboured and obvious in places.

The Hampstead resource on the play/production can be found here.

This search term will find you the reviews.

To Moro, To Moro…, Dinner With Jilly Black And Friends, 15 January 2014

I have found an unfeasibly long trail of messages on Facebook messenger between me and Jilly simply to arrange for me and Janie to join Jilly and friends at Moro in Exmouth Market for Jilly’s sort-of birthday thing.

Not a big thing like her 2015 do – click here.

But still a thing.

It had been quite a while since I’d last seen Jilly, for no apparent reason other than general busyness, mutual social laziness and dates/lives not coinciding.

I have always liked Moro – click here – but hadn’t eaten there for some time, life not really taking me to Clerkenwell all that much now. I think it might have been a first time for Janie. North African Spanish fusion was bound to be her taste and indeed was.

Jilly’s friends are reliably good company and this occasion was no exception.

Janie and I very much enjoyed the evening, as did Jilly, by all accounts.

The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable, Temple Studios, 11 January 2014

This was an extraordinary installation/show. Not quite in the same class as The Masque Of The Red Death, another punchdrunk masterpiece, but not far off.

We went with Kim and Micky, eating a spread of Big Al goodies at the flat before ambling over to the venue. The “Temple Studios” installation was in the old Paddington sorting office; the place from whence I used to collect my parcels and “must be signed for” mail, back in the day.

This piece is about the making of a Hollywood movie and the studio that is making it. But are the scenes we see playing out scenes from the movie or real violent drama playing out in the studio?

Kim tried to amuse herself by putting the performers off, but they were all too seasoned for that. I enjoyed getting lost around the studio and examining the incredibly detailed artefacts punchdrunk had strewn around the place, before wending my way through the various performance scenes.

It was great fun.

The bar and entertainment therein was good too. At that juncture, Kim’s style of intervention was positively sought after and Kim did not disappoint.

Here is a link to punchdrunk’s explanatory on-line resource and you might enjoy the “film trailer” below.

This link will take you to plenty of reviews; mostly excellent but some reviewers didn’t get it.

The Blackest Black by Jeremy Brock, Hampstead Theatre Downstairs, 10 January 2014

Janie and I really liked this play/production. Another “Hampstead Downstairs special” in our book.

A three-hander about an uber-male astronomer whose space is invaded by an arty female.

Funny and thought-provoking. We thoroughly enjoyed it. The piece deserves a bigger audience.

Here is a link to the Hampstead’s resource on the production.

The author explains some of his thinking in the vid below.

Diary suggests we ate at Harry Morgans before the show. I think we were coming towards the end of the Harry’s pre show era at that time.

Drawing The Line by Howard Brenton, Hampstead Theatre, 27 December 2013

When we saw Jacquie and Hils Briegal for Christmas, we discovered that we were all going to see this play on the same night as couple of days later, along with Brother-in-law/Uncle Bernard Jacobs.

Typically, Jacquie said that Janie and I should join the family at her place for some supper after the show which we did.

Frankly, the play was rather dull. It’s funny how Howard Brenton tends to either get it very right or very wrong for me. this one missed the mark.

Fascinating subject, the partition of India, but what an old-fashioned “tell don’t show” history play it was.

Click here for a link to the Hampstead resource on this production.

Below is a video trailer with cast interviews:

Below is an interview with Howard Brenton about it:

The show got mostly good reviews – click here for a search term that finds them – so Janie and I form a minority view in that regard.

I think we were the least impressed among the family too.

What the family readily agreed, though, was that Jacquie’s supper spread and the family natter was the highlight of the evening. Bernard was in especially good form that night. Sadly, he passed away just before new year 2018 – more or less exactly four years after this splendid gathering, which I’m sure he enjoyed, as did we.

Emmanuel Pahud, Christian Rivet, Wigmore Hall, 22 December 2013

Something a little different just before Christmas that year. A real mixture of musical styles, played on flute and guitar.

Click here for a link to the Wigmore Hall page for this concert.

It wasn’t quite the programme we had subscribed for – the programme was changed between booking and the night – but I cannot for the life of me remember what they were originally proposing to do – some slightly different mixture of wonders I suspect.

Below is the only video footage I could find of the two of them playing together – a delightful little Bach piece – it wasn’t on the programme our night:

Below is Pahud playing a favourite Telemann concerto of mine – so why not embed it here?

Below is a sound YouTube of the two of them playing one of the charming  Bartok Romanian Folk Dances which was on the programme we heard:

I’m not usually wild about Bartok, but this flute and guitar combo makes the Romanian dances sound lovely.