Borodin String Quartet At The Wigmore Hall, 13 November 2001

I thought Janie might like string quartets and thought that this programme might please her:

  • Dmitri Shostakovich – String Quartet No 9 in E flat major Op 117
  • Ludwig van Beethoven – String Quartet in E flat major Op 74 “Harp”

Possibly a Tuesday evening after a long day of work was not the ideal testing ground for my assumption.

But I also think that this sort of string quartet is not much to Janie’s taste on any occasion.

Still, Janie says it is always good to relax and listen to music at The Wig, even if the music would not be one’s first choice.

Here’s a recording of the Novus String Quartet playing the Shostakovich:

And here is the Alban Berg quartet playing the Beethoven one:

Absolute Hell At the Questors Before A Weekend In Bristol, 9 to 11 November 2001

We went to The Questors with the Duchess of Castlebar to see Absolute Hell by by Rodney Ackland.

It was absolute hell.

We walked at half time.

Things had to be pretty bad for us to walk at half time, especially when The Duchess was treating us to some of her freebie tickets for The Questors.

We had a late reservation at an Ealing restaurant named Parade. I suspect that they were grateful to see us much earlier than our promised arrival at 10:45.

Here is a review of that place from the Standard about a year before our visit:

Parade Campion Standard Parade Campion Standard 26 Oct 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

The next day, we set off for Bristol to join the Boswell branch of the family for Scott’s birthday. We stayed at The Swallow Hotel. We were no doubt generously entertained at chez Boswell for the birthday.

I don’t think the Duchess joined us on that occasion; hence the theatre visit and dinner with her grace the night before. Absolute Hell on the Friday evening – redemption for the rest of the weekend.

Droopy Drawers Of Schubert & Bruckner At The Barbican Hall, 4 November 2001

In bingo parlance, m’lud, “droopy drawers” stands for 44 – all the fours. This concert was playing on the fact that it was utterly focussed on fourth symphonies:

  • Franz Schubert – Symphony No 4 in C minor “Tragic”
  • Anton Bruckner – Symphony No 4 in E flat major “Romantic”

The London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mariss Jansons played the tunes.

Here is a video recording of Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo under Nathalie Stutzmann playing the Schubert.

While here is the London Symphony Orchestra, under Haitink rather than Jansons, playing the Bruckner 4:

It was even the 4th of November, the evening of that concert, so it really was an evening of:

Diana Dors – all the fours.

Boy Gets Girl by Rebecca Gilman, Royal Court Theatre, 3 November 2001

We rated this one:

…excellent.

Memorable too, in its creepiness. Yet it somehow Boy Gets Girl doesn’t seem to have hit the radar of the enduring drama canon. The Wikipedia entry at the time of writing this (October 2026) doesn’t even mention the Royal Court production, just the original production in Chicago.

We were treated to a terrific cast for the Royal Court production: Demetri Goritsas and Katrin Cartlidge in the lead roles. Fine support from Nicholas Day, Jason Watkins, Lucy Punch, Karl Johnson, and Lolly Susi – directed by Ian Rickson.

Nicholas de Jongh rated it highly in the Standard:

Boy Gets de Jongh Standard Boy Gets de Jongh Standard 8 Nov 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer was taken by the production and the ideas in it more than the play itself:

Boy Gets Spencer Telegraph Boy Gets Spencer Telegraph 9 Nov 2001 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend, Michael Billington, also has some reservations about the play but praises the end result at the Royal Court highly:

Boy Gets Billington Guardian Boy Gets Billington Guardian 8 Nov 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Stalking is a discomforting and difficult topic – perhaps that fact, more than anything else, explains why this piece has somewhat vanished from view in the quarter-of-a-century since.

Ciaccona, Wigmore Hall, 28 October 2001

Good gig this, at the end of a culture vulture week – two visits to the theatre Friday and Saturday, then this concert at The Wig on the Sunday.

We heard:

  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Cantata BWV 82 “Ich Habe Genug”
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Concerto in C for two harpsicords, BWV 1061
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Concerto for Oboe d’Amore BWV 1055 (also transcribed Harpsicord)
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Cantata “Non sa che sia dolore” BWV 209

Ciaccona were very good.

I cannot find Ciaccona performances on-line. But here are some decent substitutes if you want to hear the programme.

Ich habe Genug is normally sung by a baritone, but here is a soprano singing it – albeit not Julia Gooding:

Midden by Morna Regan, Hampstead Theatre, 27 October 2001

In truth, I remember little about this one. An Irish “returning home” drama. I made no notes in the log about it, which suggests it did little for us but didn’t totally displease us either.

Nicholas de Jongh gave it the dreaded Standard blob:

Midden de Jongh Standard Midden de Jongh Standard 19 Oct 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

John Gross in the Sunday telegraph rather liked it:

Midden Gross S Telegraph Midden Gross S Telegraph 28 Oct 2001 Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Life With An Idiot by Victor Erofeyev, Adapted By The Cast, Gate Theatre, 26 October 2001

Janie and I were both very taken with this piece; both the conceit of it and the way the cast and director had turned it into an excellent short piece of drama.

Rachel Halliburton in The Standard gave it a very good review and summarises the story well:

Idiot Halliburton Standard Idiot Halliburton Standard 15 Oct 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend, Michael Billington, is less sure that westernising this quintessentially Soviet story works, while praising some aspects:

Idiot Billington Guardian Idiot Billington Guardian 16 Oct 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

While Rhoda Koenig found it a little dated.

Idiot Koenig Indy Idiot Koenig Indy 20 Oct 2001 The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

I don’t recall either of us being unwanted idiots, but I do recall really liking this play/production.

Surrealism: Desire Unbound, & Katharina Fritsch, Tate Modern, 22 October 2001

I suspect it was the surrealism that seduced us to the Tate Modern that day, but, as usual, once there, we ended up looking at more than one exhibition. On this occasion, I recall that Janie and I delighted in both.

This Laura Cumming review from The Observer is the only full-scale review I can find for the exhibition that, from what I can gather, most critics described as the blockbuster exhibition of 2001:

Surrealism Cumming Observer Surrealism Cumming Observer 23 Sept 2001 The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Peter Chapman’s short review in the Indy is also insightful:

Surrealism Chapman Indy Surrealism Chapman Indy 29 Sept 2001 The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Peter Chapman also reviewed the Katharina Fritsch:

Fritsch Chapman Indy Fritsch Chapman Indy 22 Sept 2001 The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Claire Bishop gave the exhibition (and Fritsch generally) a full scale review:

Fritsch Bishop Standard Fritsch Bishop Standard 31 Aug 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Whispers Along The Patio by David Cregan, Orange Tree Theatre, 20 October 2001

Frankly, we remember little about this one. A gentle comedy, is the description. We might have been gently getting over the terminal dullness of our preceding evening’s visit to The National to see Luther.

Here’s a clip from The Gazette & Herald from August, when it opened in Scarborough:

Whispers Gazette Whispers Gazette 16 Aug 2001 Gazette and Herald (York, North Yorkshire, England) Newspapers.com

Similar messaging in The Epsom Herald a couple of months later:

Whispers Epsom Whispers Epsom 26 Oct 2001 Epsom Comet (Epsom, Surrey, England) Newspapers.com

Ah, there was a formal review in the Guardian, from Scarborough:

Whispers Hickling Guardian Whispers Hickling Guardian 10 Aug 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

This clearly wasn’t the very best week of theatre we have ever encountered.

Luther by John Osborne, Olivier Theatre, 19 October 2001

We pushed the boat out to see this one. Friday night at the National Theatre – we both had busy Friday schedules well into the afternoon.

Was it worth it, I hear you cry.

So dull, we walked at half time

Seemingly not.

I have a feeling this was the occasion when we bumped into my friends from Lambton Place, Bryan Rostron & Sunny, with their pal Paul Foot. You don’t mess with investigative journalists like Bryan and Paul – we confessed to the fact that we were going to sneak away after the drinks interval.

We wanted to like this play/production. We are partial to John Osborne, although well aware of the fact that his good is very very good, but not all of his drama is of the highest quality. This one felt like a history lesson in a rather dull (to us) aspect of history.

I also felt badly about walking out on Timothy West. He had, after all, sat through hours of dull stuff with me in it on more than one occasion without walking out at half time:

Andorra, 23, 24 & 25 February 1978
Twelfth Night, Alleyn’s School, 12, 14, 15 & 16 December 1978

Returning to Luther, it was, of course, a fine cast and a fine production. Rufus Sewell in the title role. Richard Griffiths, Timothy West, and Maxine Peake in supporting roles, Peter Gill directing with a young Josie Rourke assisting.

Here’s a link to the Theatricalia entry for this one.

But oh boy did we find this dull. What did the critics – possibly better equipped for dull than me and Janie, have to say?

Nicholas de Jongh heaped praise on the production while stating that Luther was “quite the wrong choice of Osborne”:

Luther de Jongh Standard Luther de Jongh Standard 8 Oct 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com


Michael Billington disagreed – loving it especially for its reclamation of potentially lost Osborne:

Luther Billington Guardian Luther Billington Guardian 8 Oct 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer, on the other hand, described it as a long hard slog:

Luther Spencer Telegraph Luther Spencer Telegraph 8 Oct 2001 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

A rare example of a split jury in which we sided with Spencer rather than Billington. “Long hard slog” sums it up rather well from my recollection.