We were really looking forward to this. While we were unsure about McDonagh’s earlier work, such as The Cripple of Inishman, we absolutely loved The Pillowman and had been hoping to see another new play by him.
We certainly were not disappointed by this play/production. It had us gripped from the start. It is a shocking, at times hilariously funny black comedy about the last hangmen in the UK. The mixture of cunning plot twists and traditional comedic devices works brilliantly. Great cast, great production, what’s not to like?
As Kim had so kindly joined Janie up to the Tate and the V&A, I thought it was the least I could do to join her up to the RA.
This was to be our first opportunity to take advantage of that membership; so we knocked off work early that Friday and enjoyed an early evening viewing of this exhibition.
We found it very interesting. Some of the works are more challenging than enjoyable to view; others are fascinating and attractive. Ai Weiwei is an intriguing artist.
Janie and I enjoyed a drink and some nibbles in the members cafe afterwards. We are looking forward to the new improved version of same promised for next year, much as the V&A and Tate are similarly promising! We join and each of these places vastly increase their bar/cafe facilities…?
Cousins Garry & Janice were very devoted visitors to mum over the years, especially given the distances involved, whereas I hadn’t been out their way (apart from the occasional funeral) for decades. Janie and I agreed that should change, so we arranged a short trip to the Essex Riviera.
Me finks (sic) you’ll be disappointed with Canvey. There may be nothing open after 5:30pm other than a few haunted bars. Brighton is a paradise in comparison. Don’t forget your passport.
Actually our plan was to get to Canvey by 15:00 and visit the Steels that afternoon for the guided tour of Leigh, both of which we did.
Canvey was more interesting than Garry suggested – the mural on the sea wall was a highlight, as was the sight of many locals taking the last remains of the summer sun on what turned out to be a glorious September afternoon.
The Leigh stroll with Garry and Janice was also interesting. I had never been down to Old Leigh before; it is really rather quaint and charming; probably more so for seafaring types than land-lubbers like me and Janie, but still good to see and a nice chance to catch up with Garry and Janice while strolling.
Then back to get our car and then Janie & I checked in to the Westcliffe Hotel – not bad. Later, Garry and Janice picked us up at the hotel and we walked down the road to the Piccolo Italian Restaurant, where they had celebrated their silver wedding anniversary some years ago.
A very enjoyable afternoon and evening with Garry and Janice.
In the morning, after breakfast and on our way out of town, we diverted a few hundred yards into Southend proper so I could take a look at the house where Jack, Sybil and Norman had lived up on that cliff. Smashing view – a more salubrious-looking property now.
This was a very harrowing short piece, brilliantly done. Deservedly, this one got a transfer to Trafalgar Studios, so there is a good stub to be found with the production details, some interviews etc. We saw the original version at the Hampstead Downstairs, but it looks as though it was a straight transfer, same cast, same production team.
The play is basically about a young girl in Rochdale who is befriended and groomed by an older, Asian man with debts and bad friends. The Children’s Society collaborated on the work, by all accounts.
We saw it on a Friday evening after a poor early evening meal at Harry Morgans. We were talking about it all weekend; it raised such startling issues and was so well acted.
Ed Hall himself directed this one – unusually for a downstairs production – top quality stuff.
About a week ahead, I was invited to a wine tasting by Helen Baker, a friend of Gerry Goddin who was thinking through setting up independently in the wine business:
I was wondering if you would be able to make it to a tasting? This is the first of a series of four to be held fortnightly on a Monday, starting at 5.30 pm/6.00 pm. These first four will concentrate on Rosso/Brunello and Langhe Nebbiolo/Barolo. I have a few older vintages and interesting comparisons, so it should be fun as well as interesting and all the wines are top notch.
As luck would have it, I was in the City that day and had no evening engagement planned, so it would have seemed churlish to turn down a chance to try some amazing wines.
I met some interesting people and tasted some superb wines at this tasting. A list of the wines we tasted is linked here: Mousse Montalcino Tasting 28 09 15
Helen very kindly let me take a couple of half-finished bottles home with me, warning me though, that the really fine Brunelli would not be at its best for much more than 24 hours.
When I told Janie what she had missed, she made a point of popping in to the flat on the Tuesday and having a quick slurp. She enjoyed both the Rossi and the Brunelli but agreed that the Brunelli was especially fine.
This new found understanding of Brunelli came in handy just a few days later in Southend-on-Sea – I kid you not. Once I have written up that visit (3 October), there should be a link below…now there is!
This was a very powerful modern adaptation of Medea, wonderfully acted, directed and produced.
Kate Fleetwood was superb as the increasingly crazed Medea; so was Justin Salinger as the creepy, unreasonable Jason.
Of course, this was a modern adaptation, so it doesn’t quite end as the bloody original, but it does naturally end in tears.
Both of us were really struck by the power of this production; Janie has a natural aversion to ancient works but this modern adaptation did enough to keep her engrossed.
This play/production at the Bush Theatre made for a very good evening.
The communications head for a giant energy company faces issues of climate change in the discomfort of his own increasingly dysfunctional household. This sort of play is fun but it also makes you think. The Bush does this sort of play well.
Charley appealing…or celebrating a year early. Many thanks to Charles Bartlett for this picture.
Good drama often subtly uses a device known as foreshadowing. Something happens early in the piece, so when the dramatic climax or denouement comes, the audience isn’t completely taken by surprise by the twist.
Bad drama does this unsubtly, perhaps showing that one of the characters has an unsecured gun, or getting two characters to tell a convoluted back story for seemingly no reason other than foreshadowing.
In many ways, the climax was all on Day One. Personally, because that was to be my last cricket of the year, accompanied that day by Charles (Charley “The Gent” Malloy) Bartlett. But also because Yorkshire clinched the title that day, by virtue of something that happened on some other cricket ground at some point during the afternoon. It was all a bit confusing for us spectators, who weren’t officially told by the announcer until tea, although many were listening to internet radio accounts from elsewhere, so word soon spread.
To some extent Charles’s presence was foreshadowing of day one of the same fixture in 2016. In some ways, the first over of Middlesex’s innings – three wickets and no runs – foreshadowed the Nottinghamshire match in 2016 – click here – which Middlesex also (despite the three wickets for zip setback) went on to win.
I wrote up this day for King Cricket as long ago as April 2016, but at the time of writing this piece (November 2016) the piece is as yet unpublished. I’ll add an update and a link here once he publishes.
At the Meet the Players party in the evening, which was splendid, I suggested that the Middlesex folk should encourage the Yorkshire celebrations. I don’t think my advice was heeded, but I also don’t think the Yorkshire players needed encouragement. Despite Middlesex being on the ropes at the end of Day One, we somehow snatched victory from the very jaws of defeat in this match.
I had been really looking forward to this one. I recalled seeing and liking the companion piece, When I Was A Girl I Used To Scream And Shout, many years ago.
Sadly, this one was rather grim and dark by comparison. Well acted, well directed, but neither Janie nor I much liked the play.
As usual, we didn’t feel we’d wasted our time and enjoyed our evening out, not least our Don Fernando dinner which we almost always enjoy as an occasional treat after the Orange Tree.
The trip was simply three days in Edgbaston, staying at the Eaton Hotel (first visit there). Straight to the ground day one, walking in to short business meetings in Birmingham proper on each of days two and three before returning to London early on day four for one last business meeting of the week.
Simples. Until Benjy, Ivan, Dumbo and Ged got their teeth into it.
