Theatrical Interlude 9

Lady in the Van, Theatre Royal Norwich, June 2011.

I first came across Alan Bennett when I was studying for my GCSEs. A unit of my English course was all about monologues and I recall it being a real joy to watch all of the 1988 Talking Heads series. At that age I'm not sure I was really aware who the author was, I don't think I'd come heard of Beyond The Fringe at that point.

Up until the end of last year Bennett was someone I was aware of, I read The Uncommon Reader the day it was published, but until World Book Night reintroduced us I think that most of my Bennett awareness came from the pretty cruel sketches on the radio version of Dead Ringers.

When I found out that Lady in the Van was coming to Norwich it didn't take an awful lot of persuasion by a friend to get me to see it. I knew the rough out line of the story - Miss Shepherd parks her van in Bennett's front garden and remains there for the next 15 years - but nothing about the play.

I found it very good. The idea of the two Alan's confused me for the first few minutes but then I was swept away into the story and had no problem at all working out what was supposed to be happening at the time as opposed to what Bennett was thinking when he wrote the play.

The actors had me convinced from line one, and Nichola McAuliffe was incredible as Miss Shepherd. The play deals with some pretty deep and traumatic themes but there is enough humour throughout to stop it feeling depressing. In fact some because some scenes were funny despite the poignancy I found myself feeling guilty for laughing. Then I remembered that that is the British way of coping in times of stress and emotion - it was okay to laugh, so long as you feel a bit uncomfortable.

One thing jarred in the play for me, and that is probably because of my own perceptions, and that was the use of some of the swear words. I see Bennett as a mild mannered, polite, shy person - a veritable National Treasure - and to hear the F-word coming from 'him' was a shock. When I'm watching a play I lose track of the real world around me and the swearing did actually jolt me out of that state and back into the present. I don't doubt that Bennett does use that language (both in real life and in the situation depicted in the play) but it did to me feel anachronistic.

Each play I've seen this year has been fantastic and this one was no exception. The one thing I am particularly glad of is that the stage director didn't scent the production - my imagination was quite enough!

Being controversial

The library can be bad for (my) reading health.

There I've said it and now before you all scream at me let me explain...

Part of my job lets me look through the supplier catalogue each month to highlight some of the new non-fiction published. You might not agree with my choices but you can find them here. Now when I am reading the catalogue I find lots and lots of books that I want to read.

So I reserve them.

And then they all come in together.

This is where my problem starts, one week I can be going mad because I can't find anything to read and then all of a sudden I have a pile about 12 deep of new books that I can't wait to read. Thus I become a book butterfly, flitting from book to book in an effort to read them before their return date. Or worse I drop what I've been reading for a while because something new and exciting has arrived and then I forget to go back to the original book.

It got worse today as Mr Bookworm has also come home from work with a book from the Uni Library that I've been wanting to read for months, and that is only on loan to me for a week.

I shall have to start prioritising harder, either that or sleeping less so I have time to get through them all.

So the library is wonderful. I have access to dozens of books that I couldn't afford to buy in such quantity. BUT it has been about 2 weeks since I last finished a book, despite having a pile on the go!

It doesn't help at the moment that I've just got a new camera and lens so a lot of reading time has become photography time...

Spoilers

I realise that currently I don't so much review on this blog but more talk generally about my impressions of what I have read or seen. This is because I live in fear of the dreaded spoiler.

There is nothing worse than reading a review and all of a sudden a major plot twist is revealed. There has been a lot written about this recently as the current chief writer for Doctor Who was very disappointed and angry when details of the new series were released on the web by a fan after a special screening.

If you chose to read the last page of the book to find out what happens then that is a personal choice, to have this read to you is a problem. However where do you draw the line? Take for instance my recent trip to see Much Ado About Nothing. The play itself was written over 400 years ago so isn't new but I for one had never read or seen it before the weekend just gone...is writing about the plot for this a spoiler?

Also there is the danger that in writing a review to remain spoiler free you just end up writing a plot summary.

I've got a book on review writing on order at the library to see if I can pick up any tips but I think that a personal impression is a valid form of review, it might not be erudite or intellectual but it is honest and spoiler free!

Good lord a book review!

Focus on Composing Photos by Peter Ensenberger.

In my job I get to look through all of the forthcoming publications
for each month and every month a startling number of new books on photography are published. As I work in a library many books are ordered for the county and I tend to borrow many of them for extra hints and tips. It is quite rare that I get excited by a new book, so many of them seem to be about editing photos rather than the actual photography itself.

I don't mind 'tweaking' my photos a little bit but I am far more interested in taking a good photo in the first place.

Focus on Composing Photos is a book that helps you take those good photos in the first place and it doesn't matter whether you are using a camera phone or a state of the art digital SLR - Ensenberger is just teaching you how to look at a scene to maximise the quality of the
original image.

The book is broken into chapters focusing on light, perspective, focal points, composition, leading lines and then rule breaking. The book is written in easy to follow language and each point it illustrated by one of the author's photos to highlight what he means. It isn't a technical guide telling you what lens/exposure/aperture to use it is a readable book teaching you how to look at scenes.

I have to confess that a lot of the book is set in an area I will be traveling to later in the year so I have a vested interest in the book but even without that the tips on how to look at a scene were great and I plan on using some of the tips given on my next outing with the camera.

Catharsis

Sometimes you just need a vent for emotion - whether it is a happy emotion or a sad one.

I have a pile of trusty books for such occasions. There are some I turn to when I am ill - these are books I've read time and time again and it doesn't matter how often I fall asleep when reading them because I already know them word for word.

There are others that I read when I am excited and can't concentrate - usually just before I travel. Again I know these books inside out but I know that as I read them I will become immersed deep within them and time will pass quickly.

Then there are the books that you know will make you cry. I'm not talking about a sad passage in a book (the bit in Good Wives where Beth dies for instance is sad but over all the book is a happy one) but the ones that are *really* sad. Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin is one of these, as is If I Stay by Gayle Foreman. Actually when I look at my shelves I have quite a few of this type of book.

These are books that I read knowing they are going to make be feel awful at the time but also knowing that once I've sobbed my way through them I'll feel better.

There are a few films like that too (Beaches, and Graveyard of the Fireflies for example), but as a rule I turn to my favourite books as it is easier to hide away with a novel than it is with a film or at the cinema.

I broke this rule last week when I went to see Third Star at the cinema. I knew what the film was about and I knew it was going to be moving. I might just have under anticipated just how sad it was going to be and just how much it was going to affect me. Gulp.

There are many reviews out on the web of this film but even now, a week after I saw the film, I can't write about it without wanting to cry again. The summary from IMDB probably gives the best taster with least danger of spoilers:

James and his three closest lifelong friends go on an ill-advised trip to the stunning coastal area of Barafundle Bay in West Wales. What follows is a touching and comical adventure dealing with friendship, heroism and love.

However despite sniffing my way through the film, and looking decidedly unattractive on leaving the screen thanks to the red eyes and nose the movie was incredible. The locations were stunning, the actors very good and the whole roller coaster of emotion played beautifully. It felt real and just like those books I turn to regularly this is going to be a film I know I am going to watch and re-watch.

Theatrical Interlude 8

Flare Path, Theatre Royal, Haymarket, May 2011

I can't entice Mr Bookworm to London that often and so having planned a weekend in the 'Big Smoke' I thought I'd make the most of it and as well as seeing Much Ado About Nothing at the Globe I decided that we should see something else.

I read Flare Path recently without knowing that there was a London performance and then got very excited when I discovered that it was currently playing. When I found that there were good seats left for the night we were in London I decided on the spot that this was the second play we were going to see.

I hadn't told Mr Bookworm much about it at all, just that it took place over the course of one evening and featured a WW2 airbase. He trusted me and in the end loved it.

The play in itself is I suppose quite slight. The wives of an air crew are all at a hotel near to their husband's airbase and it seems like they will all have one night together when a mission is scrambled. The play is then about the tension felt by the crews and the families during and after a mission. There are another couple of plot strands but I don't want to 'spoil' the play in anyway. The slow drama and the what ifs are what make the play so watchable from curtain to curtain.

The two acts flew past and the whole play felt very much like watching a black and white war movie that was actually written and filmed during WW2 - which isn't surprising as Rattigan did write the play in 1941 and it premiered in 1942.

I think that there were a lot of people in the audience who had gone to see this because Sienna Miller was playing one of the lead roles, and that they either didn't know what to make of the play or didn't like it as there were lots of grumbles about it being 'dated'. I didn't find it at all dated - just a beautiful period piece.
Sienna Miller might also have got top billing for her role but I don't think that hers was the main part in of the play, important yes but not the lead. Again hard to say more without fear of a spoiler...however I found it to be a perfect ensemble piece without a weak link.

It was a magical experience and I will certainly make more of an effort to see more Rattigan plays as they are performed. The balance of pure 'Englishness', humour and emotion worked it's spell over me.

For those worrying about Mr Bookworm being bored by the theatre - don't be.

He assures me he enjoyed both plays and then on the Sunday we did go to the Science Museum to watch the Hubble Space Telescope 3d IMAX movie which although I enjoyed is certainly more his thing than mine!

Theatrical Interlude 7

Much Ado About Nothing, The Globe Theatre, May 2011

There is much buzz about Much Ado as there are currently 2 versions playing in London. One in the heart of the West End starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate and one at The Globe. You can guess which one is attracting most press attention...

We saw the RSC version at the Globe and had a great time. It isn't a play I knew before hand. I'd read a little of it but hadn't managed to read the whole thing but I knew the main story points. I always (and erroneously) equate Shakespeare with school, exams and being serious but this was frequently laugh out loud funny and unlike in many plays I've seen the actors do bounce off the audience.

It took me quite a while to get my ear in to the language of the play. I know that it is English but I did find at times that the words were washing over me like a foreign film and I felt like subtitles would have helped. It didn't detract from the play at all just felt dream like to me at times - I don't think I missed anything as the acting clearly told the story.

It was a special feeling to see a play in the same conditions that it would have been seen originally, and the Globe is unlike any other theatre I've been to as it isn't dark in the auditorium, the audience moves around and you are sat on pretty uncomfortable benches rather than soft seats. You also don't get too make squeaks from the audience as pigeons swoop in at mainstream theatres...

We were lucky and the rain held off until just as the play finished but the stage crew were already striking the Much Ado set and rebuilding it for All's Well which was playing in the evening.

I'm going back to the Globe later in the year and I will make sure that I have watched/read/listened to more Shakespeare before hand so that my ear is in tune from the very beginning - the Bard's work hasn't survived by chance and now I know what to expect at the Globe I want to do it far more justice.

Saxophones and voices

Jan Gabarek and the Hilliard Ensemble, St John's Cathedral, Norwich

I discovered the famous Gabarek/Hilliard work Officium thanks to a clip on You Tube about 2 years ago and so when I saw they were coming to Norwich as part of the NNF11 I was very excited.

The concert was held in the Catholic Cathedral here in the city and we had seats in the choir stalls which were actually behind the stage area. It didn't matter however as the 5 performers roamed around the building really making the acoustics work for them.

While the music, Officium Novum, didn't appeal to me as much as the first Officium I have never before been so aware that the voice is a musical instrument. The four singers filled the whole space with their voices in a way was astounding without microphones. The saxophone and the voices worked in perfect harmony and it was a splendid experience.

From hearing two such varied pieces of live music this week has been wonderful, but I really have learned that I do like to listen to music loudly, horizontal and with my eyes shut - it creates wonderful pictures that way.

Penguin Cafe, Norwich Theatre Royal. May 2011

The beginning of May sees the Norfolk and Norwich Festival and this year I was actually on the ball and booked for some of the events before they all sold out.

Mr Norfolkbookworm has been a fan of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra for years and when the music is on my toe has been tapping so I was pleased to book tickets to an evening with this group.

It was a wonderful evening I only knew two of the tracks in advance but I was captivated from the first note. The new line up and orchestrations are wonderful and there was something very special about seeing the musicians as well as hearing them.

My one disappointment with the evening? The new line up, as yet, haven't recorded any of the music and only the originals are available to buy/download. They are wonderful, don't get me wrong, but I want to have the version that I heard.

If the group come back to Norwich I will be first in the queue for more tickets.

Books to read?

2011 was declared the year of books by the BBC and there have been many wonderful book programmes on the various channels - some adaptations, some histories and some documentaries. What there isn't however is a television book review show.

Sky Arts however has such a programme. Each week three authors are interviewed about their newest books, we get sneak peeks into the places that authors write and also someone makes a book club suggestion in their favourite bookshop. My 'to read' pile has grown enormously since I discovered the show. The programmes are also often broadcast from the major literary festivals which is lovely if you can't get to them.

This season there is a new feature at the end - each of the three main guests has to recommend the book that they think everyone should read before they are 21. And this is where my problems start.

The instant you tell someone they *have* to read something they are likely to be perverse and instantly refuse to do so.

Also the books that have been chosen?
Just last week the three books were True Grit by Charles Portis, Lord of the Flies by Golding and The King James Bible. Out of those three I can see an average under 21 starting True Grit because of the film, dismissing Lord of the Flies as a set text and laughing at the idea of reading the Bible.

The week before the choices were Atlas Shrugged by Rand, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn and My Antonia by Cather. The full list can be found here.

There are a lot of classic books on there, but I think that they are better discovered later in life, when you can read them for fun and through choice rather than seeing them as a chore or a flashback to literature study.

If you want to create readers and people who enjoy books then I feel you should either pick books that really will appeal to the under 21s or change the title of the segment to "Books you shouldn't read" - the best way to get someone interested in something is to ban it!

The only person, so far, in this series that seems to understand this is Malorie Blackman who recommended a (challenging) graphic novel.

Now I realise that I do have a problem with reading lists and being told to read things but I really do think that this segment of an otherwise good programme is out of touch and if well meaning friends and relatives print the list off as a suggestion to a young person you'll create a person who thinks books are dull faster than anything.

This is also a long, roundabout way to confess that I have failed to read the 6 books for the Writers' Centre Norwich Summer Read. I will try again but it won't be in time to read along with the project.

The Play's the Thing

As has become clear from my blog entries in 2011 I have started going to the theatre a lot more, and this has changed my reading habits somewhat too.

In some ways I am reading more as a lot of the plays I've seen have been in London and so I get about 4 hours of reading time on the train, well except when I go the roundabout route so I can travel with friends - then not so much reading gets done!

In a more profound way going to the theatre is changing my reading habits because I am reading a lot of the plays in advance of seeing them. Some of them I am reading because I have no previous idea of the plot and I like to be a little aware in advance and in other cases it is because I have read one thing by the playwright and just have to read more.

I don't quite understand why I am enjoying reading the plays so much as well as seeing them.

It is totally counter to how feel about books v film after all. I am wondering if it is perhaps because in a play you do tend to just get the dialogue and no background and it takes the actual performance to fill that in, where as with a novel my brain creates the whole world for me and then the adaptation never lives up to this.

I only studied English to GSCE level and we did read two plays then - An Inspector Calls and Romeo and Juliet - I don't recall what I really thought of them at the time, but as we only had the scripts in class and read them communally I am sure that the experience was probably a little excruciating. We also watched the film versions of the plays and again neither did anything for me as I remember. It probably didn't help that due to lesson lengths the films were split into 3 or 4 parts to fit the timetable!

The first play that really touched me was the one we studied for German A-Level - Max Frisch's Andorra. I think that we read it in the original German but I do know that it was being performed somewhere in London at the time and we went to see it. Googling has not helped in this case but thinking back on it now I do recall the whole thing coming to life so vividly. It was the first time I had seen a live play and not a musical and certainly the first time I'd see a play that I had read. I know that the two complemented each other perfectly.

Last autumn I had a similar experience when I saw Aeschylus's Agamemnon in Cambridge. I had read the play in translation a few years ago but seeing this version in the original language (which I don't speak) was amazing. I knew the story and that was enough to get the idea of the play, the language just flowed over me and although possibly not something I will do regularly (not least because the Greek Play season only happens every three years!) I was swept away in the story. Something I wouldn't have been if I hadn't read it before.

The more I think about why I like reading and seeing plays the more ideas are coming to me. Live theatre holds my attention far more than a film does. At home I rarely give my whole attention to a film, I'll flit about and read as well as watching. In the cinema I rarely relax into the experience, and if the film is 3D I am even worse as the glasses have to sit over my own and peering through 2 pairs (or the 3D visuals) always gives me a headache.

In a theatre however there are real life people just a few metres from me giving their all. Each performance has to be slightly different as actors are humans and not pre-programmed robots and usually there are other details, such as set and lighting, to take in as well as the words.
There is something very special and personal about the whole proceeding.

At the moment I have just finished reading Emperor and Galilean in advance of seeing it at the National Theatre later in the year and have Lady in the Van, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Much Ado About Nothing (version at the Globe), Twelfth Night and the Tempest lined up. I've also snuck in a reading of Flare Path as I'd love to see that if I can fit it in!

Thank heavens I work in the library and can get my books for free and spend my money on tickets!

Is this the real life?...

...Or is it just fantasy?

I have a very funny relationship with fantasy novels. There are a few authors that I adore and read and reread regularly and then there are the rest.

Just recently I have been reading books by Trudi Canavan, I love the books that she sets around the Magician's Guild. The characters come to life in a wonderful way and it makes me want to believe in the world of magic. However her books in the Age of Five trilogy leave me cold.

Tamora Pierce was the first fantasy author that I found and loved, right back in about year 9 at school. 20 years on I still pounce on her new books and everything else on the reading pile is neglected until I'm finished.

This has become harder in recent years as she no longer has a UK publisher, thankfully we now have the Internet. And good friends. Sam over at Books, Time and Silence, recently visited the States and very kindly tracked down a copy of the latest Pierce book and delivered it to me on Wednesday.

This is a collection of short stories that mostly link to characters or places that feature in her other novels. I've become a real fan of the short story over the past year and these do not disappoint. I think it must be a hard genre to write in as you have to tell a whole story, believably, in a short space of time. None of these tales left me wanting, they were all great vignettes with the trade mark strong characters and the subtle feminist message.

There are other fantasy novels out there that I like, some (limited) Pratchett, Nix, Nicholson and Gaiman all are great but ultimately there is something about the strong female characters that Canavan and Pierce create that draw me back time after time.
The Protector of the Small quartet is probably one the series that I have reread the most out of all my books and I would certainly want all four books (bound in one volume) on my desert island.

Now all I have to do is wait for the autumn and the next book in a series...I don't think it will be published before I travel to America so I think that pre-ordering is the way to go.

Old Friend

Bracelet of Bones by Kevin Crossley-Holland.

A new book by Kevin Crossley-Holland has always been a treat and this one is no exception.

This is a book about a Viking girl's quest to find her father after he breaks a promise to her, and even in the time of great Viking exploits this stands out as an incredible journey. Solveig follows her father from Scandinavia through the inland waterways of Europe all the way to what we know as Constantinople.

As in all of Kevin's books there is great suspense and adventure mixed with a wonderful amount of mythology and legend. However unlike so many writers the strands weave together perfectly and each is essential to the plot.

I know very little about Norse mythology and I am now inspired to find out more but this lack of knowledge didn't spoil the book at all it just made the story feel more magical in someway.

I knew a little more about the Volga Vikings however as there was a fascinating In Our Time episode on these people last autumn - which is still available on the BBC Listen again service here.

There are usually a few words at the end of a book that strike fear into me as a read, those being "to be continued" but in this case I can't wait. Kevin Crossley-Holland will be coming to the library where I work very soon to talk about this book and I can't wait to ask him how long I will have to wait for the sequel.

My other question is going to be about how he creates such wonderful female characters. Gatty has long been a heroine of mine but Solveig's mixture of boldness, shyness, fear and curiosity has instantly tipped her to the top of my favourite characters.

I've heard Kevin speak on several other occasions and he is inspiring - best of all he usually has some artefacts or illustrations that have inspired his work and I'm hoping that this will be the case for this book too.

I know that this is a book I am going to want to re-read soon but this time I will have a guide to Norse mythology on hand to refer to so that I don't miss any of the detail.

In the name of full disclosure I should say at this point that I have known Kevin Crossley-Holland for many years and like him immensely but this review is of a library book and not 'sponsored' by either the author or his publisher.

Oops still no books!

Cabin Pressure recording (Drill Hall, 11th April)

I'm still not doing so well with the reading, well no I am doing fine with the reading - there are about half a dozen books that I am half way through - it is the finishing that is a problem.

My excuse this time is that I spent 6 hours traveling to and from London just to hear a 30 minute radio show recorded. And I wouldn't change that for the world!

Radio is a passion of mine, especially spoken word radio. I think that I could live quite easily without a television but if radio vanished I'd find it hard to cope. BBC Radio 4 is my station of choice, I don't like everything on it but there are some real crackers to be heard. Comedy in particular.

Mr Bookworm and I came across the wonderful Cabin Pressure either just as, or just after, series one was broadcast and have been hooked ever since. Like the best sitcoms it can be listened to repeatedly and as well as great humour has unexpected depths and sadness too. The BBC offers free tickets to recordings of most of its shows and so I put into the draw for this and luckily I got enough tickets that a Mr Bookworm, a friend, my sister, my brother-in-law and I could all go to a recording.

None of us knew what to expect and it all turned out to be a bit fraught at one point due to slow moving traffic, inability to read a map and non-moving trains. However by the skin of our teeth all 5 of us got in.

The script was more or less read through from beginning to end (only small stops for line fluff and missed cues) with the sound effects that create the atmosphere played to the actors there and then. I had thought that all of these effects would have been added later so to here the whole script almost as is was wonderful.

I'm obviously not going to write about the plot but it was side splittingly funny with wonderful asides just dropped in throughout, including references to one of my favourite songs. The out takes and actor asides were just as funny too.

One of the great thing about radio is the pictures that it lets you create in your mind, and I was bit worried that seeing the actors just read the scripts into a microphone would ruin this for me. It hasn't, it has just highlighted what a superior medium radio really is.

The best news - I also got free tickets to the recording on April 29th so I get to do it all over again! Who cares that it is Royal Wedding Day, that the trains will be packed and that it is 6 hours of travel for such a short thing? Not me!

Cabin Pressure is written by the wonderful Mr John Finnemore (his blog is just as good) and all photos used here are taken from that page.

Theatrical Interlude 6

Frankenstein (National Theatre, 9th April)

Some might think that seeing one production 3 times in less than a month is a tad excessive, especially when there are so many good productions out there at the moment. In some ways I can see that point but I do feel that I have seen three different performances with this play.

This time it was live at the theatre, rather than on screen. The casting had Johnny Lee Miller as Creature and Benedict Cumberbatch as Victor Frankenstein and no understudies.

This was the first time I'd visited the National Theatre, and the space itself is almost worthy of a blog post. From the outside it does look a little bit of a concrete monstrosity, but then I went to a university made of concrete so I have a soft spot for this sort of building! Inside the first thing we found was a bookshop, which is always a good start. There was live music playing in the foyer and a photographic art exhibition outside the loos (plentiful and clean, always a good sign!).

Frankenstein is playing in the Olivier Theatre which isn't conventionally shaped, and it felt like we were right next to the stage even though we were 10 rows back. Our seats were practically next to the aisle as and actors used this during the performance we really did feel part of the production.

It was nice to be able to see everything on the stage this time, rather than what the cameras were showing. I loved seeing how the scenery moves and how the lights worked etc.

As expected the performance was amazing, I still don't know how the leads find the energy to perform 2 shows a day. Although Creature has more screen time I think that Victor's role is just as intense and to find the stamina to do this day after day is incredible. Various press interviews have hinted at the injuries sustained and from the gusto used yesterday you can all too easily see how this happens.

So was it excessive to see one play three times? Probably, but if I could get my hands on more tickets I'd go again like a shot. And should the National Theatre decide to release the performance on DVD I'll have it on pre-order instantly.

Seeing this has really made me want to see more live theatre (not just musicals), and I already have tickets booked for another 4 plays, plus plans to see at least another 6 as soon as I can get tickets. It is a good thing there are still libraries because with this much theatre my book buying is going to be seriously curtailed!

photo: Catherine Ashmore

A bit quiet

I almost read myself to a standstill during February and March and so consequently don't have a lot of books to blog about at the moment.

In addition to this I was reading a lot of more academic books about All Quiet on the Western Front in preparation for the April meeting of the International Fiction group. It was a great meeting and I discovered that some of my reactions to All Quiet when I read it for World Book Night might have been because when I read the book before it was actually a different translation...
I'd purposely saved a few copies of my WBN version of the book to give to group members and they went down really well. The main consensus of the meeting was that you can't call the book 'good' per se but it really is one that everybody should read.

The main reason for not having a lot to write about is that I am reading in preparation for this year's Writer's Centre Norwich Summer Read campaign. The WCN kindly let me have the six books in advance and I am reading them ready to be able to talk/blog about them as soon as the promotion starts on May 3rd. Details for now can be found here but there is so much more to announce. 3 whole months dedicated to good books and authors - I can't wait.

And I'm even reading another poetry book!

Adapting?

The BBC's year of books is making me think about books on TV and film.

It is great that literature is getting so much exposure, Faulks on Fiction and My Life in Books were most enjoyable and thought provoking (as well as tripling my 'to read' lists) but my internal jury is still out on adaptations of books for the screen.

I know that Mr. Bookworm doesn't particularly enjoy watching adaptations of books I've read with me. My squirming and indignant "it didn't happen like that" are admittedly off putting.

My uncertainty of adaptations goes right back to childhood and the BBC version of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I was 11 when this aired and I still remember my upset at how wrong the characters looked, as I'm sure can my family!

Films from books are just as bad. Chocolat and Captain Corelli's Mandolin stick in my mind particularly. If I think of them as being loosely based on the original novels I can just about cope but I still wince. I know deep down that not everything in a book can go into the film but if the author wrote something it seems rude to cut it or change it.

Then there are adaptations of books I haven't read. I find these easier to watch but the whole time I am thinking 'what have they changed?' and 'how accurate is this?'. I'll often go on to read the book afterwards but find that it has been slightly ruined as all of the pictures created in my mind feature the TV actors. Harry Potter looks like Daniel Radcliffe even when I reread the books and Colin Firth is Mr Darcy...

This is why South Riding is sitting on the recorder but not watched. I love this book and even though all of the comments about it have been positive I am nervous as to what they have done to one of my favourite books. Then there is Women in Love - a book I've not read but would like to. Should I read it first or watch the adaptation?

So books getting lots of coverage is a good thing in general, but for me I'm not sure. All I do know is that if I ruin one more TV show or film by saying "it didn't happen like that in the book" I will be condemned to going to the cinema or watching films alone for ever more!

Theatrical Interlude 4 (and 5)

Frankenstein (National Theatre Live at Cinema City) 17th and 24th March.

This play is one of the biggest hits in London currently and in recognition of this the National Theatre filmed the stage production and made it available in cinemas world wide. Twice.

They did it twice because there are two versions of the play. In some shows Creature is played by Benedict Cumberbatch and Victor Frankenstein by Johnny Lee Miller and in others the casting is reversed. I was lucky enough to get tickets to each version.

On March 17th the casting was as above and I thought the play amazing. Danny Boyle and Nick Dear (director and playwright) have retold the story from the Creature's point of view and the intensity of Cumberbatch's Creature was incredible, while Lee Miller's mad scientist was a good foil to his creation.

The production was so good that I was a little unsure about going to see the play again on the 24th. This performance wasn't actually broadcast live in the cinema but had been recorded in front of a proper, paying audience but this time with the 'reverse' cast.

I needn't have worried - it was better.

Creature's development seemed more rounded - he was very convincing as a creation, a being that might have a new body but has a fully functioning adult brain. He learned to control his body as quickly as he learned speech and human characteristics. I much preferred this version, he managed to be part human, part monster throughout but to rationalise why this was so, where as the previous week, in hindsight, Creature was far more apologetic. The climactic scene in this version was also more brutal and less coy.

Cumberbatch's Frankenstein was more effective too - for me he really inhabited the part of an obsessed scientist, there was no awkwardness about it he just *was* Frankenstein where as Lee Miller was just acting the part.

I think that part of the differences in Creature were explained in the small making of feature that aired before the play. Lee Miller had studied his son intensively for the role and his Creature grew like a child, gaining in confidence, whereas Cumberbatch had visited stroke patients and people recovering from brain injuries for his inspiration and thus, for me, his Creature only grew a certain amount physically and always remained unsteady and nervous in gait.

The rest of the cast were also very good and there are little touches of humour throughout which balance out the intensity wonderfully. I'm really not too sure about the Steampunk train though...

The staging, lighting and music made the experiences fully immersing and while at first it was a little disconcerting to only see what the director wanted you to see I quickly forgot this and became immersed in the story. I will certainly try to get to more of the National Theatre's Live performances.

I am looking forward to seeing the play at the theatre in a couple of weeks so as to experience the whole staging.


all photos and image taken from the National Theatre website

How much is that doggy...

One Dog and His Boy - Eva Ibbotson

I've been a fan of Eva Ibbotson for years, since I was a teenager in fact, and I was very sad to hear of her death last autumn. She is one author I always wanted to meet but never managed to. Journey to the River Sea is one of the books I would take to my proverbial desert island.

I was so excited to win an advance copy of this, Ibbotson's last novel, thanks to an offer run by the Reading Agency and Scholastic.

The book didn't disappoint at all.

From page one I identified with the book - a boy is desperate for a dog but for various reasons isn't allowed one. It is family legend that when I was asked if I wanted a brother or sister I replied that I wanted a puppy...*

Hal's parents decide that to cure him of his obsession by renting him a dog for the weekend. Sadly they forget to say that it is just for a short time and he thinks Fleck is for life. Hal is distraught when Fleck is returned to the kennels, as is the dog.

An amazing plan is hatched and the rest of the story is a madcap adventure across England.

In many ways the book is a little far fetched, especially in this day and age when every one seems to have a mobile phone but it doesn't matter. The writing is beautiful, the characters endearing and the illustrations delightful.

This is a book for Ibbotson's fans, animal lovers and fans of gentle adventure stories like the Famous Five. It has something for everyone in it.

Personally I do prefer Ibbotson's historical romances if I am honest but this is a wonderful book that I will certainly be giving as a gift to everyone appropriate. I am sad that there will (in all likelihood) be no more books form Eva Ibbotson but this is certainly a high to go out on!


*I'd better just add that in the 30 years since this incident my sister has grown on me and I wouldn't swap her for a puppy any longer!

Many thanks to Scholastic for the advance copy. The book will be published in May.

Theatrical Interlude 3

Avenue Q (Theatre Royal, Norwich) March 2011

Reading has taken a back seat this week as I've been out quite a lot, including 2 theatre trips.

Mr Bookworm and I went to see Avenue Q on Tuesday night. We both knew we wanted to see it - a good friend had recommended it a long time ago but we never did manage to get to London before it finished - but neither of us really knew what it was about.

It turns out that it is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. There isn't an awful lot of plot a guy leaves uni with an English degree, can't find a job, ends up living on Avenue Q with a bunch of very different people and has an increasingly crazy time.

The interest comes in that half the cast are puppets. Not bad actors but Muppet style, hand held puppets. The puppeteers aren't hidden though, and they aren't ventriloquists, they are fully part of the show. It sounds mad, is very hard to describe but is fantastic. It is all a bit rude though what with songs entitled The Internet is for Porn and the simulated puppet sex...

A great night out and I've been humming songs form the show ever since. Perhaps going to the theatre knowing nothing about the show bar some of the songs is the way to go - it has certainly worked for me so far this year.

The other piece of the theatre I saw won't be written up until next week as it was the National Theatre Live's Frankenstein. This has a dual cast so any thoughts will wait until I've seen it performed both ways.