Lost in a good book

Book Review: How to be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis

This book nearly passed me by, but thanks to a tweet pointing me towards an excerpt I spent a very happy few days enjoying this book.

This book made me so happy - there is someone else out there who wants to be the characters they've read about. And there is someone who has thought about it even more than me - enough to write a book about it!

Samantha Ellis takes a look back at the female characters in literature that she's most wanted to be, and who's ideals she's tried to follow and then tries to decide if they are good role models or not. If they don't come up to scratch she then tries to find better ones.

I can't say that I'd ever thought as deeply about the subject as Ellis - generally I wanted to be a character for just as long as I was reading a book, although there are certainly some that have left me with a 'book hangover' and that I've found it hard to let go - many of Tamora Pierce's characters fit in this category.  However her thoughts have made me want to re-read a lot of books and look at them with the new ideas put forward in the book.

I hadn't read all of the books that Ellis talks about, and I didn't read those we had in common at the same age which may account for some of her ideas string me as new/unusual but my favourite bit of the book was that all books were championed from children's books to classics to bonk-busters.  It was the reading that was important not the book.

I find it hard to write reviews on non fiction that I've loved as much as this - it doesn't matter if you like books about books or are looking for a feminist rereading of classic books as this one slender volume covers it all.

I've already returned my copy to the library after strongly recommending it to two more people but I think I am going to have to buy this for myself and as a present for several people.

Theatre 2014: Review 9

The Knight of the Burning Pestle, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London. March 2014.

The last play of the weekend was at the beautiful Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and this time I had a much more comfortable seat - they've improved the cushions and there seems to be more space in general in the lower gallery.

The Knight of the Burning Pestle  was a contrast to all that we'd seen previously and as different from The Duchess of Malfi as can be imagined.  It is a play within a play and then some.

Players are trying to stage their melodrama but a 'citizen' in the audience is not entirely happy about this and insists that his apprentice should have a role. Once poor Ralph has a part the citizen and his wife spend the rest of the play trying to make his role bigger and thus subvert the normal play.

It could be a total mess, and to be honest by the end I'd given up trying to follow what plot there was, but for me it didn't matter as it was so funny, and well acted, that I'd have gone along with anything. Occasionally the ad libs and interactions with the audience felt more 21st century than early 17th but that aside it was fun. Pantomime for grown ups in the best sense and a nice way to finish the weekend.

Three plays, a visit to the British Library, a visit to the British Museum, nice food and a glorious walk along the sunny South Bank was a lot to cram into just over 36 hours but so worth it.  Time to start planning the next mad weekend I think...

Theatre 2014: Review 8

Red Velvet, The Tricycle Theatre, Kilburn, London. March 2014.

With surprising ease we managed to cross London, find our hotel and then find this gem of a theatre. In fact it was the last step that was almost the hardest as the Tricycle Theatre is situated right on Kilburn High Road but hidden in plain sight. Once we'd collected our tickets there was time for a lovely cup of tea and slice of cake in the cafe-bar.  We did decide to have the Victoria sponge rather than the Red Velvet however - that just felt a step too far!

Now for the play.

Wow - what a powerful piece of the theatre. Put simply it is a play about one of the first black actors to make it to the big time in the 1800s. On a smaller level it is about acting styles, the importance of the audience, the power of the media and racism.

With so many themes you'd think that the play would be stodgy, but it is anything but and while that is mostly down to the fantastic Adrian Lester credit must go to the whole cast as there wasn't a weak link in the thing.

Once more this play linked in to my studies of performance through the ages and it was great to see various, now archaic, styles come to life in front of my eyes. It was also interesting to see Lester play Othello in this style having seen him in the same role last year at the National Theatre.

This was a straight drama but I don't think I have been so impressed by the actors in a long time. Lester convincingly turned himself from a young man just about to reach the heights of fame into an old, tired man in the time it took him to turn around.  Oliver Ryan, playing Charles Kean, terrified me.

I am so pleased that we had the chance to see this before it transfers to New York, it will stay with me for a long time.

For those of you wondering Rebecca was wonderfully patient with me as I got excited about seeing history come to life and listened as I regurgitated what I've learned this term.  She then took me to see the Picasso prints recently acquired by the British Museum and gave me a fascinating run through of how they were made.

Theatre 2014: Review 7

Oh What A Lovely War, Stratford East, London. March 2014.

March - the month of madness, well it was this past weekend as Rebecca and I decided to see three plays and an exhibition in just a weekend.  To make it even more awkward none of the plays were in the West End and the one tube line that made the schedule easy was shut...

It didn't matter in the slightest and the weekend started in East London with the revival of Oh What A Lovely War. Neither of us knew much about the show except that it was in the form of review, about World War One and the first 'anti-war' pieces.

Summing the afternoon up is still impossible, I was swept away by the show in many ways. It was very funny, incredibly well acted and sung and yet at the same time it did manage to portray the horror of war and immense casualty lists without seeming didactic.

However in the light of all of the books, television shows and films that have come since OWALW broke the ground it did feel dated and old fashioned and not shocking in the way it must have been in 1963.

And that is where my review founders because I had a great afternoon in the theatre, but even without knowing much about the show I went in with different expectations and feel disappointed that they weren't met. This feels very unfair to the show for it was engaging and fun, just not quite what I'd expected.

On another level it was very interesting as my studies in to the history of performance have just covered Brecht and I could see all of the theory I'd recently read acted in front of me - something that became a bit of a theme during the weekend.
My other thought was what a lot War Horse owes to OWALW, not just in theme but in staging choices, despite being such different takes on World War One.

I feel that I've damned Oh What a Lovely War with faint praise.  It was great fun, and moving, but perhaps just not quite so shocking now that the horrors of the First World War are so widely known, studied and written about.

What's wrong with chick-lit?

Book Review: The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg.

Fannie Flagg wrote the the book that one of my favourite films (Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-Stop Cafe) is based on and for once the book and film are very similar and I'd happily take either to a desert island.  I've read all of her books since, sadly importing them from the USA as they aren't always available here.

This book came from Net Galley and in a week that I was tired and a bit fed up it was a wonderful escapist read and it comes close to displacing Fried Green Tomatoes as my favourite book by Flagg.

It is a simple story to start - our main character has just married off her last daughter and and is starting to plan the rest of her life when a letter arrives and throws her whole world in to chaos.  The book then alternates between past and present until the two strands meet. It was also a really good book to read for International Women's Day as in their own way every single female in the book compromises nothing and carves her own path BUT at the same time had fun.

In many ways it is a predictable and typical women's romantic fiction novel but Flagg is a skilled writer and there are just enough strands of surprise and sadness to make the book a page turner.

I loved it - can you tell?

Theatre 2014: Review 6

Pixar in Concert, Royal Albert Hall, London. February 2014.

You know that you've infected your entire family with a theatre bug when your sister asks you for tickets as a Christmas present! Eighteen months or so ago the two of us went to see Fantasia in Concert at the same venue but this time we were accompanied by our husbands and my nephew, who although only 3 1/2 would go to the theatre as much as his auntie if it were possible.

We had a lovely time at this, I did wonder how the show would work as unlike with the Fantasia films the Pixar movies are whole story arcs and not animations set to music.  Very cleverly the films had been edited so that the sense of each film's story was given whilst the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra played the film's main theme.

It was a really nice afternoon which (I think) we all enjoyed, and I for one came out wanting to rewatch the entire back catalogue of Pixar movies - including The Incredibles which we didn't particularly enjoy the first time around.

The venue was splendid and just like the last time I went to the theatre with my nephew he was splendidly behaved and it is a real treat to able to take him out. Watching his delight is almost as good as what is happening on the stage and proof you are never too young for good theatre!

Theatre 2014: Review Five

King Lear, Olivier Theatre, National Theatre, London. February 2014.

This was very much a group outing with Mr Norfolkbookworm joining me and two of my theatre going friends. Despite the best efforts of the weather and the trains on all of our travel we made it in time, scaled lots of stairs to the circle of the Olivier and found our seats in plenty of time for 'curtain up.'

This Lear was set in modern dress but in a non specific time and for the most part this worked for me. The costumes and set implied we were in a repressive state run by a tyrant, although this didn't quite work for me as I can't think of any modern tyrant who will voluntarily resign power.  This production skirted the issue and I got the impression that this Lear thought that he could resign all of the nasty bits of power but keep the 'fun' bits and have plenty of time to hunt and hang out with the army.

I found the story to be clearly told, and fast paced - which was good as for the first time at the National I struggled to hear an awful lot of the lines, mainly when Lear and others got excited. The lines seems rushed and mumbled, too much emotion to keep the diction clear perhaps? This did not get any better when the sound effects for the storm came into the equation.

The scene with the Fool was particularly moving and it took me a couple of seconds to see exactly what had happened and then when Gloucester loses his eyes it was truly horrific - once more the sparing use of violence and gore worked to the advantage of the play, especially as the audience couldn't quite see the act being committed.

Act One was nearly two hours long and the action picked up even more after the interval but for me didn't manage to engage with me emotionally. I don't think that it helped that many of the deaths appeared to be played for laughs, not  Lear or Cordelia, but Edmund, Goneril and Regan's certainly.

In fact on talking this through with one of my companions afterwards we think that this lack of emotional connection was one of our biggest complaints, well that and the inaudibility.
I  don't know if I was expecting too much of this production after the wonderful Othello last year but I came away feeling a bit 'meh' and I don't think that any of the cast deserved the standing ovation that some in the audience gave.

In a way I don't think that the play was that bad, but like at a book group, it is far easier to discuss something that you don't like...

One of my recent uni tasks has been to think about reviewing productions, and taking notes on a production. I tried this at King Lear and they have certainly helped me recall details on the play but I think that talking to people who also saw the same production afterwards helps me more.

The notes I took in the dark are:

• Lear speaks too fast
• Long blackouts for elaborate scenery moving which don't seem so elaborate when the lights come up*
• All speak too fast  when excited emotional, can't hear them
• Storm  is rumbling around before the main scene as a portent
• No wind in the storm and only sound effect rain
• Images of lightning out of sync with the thunder +
• The revolve constantly turning in Poor Tom scene making me dizzy
• Lear's affection of clasping his buttocks makes me think he needs the loo - distracting ^
• Fool and Gloucester scenes brilliant
• Deaths towards end farcical not moving

* - in fact in Act Two it got stuck, I thought it had at the time but this has been confirmed by a friend and another review.
+ - surely not a good sign that all I can see is this and not one of the most important speeches of the play
^ - this started as hand behind back, became clasping and then scratching, I am guessing this is the 'tell' for madness but sadly it didn't stay consistent and was just distracting.

Theatre 2014: Review Four

Eat, Pray Laugh! Barry Humphries' Farewell Tour. Norwich Theatre Royal, February 2014.

A cold and damp February night was just the time to see this farewell tour event, although during the first half I wasn't entirely sure it was a huge mistake.

Before the interval we have an extended scene with Les Patterson, Cultural Attache, who is trying to reinvent himself as a celebrity chef and won't let a touch of Montezuma's Revenge stop him.  This skit bordered on being just too gross for me and I was alarmed that some in the audience didn't see Les's pronouncements as satire. We then met Gerald the vicar with an ASBO and leg tag who has a penchant for young men.  Lastly there was Sandy Stone a deceased elderly man looking back on the death of his daughter and the way his widow had been conned by a relative and placed in a home not suitable for looking after her.  Can you tell from my tone I didn't find this funny?

However after the interval it all changed - we started with a film expose of Dame Edna's life and then the lady herself appeared on an elephant.

Comedy that relies on picking on the audience shouldn't be funny but this was, and I was very glad to be sitting high up at the back even if that did draw some ribbing from the Dame herself.  The jokes were very place and time specific but I ended up with a stitch long before the end.

As a nice touch at the very end Barry Humphries appeared as himself and gave a little speech - and despite my misgivings from the first hour by the end I was on my feet waving a metaphorical gladdie with the rest of the audience!

Theatre 2014: Review Three (cinema)

Coriolanus (National Theatre Live: Cinema City), Donmar Warehouse, London. February 2014.

This has been the hottest ticket in town and as soon as the cast was announced way back last summer Rebecca and I knew we really didn't stand a chance of seeing this live and so we always intended to see it in the cinema.  We've not regretted our decision as tickets have been changing hands for up to £2000 and however much we like the theatre that works out at 50 plus theatre tickets!

I went into the performance quite nervous as I know this is a bloody play but the way Josie Rourke stages it there are actually only 2 gory scenes and as ever they have so much more impact because of the restraint.

This was a modern day production staged in a very small space and while I liked some of the design choices - the wall and keeping all of the actors on stage throughout the first half where the scenes are short and entrances come quickly - I wasn't so sure about the exaggerated choreography and the walking to the edge of the stage and back again unnecessarily.

I'm not sure that I connected with any of the characters, I could see why they behaved as they did but none of them touched me emotionally and the perpetual weeping of Coriolanus' wife drove me mad.

The set design must have meant that all of the seats in the actual theatre missed some of the action and for once I felt that the camera added to the performance, at no point was I trying to look behind it to see what was going on elsewhere. Also even in the small Donmar Warehouse I think that you would have struggled to see the small emotional nuances that were integral to the play.

On the whole I'm pleased I saw this in the comfort of a Norwich cinema rather than having to queue from 4am in the hopes of getting a 'return' and I don't really regret not getting a ticket earlier in the run.

Time travel

Silent Night by Jack Sheffield.

After finishing two essays for my MA I needed some fun, light relief and NetGalley came to my rescue with the latest installment of Jack Sheffield's tales of a Yorkshire school.

These books are my real guilty pleasure and I'm happy to report that even now we are on the eighth installment of the saga the quality hasn't dropped off at all.  Headmaster Jack Sheffield is very happy in his role as headmaster of the Ragley school and all of the familiar characters appear.  Sinking into the book is like wrapping yourself in a big blanket and travelling back in time.

The 'action' covers the academic year 1984-1985, when I was 7/8. I remember some of the events talked about and love reading about this time frame from another view point.  The day of the LiveAid concert for instance was also our fete day which felt another lovely connection to the story.

As ever there is a small cliff-hanger at the end of the book, not so scary that you're worried about the outcome but just teasing enough to make me desperate for book nine already.

Biography of a year

One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson
That Fateful Year: 1914 by Mark Bostridge

It is no secret that I like to read non-fiction, in fact so far this year I've read a lot more fact than fiction but one new trend that I really like is the fashion for picking a year or a season and writing its biography.

Last year Bryson's 1927 made my top 5 books and I loved the way that he flitted from topic to topic, place to place, person to person but connected them all to tell the story of just a few months. I know his style is light and almost whimsical but it was also informative and got a lovely balance between being too scatty and too in depth.  I raced through it.

Mark Bostridge's book about 1914 can't be quite as light-hearted but he does manage to pick a wide variety of stories to show what England was like in the last few months before the First World War broke out.  He moves from child murder on a train, to the Prime Minister's love affair with a much younger woman to the serious situations caused by the Suffragettes and the Irish Troubles. The war almost sneaks up on you, and even by the end of 1914 the true horror hasn't quite hit home to most people.  There is also a lovely chapter all about the Burston School Strike here in Norfolk - something I'd heard of but not known much about.

Both authors manage to bring their subjects to life in a way that a straight history or the biography of just one person could never do.  They are popular reads not complicated reference tomes but they are good starting points and both have excellent bibliographies if you want to explore further.

Theatre 2014: Review Two

The Duchess of Malfi, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London. January 2014

I've been excited about this play for a long time, and even more so since I have been studying the theatres of the Jacobean era and first of all let me say that this didn't disappoint.

Over the past few years I've seen the outside of the new Playhouse take shape on visits to the Globe and I've also been following in the interior build thanks to the photos posted by The Globe on their website. A quick Google search shows the stages of the build and it has to be said that the CGI projections of what the finished building looked like were accurate but don't do it justice.

Inside it is like travelling in time (except thankfully without the aromas!) the theatre is all made of wood and lit with beeswax candles that are on movable chandeliers as well as some fixed candle sticks on the pillars.  Actors also carry candlesticks with them as they move about the space. The candles are also lit and extinguished throughout the performance so there is the lovely smell of wax and smoke at times too!

Now the play. I saw the Duchess of Malfi in 2012 and liked it very much, although looking back now I remember incidents and the Duchess clearly but the rest of the play and the actors have faded completely from my memory.
The version at the SWP managed to be physically lighter than the version I saw before, despite using no modern lighting. This made the impact of the darker scenes greater as you really noticed when the mood changed, it also meant that the characters themselves were more visible and I found all of the roles easy to distinguish and keep track of. Seeing the actors all of the time also meant that I got into the rhythm much quicker.
The flickering light and small space made the play feel very claustrophobic (in the right way) as an audience member you were complicit in the action and could see every small flicker of emotion on the characters' faces.

The horror scene however wasn't as effective in this version, I had forgotten when it occurred in the play but just didn't buy into the scene at all. However I did have many more goosebumps running up and down my arms throughout the play and it was scarier over all.

This version also lost a lot of the carnality I remember from the version at the Old Vic, however this did mean that we saw the action unfold rather than have it told to us.  Ferdinand's unhealthy obsession with his sister and descent into madness were much clearer in this version, and thoroughly creepy.

It was nice to see some of the main Globe's actors in a smaller space, and also to see similar styles of theatre from the open air stage scaled down but still visible in the new space.

However the new theatre isn't without problems, it feels cramped even after making use of the cloakroom. Leg room is an issue and Mr Norfolkbookworm with his long thigh bones was very uncomfortable. The Globe have always said that no seat in either of their Playhouses has a totally unrestricted view of the stage this is more true in the indoor theatre than ever. We had a very good view of the stage from our favourite area at the back of the Upper Gallery but even leaning forward we couldn't see the pit (unlike at the outdoor theatre) and seeing as the standing spots are twice the price of the Groundling area (listed on line as having the best view for only £5) the view from them appeared to be dreadful.

None of this has put me off, I'm going back in about 6 weeks to see the next Jacobean play performed. I loved the play and the playhouse but with a few reservations about the seating.

This images from Reuters gives a feel for the interior...

Theatre 2014: Review One

A Christmas Package, The Blakeney Players, Blakeney. January 2014.

As ever this review cannot be totally impartial as I do know one of the cast.

Wow - what a start to 2014's theatre!

The opening number of this winter's show from the talented Blakeney Players put a lot of professional theatre to shame with the timing and choreography. Apart from at the ballet I don't know that I saw a better dance routine in 2013.

The story as ever is thin but that isn't the point of the play at all, it is about having fun - both for the cast and the audience - and I think that yesterday that was the case completely.  In 90 minutes we moved from dance routines to opera via pop songs and Punch and Judy. The action went from London to Moscow via Paris and Venice and Thunderbird 2 cooked the Christmas turkey in a very clever piece of staging.

The play also had the scariest scene I have ever seen on stage during a musical number where all the female case wore Olivia Newton-John masks and the men John Travolta ones - the result was scarier than any monster Doctor Who have come up with, including the Weeping Angels or the kid in a gas mask...

The scenery wobbled, the jokes were dreadful but as ever the enthusiasm made up for it all. One of the funniest things I've seen since their last play - I already can't wait for the summer show!

some of the cast - photo from the EDP website.

Nose to the grindstone

Versions on a theme.

2014 has started in a novel fashion for me - one that has involved no novels in fact.  I had two essays due in the middle of January and I have been holed up at home writing them.

Both were challenging in their own ways but I have been boring the pants off anyone who comes near me with the things I've been discovering.

There's more than one version of several Shakespeare plays. Some of these versions differ greatly to the one that we think we know today.  Hamlet for instance, in Quarto One, has half the number of lines, the story takes place in a different order and the "To be or not to be" speech doesn't appear. To be honest Hamlet is nowhere near my top 10 of Shakespeare's plays and I cheered to find a shorter version!

I've been looking into Henry V for the past month as the two versions of this text are both very different and quite similar.  The Quarto version makes for a very different play than the more familiar Folio and again an iconic speech is missing - this time "Once more unto the breach..."

Henry V is a deceptive play which ever version you read and I'm pleased  to report that even after studying it for a month, reading several versions, and many critical texts it remains one of my favourite plays.

Jamie Parker as Henry V, Globe 2012 (picture from Evening Standard)

Books of the Year 2013

Top Titles

In 2013 my reading slowed down towards the end of the year as my studies started, sure I am still reading but now it is a lot of chapters from books or article journals rather than whole books from cover to cover.

That being said in 2013 I did still manage to read 218 books, a fair chunk of these were non-fiction and very few were re-reads. I think I read the least children's books ever this year too!

Picking my top reads was actually very hard - the top two came easily but after that I had to pour over my reading journal to narrow it down, and even then I had to cheat!  Please note that these lists are simply the best books I read this year and *not* the best books published this year!

Top 10 Fiction:

1. The President's Hat by Antoine Laurain
2. The Yohnalasse Riding Camp for Girls by Anton Disclafani
3. Wars of the Roses: Stormbird by Conn Iggulden
4. The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
5. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
6. Austerlitz by W G Sebald
7. The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber
8. Longbourn by Jo Baker
9. Fortunately the Milk by Neil Gaiman
10. Stoner by John Williams

Some of these choices surprise even me...I read Disclafani's book back in January and thought it was brilliant, but never expected it to stay in my top 10 let alone in my top 2 - it set the bar very high for all other books this year!

The Marlowe Papers is a book in verse and about the idea that Shakespeare's plays were written by Marlowe, I should have loathed it but instead found it gripping.  Equally I've not got on that well with many of Neil Gaiman's books (to the horror of my reading group) but yet this deceptively simple book has really stuck with me.

Top 5 Non Fiction:

1. An Astronaut's Guide to Life of Earth by Commander Chris Hadfield
2. A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor
3. The Old Ways by Robert MacFarlane
4. One Summer: 1927 by Bill Bryson
5. White Hart, Red Lion by Nick Asbury

Honorable mentions in the non fiction category have to go to the 12 short books published by Penguin to celebrate the 150th birthday of the Tube especially 32 Stops by Danny Dorling about the Central Line which was a real eye-opener.

So far I've not seen many lists of books that are to be published in 2014 and so I don't know what to expect - I'm just hoping that the next Conn Iggulden book will be out soon, but as yet there is nothing on his website. 

Theatrical Review of 2013

Favourites from 2013

A bumper year for theatre visits this year as I saw 34 productions live plus a handful of 'as lives' in the theatre.  Some things didn't live up to my expectations - People and Mojo spring to mind instantly for this category.

I met a play that I actively loathed - Macbeth at the Trafalgar Studios, but luckily the version staged later in the year at The Globe reminded me that I do like the play when it is done well.

In no particular order my top five theatrical performances from 2013 are:

1. The Color Purple at the Chocolate Menier Theatre
2. Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake at the Theatre Royal, Norwich
3. The Henry VI trilogy at The Globe
4. The Merchant of Venice at Norwich Cathedral
5. Blue Stockings at The Globe

Near misses from my top 5 included Privates on Parade, Proof, and The Snowman!

In 2014 I am already looking forward to visiting the new Sam Wanamaker Theatre, seeing King Lear with Simon Russell Beale at the National Theatre and all of the summer season at The Globe.

I'm also hoping that there is a revival of Journey's End soon as I really want to see it again and that the trope of having a toilet/vomiting on stage soon vanishes!

Theatrical Interlude 34

The Snowman, Peacock Theatre, London. December 2013.

My love of theatre is possible spreading too far as on this outing I was accompanied by my dad, my sister and my 3 1/2 year old nephew.  Who in their right mind would take a pre-schooler to London, to the theatre, five days before Christmas...

I'm pleased to say that we had an absolutely brilliant time at this production. It is sensibly formed of two 45 minute acts telling the simple, well loved, story by Raymond Briggs. In the first half the little boy builds the snowman, he comes to life and they explore the house. Just before the interval the boy and snowman fly off the stage to the famous song We're Walking in the Air.

After a decent 20 minute break we come back and the duo are still flying but quickly land at the North Pole and have their adventures with Father Christmas and the other snowmen.  There are two added plot lines here as the Snowman falls in love with the snow queen and then has to fight Jack Frost for her love.  For once additions to a story fit completely and really do add to the tale.

Just like in the book and on the film after the pair fly home there is a thaw and the inevitable happens - which left the three adults in our party with a huge lumps in our throats.

Oh - and all of this is a ballet, not a word is uttered.

Unsurprisingly the audience was full of children at our matinee and I'm happy to say that they mostly behaved better than adult audiences at other plays I've seen! As for my nephew - he was pretty much on the edge of his seat throughout with his eyes like saucers in wonder. In his words, and echoed by us all, it was "magical".

I think that we'd all like to see this again next year but hopefully MummyNorfolkbookworm won't be poorly and she'll be able to come too...

Theatrical Interlude 33

Richard II, RSC at The Barbican, London. December 2013.

This play is one of the ones that I've looked at in a little bit of detail this semester and so for the first time I went into the auditorium with some insight into the play. For which I am quite glad.

Whilst this was a good production, with actors who were clearly at home speaking Shakespeare's words clearly - as if they were normal dialogue and not something special -  the start of the first half to me seemed a little unclear.

From the reading I've done I knew why the King behaved as he did but I didn't see that on the stage. In fact the start of the play was only explained in the last half of the last act...

On the plus side other scenes that I'd read in the play but that hadn't made an impact on me for their importance did make a lot more sense on seeing them on the stage, but even then to make them stick out perhaps they were over played a little for some light relief in a dark play?

The plot of Richard II is very similar to that of Edward II (history does repeat itself after all!) and having seen both plays in quick succession I can say that while Edward II was quite frankly a little too experimental at times I found it was easier to understand why that King had to be deposed. In Richard II he was a little wishy-washy, vague and had too much self importance but the real reasons why his nobles felt he should go didn't come across. I know that in general it is better to show than to tell but in this case I thought we needed a little more of both!

I'm very pleased to have seen this production as David Tennant was very good but apart from his hair and the overall impression of the play I don't think anything else from the production will stay with me - it was a nice way to spend an afternoon but not a standout production for me.

Making an exhibition of myself?

The Georgians Revealed, The British Library, London. December 2013.

A recent training day at the British Library has become one of my work highlights of the year.  We're going to be working on a very exciting project next year in conjunction with the BL and as a pre-Christmas treat 2 colleagues and I got to spend the day getting to know the library a little better.

We had a brief tour of the library including into one of the Reading Rooms and from that I now really do want to spend one day there during my MA if at all possible, although it is possible that I will find the silence too oppressive for good work!

After the training we had a couple of hours free and very kindly we were given free tickets to the latest exhibition in the library, all about the Georgians.  None of us knew much about the era but by the end we all wanted to read/reread the novels, go to a ball and try on the costumes.

The exhibition starts with a wonderfully innovative time line putting the period into historical and political context but then the main exhibition is all about the social side of the era using books and artifacts to illustrate this.  It was incredibly interesting and informative even with no real prior knowledge of the time and it would be easy to spend hours in the exhibition pouring over everything.  I was incredibly taken with the books about the formal dances, including the foot plans for people dancing a quadrille.  I have two left feet and could see I'd have been no asset at a ball.

The real highlight for the three of us was the 1799 map of London that has been turned into flooring just as you leave the exhibition. We spent ages working out where modern buildings were and what we recognised from today.  Also the chance to say we walked right across London is too good to miss!

The exhibition is on until March and even at £9 is worth every penny, I'm tempted to go back.

Theatrical Interlude 32

Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Norwich Theatre Royal. November 2013.

Another great London production on tour in Norwich and this one came highly recommended by mum and dad - they saw it for their 40th wedding anniversary!

It has been a long time since I've watched the original movie but I think that this was a pretty good adaptation even if at times it did feel a little too fast so that the tension and pathos didn't have time to build. I don't think that this is the point of the show however as it is just a vehicle (pun intended) to showcase some good singing (except Jason Donovan's on the night we saw it!) and some amazing costumes.

The whole production was slick and shiny but for some reason I didn't quite come out with the full-on feel good factor I was hoping for, and that other musicals have left me with.  I wasn't humming any of the songs, and while I did enjoying myself on the night there are no stand out moments replaying themselves in my mind.  It also didn't manage to convey any of the coy naughtiness that I thought it might - but that may be because I saw an Alan Bennett play earlier in the day and that was rude!

I did enjoy my night but there is nothing in this musical that makes me want to see it again, which is a shame as I can see that it was a really good production! Mr Norfolkbookworm and I had seats in the stalls this time and although not sold as restricted view seats we did miss some of the action to the side of the stage, I'm wondering if all the really good bits happened there?!