Monthly culture: June 2018
Saturday, July 7th, 2018 04:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranth08JUN18: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (Greenwich Odeon)
A film of two halves. The first half (trying to rescue dinosaurs from erupting island) was fun, dramatic and occasionally quite sad. The second half (running around a Gothic mansion trying to escape the baddies, with obligatory dinosaurs) less so. Chris Pratt really not great in this, though Bryce Dallas Howard brought a bit more nuance to her character.
Just watch the trailer, most of the good bits are in that.
09JUN18: The Moderate Soprano (David Hare) -- Duke of York's Theatre, London
A play about the founder of Glyndebourne, John Christie, and his wife Audrey Mildmay -- the titular 'moderate soprano'.
Christie would like to stage Wagner in his 'jewel-box' of a theatre: Rudolph Bing, one of the three theatrical / musical types fleeing Nazi Germany (the others are Carl Ebert and Fritz Busch) who shows up at Glyndebourne and in this play, persuades him that Mozart would be more suitable. Glyndebourne, says Christie, will be 'quintessentially English -- Fritz, Carl and Rudi have made sure of that'.
Audrey, though she's on stage for a lot of the time, isn't really as much of a focal point as Christie. He's a man of his time: won't hear of his wife actually having to audition for a part in Cosi; 'can't recall the details' when the doctor speaks to him (not, of course, to Audrey herself) about Audrey's illness. It's plain he loves her very much, though.
Back and forth through time, punctuated by monologues, the play tells the story of Glyndebourne's first few years, before the outbreak of war. Bing recalls dousing incendiary bombs on the roof of Peter Jones' department store; Busch is still shamed by his dealings with Goering. There are some very funny lines, but I would have liked more sense of Audrey as something other than 'wife to John Christie'.
15JUN18 Psychedelic Furs -- Royal Festival Hall
Didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did -- my cat Ozymandias had died the day before. The support were The Church, who did play 'Under the Milky Way' (an old favourite) and yet failed to move me. But when the Furs came on they were so present; apparently having immense fun playing together again, interacting with fans, etc etc. Richard Butler's voice is still good, and -- unlike some artists from my youth who I've seen perform in recent years -- he didn't seem like a pastiche of his younger self. Really very good (though I'm sure red wine, codeine and box seats helped).
16JUN18 Placebo -- Royal Festival Hall
This gig, on the other hand, totally failed to engage me. It was very hot; the sound mix didn't seem as balanced as it had been the night before; perhaps I just didn't know the music well enough. (The Placebo song I like best is 'Pure Morning': they played that right at the start. Oh, and there were a few excellent covers, notably 'Running up that hill'.) Ah well. Box seats at least mean sitting down all the way through!
A film of two halves. The first half (trying to rescue dinosaurs from erupting island) was fun, dramatic and occasionally quite sad. The second half (running around a Gothic mansion trying to escape the baddies, with obligatory dinosaurs) less so. Chris Pratt really not great in this, though Bryce Dallas Howard brought a bit more nuance to her character.
Just watch the trailer, most of the good bits are in that.
09JUN18: The Moderate Soprano (David Hare) -- Duke of York's Theatre, London
A play about the founder of Glyndebourne, John Christie, and his wife Audrey Mildmay -- the titular 'moderate soprano'.
Christie would like to stage Wagner in his 'jewel-box' of a theatre: Rudolph Bing, one of the three theatrical / musical types fleeing Nazi Germany (the others are Carl Ebert and Fritz Busch) who shows up at Glyndebourne and in this play, persuades him that Mozart would be more suitable. Glyndebourne, says Christie, will be 'quintessentially English -- Fritz, Carl and Rudi have made sure of that'.
Audrey, though she's on stage for a lot of the time, isn't really as much of a focal point as Christie. He's a man of his time: won't hear of his wife actually having to audition for a part in Cosi; 'can't recall the details' when the doctor speaks to him (not, of course, to Audrey herself) about Audrey's illness. It's plain he loves her very much, though.
Back and forth through time, punctuated by monologues, the play tells the story of Glyndebourne's first few years, before the outbreak of war. Bing recalls dousing incendiary bombs on the roof of Peter Jones' department store; Busch is still shamed by his dealings with Goering. There are some very funny lines, but I would have liked more sense of Audrey as something other than 'wife to John Christie'.
15JUN18 Psychedelic Furs -- Royal Festival Hall
Didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did -- my cat Ozymandias had died the day before. The support were The Church, who did play 'Under the Milky Way' (an old favourite) and yet failed to move me. But when the Furs came on they were so present; apparently having immense fun playing together again, interacting with fans, etc etc. Richard Butler's voice is still good, and -- unlike some artists from my youth who I've seen perform in recent years -- he didn't seem like a pastiche of his younger self. Really very good (though I'm sure red wine, codeine and box seats helped).
16JUN18 Placebo -- Royal Festival Hall
This gig, on the other hand, totally failed to engage me. It was very hot; the sound mix didn't seem as balanced as it had been the night before; perhaps I just didn't know the music well enough. (The Placebo song I like best is 'Pure Morning': they played that right at the start. Oh, and there were a few excellent covers, notably 'Running up that hill'.) Ah well. Box seats at least mean sitting down all the way through!
