Monthly culture: November 2018
Friday, December 28th, 2018 06:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranthYes, I know it's the end of December ...
01NOV18: Paul Simon's 'Graceland' -- London African Gospel Choir, Union Chapel
I have fond memories of the album 'Graceland', but hadn't realised how much of it I'd memorised! The first half of the concert was gospel songs -- excellent performances but ... The second half, though, was 'Graceland', and so much better because I knew the songs and could better appreciate the technical expertise and the passion of the choir and accompanists. We danced!
03NOV18: Othello/Macbeth -- Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith
Not really a mashup of the two plays, but stripped-down versions of both -- Othello before the interval, Macbeth after -- that share a cast, focus on the female characters and emphasise echoes. In Othello, instead of the Willow Song, we get a duet 'oh, sisters, when you going to learn?': and at the end of Othello, the three women in the play (two of them dead) are transformed into the three witches of Macbeth: 'unsex me here' demands Bianca. And later, in Macbeth, Banquo hands a witch a handkerchief (though, vexingly, nothing is made of this). Lady Macbeth quotes Othello; a witch quotes 'Sonnets from the Portuguese'. It's powerful, but not as effective as the first half -- perhaps because there is less sense of solidarity between the women.
Excellent performances, on the whole, and the dual roles give the actors opportunity to display broad dramatic range.
07NOV18: Decembrists, Apollo, Hammersmith
Exuberant performance: does an American band performing original indie folk-rock with a strong North Country influence count as cultural appropriation?
I find this one hard to write about because I found myself aching with loss for the friend who introduced me to the band, and that distracted me from the music and made me think about friends absent and present.
09NOV18: Thugs of Hindostan, Cineworld West India Quay
Delightfully swashbuckling Bollywood pirate movie, well aware of its Pirates of the Caribbean influences (not least in the soundtrack, which quotes or at least echoes POTC) and a reasonably solid historical grounding. John Clive of the East India Company is thoroughly villainous; Firangi Mallah, the protagonist, is a dandyish turncoat ('I trusted his dishonesty' says his handler) who turns out to have his heart in the right place; there are bloodthirsty battles, slightly patchy CGI, patchier romantic subplots (but very much subplots, not the main focus) and of course some Absolutely Historically Accurate dance numbers. I'm not a Bollywood afficionado and I have not been to a film with an interval in the last 30 years. I was thoroughly charmed.
16NOV18: Beauty and the Beast, Fat Rascal, Kings Head Theatre
Saw this on the basis of Vulvarine, one of the highlights of my Edinburgh Fringe this year: Beauty and the Beast is a genderswapped version of the fairytale, drawing heavily on the Disney film which I have never actually seen but which seems to have filtered through pop culture into my brain. Very funny in places: some excellent songs (especially the Beast's 'Some girls have pimples, some girls have claws'. This is such a versatile company -- lots of physical humour, quick-change switching between roles (at one point one actress is playing two roles in the same scene), and well-crafted songs.
17NOV18: London Joy Singers, All Saints Church, Blackheath
I don't even like gospel music! Or so I maintain, even though this was the second gospel concert of the month. Went to this because a friend is in the choir, and came away soothed, relaxed and uplifted -- some really splendid singing and such a sense of joy. There were quite a few Christmas songs, as well as familiar songs like 'Say a Little Prayer' and 'I Wanna Dance with Somebody Who Loves Me'. I still prefer my religious songs in a language I don't understand: but the verve of this choir made up for a lot.
01NOV18: Paul Simon's 'Graceland' -- London African Gospel Choir, Union Chapel
I have fond memories of the album 'Graceland', but hadn't realised how much of it I'd memorised! The first half of the concert was gospel songs -- excellent performances but ... The second half, though, was 'Graceland', and so much better because I knew the songs and could better appreciate the technical expertise and the passion of the choir and accompanists. We danced!
03NOV18: Othello/Macbeth -- Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith
Not really a mashup of the two plays, but stripped-down versions of both -- Othello before the interval, Macbeth after -- that share a cast, focus on the female characters and emphasise echoes. In Othello, instead of the Willow Song, we get a duet 'oh, sisters, when you going to learn?': and at the end of Othello, the three women in the play (two of them dead) are transformed into the three witches of Macbeth: 'unsex me here' demands Bianca. And later, in Macbeth, Banquo hands a witch a handkerchief (though, vexingly, nothing is made of this). Lady Macbeth quotes Othello; a witch quotes 'Sonnets from the Portuguese'. It's powerful, but not as effective as the first half -- perhaps because there is less sense of solidarity between the women.
Excellent performances, on the whole, and the dual roles give the actors opportunity to display broad dramatic range.
07NOV18: Decembrists, Apollo, Hammersmith
Exuberant performance: does an American band performing original indie folk-rock with a strong North Country influence count as cultural appropriation?
I find this one hard to write about because I found myself aching with loss for the friend who introduced me to the band, and that distracted me from the music and made me think about friends absent and present.
09NOV18: Thugs of Hindostan, Cineworld West India Quay
Delightfully swashbuckling Bollywood pirate movie, well aware of its Pirates of the Caribbean influences (not least in the soundtrack, which quotes or at least echoes POTC) and a reasonably solid historical grounding. John Clive of the East India Company is thoroughly villainous; Firangi Mallah, the protagonist, is a dandyish turncoat ('I trusted his dishonesty' says his handler) who turns out to have his heart in the right place; there are bloodthirsty battles, slightly patchy CGI, patchier romantic subplots (but very much subplots, not the main focus) and of course some Absolutely Historically Accurate dance numbers. I'm not a Bollywood afficionado and I have not been to a film with an interval in the last 30 years. I was thoroughly charmed.
16NOV18: Beauty and the Beast, Fat Rascal, Kings Head Theatre
Saw this on the basis of Vulvarine, one of the highlights of my Edinburgh Fringe this year: Beauty and the Beast is a genderswapped version of the fairytale, drawing heavily on the Disney film which I have never actually seen but which seems to have filtered through pop culture into my brain. Very funny in places: some excellent songs (especially the Beast's 'Some girls have pimples, some girls have claws'. This is such a versatile company -- lots of physical humour, quick-change switching between roles (at one point one actress is playing two roles in the same scene), and well-crafted songs.
17NOV18: London Joy Singers, All Saints Church, Blackheath
I don't even like gospel music! Or so I maintain, even though this was the second gospel concert of the month. Went to this because a friend is in the choir, and came away soothed, relaxed and uplifted -- some really splendid singing and such a sense of joy. There were quite a few Christmas songs, as well as familiar songs like 'Say a Little Prayer' and 'I Wanna Dance with Somebody Who Loves Me'. I still prefer my religious songs in a language I don't understand: but the verve of this choir made up for a lot.
