Monthly culture: June 2020
Sunday, July 26th, 2020 01:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranth... as it is nearly August ...
06JUN20: A Monster Calls (Patrick Ness, adapted by Sally Cookson) -- Old Vic online
Terrific and occasionally terrifying performance: the monster is primal, painted, like something out of folklore, and the yew tree is suggested by ropes. Matthew Tennyson as Conor was compelling, though at times the character felt (to me) rather younger than 13: I also felt Tennyson was occasionally overacting.
The theme of a child enduring trauma, lashing out, adults not telling him what's going on and not giving him space to be okay (even though they keep asking him how he's doing) is close to the bone for me: I was a bit younger than Conor when my mother was hospitalised for six months and (it turned out) nearly died. I did not have a tree-spirit to be honest with me.
I like the book a lot and this was an excellent adaptation, with few props and no special effects save the acting and the sound.
07JUN20 Wasted -- Southwark Playhouse online
A rock musical based on the lives of the Bronte siblings. This is the sort of production I greatly enjoy as part of the Edinburgh Fringe -- I felt I missed a lot by not being physically present. (The audience, glimpsed, seemed underwhelmed. It was, haha, wasted on them ...) Good songs, some witty lines, good acting. Hoping to be Hamilton, but British and with more women?
13JUN20: The Madness of George III (Alan Bennett) -- NT at Home
Beautifully staged and costumed: I am not Gatiss' biggest fan but thought he carried this off very well. Debra Gillett was warm and patient as Queen Charlotte, and yay Louise Jameson (Leela) as Dr Warren! A bit too verbose though... too many words.
20JUN20 Small Island (Andrea Levy, adapted by Helen Edmundson) -- NT at Home
I hadn't read the book so came to this without preconceptions, which likely helped. This is the story of two immigrants coming to England from Jamaica, crashing into post-war Britain's racism, deprivation and a very different way of life. I liked this play much more than I'd expected to, though it isn't wholly cheerful. Kudos for depiction of labour and birth on stage.
27JUN20 A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare) -- NT at Home
Bawdy, beautiful, plays games with gender and class as well as with the text, and has Gwendoline Christie as an imperious Titania. Hytner's production has aerobatic fairies, ad libs, and a fab soundtrack including Dizzee Rascal and Beyonce. I also very much liked the reversal of roles: here it's Titania who tricks Oberon into falling in love with an ass -- and the scenes between Oberon and Bottom are sweet and poignant, with a sense that they've been freed by therohypnol potion rather than being forced by it. Maybe it's that aspect, the joy they take in one another, that makes the non-con aspect less uncomfortable than usual.
Hammed Animashaun was a fabulous and very assured Bottom, switching from am-dram actor to a man experiencing a revelation of beauty in the fairy realm. He's not stupid here, and he's not mocked. Also worthy of note was David Moorst as Puck, sullen and lithe and playful.
28JUN20 A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare) -- Globe Online
I wish I'd seen this before the Hytner version. It's a good period production, with more tension between Theseus and Hippolyta, the faeries as nature spirits with fur and horns, and a rather older Bottom who carried off the am-dram parts better than the forced romance. I wasn't happy with Helena's portrayal as scary stalker lady. And the rhymes seemed more obvious, more doggerel in places.
06JUN20: A Monster Calls (Patrick Ness, adapted by Sally Cookson) -- Old Vic online
Terrific and occasionally terrifying performance: the monster is primal, painted, like something out of folklore, and the yew tree is suggested by ropes. Matthew Tennyson as Conor was compelling, though at times the character felt (to me) rather younger than 13: I also felt Tennyson was occasionally overacting.
The theme of a child enduring trauma, lashing out, adults not telling him what's going on and not giving him space to be okay (even though they keep asking him how he's doing) is close to the bone for me: I was a bit younger than Conor when my mother was hospitalised for six months and (it turned out) nearly died. I did not have a tree-spirit to be honest with me.
I like the book a lot and this was an excellent adaptation, with few props and no special effects save the acting and the sound.
07JUN20 Wasted -- Southwark Playhouse online
A rock musical based on the lives of the Bronte siblings. This is the sort of production I greatly enjoy as part of the Edinburgh Fringe -- I felt I missed a lot by not being physically present. (The audience, glimpsed, seemed underwhelmed. It was, haha, wasted on them ...) Good songs, some witty lines, good acting. Hoping to be Hamilton, but British and with more women?
13JUN20: The Madness of George III (Alan Bennett) -- NT at Home
Beautifully staged and costumed: I am not Gatiss' biggest fan but thought he carried this off very well. Debra Gillett was warm and patient as Queen Charlotte, and yay Louise Jameson (Leela) as Dr Warren! A bit too verbose though... too many words.
20JUN20 Small Island (Andrea Levy, adapted by Helen Edmundson) -- NT at Home
I hadn't read the book so came to this without preconceptions, which likely helped. This is the story of two immigrants coming to England from Jamaica, crashing into post-war Britain's racism, deprivation and a very different way of life. I liked this play much more than I'd expected to, though it isn't wholly cheerful. Kudos for depiction of labour and birth on stage.
27JUN20 A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare) -- NT at Home
Bawdy, beautiful, plays games with gender and class as well as with the text, and has Gwendoline Christie as an imperious Titania. Hytner's production has aerobatic fairies, ad libs, and a fab soundtrack including Dizzee Rascal and Beyonce. I also very much liked the reversal of roles: here it's Titania who tricks Oberon into falling in love with an ass -- and the scenes between Oberon and Bottom are sweet and poignant, with a sense that they've been freed by the
Hammed Animashaun was a fabulous and very assured Bottom, switching from am-dram actor to a man experiencing a revelation of beauty in the fairy realm. He's not stupid here, and he's not mocked. Also worthy of note was David Moorst as Puck, sullen and lithe and playful.
28JUN20 A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare) -- Globe Online
I wish I'd seen this before the Hytner version. It's a good period production, with more tension between Theseus and Hippolyta, the faeries as nature spirits with fur and horns, and a rather older Bottom who carried off the am-dram parts better than the forced romance. I wasn't happy with Helena's portrayal as scary stalker lady. And the rhymes seemed more obvious, more doggerel in places.
no subject
Date: Monday, August 3rd, 2020 07:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, August 3rd, 2020 01:05 pm (UTC)it's not loneliness per se but possibly nostalgia for the times when I used to do culture in company! Theatre group has been so good for that, though: best available alternative.
no subject
Date: Monday, August 3rd, 2020 01:06 pm (UTC)