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Monthly culture: April 2020
Sunday, May 3rd, 2020 04:17 pmI really don't engage with online viewing as much as with live performances: I'm easily distracted, and if sharing the experience with others I find myself texting as much as watching. But still, I have experienced some culture.
Elizabeth and Essex (Robin Brooks)
Radio play featuring Simon Russell Beale: basically Bloomsbury fanfic, paralleling the relationship of Lytton Strachey and Roger Senhouse with the historical tragedy of Elizabeth and Essex. Live music from Korngold's soundtrack for the 1939 film. Amusing, insightful and poignant.
Treasure Island (Bryony Lavery / Robert Louis Stephenson)
Splendid staging, interestingly cast (Jim is a girl! and there are other females in this boys' own adventure!). Some elements I didn't recall from the novel (though it's a long time since I read it). Long John Silver is really quite seductive in this version.
Fleabag (Phoebe Waller-Bridge)
Technical issues with registration prevented me from watching this via the Soho Theatre site, so I had to purchase (£4, for charity, plus optional donation) from Am*z*n.
This is the original monologue that spawned the TV series: a masterclass in discursive narration that comes full circle and reveals that all along the story has been about the sex-addicted, raw, confidence-lacking narrator. I really don't like the character; but I can empathise with some aspects of her story. A bravura performance that I'd have loved to see in Edinburgh, back before it became a cultural commonplace.
Twelfth Night (Shakespeare)
Saw this live back in the Before Times: review here. The broadcast version gave me more sense of the mechanics of the staging, and I didn't feel the play itself suffered from the change of medium. This really is a splendid production, and it's the first time I've watched this play and ended up feeling some degree of dislike for nearly all the characters. The race- and gender-blind casting works a treat, and the music is great.
Elizabeth and Essex (Robin Brooks)
Radio play featuring Simon Russell Beale: basically Bloomsbury fanfic, paralleling the relationship of Lytton Strachey and Roger Senhouse with the historical tragedy of Elizabeth and Essex. Live music from Korngold's soundtrack for the 1939 film. Amusing, insightful and poignant.
Treasure Island (Bryony Lavery / Robert Louis Stephenson)
Splendid staging, interestingly cast (Jim is a girl! and there are other females in this boys' own adventure!). Some elements I didn't recall from the novel (though it's a long time since I read it). Long John Silver is really quite seductive in this version.
Fleabag (Phoebe Waller-Bridge)
Technical issues with registration prevented me from watching this via the Soho Theatre site, so I had to purchase (£4, for charity, plus optional donation) from Am*z*n.
This is the original monologue that spawned the TV series: a masterclass in discursive narration that comes full circle and reveals that all along the story has been about the sex-addicted, raw, confidence-lacking narrator. I really don't like the character; but I can empathise with some aspects of her story. A bravura performance that I'd have loved to see in Edinburgh, back before it became a cultural commonplace.
Twelfth Night (Shakespeare)
Saw this live back in the Before Times: review here. The broadcast version gave me more sense of the mechanics of the staging, and I didn't feel the play itself suffered from the change of medium. This really is a splendid production, and it's the first time I've watched this play and ended up feeling some degree of dislike for nearly all the characters. The race- and gender-blind casting works a treat, and the music is great.
