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Monthly culture: September 2020
Friday, October 2nd, 2020 10:52 am05SEP20: Pericles -- Shakespeare / Chris Bush (NT Online, donors only)
I really enjoyed this reinvention of Pericles: it was the first of the National Theatre's 'Public Acts', a collaboration between community theatre groups and professional actors, and it had the exuberance of amateur productions with the polish of professional staging. The music -- extremely varied, from rock'n'roll to Bulgarian choir to Latin pop -- was splendid and cheering, and some of the more problematic aspects of the play (incest, dubious consent) were edited out in favour of Goth pirates, a Bollywood-esque dance around a maypole, and extra diversity / inclusion. Really happy to see wheelchair users, small children and older people on stage. This was joyous and uplifting, exactly what was needed.
19SEP20: Blueprint Medea -- Julia Pascal (Finborough Theatre online)
Short modern-setting play based on the story of Medea and Jason. Here, Medea is a Kurdish freedom fighter who comes to the UK on a forged passport and meets Jason, son of Iraqui immigrants. They have two sons together, but Jason's parents would like him to marry the bride they've chosen for him -- a suggestion they reinforce with a substantial 'investment' in his taxi firm.
There were some good moments and it was interesting to see Medea -- strong scary sorceress -- transplanted to modern times. But overall this felt a bit light on the construction of the tragedy: or perhaps there was more build-up and I missed it due to poor sound quality -- I found the dialogue quite hard to follow. (I don't think this recording was intended for broadcast, to be fair.)
25SEP20: Bill and Ted Face the Music (Greenwich PictureHouse)
I was only vaguely familiar with the premise(s) of the previous movies, but that did not prove to be a problem. This was an enjoyable film, centred on the title characters' daughters (excellent performances from Brigette Lundy-Paine and Samara Weaving) and featuring a supergroup made up of historical figures (Mozart on keyboards, yay) performing a rather lacklustre Thing.
Unfortunately it also made me mourn live music, life Before, et cetera. So overall not as cheerful an experience as hoped.
I really enjoyed this reinvention of Pericles: it was the first of the National Theatre's 'Public Acts', a collaboration between community theatre groups and professional actors, and it had the exuberance of amateur productions with the polish of professional staging. The music -- extremely varied, from rock'n'roll to Bulgarian choir to Latin pop -- was splendid and cheering, and some of the more problematic aspects of the play (incest, dubious consent) were edited out in favour of Goth pirates, a Bollywood-esque dance around a maypole, and extra diversity / inclusion. Really happy to see wheelchair users, small children and older people on stage. This was joyous and uplifting, exactly what was needed.
19SEP20: Blueprint Medea -- Julia Pascal (Finborough Theatre online)
Short modern-setting play based on the story of Medea and Jason. Here, Medea is a Kurdish freedom fighter who comes to the UK on a forged passport and meets Jason, son of Iraqui immigrants. They have two sons together, but Jason's parents would like him to marry the bride they've chosen for him -- a suggestion they reinforce with a substantial 'investment' in his taxi firm.
There were some good moments and it was interesting to see Medea -- strong scary sorceress -- transplanted to modern times. But overall this felt a bit light on the construction of the tragedy: or perhaps there was more build-up and I missed it due to poor sound quality -- I found the dialogue quite hard to follow. (I don't think this recording was intended for broadcast, to be fair.)
25SEP20: Bill and Ted Face the Music (Greenwich PictureHouse)
I was only vaguely familiar with the premise(s) of the previous movies, but that did not prove to be a problem. This was an enjoyable film, centred on the title characters' daughters (excellent performances from Brigette Lundy-Paine and Samara Weaving) and featuring a supergroup made up of historical figures (Mozart on keyboards, yay) performing a rather lacklustre Thing.
Unfortunately it also made me mourn live music, life Before, et cetera. So overall not as cheerful an experience as hoped.
