Farewell 2022

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There’s just a few hours left of 2022, and whether you’re full of optimism for the new year or full of dread at the twelve months stretching out ahead of you, know that you’ll get through whatever the new year throws at you, and that you are enough, just as you are right now, in this moment.

When I think back to this time last year, months of ill health had somewhat broken my spirit, and I admit that I wasn’t full of the joys of the season. Instead, I was worried about going back to work, and desperate to get my health under control. This year has been kinder to me and I’ve been able to take part in a number of activities that meant a lot to me. Perhaps most importantly, I got to see my brother get married to a lovely human being I’m very glad to include in my family. 

I haven’t done a very good job of keeping track of everything I’ve experienced this year, nor in
producing as many blog posts and pieces of art and craft. That’s OK though, other things have filled my days and I do not regret them. A lot of my possessions have also been shut away in boxes for large chunks of the year which impacts what you can do and when. My theatre highlight of the year has to be Moulin Rouge the musical, a remarkable spectacle that’s worth seeing even if you’re not that interested in the story. Carrying on our tradition of giving experience gifts, I’m lucky enough to have tickets to see Hamilton in a few weeks, as well as the Bake-Off musical in March. I have no idea what to expect from it but I think it’ll be good fun. 2022 saw some breathtaking live music. I saw my wedding song played live by the composer, and had the great good fortune to see my favourite artist live after twenty years of loyal fandom. I’m not ashamed to say I cried when I got the tickets, and it was the best gig I’ve ever been to. It’s been a great reminder of the power of music, the way it wraps itself around your life in the good times and bad. How hollow our lives would feel without it.

I’ve read less books this year than I have since starting to keep a log back in 2018. Aside from the inclusion of a few chunky books I’m not entirely sure why but I don’t obsess about numbers, more important to have found books to treasure. Some highlights include The Versions of Us, a spontaneous selection that had me completely hooked. I’ve never been one to read the most popular, current reads, but this year I did dive in to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and wasn’t disappointed. An incredibly absorbing book with a protagonist that feels so real you have to remind yourself she’s fictional. I only read one classic this year, Madame Bovary, but it was a good one, hopefully 2023 will include more. I’ve been craving a bit of Dickens recently, what would you recommend? A lot of my reading this year has been on a deadline and this has meant putting books down partway through to read the most pressing deadline, and I’m sorry to say, sometimes slightly rushed reviews. I regret that Little Dancer didn’t get a more thorough post as I did enjoy it. This coming year I’m not doing any blog tours and have only signed up to one reading challenge. The 12 books my friends chose for me look set to provide a brilliant year of reading. Unfortunately, I didn’t do very well with last year’s selections, but many of them are on my TBR as they sound like excellent reads which I don’t want to let pass me by.

I have no travel plans for 2023, and it’s likely none will materialise, but armed with my National Trust membership I’m sure to explore some fascinating and beautiful places closer to home. One thing I have managed to work on this year is my novel, and I’m hoping that my first draft will be completed in 2023.

Wishing you all a wonderful year full of the things that bring you joy.

Hairpspray, 03/09/21 and Leopards, 04/09/21

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Walking in to the Coliseum on Friday night you could feel the excitement in the room, even before the curtain went up. Theatre is back, and what a glorious return Hairspray is. I knew a lot of the songs but had somehow never managed to see it before, either in a theatre or on the big screen. The next two and a half hours were everything I could have hoped for and more. The story is one of acceptance, self-love, and the fight for inequality, and has a lot going for it. The cast were on fine form, and when Les Dennis got the giggles during a duet with Michael Ball, it reminded me how wonderful it is to be at a live performance, that no two shows are ever quite the same.

From the opening number to the final song this was a high energy, colourful production. The costumes were lavish, the singing pitch perfect, and the characters, although occasionally cartoonish, nonetheless evoked genuine emotion and took the audience along with them. I can’t think of a more perfect show to return to musical theatre with, everyone left with huge grins plastered across their faces, and I think it’s a safe bet that I wasn’t the only one dancing my way home.

Leopards, at the Rose Theatre in Kingston, couldn’t have offered a starker contrast. Dark,
intense, and thought provoking, seeing these two shows back to back demonstrated the versatility of theatre, and its ability to convey important messages in very different styles. With  a cast of two, a simple set, and no interval, Leopards demands your attention. Young, ambitious Niala (Saffron Coomber) meets celebrated charity leader Ben (Martin Marquez) in a hotel bar, looking for a new career direction. After some stilted conversation in which you question the quality of acting (before realising later that any awkwardness was entirely intentional), they end up in a bedroom.

What unfolds is deeply uncomfortable, as the characters are forced to face up to issues of consent, grief, and personal responsibility. The power balance shifts back and forth and you question the assumptions made during the scene in the bar. There are so many twists and turns that it’s hard to write about without spoilers, but trust me when I say this is a play that will leave you thinking about it long after leaving the theatre.

2019 in review

Another year draws to a close, and another challenging one for the planet. In a world gone mad it can feel as though the book blogging community is a little bubble of calm and positivity that I’m happy to be a part of. Thanks to the Two Amy’s Bookclub in the first half of the year (it’s sadly now been disbanded), I read a few more current books and some I wouldn’t have come cross otherwise – Bear Town I’m looking at you. Some other highlights were Normal People and The Binding. All very different books but ones that caught me up in their world, make me think, and dealt with serious issues in interesting and unique ways.

It’s been a year of some fantastic fiction including Autumn by Ali Smith, a humourous and thoughtful examination of the world we live in and the importance of relationships in making sense of it. The Blind Assassin although long, swept me along and I was left wanting more. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante is a powerful start to a quartet, the rest of which are on my to be read pile for 2020.

I started the year with the intention of alternating between fiction and non-fiction and although I didn’t quite manage a 50/50 split, I did read some amazing, interesting, and challenging books such as James Bloodworth’s Hired: Undercover in Low-Wage Britain and Why Grow Up? by Susan Neiman, both books that sparked a lot of discussions and that I continue to refer back to.

I was lucky to spend some time this year working in a public library and it was a great reminder of what a precious resource they are. Yes, it’s wonderful that they give access to all to a huge array of books for free but they are also so much more. I was surprised by the amount of regulars who came in to read the papers, use the computers, do their homework, or simply to interact with others. I’ve always felt joy when visiting libraries but have a new appreciation for the myriad of services they provide and a deep sadness at their dwindling numbers.

Sticking to the theme of free public resources, I came across this syllabus for a DIY MA in Creative Writing which I have begun working my way through. I admit however that I’ve made more progress with Tim Clare’s Couch to 80k podcast as each episode is only around twenty minutes and this feels a manageable chunk of time to commit almost every day. Spurred on by the thought of being able to study on your own terms I’ve undertaken to do similarly with Victorian Studies, a subject I’ve been longing to study further for the past decade. Accepting that it’s unlikely to ever be practical to go back to University, I am contenting myself with self-study and although I will of course miss out on lectures and seminars, I will enjoy having the luxury of time to spend as long as I want on each topic, reading widely.

Theatre visits have been few and far between but I was lucky enough to catch Notre Dame de Paris when it was in London at the start of the year and Rosmersholm in summer. 2020 is already looking promising with a number of tickets already organised, including a trip to Leeds for Northern Ballet’s 50^th anniversary gala and English National Ballet’s 70^th anniversary gala in London in the same month. What a treat of groundbreaking dance they will undoubtedly be. I’ll also being seeing out this year with the Royal Ballet performing Coppelia, a pretty, lighthearted production.

There have been some brilliant exhibition and museum visits this year including a trip to the William Morris Gallery and the Pre-Raphaelite Sisters at the National Portrait Galley (which there’s still time to see). They made me appreciate the pleasure of seeing famous paintings in real life, for example, Millais’ Ophelia which has never been a favourite, is utterly luminous in reality. The new galleries at Westminster Abbey are stunningly beautiful and designed sympathetically to their surroundings. Further afield it was a joy to be able to visit Hill Top, one of Beatrix Potter’s houses in the Lake District. At her request it has been preserved as she left it. The Villa Medici in Rome is a trip I’d definitely recommend and the Vatican, for all that it is undoubtedly impressive, made me appreciate smaller, more manageable galleries where you have the time and space to really appreciate the art.

I’m looking forward to another year full of books, theatre, art and travel and hope that yours is filled with all the things that make your heart happy.

Rosmersholm, Duke of York’s Theatre, London 2019

Ibsen’s 1886 play Rosmersholm is rarely revived but in Duncan Macmillan’s masterful new adaptation we see how remarkably relevant it remains. After the death of his wife, Rosmer’s ancestral home lies dormant, her favourite room left to decay. Grief-stricken Rosmer (Tom Burke) has withdrawn from society, relying on the company Rebecca West (Hayley Atwell), his wife’s former companion. Their bond has grown strong and Rebecca has shared her radical views with him, allowing him to see the possibility of a world beyond the straight-laced, pious life he has lived in the dreary house he has come to hate.

On the eve of an important election Rosmer reveals to his sternly right-wing brother-in-law Kroll (Giles Terera) that he has lost his faith and begun to see the potential for radical change. Kroll is horrified and threatens to smear his name in the press if he comes out in favour of the opposition.  This is not the only time the use of the press to manipulate popular opinion is alluded to. Kroll explains that politics is too complex for the average working man and ‘so the papers sell them a lie that it’s actually very simple. That it’s not about facts, it’s about feelings’, and so ‘they get duped into voting against their own interests.’ In the current polarized political state of Britain where emotion has been ramped up to the extreme, this feels painfully pertinent for a play written over a hundred years ago.

Rebecca is an intriguing character – confident, intelligent, and holding herself to impossibly high standards, she is, as Kroll declares in disgust a ‘liberated woman’. Women do not have the vote, are not expected to take an interest in politics, and yet she can hold her own. Kroll may not like it but he does recognize her power, threatening to publicly embroil her in scandal.

The set design is beautifully realised. Rosmersholm gives the sense of claustrophobia and stifling history. At the beginning of the play it is in darkness, paintings covered but gradually it is brought back to life as Rebecca encourages the light back in and adorns the room with flowers. We come to learn of the importance of the building to the local community and the burden Rosmer has always felt living there. Events within do not only concern its inhabitants but all around it. This sense of being trapped in a system he can’t stand, the responsibility of the family name and its dark history that he can’t convince others to care about, ultimately lead him to distraction.

Rae Smith’s thoughtful designs create real atmosphere and extra punch to the closing scene. Atwell’s Rebecca is composed yet capable of high emotion. Wracked with guilt at the path events have taken, she is a troubled character. Burke plays a conflicted John Rosmer and Terera is brilliant as Kroll. An excellent production that is running until 20^th July.

Waitress, Adelphi Theatre London, 14/02/2019

In 2016 the creative team behind Waitress the musical made history by being the first all-female production team on Broadway. The story will resonate with women the world over as we witness the challenges and triumphs of Jenna and her friends as they struggle to find their freedom and happiness. Adrienne Shelly, writer and director of the film from which the musical sprang, championed women’s right not to have to choose between having a career and having a family. The positive message of the story continues to empower viewers.

Success on Broadway and the release of an album by Sara Bareilles of the songs she wrote for the show left British fans eager for Waitress to come to the UK. After much anticipation it opened at London’s Adelphi Theatre on 8^th February 2019 with a cast headed by Katharine McPhee as Jenna. The set is as much like an American diner as you can create on stage and the exaggerated accents leave you in no doubt as to where it is set. This did at times seem to interfere with the quality of singing but in later scenes all three leading ladies had the chance to show off their vocal range. Jack McBrayer was brilliant as dorky Ogie but despite his excellent rendition of Never Ever Getting Rid of Me the sentiment is an uncomfortable one.

Overall a feel-good night out that will leave you both singing the songs and wanting pie.

The Birthday Party, Harold Pinter Theatre, Wednesday 28th March 2018

The Birthday Party returns to the London stage to celebrate its 60^th anniversary with an all-star revival. Set in a seaside boarding house, we are introduced to a bizarre host of characters. Meg (Zoë Wanamaker) fusses over Petey (Peter Wright) as he tries to enjoy his cornflakes, banal conversation passing between them. She frets that Stanley (Toby Jones) isn’t up yet and goes to wake him, treating him as though he were the son she never had. He in turn behaves petulantly and easily takes on the juvenile role, showing signs of jealousy when it is mentioned that other guests are expected. The eventual arrival of Goldberg (Stephen Mangan) and McCann (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) adds a sinister edge, Goldberg’s friendliness clearly a front. When Meg mentions that it is Stanley’s birthday (which he denies) they insist on throwing him a party, in which chaos descends.

Stanley makes an intriguing central character whose history is called into question. A failed pianist that has been the sole guest at the boarding house for the past year, he seems to lack many social skills. Lulu’s (Pearl Mackie) attempts to tempt him to go for a walk fall flat, and he is prone to tantrum. He plays the drum Meg gives him childishly before working himself into a rage and flinging it across the room. He is reluctant to join in at his party, and during a game of Blind Man’s Bluff he attempts to strangle Meg. His interrogation by Goldberg and McCann suggests that he may have once been part of the organization that sent them.

The audience are given no background to the characters, and what is revealed is often later contradicted, leaving you with more questions than answers. If you want a play with a clear narrative and logical action then this is not the play for you. It swings between everyday conversation to jarringly bizarre scenes of intimidation, leaving the audience confused. The everyday is presented in an accurate degree that isn’t particularly enjoyable to watch, and the more intense scenes feel out of place without any narrative context. It’s a play that leaves you mulling over the characters after the event, a pastime perhaps more enjoyable than the act of watching it unfold. An intriguing play brought to life by a talented group of actors.

The Birthday Party is at the Harold Pinter Theatre until 14th April. 

The Woman in White, Charing Cross Theatre, 4th February 2018

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 2004 flop has been reinvigorated in Thom Southland’s revival at the Charing Cross Theatre. Condensed from its original three-hour length and with a set design more evocative of the nineteenth century from which the story was born, it is a pleasant evening at the theatre but has lost the intensity of Wilkie Collins’ novel on which it is based.

The action revolves around a trio of women – Laura Fairlie, Marian Halcombe, her elder half-sister, and the mysterious woman in white. Percival Glyde and Count Fosco work together to trap Laura and gain her fortune. Laura is encouraged into marriage with Glyde despite her love of the drawing tutor Walter Hartwright. A mystery unravels before us as they try to save Laura and discover the secret of the woman in white. Glyde portrays none of the charm apparent in the novel, instead being harsh and abusive almost instantly. His accomplice, Count Fosco, is not as sinister as the original and indeed provides comic relief in Act Two with his rendition of You Can Get Away With Anything, skillfully delivered by Greg Castiglioni. 

The performers are at the top of their game, seemingly breezing through the more challenging vocal elements. I felt. However, that I was constantly waiting for a signature Lloyd Webber showstopper that never quite materialized. There were familiar strains in some of the songs but they were overall forgettable, however skillfully delivered.

The costume and set design are again not to be faulted, making the most of a small performance space and successfully transporting the audience through the scenes with minimal set changes. The production overall seems to have lost the mysterious, disturbing heart that makes the novel such a joy to read. The characters and plot are subdued to feel more like a saccharine period drama. An inoffensive, well performed piece of musical theatre that is unlikely to inspire many repeat viewings.

Cinderella, Sadler’s Wells, London, 21st January 2018

The return of Matthew Bourne’s retelling of Cinderella has been met with great enthusiasm and a sold out run. Rightly so – his decision to set it during the London Blitz adds an extra level of depth and real emotion. The set is wonderfully evocative of wartime London, the colour palette dreary, the costumes full of the elegance of the age. Prokofiev’s famous score is interspersed with air attack sirens and the sound of bombs falling. It seamlessly fits into its new setting, perhaps reflecting the influence of the time of its creation on the composer. The final act, in a traditional ballet a glittering celebration, is instead subdued – the couple are reunited in a convalescence home and their wedding is transplanted to a railway station amid the reunion of couples and separation of others as more soldiers head to war. It is an appropriately understated affair that is nonetheless heartening.

The ball scene is a triumph. It opens heartwrenchingly on an already bombed Café du Paris, bodies litter the floor, the glamour of the place stripped away in its rubble. The Angel (our Fairy Godmother equivalent) appears and the destruction reverses, the simple beauty of a wartime dance brought to life. The reminder of how fleeting life became weighs heavily as the revelers reanimate. Cinderella makes her entrance in a flowing white ballgown, the envy of all, and dances the night away before heading to bed with her newfound love. This feels very modern compared to the more innocent traditional tellings and highlights the awareness of the ephemerality of love in such uncertain times.

Cinderella’s transformation from a downtrodden, ordinary young woman to an elegant blonde bombshell is beautifully realised but her return to normality and the fact of her husband’s war damage gives a sense of reality to the story. The Angel, in his shiny silver suit, dances with ethereal lightness, a pleasure to watch.

An utter triumph of a retelling that fits so neatly with such a well-known tale. If you want a more grown-up version then this historic version is not one to miss. Sold out for the rest of its run at Sadler’s Wells, it is worth travelling to catch it on its tour of the UK.

Contractions, New Diorama Theatre. 14/11/2017

Deafinitely Theatre’s production of Mike Bartlett’s Contractions is its first revival in London since its debut at the Royal Court Theatre in 2008. This new take on it creates a bi-lingual version accessible to both BSL users and hearing English speakers. It is staged in an old trading office and has only two characters – the manager (Fifi Garfield) who uses BSL throughout, and Emma (Abigail Poulton) who uses spoken English and BSL in tandem.

The play begins with Emma being called in to discuss with her manager the company’s policies on romantic activities between employees. Emma denies that she is having any such relations with any of her colleagues but her manager does not seem to believe her. After several meetings of a similar ilk Emma reveals that she has begun a relationship with someone in the office, Darren. There follows an uncomfortable scene in which she is asked how good the sex is and how long she imagines it will be until they break up. Things escalate when Emma becomes pregnant and Darren is sent to an office far away. When Emma realises the seriousness with which her manager takes the situation she suggests leaving, to which the response is that she would not find another job – with the job market as it is there are a hundred applicants for every job. Feeling trapped, Emma is forced to undergo ever more intrusive meetings and comply to increasingly unreasonable demands while her manager remains steely faced and unresponsive to any distress.

The story may take the scenario to unrealistic extremes but it makes a valid point about the impact of work on your personal life, and the point at which you should draw the line. It feels a judgment on corporations who care nothing for their employees beyond their ability to make the company money. They would rather have broken individuals, who become almost robotic, than care for and nurture their employees who they consider to be replaceable.

Garfield and Poulton do a sterling job. The audience is led to feel genuine anger and frustration at the manager as she doesn’t flinch once, intimidating and seemingly annoyed at all times. Poulton does an excellent job portraying the increasing desperation of Emma as her manager systematically strips the joy from her life. It is difficult to watch for its intensity, but it is this power that makes it worth watching.

In Touch, Dorfman Theatre, 14th October 2017

In Touch is a co-production of An Inclusion Theatre Company and Theatre of Nations in association with Graeae Theatre Company, National Theatre, the British Council, and Sense. The cast is made up of deafblind, blind, visually impaired, D/deaf, hard-of-hearing, sighted and hearing people sharing their stories. They are accompanied by Jenny Agutter and Yevgeny Mironov telling of the lives of Olga Skorokhodova and Professor Suvorov, pioneering deafblind academics.

We are told about the actors’ lives, experiences of blindness and deafness, and their hopes and dreams. The most heart-wrenching part for me was hearing what the last thing they remember seeing was. The show is not designed to induce pity, quite the opposite, it challenges any misconceptions that deafblind people are different, showing that they have the same hobbies, hopes and dreams as anyone else. It is saddening to realise just how hard it is for them to engage with the rest of the world with such a pitiful lack of inclusive opportunities.

The mix of spoken, signed, and physical theatre made for an eclectic, engaging show. Parts were in Russian, leaving me reliant on the surtitles. This, and the way the focus jumped around from actor to actor, from one theme and style of performance to another, gave a sense of disorientation, which I assume was intentional. This was probably the most inclusive event I’ve ever been to – there was audio description, surtitles, and live BSL interpretation. May this be an example of what can be achieved and its lead followed by other theatres.