Macbeth at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre

This was my first visit to the newly reopened Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford. I do like the new auditorium, so like the temporary Courtyard Theatre, but much more glamorous. First of all I have to say that Jonathon Slinger is not an obvious choice for the lead role. He seemed more suited to roles like Peter the Pardoner in "A Knight's Tale". And I cannot wait to see him in Pinter's "The Homecoming". But he is a mighty fine actor, having played a number of leading roles for the RSC. And he makes a vivid interpretation of Macbeth's descent into madness. Although I preferred Aislin McGuckin as a rampant Lady Macbeth.

Michael Boyd is a great director, but somehow I left the play feeling a little uneasy. The first half was brilliant. And the introduction to the second half, which repeats the closing scene of the first with one huge difference, is inspired. But from there on it fell just a little flat. Maybe it could just not keep up with what went before.

The new stage is fabulous. The ceiling is cavernous and things descend with great theatricality. Apparently there is seven metres depth under the stage, and this also has a part to play. The lighting (except for the number of low slung awful fluorescent tubes that are used far too much)and acoustics are top notch. The money has been well spent.

SPOILER ALERT

I found the use of children in place of the three witches a step too far from the original text. No cauldron in site, but a hugely dramatic entrance for the children as they descend from a huge height, motionless on meathooks. But why play Seyton as the Porter??? What should be one of the the funniest scenes in the whole of Shakespeare as the Porter, as he appears drunk. I suddenly remembered a production of Macbeth at the Nottingham Playhouse some forty years ago, when Barry Rutter was absolutely hilarious as the Porter. It is still a vivid memory. But in this production, Seyton appears as a suicide bomber, added to which he even has an Irish accent. I found this tasteless in the extreme. I'm all for pushing boundaries in Shakespeare, but this was just not funny. The opposite of what the scene is all about.

The Royal Shakespeare Theatre transformed

My visit to Stratford last night to see Macbeth was the first since the Royal Shakespeare Theatre had been transformed. And very impressive it is. I was amazed how well the bits that had been retained from the old theatre work with the brand new cutting edge architecture. The following photos show some example of this. The new glazed main entrance links the wall of the old entrances with the brand new Tower. Above the the doors on the left of the new main entrance, the old stone "Balcony" signs have been retained.

The exterior wall of the old entrance and public areas now opens out to the new ground floor bar and cafe areas. The refurbished windows on the right of the photo below are those to the massively improved, and now beautiful staircase to the circle and upper circle.

It is only the outside wall that has been retained, the inside face of which is still visible from the cafe. Note the line of the old staircase. A projected slide show plays on the wall. I think that the scruffy  remnants of the old wall with the perfect new balcony above somehow works incredibly well. This must have been a brave decision that to me pays off brilliantly.

From the top of the Tower, the old brick flytower remains alongside a sparkling new metal roof to the auditorium.

The link to the Swan Theatre brings together a complete complex of theatres, backstage areas and public spaces. The tower of The Swan compliments the flytower of the main theatre, and the new grey metal roofs match that above The Swan auditorium.

 All in all, this is now, in my opinion, the most wonderful theatre I have ever been to. I don't think it would have been the same if, as was suggested at the time, the whole of the old theatre had been demolished. The essence of the original is still there. Even inside, the ground floor bar feels like the old entrance. And the old brickwork that made the proscenium arch is still there. When someone decides to use the old teak floor from the stage of the 1932 theatre and puts it in the new foyer, that is class.

131 Songs - Numbers 103 and 104

Number 103 - bones and a name by Nina Gordon

Not my favourite Nina Gordon track, although it is still good to listen to all her songs. But what makes this recording is the drum roll towards the end. There is a quiet section in the middle when the drumming starts, getting louder as it crashes at the end of the sequence. The drumming in Buddy Holly's  "Peggy Sue" (see song number 7 on my list) used to be my favourite, but this beat from Joey Waronker tops the lot.

Number 104 - the times comes by Nina Gordon

This track follows the one above on her album "bleeding heart graffiti", (the lack of capitals is all Nina) and this is the only time two consecutive songs make my list. For me, this is her stand out track, as I mentioned in my posting of 1st September 2009. Two years have gone by, and I haven't changed my mind.

Captain America, Super 8 and Rise of The Planet of the Apes

Three typical summer blockbusters started with "Captain America", a superhero movie I would normally avoid. But what intrigued me most was that the story was set in 1941, and it was the sets that made the movie for me. Especially those for New York which were actually filmed in Manchester and Liverpool. There was quite a decent plot as to how Steve Rogers, hardly adequately played by Chris Evans, becomes Captain America, but as usual, the climatic action scenes are the same boring stuff.

I had been looking forward to "Super 8", and I have to say that, apart from the ending (again) it was a pretty good movie. Small town America in 1979 harks back to early movies of Steven Spielberg, children, bikes and all. Even Jurassic Park is referenced late on. JJ Abrams knows how to make a dramatically exciting film, and the cast of unknown youngsters do not let him down. The exterior set of the town is excellent and used to full effect. Enjoyable and fun.

What can they do with digtal FX technology these days. "The Rise of The Planet of the Apes" portrays the apes in an extraordinary way, so much so that we really empathise with their plight. There is always a feeling that the story behind their gaining of intelligence is somewhat contrived, but if you put that out of your mind, this is a well constructed movie that is entertaining and sleek. The production values are high, and Robert Wyatt's direction moves the story on nicely. Although nice is not a word that describes some of the human characters. Even lead James Franco must take a fair share of the blame.

Quainton Hill Walk

Monday was a beautiful sunny day, and the final test match against India was petering out to a draw, so I drove to the village of Quainton to start a brand new walk. I had always been interested to see the hills to the north east of Aylesbury that are visible from the Chiltern escarpment.
I downloaded a couple of routes from the web that both started from Quainton. I parked as suggested by the village green, not far from the ancient cross and the famous windmill.

The route took me through the village and very pretty it was, ending up at the impressive church.

I followed the path out of the village and up Quainton Hill. At the top there is a mast which signifies the highest point.

I had in fact missed the actual footpath so instead of following the instructed route, I headed off in the direction of North Marston. The rolling green pastures reminded me of downland, and their open nature gave some great views across to the Chiltern ridge.

There were also great views across the valley to Waddesdon.

The only problem in losing the route, was that I came back the same way.





"Circle Us"

I cant believe we are already half way through Series 5 of "Dexter", or that I am still watching it. Episode 7 (that introduces Johnny Lee Miller as the new villain Jordan Chase) was a classic. Credit must go to writer Scott Buck, especially the closing words from Dexter's thoughts about Lumen ("what kind of ..... name is that" says the awful Stan Liddy) played by Julia Stiles.

"Sometimes partners find us, and as much as we try to push them away, they work their way into our lives regardless - until we finally realise how much we need them".

As long as the writing keeps to this standard I will keep watching.

A Wobble Cured

My bike, now over twenty years old, developed an ever increasing and disturbing wobble at the front, particularly freewheeling downhill. The net was not very helpful, as it seemed there could be many causes of the "the death wobble". It was Alison's brother who correctly (as it turned out) diagnosed a tyre problem. Well I had had mine from when the bike was new, and the rear certainly looked frayed.

I finally telephoned Buckingham Bikes in Aylesbury and booked it in for Thursday last week. What I had not counted on, given that I would ride the bike to the centre of Aylesbury, was the rain forecast for that day. Fortunately, it was only spots of rain that I encountered having set off at 8.30am. However, the bike shop didn't open until 10am that day, so there was time for coffee and cake in M&S.

I was assured by the assistant that the tyres would be the problem, and I agreed for them to put on new ones. So it was off to the bus station to catch the Number 50 back to Weston Turville, the first time I used the bus from Aylesbury, and the first time to use my bus pass. Only a twenty minute journey, and a ten minute walk and I was back home watching the rain belt down.

A phone call from Buckingham Bikes that early evening to tell me it was ready to collect, so the next morning it was back to the bus stop. The bus was late, but I had a nice chat with the three other villagers waiting there. It was a beautiful sunny day and I arrived in town to pick up the bike, still unsure whether changing tyres had cured the wobble. I was told that the rear tyre was bulging where it was splitting (fortunate I suppose that it did not collapse on my way in the previous morning) and that was the cause. They were right. After a minor detour to take the bike back to have the handlebar readjusted as I had no front brakes, I rode home in the sunshine.

The tyres they had recommended were a road tyre for MTB's which would be fine for trails, canal paths etc. The Schwalbe City Jet (yes, it is considerably faster than the knobbly tyres of a mountain bike) has 55 positive reviews on one website and 17 on Amazon. So I am very pleased with the result. And very interesting journeys to and from Aylesbury over the two days.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Our Kind of Traitor and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

One of only a couple of John Le Carre novels not in my collection was his third and breakthrough book of 1963 "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold". I had read it all those years ago, so I thought it was about time I had another look. It is a really good read, but being steeped as it is in post war communist Europe, a far cry from the present day, it is all about an era where the British Secret Service were immersed in a battle with their enemies in East Germany. So it is a little dated. Unlike his earlier second novel "A Murder of Quality" that is not, and which I preferred. "The Spy..." has a terrific plot and occasionally verges on nerve wracking excitement, unusual in any book in my experience. But again, I prefer character, and whilst Leamas, around whom the story is told, is a wonderful creation, ultimately plot wins through.

I actually read another couple of books before I started the latest from Le Carre. "Our Kind of Traitor" had received great reviews ("return of the master" was the headline in The Times), so I was really looking forward to reading it. So it was a little disappointing that we were back heavily to the secret service after the last few books had them on the periphery. The first third is absolutely brilliant, set as it is in Antigua as our two young lovers meet an awesome Russian and his incredible family. But too soon MI6 are involved. It is, however, a powerful story and the tension builds to a great climax. This time we do have a wealth of superb characters, good and bad. The Times review says that the author writes in "a sort of pluperfect (past perfect in English) conditional third person". Not sure about that, but he certainly writes in the third person, but from the pint of view of a number of characters. It is a masterly way of writing.

Why did I pick a huge book (546 pages) about Dejima, a man made island off the coast of Japan, set in the eighteenth century? Well it did have great reviews, and I had not read anything by the acclaimed author David Mitchell. And it seemed different from my usual fiction. And it certainly was. I found the writing turgid with very little story. The first part is far too full of facts about the structure and inhabitants of the mainly Dutch trading outpost. And there is no story, until a quarter way through it picks up dramatically, only for one third through on page 198, the main character, the Jacob of the title, DISAPPEARS. For the whole of the middle section, we are transported to the mainland for a completely different story. That is when I gave up. Whipping through the book, we are suddenly on board an English naval frigate. Eventually on page 426 Jacob reappears, and the final section is a gripping finale. So if the novel had been half the length it was, I might have been a lot more positive about my opinion. As it is I shall not be reading anything else by this writer.

A Day at Whipsnade Zoo

Alison's sister Anne and her daughter Emily came to visit for a couple of days last week. The main thing they wanted to do while they stayed with us, was a visit to Whipsnade Zoo. So despite the threat of early showers last Thursday, we had heard that it would brighten in the afternoon. We did pay the extra charge to take the car in, rather than parking outside, and this proved to be a good decision.

We actually spent six hours in the park and saw just about all the animals. Highlights included watching the the bears being fed, the giraffes, cheetahs, meerkats, rhino and sealions close up, and the elephant demonstration. Dissapointments were the penguins (there were hardly any there) and the tigers who were asleep.

But the best of all was when we were walking towards the lion enclosure when ahead we saw the elephants out for their afteroon stroll and ahd stopped near some trees. We were able to get really close, with very few people around.

This was not far from the lions, and the presence of the elephants brought the wild cats out of their slumber.

The weather was as predicted. We dodged the showers, the heaviest of which we missed by having lunch in the car, and after 2pm we were treated to some nice sunshine. An excellent day.

Red Riding Hood, HP7 Part 2 and Arthur

It's the holiday season, so I struggle to find a movie this time of year. "Red Riding Hood" was on Senior Screen (£3.50 on a Wednesday morning) so I gave it a go. It reminded me very much of 1960's Hammer Horrors, and about just as scary (i.e. not). There is always a village (this one was beautifully constructed), the inn, the dark forest and a damsel in distress. This time it's Amanda Seyfried and she is by far the best thing about the movie, apart from the set. These movies always dig up an old classical actor or two. This time it's Julie Christie and Gary Oldman who try hard with a script that was doomed to fail. Catherine Hardwicke does her best directing what could have been a good story, but fails miserably with the rest of the cast.

It was only a few months ago that I took Zoe to see "Harry Potter 7 Part 1", so for her birthday it was off to see the final film in the series. It turned out to be a reasonable action movie, although it did lack some of the "magic" of the earlier films that were firmly based at Hogworts. No lessons for our teenage trio this time, and very little for Hermione to demonstrate her superior brain power. But it did give the opportunity to reprise the cream of British acting talent, and even one notable new member. Kelly McDonald turns up as the ghost of Helena Ravenclaw. And it was good to see John Hurt's Olivander at the beginning. David Yates keeps the action on track, and the ending replicates the book. Thank goodness.

It was panned by the critics, but on another blank week, ("Beginners" was not even on during the day at Wycombe) "Arthur" was the best I could do, on Senior Screen again. So despite not being a fan of Russell Brand, I was pleasantly surprised. But then I was never a great fan of Dudley Moore in the original. If anything, Brand is less manic and certainly less slapstick. The strength of the movie is the screenplay. This is by the British writer Peter Baynham. He wrote "I'm Alan Partridge " for five years and the same silly, dry humour shines through. Maybe not to everyone's taste. The movie looks terrific and the costumes, lighting etc are all great. Stir in some more Brits, Helen Mirren and Geraldine James, and it cannot fail. Except that it does depend on the lead role. I would say that Russell Brand almost pulls it off, but then I cannot think of anyone who could have done it better.