Hay Fever, Old Times, John Gabriel Borkman and The Seagull

I went to see Noel Coward's Hay Fever and Harold Pinter's Old Times at the Oxford Playhouse. Both were very enjoyable in their own way. In the first,Stephanie Beacham stood out as Judith Bliss. It was a light and amusing comedy, rather than hysterically funny.

I love seeing any Harold Pinter play. I went see Old Times at the Donmar two years ago. The Oxford production could never match a thee hander in such an intimate theatre as the Donmar. But Sir Peter Hall's direction brought the best from Neil Pearson, Susannah Harker and especially Janie Dee.

John Gabriel Borkman at the Donmar was the best play that I have seen for ages. David Eldridge had previously written an acclaimed new version of Ibsen's The Wild Duck which the Donmar had produced. His version of John Gabriel Borkman is outstanding. Whilst Ian McDiarmid (Supreme Chancellor Palpatine in Star Wars) received rave reviews as Borkman, for me the two sisters, played by Penelope Wilton and Deborah Findlay, were superb.

I was looking forward to my first visit to The Courtyard Theatre in Stratford where the RSC are playing while The Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the Swan Theatre are being refurbished. As a temporary theatre, it is certainly very grand. See www.rsc.org.uk/transformation/courtyard/. It has been built next to the studio theatre that was called The Other Place. I only went there once, to see a wonderful and memorable production of Richard II as the first in the RSC history cycle.

Unfortunately on the night I went to see The Seagull, it was only a third full. I cannot remember when I have ever been to see a play and the theatre wasn't full. So this was an unusual and slightly uncomfortable experience. I'm not sure if this was the right venue for Chekhov. It needed a much more intimate space. The acting and direction was good enough, but Trevor Nunn's choice of translation was patchy. Whilst trying to be modern, some dialogue was clumsy and did not match the traditional 1900 setting. Next time its back to the Donmar.

Shooter, Next and Fracture

Three mainstream Hollywood thriller/action movies. What do they have in common apart from one word titles? None are emotionally challenging, but all three are well directed, well photographed in interesting city locations. Guns play a significant role in all three as you would expect.

Three heroes up against overwhelming odds. Mark Whalberg was efficient but one dimensional. Nicolas Cage seemed to in another movie altogether, but Ryan Gosling was great as the hotshot lawyer. That made Fracture the winner by a short shot.

Theatre Royal, Brighton

As a postscript to our visit to Brighton, and when I was delving into my box of old programmes to find those from the World Cup of 1966, I found three from Theatre Royal, Brighton from 1966 and 1968. The latter, shown above, is for two plays starring a young Ian McKellen and James Bolam.

The first programme from 1966 is a production of Staircase with Paul Scofield and Patrick Magee. The other is Bernard Shaw's You Never Can Tell. This was one of Ralph Richardson's most memorable performances and subsequently played for a long time in the West End. Many London plays previewed in Brighton.

I have always loved the theatre. Dad had always been involved in amateur dramatics, even from a young age, and Mum loved to watch plays on tv. When I was young, we had two great aunts who lived together in Esher. They must have been sisters of Gran who was our father's mother. Every Christmas in the mid to late 1950's, when we lived in London, they took us to see a show. Sometimes these were plays such as Toad of Toad Hall.

I remember going with the school to see Paul Scofield as King Lear in London in 1963 as this was our Shakespeare for English A Level. The same year I played Major Petkoff in Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man,which was the school play for that year.

So now I have been going to see a play half a dozen times a year, more over recent years. So tonight it is Chekov's The Seagull. I do like to go different theatres to look at the building, so tonight is especially exciting as the RSC have opened the new Courtyard Theatre while the main house is being refurbished. I will be going early to have good nose around.

Alan Ball and 1966

This is the only photograph of Alan Ball that I could find from the newspaper clippings I kept from the 1966 World Cup. This is from the Sunday Mirror of 31st July 1966, the day after the final. He didn't play in all the group matches. He played on the right of midfield in the opening 0 - 0 draw with Uruguay with John Connelly on the left. For the next game against Mexico, they were replaced with Terry Paine and Martin Peters. Ian Callaghan came in for Terry Paine against France, only to be replaced by Alan Ball for the quarter final. The rest is history.

When my friend Ray (see blog 25th January 2007) showed me the advert in the Evening Standard for world cup tickets, we were amazed that we could buy a season ticket for all the games at Wembley (where England played all their group matches) including the the quarter final, semi final AND FINAL. So we sent off our applications, and back came all the tickets in a nice little sellophane holder. Although I kept all mine, unfortunately they have been lost over the years. But I still have the programmes as the photograph above.

I missed one game. A friend at work (Rowena - her father had given me the second half of a Chelsea season ticket in 1964 when his work ar Reuters took him abroad) held a party to celebrate her 21st birthday on the same day England played Mexico. So I watched most of the game on their tv with her father. So Ray and I exchanged tickets, so I had his for the France v Uruguay game at White City, a most unusual venue, and took my friend Trevor.

Of course the final was fantastic. We were in our normal position behind the goal opposite the players entrance, the one where Geoff Hurst scored our third goal. The celebrations after the match were tinged with a little sadness. We had followed England through all their games and now it was all over.

From someone who went to nearly all the games England played, the most emotional was the match against Argentina in the quater final. For the eight minutes that play was halted when their captain Antonio Rattin was sent off, the chanting and singing was unremitting. England were by far the superior team until that moment. But then, as is so often playing against ten men, their play faltered. Only a wonderful header thirteen minutes from the end by Geoff Hurst ( only playing as Jimmy Greaves was injured) from a cross by Martin Peters won the game.

I was twenty one when we won the world cup, the same age as Alan Ball. I hope someone says the same words at my funeral as they did for Alan. They think its all over. It is now. But only for us.

Brighton Revisited

Alison had never been to Brighton, so we decided to take advantage of a Paramount Hotel offer(previous similar deals have taken us to Harrogate and Redworth Hall in Durham) and have two nights at The Old Ship Hotel right on the seafront. I had spent parts of five years from 1963 to 1968 at Brighton College of Advanced Technology ( later to become Brighton Polytechnic and more recently the University of Brighton), so for me this was a nostalgic return forty years on.

We were going to visit Arundel Castle on the way, but it started to drizzle so we carried on to Worthing, taking in the pier and the promenade before a coffee and some specialist shops (Yankee Candle and Oil and Vinegar).

Made Brighton late afternoon, checked in (leaving the car in the hotel car park for two days) and went for a wander, before the inclusive first night's dinner. The hotel did not have Sky, so we found an Australian pub called The Outback to watch the Chelsea v Liverpool Champions League semi. It was packed, but had about a dozen screens, so there was no problem seeing. It was just we could not hear the commentary over the noise. Memorable. ( Other pubs we have watched football include one in Harrogate for England v Columbia in the world cup and one in Wadebridge to see Arsenal lose at home in the Champions League to Inter Milan).

The next day we took in all the sights. Brighton centre did not seem all that familiar. Probably as a twenty year old, I only remember the pubs such as The Sussex above. We were caught in a heavy shower in the middle of the day, and rushed for the shelter of the aquarium Brighton Sealife. The building is quite historic. It was interesting to see the indoor arena (now unused) where the dolphins were displayed before this was banned in the UK. But the highlight was the tunnel where giant turtles and sharks would swim over your head.

We found a nice Italian restaurant for dinner and took in the pier at night. The next day was our last and we drove to the marina for a nice wander, then a coffee, in glorious sunshine. Later we headed for Eastbourne and walked the promenade and our third pier. Finally we eventually found Devils Dyke for a short walk along the top of the downs. It was a really nice break. The weather was good for the most part and even the M25 on a Friday evening was not too busy.

The Hills Have Eyes 2, Sunshine and Blades of Glory

Sometimes its hard to pick the right film to go and see. The Hills Have Eyes is a typical modern American horror where gore takes precedence over content. The photography almost saved the day.

Sunshine was a "must see", being directed by Danny Boyle. Enjoyable sci fi, although the ending was very obscure. When I tried to make sense of it by looking for comments on the web, I found that I was not the only one confused.

I only went to see Blades of Glory because I thought that Shooter might be too uncomfortable to watch in the wake of the events at Virginia Tech. I can remember going to see Heat just after similar shootings and found that quite difficult, so I did not want to chance a repeat. I am just not keen on American comedies, and Blades of Glory did nothing to change my mind. There were some quite good visual jokes, which was fortunate as the verbal gags were almost non existent.

If there was one thing these films had in common, it was the restrictions of where they took place. Outside and inside some rocks, a spaceship and an ice rink. I'm looking forward to some better locations next.

Bluebells and Beech

As this is the best time of the year to see the bluebells, it also co-incides with the beech trees coming into leaf. So on Saturday, my circular walk from Wendover Woods was extended by taking lots of photos. These have now been edited and the best are on my picasa web album. This first picture is at the start in Wendover Woods where the bluebells are the most prolific.

These are beech trees coming into leaf. The collision of the copper buds that have not yet opened with the flourescent green of the new leaves in the background make a startling contrast.