Othello at the Oxford Playhouse

The reviews in the press had not been kind to this RSC touring production of Othello. However, I was impressed by so many aspects that director Kathryn Hunter had brought to the play. The speaking of the actors was, for the most part, easily understood. It started off a little too fast, but settled down as it progressed. I was disappointed by Patrice Naiambana in the title role. He looked the part, but I found his acting strange. But Natalia Tena as Desdemona and Michael Gould as Iago were excellent.

This is one Shakespeare play that I had never read or seen. I was a bit surprised that Iago did not meet a sticky end. The one line that really stood out for me was when a drunken Cassio says "that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains". Binge drinking was with us even then.

I liked the modernish setting and the costumes for Desdemona were beautiful.The musicians were splendid and the set was terrific. The use of two huge halves of the Venetian bridge was imaginative. A picture of the same bridge also forms the introductory page of the section on Othello in a book on Shakespeare's plays that I think is the best around. It is called the "Essential Shakespeare Handbook" and is an illustrated and highly accessible volume that no lover of the bard's work should be without.

Frost/Nixon, Doubt and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

These three are the last I could see of the big Oscar nominated movies for this year. The day Frost/Nixon finished in MK, was also the final showing of Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist, Milk, Rachel Getting Married and The Good the Bad and the Weird, all of which I wanted to see. But I'm glad I settled for Frost/Nixon. Having seen the play at the Donmar Warehouse in London, I was in two minds whether I even wanted to see the film. It was so good on stage that I wondered how it would transfer to the big screen. I need not have been concerned. Ron Howard's use of locations was magic, and the closeups added to the tension. Brilliant.

Doubt was a disappointment. Here was a stage play that should have stayed in the theatre. OK, the performances and writing were top drawer, but the film seemed too claustrophobic, stuck as it was in the classroom and headmistresses study of a catholic school. Those wonderful odd occasions when the film moved into the church or on the street outside emphasised what was missing.

If ever a movie split the critics, it is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. With both of our papers, The Times and Sunday Times , giving poor reviews, I was in no rush to see it. However, I was pleasantly surprised and ended up being on the side of those who liked it. A long film, but the first hour and a half go so quickly and there is still much to see. If Slumdog Millionaire was, in my view a masterpiece, this is a flawed masterpiece. But given the subject matter, David Fincher has made a remarkable movie. Beautiful to watch, the locations are fabulous and the period settings have been wonderfully staged. The cost of production is right up there on the screen, and not just the special effects.

What made me uncomfortable was the muted performance of Brad Pitt, and that I was constantly trying to pin down his age at each sequence. When he and the terrific Cate Blanchett as Daisy crossover at the same age, he looks far younger than the 43 he is meant to be. And halfway through his life, we are suddenly in the final part of the film. There are times when the script falls into cliche, but it does have something to say about time, growing old and death.

There was one moment (and one that was even repeated later) that would have been enough to take from the movie, even if there was nothing else. Daisy's grandmother reads to her young granddaughter and Benjamin in his early years. The book is Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories. This is the book that was given to me on my sixth birthday by my grandmother, that I still have, and the one my father used to read to me over and over as a child. The page shown and read in the film is the one below. The story is "The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo" and was one of my favourites, (that and "The Cat that Walked by Himself") especially the bits about "Dingo-Yellow Dog Dingo, always hungry, dusty in the sunshine". Thank you David Fincher.

Three Generations of Brush Manufacturers

The blog I posted about three generations of cutlers related to ancestors of my grandfather, Stanley Boyd Roberts. His wife, Edith Haywood Hoyland, was the daughter of Charles Haywood Hoyland, the third of three generations of brush manufacturers and bristle merchants in Sheffield. His father was another Charles Hoyland, who inherited the business from his father, Jonathon Hoyland. Jonathon had three sons, all of whom became involved in the business, including Charles.

The earliest information I have found is the 1841 Census where Jonathon, now 40, resides with his family in Queen Street, with his wife Elizabeth, three daughters and four sons, including Charles who is eleven. They already have one servant in residence. By 1861, Jonathon has retired, but he is living with four children (two of whom, Arthur and Walter, carry on the business) in Adelaide Place. The 1857 Sheffield Directory has Hoyland Bros, brush manufacturers of 16 Paradise Square, as well as Charles Hoyland,

But in 1861, there is no sign of Charles. But the following year he did marry Hannah Selina Wynne from Holywell, Flintshire, so I have to look a the 1861 Census for Wales. By 1879, the Sheffield Directory has Charles Hoyland as a brush manufacturer of both Victoria Road and Queen Street, the latter probably the same address as his father in 1841. I do remember my father mentioning the Queens Brushworks.

By 1881, Charles is 51 and living with his family at the smart address of Kent House, Heeley. They have one servant in residence. The children of Charles and Hannah are:
Charles Haywood Hoyland - later to take over the business
Isabel and Kate - the great aunts of my father who, as ancient spinsters living in Esher, Surrey in the 1950's, treated my brother John and I to tea and shows in London.
Hannah - a notable artist, as was her husband Fred Mayor. www.fredmayor.com/hannah

The 1901 Census records Charles at 71 as having retired He lives with Hannah his wife and Kate and Isabel. They are now 33 and 26 but do not have to work. There are now two servants with them in Norwood House , Dore New Road. Charles' son, Charles Haywood Hoyland is 35 and now owns the business and lives nearby in Totley Brook Road with his wife Louisa and four children including my grandmother Edith. They have a governess and one servant.

The wealth created by the business meant that Isabel and Kate were able to live off private means for the rest of their lives. But I have a feeling that Charles Haywood Hoyland was not in the same class as a business man as his predecessors, and that the business finally folded. But that needs more research.

Spotify

It's true, it does work. Because it is streamed, it is not possible to download the music, which is why it is free. It is possible to to listen without adverts, but this costs extra. I find it just right to try out music I would not normally buy. I have never really liked Duffy, but now I have listened to Rockferry a few times, I will buy the CD. I can now try Lily Allen. Highly recommended.

A Hint of Spring

The first colour appeared in the garden last week with the crocuses coming into flower. Our daffodil buds have not yet opened, but there are some out on the roundabouts in Aylesbury. It was so nice to get out in the garden and tidy up after the snow. Pruned the roses, cleared some leaves and tried not to look at the moss reappearing on the lawn.

On my walk on Sunday there were still the odd few patches of snow left at the top of Wendover Woods. At the same time, bluebell shoots were sprouting under the trees. The mild spell is set to continue for the rest of this week.

Entirely Up to You, Darling

I have to admit that I requested Richard Attenborough's autobiography/biography for Christmas. And it was even better than I thought it might be. His descriptions of the British film industry during and after the war are particularly interesting. A large chunk of the book is focused on the making of the movie Gandhi. From when Dickie first met Moti Kothari and read his biography of Gandhi in 1963, through the incredibly difficult process of finding funding, the rejections and double dealing over a period of sixteen years, to the heat of India on location and final unexpected success at the Oscars ("I've always said, technically and emotionally, E.T. was by far the better movie").

What also makes the book a good read is the contribution made his friend and colleague of fifty years Diana Hawkins, who offers her own insight to the Dickie's work. From his first major role as the evil Pinkie Brown in Brighton Rock in 1947 to playing John Hammond in Jurassic Park. But more important are the films he directed from A Bridge Too Far to Cry Freedom and Chaplin. His memories of a young Robert Downey Jr are worth the read alone:

"At the end of a long and dispiriting day, he was the last to stand in front of the camera (screen tests for Chaplin). He gave an excellent reading in a totally believable English accent .......... but the young actor asked if he could be granted a little more time. He left the stage and came back with a stepladder. As the camera turned, he embarked upon an extraordinary silent routine......."

You can guess the rest.

Valkyrie, My Bloody Valentine 3D and Revolutionary Road

The oddest part about Valkyrie, apart from knowing the ending, was watching the American Tom Cruise surrounded by a supporting cast of the cream of British acting talent. They were the best thing about the film. Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Terence Stamp, Kevin McNally and Eddie Izzard do the business. The director, Bryan Singer, does well to ramp up the tension as the plot to kill Hitler unfolds. The cinematography is excellent, as are the sets which capture the period perfectly.

I just had to see My Bloody Valentine when it was shown in 3D in Milton Keynes. It is rather like a fun ride you might get in an amusement park. And it is really the 3D that makes it fun. The settings in the mine are quite ingenious for the format. Most of the objects, such as flying pickaxes, are telegraphed. But a thrown handgun caught me out.

I cannot understand why Sam Mendes wanted to direct Revolutionary Road as a movie. A play I could understand, but the novel by Richard Yates does not translate to the big screen. It is sombre and dull. There is nothing about the main characters to like, so I felt no emotion from their imagined plight, stuck in nineteenfifties Connecticut. It may have been an intelligent and worthy piece of film making, but the only high point for me was the introduction of Kathy Bates' mentally disturbed son played by Michael Shannon. He really does deserve the Oscar for best supporting actor, even though it will go to Heath Ledger. My abiding memory, though, was when towards the end of the film, when Kate Winslett's character seems doomed, I just thought of The Ballad of Lucy Jordan sung by Marianne Faithfull, and used in the film Thelma and Louise. Forget the movie, just listen to the song.

A Week of Snow

The first snow arrived on Sunday night, so when we woke up on Monday, about four inches had fallen. This was enough to stop the country in it's tracks, even London was deserted. Then another three inches on Wednesday night followed by about 2 inches early on Friday when it continued to snow off and on all day.

It didn't thaw all weekend, so on my walk up into Wendover Woods on Sunday, the trees were still thick with snow. The roads in the woods were shut, so it was wonderfully quiet. The views were beautiful, just a shame I forgot my camera.