Travelling Light

Was it the mixed reviews that led to the theatre in Aylesbury being only half full on Thursday evening? Although for the short tour by the National Theatre, this was the only stop in the whole of the Midlands and South East. It is therefore little wonder that so few quality plays come to the provinces. And there was quality here. Most of the play is set in a Jewish shtetl in Eastern Europe at the beginning of the 20th Century, so this may have put some people off.

Nicholas Wright is one of our foremost playwrights, and he has taken the influx of Jewish movie makers to America one big step back to the imagined roots of one budding director, well played by Damien Molony. And it is his relationship with his first backer played by the terrific Anthony Sher and his new assistant, a dazzling Lauren O'Neil, that is at the heart of the story. All the aspects of modern filmmaking are captured in their infancy. The overpowering producer, the egotistic director, the dictatorial accountant, the tantrums of the cast, the audience as critics and  patience and dedication of the crew. It's all here and put nicely together by Nicholas Hytner. I did say quality.

Bel Ami, Contraband and Young Adult

It was no surprise that there was only one other person in the audience for Bel Ami. The adaptation of the novel by Guy de Maupassant falls fairly flat. Definitely a case of style over substance. Which is a shame as there is a very strong cast. Although Robert Pattison seems a little lost in the lead role and ultimately fails to carry the movie as he is required to do. When the main character has no redeemimg features, and does not get his come uppance at the end, it all seems a waste of time.It is left to Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas and Christina Ricci to add the necessary class. Unfortunately, the less said about Philip Glenister the better. I was hoping for big things from the director and designer, Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod from Cheek by Jowl, in their first feature. The movie does look fantastic, but they may have just picked the wrong story.

Contraband is a decent enough thriller about smuggling. There is plenty of action and Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur keeps a nice pace throughout. He has the assistance of three countrymen as writers, but there is nothing novel in the story. Mark Wahlberg capably heads the cast and there are some nice cameos along the way. Instantly forgettable, but fun while it lasted.

I picked Young Adult for my first visit to the Rex at Berkhamsted. Director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody have combined again to make another creditable movie. After Juno and Jennifer's Body, we know the script will be sharp and witty, and this movie shines with crisp dialogue. The film relies on the presence of the lead actress, and here Charlize Theron is outstanding. She is in just about every scene, and turns in a virtuoso performance. Her homecoming character is not at all likeable, but Theron generates her flaws with sympathy and intelligence. The key supporting role is not Patrick Wilson as the target of her desire, but Patton Oswalt as the disabled unattractive nerd she ignored at school but whom she turns to when all else fails.

The Rex Cinema, Berkhampstead

The Rex Cinema in Berkhampstead is only twenty minutes away, but Monday was my first visit. The story of it's restoration is all on http://therexberkhamsted.com. It has one screen, with tables downstairs and wide plush seats in the circle that have enormous leg room. The only downside is that you do feel somewhat distant from the screen. Otherwise it was a great experience.

The old main entrance facing the High Street is now part of the restaurant. There was originally a large dining room behind, so it seems sensible that this was maintained. The new cinema entrance is at the side, and a specially built projection room was added.

A Glorious Week in March

A week of constant sunshine and blue skies. Chilly in the mornings, but pleasantly warm afternoons. So time for all those jobs outside. This is the best time of year to re cut the edges to the lawn, while the soil is still moist. Some pruning of roses and shrubs still needed attention, and I scattered some flower seeds where the borders were bare.

Then onto cleaning the paving at the side and rear of the house. And the windows had not been touched since the autumn, so those had to be cleaned inside and out. All fitted around three runs, a swim session and a visit to the cinema. Our first trip to an NT property came on Thursday afternoon when we visited Ascott to see the daffodils.

To round off the week, Alison was singing in the choir at Aylesbury Choral Society's concert. It went very well.

Long Day's Journey Into Night

I love going to see a play I know nothing about. I had heard of Eugene Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, but that was all. This production was on a very short national tour before it's London run (Bath, Nottingham, Glasgow) and I was lucky it took in Milton Keynes. The programme describes this as Neill's most autobiographical play, so when you learn his family was plagued by alcohol, drugs and death, you know this is not going to be a fun evening. But what a superb drama unfolds. O'Neill is credited with having "the gift of the gab", and this is indeed a very wordy play. The four family members talk long and fast about their lives. So again, not knowing the play, concentration is needed to take in their story.

A tremendous credit therefore goes to the director and all four actors for bringing the dialogue to life. David Suchet as the father James Tyrone (tyrannical?) is so good, you instantly forget that this actor played the role of Poirot on TV so many times. Laurie Metcalf, an original member of Chicago's 36 year old Steppenwolf Theatre, brings grace and fallibility to James' wife Mary, and the two boys played by Kyle Soller and Trevor White are also brilliant. There are actually some very funny moments. Isn't it strange how you can find yourself the only one laughing, as I did when, in a reference to Shakespeare who James repeatedly mentions, and on the appearance at the top of the stairs of the ghostlike Mary, son James exclaims "The Mad Scene. Enter Ophelia". Yes, they are all pretty nasty to each other a lot of the time.

One note about the terrific set. The seaside house reminded me of many we saw last year on Cape Cod. When the programme mentions O'Neill's collaboration with the Provincetown Players, we must have walked the same streets at the end of the peninsula as he did from 1916 onwards. This company gave him his New York debut in 1920 with Beyond the Horizon which won him the first of his four Pulitzer Prizes.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Safe House and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

I guess we were all looking forward to the next Steven Daldry movie after his excellent Billy Elliot, The Hours and The Reader. So I joined the howls of disappointment at his adaptation of Jonathon Safron Foer's novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It could have been so much better, and the fault lies entirely with the director. The story has an interesting premise, a boy searches New York for the owner of a key he finds in his dead father's cupboard that is in an envelope with the label "Black". So what could have been an enjoyable mystery drama giving the chance for some great cameo roles, turns into a heavy handed, repetitive rumination on 9/11. OK, the book had this at it's core, but Daldry keeps rubbing our noses in the tragedy, rather than concentrating on Oskar's journey. He is played adequately by Haley Joel Osmant, but any good acting is overwhelmed by what is a painful experience.

Safe House is a predictable but enjoyable action thriller, a genre that is now a specialist Denzel Washington vehicle. You knew what you were in for when they chose Oliver Wood as cinematographer, he having shot all three Bourne movies. The same gritty, jerky camera which, on this occasion, can be quite tiresome at times. Director Daniel Espinosa had made the best of the South African location ( we will soon run out of countries for rooftop chases). Ryan Reynolds is adequate as the inexperienced CIA operative (think Training Day).

When I visit the Aylesbury cinema in the afternoon, normally there are maybe a dozen people in the audience. But I was not surprised to find a packed auditorium for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. It is wholly geared to the older filmgoer, being about a retirement hotel for the elderly, in INDIA! The story is again predictable, and the script is just OK. But what makes the movie is the fabulous cast. Judy Dench, Maggie Smith, Celia Imrie, Penelope Wilton, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson and Ronald Pickup are all brilliantly cast, and give it all the've got. John Madden directs with some warmth, although the promised feelgood moments fall a little flat. Especially when the most emotional scene involves the cast's  meeting at the airport before they set off. The movie is now number one at the UK Box Office. Will that mean we are in for more films for us seniors?

My first running shoes

It is twenty seven years since I last did any running. The summer when I was 40, I used to run a circuit of The Rye in High Wycombe. However I got to the point early on when I seemed to stop improving, and gave up. But over the last few months when I have been out walking, I have occasionally broken into a short jog. So just over three weeks ago, Alison persuaded me to try a short run down the canal. I actually managed two miles with a break in the middle.

The first six runs have all been using my old Merrell trail shoes that are falling apart, and I decided it was time for some proper running trainers. I have never owned a pair before. I wore them for the first time yesterday and managed a good three miles, knocking a minute a mile off the last time I ran that distance. They made that much of a difference.

Tring Book Club - The Silent Land and Charles Dickens

This was the second anniversary of Tring Book Club. Two years ago we first met at Tring School on an Adult Learning course. This only lasted a year, but we all decided to carry on meeting and chose The Bell in Aston Clinton as our venue. We now meet, very informally, once every eight weeks and discuss the two chosen books, and what else we have been reading. This week we met on Monday evening. I had already read The Silent Land (my posting of 16th December 2011) and had recommended it without thinking it might be chosen for the club to read. Everyone seemed to like the story. It has a very good sense of atmosphere and place. There are basically only two characters, and whilst we enjoyed their experiences in the deserted village, we thought that their characters were not entirely convincing or sympathetic. However, as supernatural mystery, it works really well. I just wish I could ski.

To celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens, we decided that we each would read our own choice of one of his books. On someones recommendation, I chose The Pickwick Papers. I have to say that Dickens is not really to my liking. Although I love anything that goes on TV or film. My choice is supposed to be a highly humorous story of the adventures of Samuel Pickwick and members of The Pickwick Club. However, I found the humour to be terribly old fashioned, based on incident rather than the witty words (I am presently reading Kate Atkinson's "Emotionally Weird", now that is a funny, laugh out loud  book). OK, it was the first novel Dickens wrote (he was only 24 when he started), and was originally published in monthly instalments which were hugely popular. The book is 743 pages of small print and I am about a third of the way through. The good thing is you can pick it up at any time as it is a series of adventures and has no ongoing plot. Each chapter's title is a little description e.g. "A short one. Showing, among other matters, how Mr Pickwick undertook to drive, and Mr Winkle to ride, and how they both did it". There are 57 chapters! Hilary chose to read A Tale of Two Cities, and I wished I had read that instead.