All About Eve at the Noel Coward Theatre

Te Noel Coward Theatre on St Martin's Lane in the West End seemed familiar. I then found it used to be the Albery Theatre and I'm sure that is where I went with my daughter to see Oliver back around 1979 or 1980. Now owned by Delfont Mackintosh Theatres, it was refurbished in 2006 but is still cramped in the back of house.

The play itself was quite spectacular if not emotionally satisfying. It is staged with technical brilliance, the set is amazing but the ingenious staging somehow overshadows the limitations of the script. The dialogue seems to reflect that by Joseph Mankiewicz from the classic 1950 film, but it does seem quite dated. Director Ivo van Hove has adapted the screenplay for the stage, but it would have been better to give it a more modern update.

However the acting is generally first class. Gillian Anderson as Margot and Lily James as Eve are both very good, but the highlight for me was Monica Dolan as Karen, a theatrical outsider and part time narrator, she delivers a powerful performance. She is well known in our house for her brilliant role as Rosemary Pritchard in W1A and as Mrs Peggy O'Dowd in Vanity Fair. For me she was also excellent as Marion Thorpe in A Very English Scandal. Here she is almost unrecognisable for those roles and her command of the American accent puts others in the shade. She is on the far right in the photo below.

The Playfair Cricket Annual

I used to buy this every summer in my youth, an inexpensive guide to the cricket season's events and players. I could never afford Wisden and even today, the Playfair Cricket Annual is only £6.86 compared with Wisden, which at £36.36 seems vastly expensive.

This year I wanted a guide to all the forthcoming World Cup matches, but it is most useful for the information about all the county cricketers when we watch one day or 20/20 on the TV. Excellent value.

Maidenhead Easter Ten

After the heat of last year's Milton Keynes Half Marathon, another very warm day for the Maidenhead Easter Ten Mile race. Unfortunately there was no shade from the sun that shone the whole time.

I knew early on that my pace was slower than the previous five times I had run this race. For the first five miles I was running conservatively at just under ten minutes per mile. However by mile six my pace had slowed and for the second half of the run I must have been averaging at 10 minutes 40 seconds a mile, my normal slow run pace.

My final time was 1 hour 44 minutes and 2 seconds, the slowest of all six of these events and over ten minutes slower than my PB.  I was also well down the field compared with previous years, although I did manage an age grade of just over 60% which seems a small miracle.

Rock Island Line - The Song That Made Britain Rock

Billy Bragg's fine documentary basically follows the story in his book Roots, Radicals and Rockers as described in my bog posting of 28th February 2018 entitled "The First Skiffle Recordings".

But one thing that Billy missed in his programme Rock Island Line - The Song That Made Britain Rock was the first skiffle recording. This was by Ken Colyer's Skiffle Group who recorded Midnight Special, Casey Jones and  K.C. Moan on the album Back to the Delta which also featured five trad jazz numbers by Ken Colyer's Jazzmen. These were all recorded in Decca's studios on 25th June 1954.

Billy ignores these recordings and goes straight to a couple of weeks later when on  the 13th July 1954, Chris Barber's Jazz Band went into the same Decca studio to record the album New Orleans Joys. Like Colyer's album, Barber's contained skiffle tracks, this time there were four by the Lonnie Donegan Skiffle Group.

What Billy missed was an idea of why Colyer's skiffle songs never made it, whilst Lonnie's paved the way for British rock. For me, Colyer's voice, and for that matter Dickie Bishop's vocals on Lonnie's next recording -  the EP Backstairs Session of May 1955, were never in the same class as Lonnie. So when, on the 11th November 1955 (16 months after it was recorded), Decca released the single Rock Island Line from the July 1954 recordings, the world would never be the same. As I posted earlier:

If you listen to those first two tracks that found their way onto the LP, you may agree with me that, by today's standards, they still sound perfect. Sometimes it is when perfection arrives by accident, that history is made. The combination of the three superbly played acoustic instruments (even the washboard is just right) and Lonnie's crystal clear voice places these recordings above anything that has been heard before.

The Remains of the Day at the Oxford Playhouse

"I'm so glad you're feeling better". Stevens ignores his father's approaching death to attend to his duties with the guests of his employer Lord Darlington. This is so typical of the repressed butler who is bound by his conviction of what a good butler should be. Stephen Boxer is so good in the role that, for me, he even eclipses that played by Anthony Hopkins in the film version.

Equally wonderful is Niamh Cusack as Miss Kenton, her feelings for Stevens are ultimately subdued by his apparent coldness towards her. Barney Morris, in his adaptation of the Kazuo Ishiguro novel,  has perfectly captured the nature of a pre WW2 household. There is also the underlying danger of the rise of fascism as Darlington tries to use his position, with that of others like him, to seek appeasement with Germany. After all, their conference is in his house.

The director, Christopher Haydon has cleverly steered away from the structure of the movie by playing pre war and post war scenes simultaneously on the stage. So one minute Stevens is talking to people he meets on that famous journey to the West Country to see Miss Kenton (now Mrs Benn) decades later and being interrupted by Miss Kenton and others in the household in the past. This theatrical device works very well to keep up the pace. I'm not sure the gentleman next to me got that at all.

There are other aspects to the production that are also superb. The set by Lily Arnold is one, but I liked the combination of the music between scenes (echoes of Downton Abbey) with the movement of the ensemble (collecting and distributing props) which resembles the business of the household servants. For once, a mention for the movement director,  Lucy Cullingford.

And then the final extended scene is perfection. No wonder there was not a seat to be found in the theatre on a Tuesday evening.

London Rules, Dear Mrs Bird and Taft

Having enjoyed Mick Herron's "Slow Horses" (the first of the five Jackson Lamb thrillers), I skipped the next three and caught up with his crew in "London Rules". The witticisms are great at first, but they do become a little tiresome by the end. One of the gang remarks: "If I'd wanted to be a librarian, I'd have gone to library school, taken library exams, and saved up enough library stamps to buy a library uniform". See what I mean? There are occasions when the writer tries to I inject some literary merit into a straightforward terror attack plot. "Night keeps it's head down during daylight hours, but it's always there, always waiting, and some open their doors to it early; allows it to sidle in and bed down in a corner". Herron should stick to the more witty stuff, but sparingly. 

I needed something light after the histrionics of "London Rules", and this book was exactly right. Emmeline is a sympathetic and lovable narrator, although sometimes you want to give her a good talking to. Despite the deadly serious background of London in the blitz, Emmeline has fancy ideas of what she can contribute to the war effort. But instead finds she is only working for a woman's magazine. The prose and dialogue wonderfully reflect the style of the early forties, but the story does lack some power and emotion that a more experienced writer might have wrung from Emmeline's predicaments.

Ann Patchett's second novel is one of her best. This is a mature white woman writing with a male narrator who is black. John Nickel is separated from the mother of his son (they were never married) and has ended up running a bar in Memphis, Tennessee. The story of the characters he meets in the bar, whether staff or visitors, mingle with his own family.  It took me a while to get used to the occasional insertions of another story, this time about the father (now dead) of Fay and Carl who appear in the bar. Is it real or imagined? Somehow it felt as this was being told by John in the third person. 

The dialogue (and there is stacks of it) is top drawer. Nobody writes family conversations better than Ann Patchett. There are some quite complicated relationships. When you come to an evening John spends with the parents of his ex and their other daughter, you know you are in the very capable hands of a great writer. She is equally good in her descriptions of place: "It's a fine day to be working outside. One of those great April days when everything is up and blooming and the weather isn't hot or cold." Just like it is now.

Us

THERE ARE SPOILERS!

Very rarely do I post a review on just one film on my blog. I usually post in threes. But Jordan Peele's "Us" has to be an exception. This is not a conventional thriller/horror/sci-fi movie but something far more intelligent and, as a consequence, far more nerve jangling. So very subtlety scary that the tension never lets up. How can "There's a family outside our house" be so terrifying? And the laughs (there are quite a few) are like a release of that tension.

One reviewer said that "you care about the family". Well I don't think we care, this is a typically dysfunctional and somehow unpleasant bunch. But we get to know them in the first part of the movie so that when they are in peril, we join their fright. So when they meet their own selves, their predicament  is reflected in all that follows.

The theme of duality takes pride of place. I don't pretend that I picked up half of what the director included, there were so many that were baffling. There are websites which describe many of these that leave me none the wiser. The Jeremiah 11:11 reference still seems strange. What is all this about "The Twilight Zone"? And "The Shining". I also missed the Black Flag t-shirts. There is one at the 1986 arcade whilst today, one of the Tyler twins (Becca Tyler played by Cali Sheldon) wears a black t-shirt with a white logo. The logo looks quite like 11 11.

I did get the references right at the beginning to "Hands Across America" and the "underground tunnels all across the country"; and that  both would have a major impact later in the movie. I did get the double meaning of the title, especially when in answer to Gabe's question about who they are,  Red croaks "We're Americans" meaning we are the same as you and deserve what you have. Now that is scary.

The things that are hardly ever mentioned in any reviews:
1. That this movie has a science fiction element. How else would we classify the doubles of the families (or as they are called reds or the the tethered).
2. The second homes. Not only did it seem obvious from the start that this was the biggest point of duality, and that the families would suffer as a result, but also that it emphasised the difference between the haves and have-nots.

There are more questions than answers:
1.Why has Jason's double have a facial disfigurement? I know it is something about the lighter he plays with. And the mask? Is it the same Jason or have they switched?
2. How did the double of Adelaide as a child meet her in the hall of mirrors at ground level when the tethered are all deep, deep underground? Is it just because she mirrored what Adelaide was doing and made the long trek up to the top?

Then we have the songs, of which there are few but each one has an important message. I didn't understand  "I Got 5 On It" but "Good Vibrations" was fun. And then the funniest bit in the film was when Kitty shouts "Call the police" and Ophelia (their home device controller) plays "F... tha Police". There is a whole level of modern culture that passed me by.

I suppose I should mention the acting. Whilst the whole cast is strong and buys into the whole concept, Lupita Nyong'o is superb and holds the movie together. Every good horror film should have a shock ending that leaves on an unsettling finale and this is no exception. This is a very clever and highly creative piece of cinema from a director on top of his game. Thanks Jordan.

P.S. I have now seen the film twice. Whilst the action scenes don't stand up to a second viewing, there are those moments which I missed first time around. The Thriller t-shirt being prize No 11, the gloves on the tethered, bits borrowed from other horror movies, Jason backing away etc. There are many websites which explain a lot better than I can. What did impress me second time was , knowing the story, how good was the acting, especially Lupita Nyong'o. She was brilliant.

Postcard by First Aid Kit

From their album "Ruins" comes this clever song "Postcard. Written by Klara Soderberg, it features a beautiful piano accompaniment from Steve Moore. It reminded me so much of the slip-note piano style of Floyd Cramer.

From The Record Shop website comes the following explanation: "In 1960, during the recording of Hank Locklin's "Please Help Me I'm Fallin' " Cramer used a style of playing that had not been heard before. Described as a slip-note style it had been familiar to guitar and steel guitar players, would would slide half a tone. Cramer was using a whole tone slur, hitting a note and sliding almost simultaneous into the next."

Late in 1960 Floyd Cramer released his own single "Last Date" complete with his new slip-note sound. The single only failed to reach number one in the USA because of Elvis whose "Are You Lonesome Tonight" featured Cramer on piano. Has that ever happened before, an instrumental track and a song at one and two with the same artist? Next up for Cramer was Patsy Cline's classic hit "Crazy" with that great intro from Floyd.

So Steve Moore. Just compare his solo (at 2minutes 42 seconds) on YouTube - (First Aid Kit Postcard - "Live From The Rebel Heart's Club") with those above. I think Cramer would be impressed.

The Beauty of Age Grade

As I get older my race times are getting slower. Not surprising as anyone over forty will probably experience the same effect. So age grades are an excellent tool to see how you compare, not only to other runners, but to your own scores over the years.

Runners World describe it as follows:

Age-grading your race performances can be inspiring, instructional, or just plain interesting. If you’re no longer setting personal records, age-grading shows how your current times compare to those who are younger and/or faster than you. For example, if you set your 10-mile PR at age 28, and recently ran a 10-mile race at age 54, you can input the data for both races and see which scores higher. You might discover that, although slower in absolute terms, your current times are of relatively greater quality. Using the calculator to compare recent times at different distances can show you which performances were best. Age-grading can be used to compare yourself with other runners. Using the information from race results, input the age and gender of those who finished around you to see whose performance was relatively best. (You’ll get a little boost of confidence if that younger runner who passed you near the end scored lower with his age-graded score.) Also fun: Compare your score for a race to that of the winner to see how close you were to “winning” the race. 

I know for a fact that I score higher the shorter the race. My best ever age grade was 69.19% for a 5k at parkrun in October 2016 followed by 68.51% at a Marlow 5 Mile in May 2017. Even running my favourite distance of 10k, my best age grade for this distance is 67.59% for the Bearbrook 10k in August 2016. At ten miles I'm down to a best 65.92% at maidenhead in April 2017 and for a half marathon 63.94% at Milton Keynes in March 2017.

Sticking to this last result. That was not my best time for a half marathon, that was the Oxford Half in September 2015. But although this was over two minutes faster than MK, it only attracted an age grade of 62.09%. 

On Saturday 30th March at parkrun I  ran the 5k in 27:17 with an age grade of 68.30%. This was my third best age grade for all the 221 parkruns to date. It was a better grade than the two times in 2014 I ran under 26 minutes, a time I will never get close to again. But age grade is a little miracle for someone in their seventies. Especially if you can get in the top 20% of runners at parkrun.

Patsy Ferran wins best actress

At last nights Olivier thetre awards, the winner of the best actress award was Patsy Ferran for her role in Summer and Smoke. I haven't seen this play (hoping it might tour sometime) but I have seen Patsy a couple of times before. In 2014 she appeared in "The Angry Brigade" at the Oxford Playhouse and then in 2015 in "The Merchant of Venice" at the RSC in Stratford. This is what I wrote at the time:

In the acting department, head and shoulders above the rest of the cast (in acting terms if not stature) stands Patsy Ferran as Portia. Only graduating from RADA last summer she has already won high praise for her parts in Blithe Spirit and Treasure Island. I saw her in October at a quarter full Oxford Playhouse in The Angry Brigade. From that seriously sharp performance I could not see her cast as Portia but she is virtually unrecognisable as the same actress. Her voice this time is so soft and highly pitched but with such marvelous projection we catch every word. Her eyes and hands work magic. This is one actress destined for big things.

The top photo shows Patsy with "Summer and Smoke" director Rebecca Frecknall with the award for best revival,  and below Patsy on stage.

Andre Russell's 47 runs from his last nine balls

I don't normally watch the Indian Premier League but on Friday I caught one of the best innings in one day cricket. When Kolkata Knight Riders needed 66 runs from the last four overs to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore, it seemed an impossible task. But Andre Russel had other ideas. After a quiet few balls, he then hit 47 runs in the last nine balls he faced. There were still 30 needed from the last two overs, but in that penultimate over bowled by Tim Southee, he hit 29 runs including four sixes and a four. The final over was a formality.

Given the pressure of the situation, this innings ranked as good as I have seen. There is not the same pressure hitting sixes early in a team's innings. As the Indian Express put it "Andre Russell has to be the scariest in world cricket".

Everybody Knows, Destroyer and Fighting With My Family

Rare for a local multiplex, a Spanish film with sub-titles. An unoriginal story about the abduction of a teenager concentrates on the effects of the family and the village where they love. Beautifully shot in a sumptuous setting, the film is remarkable for  some brilliant acting from a cast led by Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem. All down to writer-director Asghar Farhadi. I must try and see some of his earlier work.

I had to visit the Rex cinema in Berkhampsted to catch up with the latest movie from director Karyn Kusama (whose Jennifer's Body is a highly underrated classic). Nicole Kidman is almost unrecognisable as a detective on the trail of a gang leader whom she knows from working undercover years ago. Occasionally slow but punctuated by scenes of a violent nature and one superb heist. Memorable.

Sometimes a true story is quite amazing in itself, but for a film to work it has to sometimes take liberties with the exact truth. Writer-director Stephen Merchant is to some degree so stuck with trying to tell the precise story of a wrestling family, that he forgets the drama. Fortunately we have the brilliant Florence Pugh (Lady Macbeth, The Little Drummer Girl) in the lead as Paige. Saving the day.