A conversation

I'm sitting getting my nails done (they're now very dark green, with silver stars, and rather fabulous!) and the conversation has turned to pantomime. One of the girls has been to 'the other' panto* which this year is Aladdin.

'Yeah, it was ok, but when they got the magic carpet out, my sister and I got really excited'
'Why?'
'Because this was the bit we were waiting for, 'A Whole New World', but it wasn't even Aladdin and the Princess on the carpet, and they didn't even sing it. It was really disappointing'.

I bite my tongue, and don't try and explain that this is panto, and not a stage adaptation of the Disney film.

*This being the one at the Grand Opera House, and not the Theatre Royal, which, as everyone knows, is the only panto to see in York.

'Come on!'

I went shopping at Monks Cross today, it was unseasonably mild (which I was glad about, I hate winter) but wandering through the crowds of sale shoppers reminded me of that day three years ago yesterday when Corinne and I rolled up at Monks Cross after a traumatic journey from 'Boro*, and still about two hours ahead of Griffin, on what became known as 'single signing day'.

That day it all still seemed possible, and we were all caught up in the excitement of the first single release, and the build up to the charts on the Sunday. I know I felt that success was there, in his grasp, and it was only a short time before he'd be playing much larger venues, and whole crowds would be singing his songs back at him. But we're all older now.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Griffin 'Christmas gig'. The venues seem to be getting smaller. This time he was playing in the upstairs room of a pub in York (I joked that it's about the closest he'll ever play to my house unless he books my front room next year!). It wasn't the greatest of venues, the chairs were out, as usual, but not for everyone, so many of us were standing by the bar or at the back. I couldn't see much in the first half, but it didn't really matter, I could hear just fine.

It was a gig that is almost better in hindsight than in reality. I would say he sounded great, and most of the time he did, but there were a few duff notes that suggested a bit more rehearsal would have been in order, and I'm afraid I no longer find the home spun and amateur approach as endearing as I once did. And I could do without most of the 'comedy interludes'.

But, and it's a big but, there were still moments that touched me. I guess there always will be. As I said much earlier this year, a lot of us have also travelled this road, and so to hear songs like 'Oblivion' and 'Feeling Alive' triggers memories which will always be so very special. He sang 'Bring it On' for what he said was the last time, even allowing us to contribute our own special 'come on'**. There was also a beautiful rendition of 'Patience'.

What will the next year bring, I wonder? I really don't know, but I guess I'll be around for at least some of it. Happy New Year, Griffin.

*Each time I'm in the vicinity of Hill Street Car Park, I curl my lip at it, and I've never parked there since!
**part of the lore of the ND

Spiritual home

About a week before Christmas, we went to Stratford. Now, this is always an event to me, even more so this time as I'd worked out that it was over three years (three!!) since I'd seen a play at Stratford. I think something must have happened to distract me, but for the moment, I can't think what it was!

We'd booked some time ago to see Merry Wives, the Musical, as Judi Dench was in it, and she's someone I've always wanted to see on stage, and surprising as it may seem, I never have*. But we also made the most of it, nice hotel, lovely pre-theatre meal, shopping etc. The first test was getting 4 of us, plus luggage (pack light!) into the new car. It was really it's first proper road trip, after all it had never been to Stratford before, but it was equipped with a Shakespeare sticker**.

Once there, we had a walk into town, and got suitably excited by the Shakespeare Birthplace gift shop. Corinne bought finger puppets, and we worked out we could just about do every play from the selection of characters (except, perhaps, Othello).

We had excellent seats, and the play was fantastic. It's had mixed reviews in the press, but the audience were loving it. Predictably Judi Dench was amazing, and the part of Mistress Quickly had been extended for her. Her comic timing was impeccable, but she could also touch your heart with a song of memories. Alistair McGowan was also excellent as Ford, again with great comic timing.

Afterwards, it was too wet to stage door (from my long time experience, there is no shelter at Stratford) so we went straight to the pub, and some of us stayed there until we were pretty much asked to leave, along with the last few actors, returning to the hotel to perform the finger puppet version of Pyramus and Thisbe. A triumph, I believe!

I still love Stratford, and I feel like I belong there - I don't even mind the tourists. And when I see theatre of this quality, I just know I mustn't leave it so long before I go again.

*I was supposed to book for us to see her in 'All's Well' a couple of years ago, but was distracted again!

**The old car had Griffin, this one has Shakespeare, I think I've reverted to type!

In no particular order...

The last three weeks have been hectic. So much so that I've been doing so many things that I haven't had time to write about. I've been living the life, rather than writing about it, so that can only be good.

But, I do want to record some the best bit on here, my 'edited highlights' if you like, as this blog would be lacking without some reports. So, over the next couple of days, I'm going to try and capture some of this. It won't necessarily be in chronological order, but hopefully will give a flavour of what I've been up to.

'This time, it's Personnel'

Slight Spoiler alert again!

Ahh, Christmas TV. Time was, when I was small, I'd mark up the Radio Times with all the programmes I wanted to watch over the fortnight (and this was in the days before videos etc, so you had to watch things when they were on), and then there was the anticipation of what the 'big films' would be. I even remember the first time I saw 'The Wizard of Oz' in my Grandma's front room.

It all seems a long time ago, but the last two years have brought back the 'must see' Christmas programme - the Dr Who Christmas episode. Last year didn't quite have the same build up. We had a new Doctor to get used to, and whilst I'd liked Christopher Eccleston, let's face it, he's no David Tennant. This year, after the emotional trauma of 'Doomsday' (no, still not quite over it) we were waiting to see how the Doctor moved on from the loss of Rose, with the abrupt arrival of 'the bride' in the Tardis. Whilst initially I worried that this was 'stunt casting' of the worst kind, in the end I thought it worked brilliantly. 'Donna' was so different to Rose that the Doctor had no time to wallow in his loss, but had to get on with saving her, and the world, once again. And, I have to admit that I laughed out loud when the Head of HR turned out to be a baddie*.

It was played at a breakneck speed (possibly to stop you noticing the trees in full leaf at 'Christmas'), which made the few quiet moments all the more moving. Damn you, Russell T. Davies, for making me cry on Christmas day. A top left behind, a flash of memory, thoughts of last year's Christmas dinner, and in the final moments, a name.

And now, it does seem possible for the Doctor (and perhaps even more importantly, the audience) to move on, without resenting the newcomer. As Donna said, he does need someone, perhaps just to stop him.

How long is is till the new series?!

*It really does nothing for my professional image, you know - I'm already scary!

'So if you care to find me, look to the western sky...'

I may have mentioned that at the moment I’m a little obsessed with ‘Wicked’. Well, in a mad moment a few weeks ago, when I was feeling ill and fed up, I found myself on line, and booking a ticket for the only matinee performance that I could get to before the end of December, in the hope that, this time, I would get to see Idina Menzel as Elphaba. And that day came last Wednesday, and I was on a morning train down to London.

I didn’t just head for the theatre, oh no, I also went shopping, and round the National Portrait Gallery* where it was amazing to see all the portraits that I’d only seen in books. All the great and the good (and not so good) were there, including my historical hero, Richard III (situated worryingly close to Henry Tudor, I thought).

And then onto Victoria, and lunch. The first time we’d been to the Apollo Victoria, we’d struggled to find somewhere to eat, so I decided a better scout around was required, in the interests of research. I soon found a variety of Italian, and other, restaurants, all pretty reasonably priced, so there is indeed food to be had in Victoria without going to Wetherspoons! I was also asked by some Australians if they were near Westminster Abbey, and directed them to Buckingham Palace instead.

Following lunch, it was over to the theatre, and to my front row, dress circle, seat. Yes, I’d gone for top price, but thankfully there were no signs up so all looked favourable.

For a midweek matinee, the theatre was pretty full, with only a few empty seats here and there. It was utterly magical once again. I thought Helen Dallimore gave a stronger performance as Glinda, with a greater range of emotions, and her singing voice was spot on. Then, Idina ran on, to cheers and applause** and she was, indeed, fabulous. The build up to the end of Act 1 was incredible, and ‘Defying Gravity’, well, I was stunned. This time the effects worked, and she ‘flew’, and that was just so amazing – it really did appear like she was floating in mid air. I know it’s all smoke and mirrors, but wow!

In Act 2, her more mature, and disillusioned Elphaba just broke your heart. This was a woman who had moved from believing that her future was ‘unlimited’ to the realisation that ‘I’m limited’ *sniff*

Two people sitting alongside me decided to leave during the big Act 2 number ‘No Good Deed’ (grrr, though I managed a very creditable execution of ‘how to get out of your seat and move to let them out without ever taking your eyes off the stage’), so I was able to move a few seats along for the last part of the show, and have a slightly more central view

The only principal cast member who didn’t appear was Adam Garcia, so we had an understudy Fiyero (Oliver Thompsett), apparently the first time he’d played it, but he was excellent.

It was a bit of a mad jaunt, but I don’t regret it one bit. It’s a fabulous show, but…I still haven’t worn the ruby slippers!

*I am gradually visiting all the galleries and museums that I was never taken to when I was young.

** as a Theatre Snob, I don’t believe in applauding people for just walking on stage, before they’ve actually done anything

A conversation with the boss

My boss called me today.

'can you go to Carlisle on the 17th?'
'errrm, possibly, but I have to be in Leeds at night...ok, it's for the theatre. And I really need to go home first, to get ready.'
'what time do you have to be in Leeds? Can't you get changed in the car like anyone else?'
'Not really...I have to turn myself into the Wicked Witch* of the East**'.

Maybe most bosses wouldn't be quite so understanding!

*Some may say this may not take much work, but costume is all.

**For 'Off to Oz' at the West Yorkshire Playhouse

Eeek!

This is the River Ouse in York at the weekend. Just by where I usually park my car, actually. The picture's a little deceptive until you know that the actual riverbank is some 13 feet below this level. I was a little dubious about leaving the car, with the water lapping onto the riverside walk just down the path.

York and floods, the two go together like York and chocolate (though there’s a great deal less of that these days). In the past, I’ve been flooded out of buildings where I’ve worked. At one, we had a dingy – but as we kept it in the roof space, it wasn’t actually that much use, as no one could get to it when we were flooded out of the building!

Regeneration

In between all the shopping, eating and drinking, we managed to fit in a spot of culture. When I say 'fit in', it was more of a case that we got to the end of the shopping street and saw the above building, and wondered what it was. Believe me, it's more impressive in reality, looking like a huge perspex tower block, so, we simply had to explore.

It turned out to be Urbis, a gallery and exhibition space, built as part of the redevelopment of Manchester city centre after the IRA bomb ten years ago. The most moving exhibition was 'Every Cloud', a video and installation piece giving people's recollections of the explosion, but also reflecting that the horror of that day was also an opportunity for urban regeneration, and a demonstration of the sheer determination of the people of the city to come back bigger and better than before. I was also very moved by the 'paper cloud' an artwork constructed from letters written by the children of the city, rising from an ariel photo of the area devastated by the blast. Its simple beauty seemed to me to say a lot about the human spirit.

Manchester

'I've brought my camera''oh...Good!' The groan with which this is greeted doesn't surprise me, as I'm used to the lack of enthusiasm for my photographic efforts. I'm in Manchester for a 'girly' shopping weekend and to 'do' the Christmas Markets*. We'd planned this months ago, and only last week, it seemed like it might not happen, but we decided to go for one night instead of two, and it was back on.

I do like Manchester, it's such a vibrant city, with a great range of shops restaurants, and bars. I suppose it was slightly worrying to be able to point out the theatres that I'd stage door-ed at. There were also restaurants I'd eaten in, the car park that I nearly got stuck in, and the first Golden arches we ever discovered with Internet access.

The markets were great, and we wandered around sampling the gluwein, brawurst, and (for me) potato pancakes, which, rather bizarrely were served with apple sauce, but they tasted good. The weekend was pretty much taken up with shopping, eating and drinking - we found a great, and not very expensive, Italian restaurant for dinner which was close to the hotel (and also to the Palace Theatre, which is always useful to know).

Of course I spent far too much money. As one friend said, 'well, you didn't get anything you didn't need', but I think she was being kind in using that to justify me buying the black feathery glittery corsage thingy**

It was a great start to the Christmas season though.

*having planned this trip some time ago, we then saw that York was having it's own german Christmas Market for the first time - but when I went to it last Friday, it was rubbish. I've never actually worked out why it is that York just can't 'do' Christmas. We always have rubbish lights too

**I mean, can you imagine anything that's more 'me', apart from ruby slippers, that it?

Comedy tonight

This week at drama, it was time to move on to comedy, working on short improvised scenes that had a farcical element, to longer improvisations which took a turn for the dramatic rather than the comedic. In fact I ended up having a storming row with the other character in my scene, just because of the way it was being played. Ah well, just call me a drama queen.

We then moved on to Commedia dell'Arte, working in pairs, with each playing one of the Commedia stock characters. We were 'Zanni', a couple of wily, and sometimes rather stupid servants, and had to develop, and then perform, a scene using the physicality of the characters. Very difficult, as there's really no such thing as OTT in this type of performance, but, it also has to be controlled, but it was great fun. I've done a bit of Commedia before, at Uni, and love it, as you can really throw yourself into it. After all, it's almost panto season, and panto is based on Commedia. And, it reminds me of being in Venice.