Confessions of a Theatre Snob

Friday, January 18, 2008

An excellent idea

Yesterday, L and I had our annual shopping trip to the Trafford Centre. We were at school together, and it seems like we’ve known each other for ever. Now we only see each other a few times a year, but its always just as its always been.

We do this every year in January and buy each other our birthday. and Christmas presents and it works really well. We choose what we want, up to our agreed limit, and the other one pays, and when we get back to L’s, we do our ‘present swap’. We did baffle her partner one year, as we both wanted the same book, bought it, and then swapped with each other later* – his face was a picture!

This year I actually had a list (though it was a short one) and got the Amy Winehouse ‘special edition’ cd, and a gold and diamante evening bag, which was considerably reduced. L usually challenges me by getting me to buy her something which I can’t believe anyone would actually want! Last year it was a skin for her iPod. This year, it was a bag for her gym shoes, which entailed going into sports shops, which, as you know, I find to be an alien world.

Of course, it isn’t just presents, as we always plan to go at the ‘tail end’ of the sales, when things have 70-75% off. You do have to be prepared to sift between the size 8’s and 18’s, but if you persevere there are some real bargains to be had. I also found a top and a pair of trousers, both reduced by 70%.

We seem to have got the day down to a fine art now, as it goes, shopping, coffee, shopping, lunch, shopping, tea. This year, we were there for about 9 hours. We then buy food from Selfridges fabulous food hall to take back for tea.

*And to this day, neither of us has finished it. I have now have a ‘no books’ rule, as I also got the book of ‘Wicked’ last year, and never finished that either.

Labels:

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

I think my hip action is going to need a lot of work!

As one of my resolutions for this year*, I was determind to take up dancing again. After all, the ‘handbag walks’ have tailed off to nothing now that it’s winter, so I need to get exercise somehow. So when J mentioned that they did salsa** classes at one of the local health clubs, I decided to go along.

My first class was last Friday, and thankfully there were a lot of absolute beginners there. I’m not sure my body multi-tasks when it comes to dancing. I was trying to move my feet, wiggle my hips and think about my arms. Suffice to say it was a bit of a shambles and I kept losing the timing. Definitely a bit more of a Kate Garraway than Alesha Dixon.

But it was fun, so I decided to go along again last night, so that I could go over the moves while it’s still pretty basic. I was a little better I think. At least, I was until you had to dance with a partner. As one of the ‘basic’ moves involved the man clutching the lady to his chest, pivoting her round, and the lady wrapping her leg round his, it was all very up close and personal, and I lost my timing again!

I can now understand why Gethin had those intimacy issues early on.

*yes, I know I haven’t written about them as yet, but the last week has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster

** I know. I still have a certain person’s salsa moves in my head.

Labels:

Monday, January 14, 2008

The next best thing?

For those of us (that would be me, then) suffering withdrawal symptoms, Dancing on Ice (aka Strictly Ice Dancing) started tonight. In my eyes, it’s not as good as Strictly, as it’s too ‘ITV’ and also there’s the chance that someone could get seriously hurt. And no one can ever be as impressive on the ice as they manage to be on Strictly - it takes a lot of effort even to stand up!

But, of course, I did watch the first two series, and weathered the emotional trauma when John Barrowman was unfairly voted out early in Series 1 (well, he’s still not over it, so I don’t see why I should be either). Last season was less emotional, probably because I did like Kyran Bracken, who won, but I didn’t really have a favourite.

This year, well, at this stage who can say. I have to say that on tonight’s showing, they were all a bit rubbish. There's another male (ex) Blue Peter presenter, who apparently is also Welsh, but I can't see that he'll work the same magic. At the moment, I'd be voting for Philip Schofield, if I could.

At least I’ve never voted in this one (yet?).

Labels: , , ,

Sunday, January 13, 2008

A difficult week

I don’t normally write about personal stuff on here, and I didn’t know whether to blog about this or not. This week however, I do feel the need to write about more emotional stuff.

My uncle died last weekend. He was my mum’s brother, and he was 91, so you can’t be too sad, as he had a good, and full life, remaining active until relatively recently.

The funeral was yesterday, and to be honest, I was dreading it. I hate funerals, and have been to very few, but those I’ve been to have been of close family, and all bar one have been at the same church. I find it difficult to go back there, as both sets of grandparents, and my mum and dad are also buried there.

It’s also in the village where I grew up. I may have kicked its dust off my heels many years ago, but you never lose that connection. I could drive up the lane to the village on automatic pilot, I know it so well. The village never changes. Going into the church feels odd, as I spent so much of my childhood round and about it. I remember climbing up the bell tower with my dad, as he used to wind the clock, running round the pews with my mum when she was doing the flowers – the flower stands were actually bought by me and my cousins when we did a bring and buy sale at the age of about 14. Even many of the kneelers were embroidered by family members. Many people know me, even though I can’t recall who a lot of them are, and to them I will always be ‘Valerie’, never ‘Val’. In my head, it’s like they’re two different people.

I knew the only way to get through the day was to prepare like I was preparing for a performance. I knew I would cry, but I wanted to be as controlled as possible. If I had any faith at all, perhaps it might be easier, but I haven’t, and therefore the words give me no comfort. I managed it until the vicar was giving the address. It didn’t help that I’ve never liked him, as I’ve never found him to have a personal touch.

The worst bit was afterwards. My aunt was too frail to go to the graveside. So that left me, and a couple of others. By that point I wasn’t holding it together at all, but thankfully, my cousin appeared and just gave me a hug. Sometimes the comfort of strangers isn’t enough.

After that, we went back into the church, where they were serving refreshments, and I found myself talking to relatives I hadn’t seen for years. I do find it bizarre that people will turn out for a funeral, and don’t turn out to see people when they’re still around to appreciate it.

Labels:

Sunday, January 06, 2008

You say 'obsessed' like that's a bad thing!

I just found my two current favourite boys on YouTube. There to seem to be a lot of reasons to watch Blue Peter these days. It was never this pretty in John Noakes's days!

Enjoy!

Labels: , ,

The Long Game


Two years ago, a decision was made to go and see John Barrowman on stage. Nearly a year ago, Corinne and I went to Cardiff, (not) to see him. So, when we saw that he was doing panto again, this time in Birmingham, it was not without some trepidation that we decided to book. We opted for fairly early in the run, in the hope that if he was going to have to take time off, it would be later on.

We’d booked for last Friday, so you can imagine how I felt when I got up to find it was covered with snow on Thursday morning. But it melted during the day, and on Friday it was clear, if dull and grey.

On the way down, listening to John on the cd player, we both admitted that we weren’t allowing ourselves to get too excited, as we’d only believe it when he walked onto that stage. Birmingham proved the usual nightmare to navigate in, (‘we’re heading for Dudley…ok, now I’m stressed’), and having made the obligatory wrong turnings that are a part of any real road trip, we arrived at the hotel, and more importantly, the car park next to the hotel. Which was within staggering distance of the Hippodrome.

We went shopping, and walked back past the theatre, but didn’t allow ourselves to go too close in case there were signs up. Instead we reminisced about past visits.

We ate opposite the theatre, and pretty quickly realised that amongst the theatre-going patrons, we were probably overdressed. This was re-inforced when we went into the theatre. Clearly people in Birmingham do not dress up for the theatre!

We couldn’t see any signs. We bought programmes, and laughed at John’s effusive 2 page biog, ‘an Entertainer with a capital E…a unique talent…a hughly amusing and memorable guest’. Bless him, he doesn’t hide his light under a bushel.

The show started, and suddenly, there he was on stage, singing and dancing. There was probably a huge sigh of relief. There was also whooping, as Theatre Snob rules about not applauding people for making an entrance were broken. But then, we’d waited two years for this

As for the production, well, the production values were significantly higher than Cardiff, and I really enjoyed the show (though I could have done with less of the Grumbleweeds, and there was one frankly very disturbing scene where one of them impersonated Cher). The 3-D Genie was very effective, and John was very funny, with quite a few ‘in jokes’. He clearly would have loved to be Joseph, given all the allusions, and his coat of many colours at the end of Act 1. Best line, probably ‘just what I’ve always wanted, my own group of dancing boys…and girls’. By the interval, we were well into the spirit, and purchasing our own pair of flashing bunny ears.

Afterwards, well of course we were stage dooring. We commented how odd it feels now, when you don’t know someone, but Barrowman fans seem to be well behaved and polite.

He was about the first out – armed with his own pens, I do like a man who is prepared! He immediately explained that he wouldn’t be posing for photos, as his parents had been in and were waiting for him, so people should take them while he was signing, but this was said in such a charming way, you couldn’t fault him. We told him about our trip to Cardiff*, and he actually apologised, so Coza added that we’d enjoyed Cardiff anyway. He also explained that this year they have a contingency plan in place. Up close, those eyes are very blue, and quite disconcerting, and then when he flashes that smile… Sadly, I never quite caught it on camera, but believe me, it was there. He looked slimmer than on TV, so it does adds pounds. He took the time to make sure that everyone who wanted something signing got it. He was utterly lovely, and not at all starry.

Afterwards, where else, but the closest bar**, to look at the pics, and chat. It is all about the long game, we’ve never been short haul girls, and finally, we’ve met him.

*Yes, the classic line, we’ve come all the way from York, was trotted out

**I’m very fond of the Hippodrome. It has all the essential theatre amenities. Good restaurants close by, a good stage door, and a bar close by. And excellent sightlines too.

Labels: ,

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Looking Back, 2007 Reviewed

January – we had floods in York – nothing new there then. I went ‘Off to Oz’ and also off to Cardiff in dreadful weather (not) to see John Barrowman in Panto. I also got very excited by the Doctor Who exhibition there.

February – I started my OU Literature course – well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. I went to the theatre quite a bit, and perhaps even more significantly we ‘mind-mapped’, setting out our goals and targets for the year, which led to the start of the ‘handbag walks’, and of my diet.

March – I went to the investiture of the Archbish as Chancellor of the new York St John University, saw Griffin play at the Roman Bath and the Vicky Vaults, and took to the stage myself for the first time in ages. Despite the low key nature of the piece, acting remains as scary and as exhilarating as I remember. I love it.

April – My birthday – rather unsurprisingly I went to the theatre. Also the month in which I saw ‘Nine Hills One Valley’ at the Barbican, a show against which future theatrical ‘lows’ will, I think, be judged for a long time. More surprisingly, I bought walking shoes! I went on a ‘booze cruise on the Ouse’ with Rick Witter, and went to Florence, which was one of the major highlights of the year. It was simply fabulous.

May – The handbag walkers were now regularly doing over 5 miles. We had our annual Eurovision party, and I helped Cat decorate, without becoming too scary in the process. We also schmoozed with actors, which we did far too little of last year (mainly due to very few of our ‘boys’ actually having work!)

June – I got sucked in by the reality TV of ‘Any Dream Will Do’, voting madly for Lee in the final, and began to get accustomed to my favourite actually winning. We had a fabulous ‘Brideshead’ picnic despite the weather, which was also notable for cricket and Dean’s trouser malfunction!

July – It rained, a lot. We went to fabulous Kilworth Hall in not so fabulous weather and did a bit more schmoozing. I succumbed to the lure of Facebook. The final Harry Potter book was published. I read it in less than a day, and cried so much at one point I had to put the book down.

August – A very ‘theatrical’ month. I went to the Edinburgh fringe, and to the Globe, and we finally had some decent weather, well, at least for one weekend.

September – A lot of people got very excited at the news that David Tennant will be playing Hamlet at Stratford this year, and I realised the power of Facebook when I started to get messaged about it by people who’d read my status. Work got very pressured, and I began to worry that I couldn’t cope with the work, the travelling and the studying, Cat and I made a lightening visit to Amsterdam over a rather rough North Sea.

October – I took my OU exam, and was able to put that behind me. The critical work deadline passed and I survived. More significantly, ‘Strictly’ started, and later that month I noted ‘Gethin is highest in the cuteness stakes…his dancing needs a lot of work though’. I never saw it coming, but then you never do!

November – I saw my ‘theatre production of the year’ in the RSC’s touring ‘Comedy of Errors’. I fell for ‘the dress’ in Laura’s, I ate sushi for the first time. And I started voting on ‘Strictly’.

December – I learned that I had passed my OU exam with distinction. There were work ‘do’s’ and social ‘do’s’. Gethin got knocked out of ‘Strictly’ on a night when I was at the theatre in Scarborough, and I cried. I bought ‘the dress’ and also another one for good measure in the sales, and had a quiet Christmas. Oh, and the river rose in York, bringing the year full circle.

So, is that an accurate reflection of the year? In part, I guess. I don’t really talk about work on here, which at times has been all consuming. I do far too much travelling, and that’s something I want to cut down on this year. I’m definitely fitter than I was this time last year, and have lost 2 stone of the 3 that I want to lose. I've seen 40 theatre productions which even I admit is pretty good going, and enjoyed most of them, though very few were outstanding, and one or two (see above and *cough* Cardiff) were pretty duff. I've only been to 4 gigs though, but that balance is probably much more reflective of me than previous years.

Now I need to move on to looking forward.

Labels:

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Happy New Year*...

To all my readers. I know there aren’t that many of you, but I hope 2008 brings you everything you wish for.

As for me, well I’m thinking about doing my Review of the Year**, and looking forward to the next one, but that will take a bit of thought.

Comments would be appreciated. For those of you who claim not to know how to do this, click on where it says ‘comments’ at the end of this post, and voila, a box will appear. See, easy, you don’t even have to say who you are!

*Blwyddyn Newydd Dda - that's Happy New Year in Welsh, apparently. I take no responsibility for any mis-spelling

**Well, if it’s good enough for Blue Peter…