Various ramblings by the small hobbit

My final Fannish 50 is for another of Sir Matthew Bourne's productions, which we went to see yesterday.  Edward Scissorhands is based on the film of the same name, but done as a dance version.

We both really enjoyed it - excellent performers, as ever.  The story telling is great and moves along quickly, engaging the audience.  The music is lovely and the story is beautiful.

We were both delighted to see Liam Mower in the lead role.  He's the main Edward, although there's also a couple of others who play the part.  He was excellent, so totally convincing in his character.

So an excellent performance.  It's at Sadler's Wells until 20 January and then goes on tour in the UK until mid-May.

For the last few years (excluding 2020) between Christmas and New Year, we have gone up to Sadler's Wells theatre in London to see Matthew Bourne's New Adventures production.  This year the production was Sleeping Beauty.

As with all Bourne's productions, they are a different take on the source material, although in this case the fairy story has many different origins.  This is beautifully set, beginning in 1890, the year Tchaikovsky wrong the ballet music, which is used throughout.  This act is very Gothic in style.  Aurora comes of age in 1911, so the setting and costumes are of an Edwardian summer.  100 years later and the awakening is set in 2011, which was the year this version was first performed, with a dramatic finale in red and black.  So brilliant sets and costumes.

The dancers were all excellent.  SM was particularly taken by Ashley Shaw who was dancing Aurora that night.  All the parts have two or three dancers allocated, and the majority of the dancers have two different roles.  And I was delighted to see Paris Fitzpatrick as Count Lilac, the king of the fairies.

As ever all the different elements come together to create the story which carries the audience along.  For us it's just the perfect way to enjoy the time of year.

On Wednesday I went up to London to meet the daughter, because she'd suggested a theatre trip to celebrate my birthday.  She also suggested going shopping, which generally means she encourages me to buy something I wouldn't have planned on buying otherwise.  So, apart from her Christmas present, I ended up with a dark green hoodie with Pooh Bear on the front!

We took our shopping to our hotel and then returned to central London to have a meal - which, strangely enough, I also ended up paying for!.  After which we went to the Gillian Lynne theatre (previously the New London Theatre) for the performance.

The story was changed slightly from the original book, although the basic details remained the same.  The animal costumes were impressive and there was a lot of singing and dancing.  However, although entertaining enough, I wasn't really gripped by the performance, and looking at some of the reviews I wasn't alone in this.  For me, the best was the huge puppet of Aslan the lion, but there was also an actor playing Aslan so that lost some of the power.  And sadly, the lion didn't come on at the curtain call.

However, it was a pleasant way to spend the evening, and I bought the t-shirt because it's a really brightly coloured lion's head.

It was lovely to meet up with the daughter and have time to chat with her, catching up with all our news, and we both had a good time.

This week's thefridayfive questions

1. What is the last book you read and what book(s), if any, are you currently reading?
Recently finished: Threadbare by Monica Ferris, The Perfect Crime edited by Vaseem Khan and The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.
Currently reading: Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and The Master Key by Masako Togawa

2. How about moving pictures? Are you a fan of any TV show or movie right now?
Not watching anything on TV at the moment, and I don't go to see films.  Off to watch a production of Matthew Bourne's The Car Man tonight.

3. What's your favourite genre, and why?
Golden Age crime novels keep me entertained.

4. If we were all evacuating the planet, and you could only bring 3 unique works of entertainment for posterity, which would you pick? Let's just assume that we've coordinated it so there are no repeats.
All of Matthew Bourne's New Adventures productions; all the British Library Crime Classics books; every audiobook narrated by Richard Armitage.

5. Do you make new works as well (fannish or original both count)? Or is that not your skillset/interest?
I write fanfiction and apply for grants for Gloucestershire Bundles, which is definitely creative new work.

It was December 2019 when we agreed we wanted to see the Nutcracker, as our between Christmas and New Year treat at Sadler's Wells, in London.  So, as soon as February 2020 arrived and tickets went on sale we booked them.  It was then postponed to this year, and with Omicron running riot a few performances were cancelled before Christmas and we were on tenterhooks whether we would finally see it or not.  However, on Tuesday it was announced it was running again and we agreed we would go.

We drove up to London, not wishing to risk the train - either whether it would run, or how many people would be crammed in if it did.  With a major delay on the motorway it took us five hours from leaving home to the Travelodge we were staying in overnight.  However, we made it, and only had a 15 minute walk to the theatre.

The Nutcracker was wonderful.  It begins in an orphanage and then via a frozen lake to reach Sweetieland.  In the process the theme moves from the grey and black of the orphanage, through the white of the lake to the explosion of colour in Sweetieland.

I can't pick out any dancers to highlight them - they were all incredible.  The complicated routines - and so many of them - together with the obvious joy in performance - means that every time I think someone excels, there's another to take their place.  The sweeties are marvellous, beginning with the humbug, who acts as bouncer.  There's the brightly coloured Allsorts Trio, and the rather dubious Knickerbocker Glory.  The very pink Marshmallow Girls escorting a deeper pink Princess Sugar are complete airheads, while the three Gobstoppers are simply spoiling for a fight.

After the year we've had it was such a joy to finish it with something so bright and cheerful.  In any year this would have been a highlight, but this year it was even more so.

I had wanted to go and see this when it was on in London in the last couple of months of 2019, but there were few tickets available and those that were were far too expensive.  And then, I received the programme for the Bristol Hippodrome, which included this show.  I debated - it did seem a bit early still to be seeing this particular musical, but it would count as a birthday treat to myself, and, now being of such an age, we could get reduced seniors' matinée tickets.

The covid regulations were stricter than what we've had before - allocated time to arrive at the theatre, vaccine certificate or similar (I knew getting one would prove useful) and masks.  As it was our row only had two other people in them - who were several seats further along - and the three rows directly in front were empty, so we took our masks off during the performance but wore them when moving around.

The first half was reasonable, but nothing special, but the second half really lifted it and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Whether it was the emotional build up of the story, or whether the cast were finding it harder I'm not sure.  It can't help when a theatre is only part full.  Also, this is very early in the tour - it only started a week ago, so I suspect it's still slightly embedding.  Whatever the reason I'm really pleased I saw it.  And yes, we were encouraged to join in the singing of White Christmas in the second act.

For me, the standout performance was Jessica Daley as Betty Haynes, followed by Matthew Jeans as Bob Wallace.  Their duets were lovely.  But the whole cast worked well together and thoroughly satisfied my love of dancing, singing, story and performance.

Oh, and when my mother asked me a few weeks ago what I'd like for my birthday, I said a 'White Christmas' jumper, so I now own one :)

I'm also using this for Carpe Diem: Friday because it's celebrating creators, in this case all those who've been working incredibly hard to bring back live theatre.

I originally booked to see Singin' in the Rain in early 2020, when it was due to be performed in July/August 2020.  Due to reasons which will be obvious it was put off a year, but my ticket was carried forward.  When I mentioned to The Daughter that I was going she said she wanted to come to, so we asked SM (husband/father) and he said he'd come as well.  Because even in May this year there were loads of seats available, I was able to book their seats next to mine.

So the day came and we all travelled up to London and stayed overnight.  I'd found a Travelodge within walking distance of Sadler's Wells, which turned out to be an excellent move.  We had a great lunch to celebrate TD's 30th birthday (two month's late, but she was in north Wales on the actual day).

As for the production: Sadler's Wells is a theatre I really like - the view from the second gallery is good and the tickets there were reasonably priced.  Adam Cooper, who played Don Lockwood, is no Gene Kelly, but he's a good dancer - I'd seen him before in December 2019 in Matthew Bourne's The Red Shoes.  Kevin Clifton as Cosmo Brown was great - (he used to be on Strictly Come Dancing) and he and Cooper worked really well together.  Charlotte Gooch as Kathy Selden was also very good, and the three really brought their routines to life - my favourite being Good Morning.  TD's favourite was the iconic Singin' in the Rain which included splashing some of the audience, and yes, was good, but by its very nature isn't as complex.

But the whole performance was really enjoyable - the ensemble singing and dancing, the colours and staging, the band who were playing behind the scenes.  And of course the story itself is just fun and positive and it was really lovely to be back in the theatre.

So hooray, for all those on stage, backstage and front of stage for giving a lot of people and most enjoyable evening.

From alexcat 

1. Comment on this post by saying Rhubarb! in the comments and I'll pick three things from your interests, tags or profile post (include a link if you like).

2. Make a post in your journal (or comment here) and talk about the words/phrases I've picked.

My response to alexcat 

Brownies: I've been involved with guiding since the daughter was 11, so 18 years now, first as a Guide leader, and for the past 13 years as a Brownie leader.  I think being a Brownie offers the girls an opportunity to try out new things, still in a structured environment, but in a different way from at school.  We aim to provide a variety of activities, which caters for the likes of all the girls over the term, while still following the basic guiding programme.  Being a Brownie gives the girls a chance to get to work with people they don't see every day at school.  For some village packs, most of the girls may go to the same school, but out of our 24 Brownies we have girls from 8 different schools.  It also gives them a chance to slowly take on more responsibility from when they join age 7 to when they leave as 10 year olds.  Even now, when we are restricted to zoom meetings, we're giving the girls something different to do in the week.

Crafts:  I've really got into crafts in the last few years.  Now, I'll either knit or cross stitch nearly every day, and sometimes to both, depending on what else I've got on in an evening.  I also enjoy occasional card making and other glue based activities.  I've even taken out a subscription to a knitting magazine and tried a cross stitch one, although that didn't impress me.  When I cut back my work hours one of the things I was looking forward to was more time to do crafts, because I really enjoy the challenge of physically creating something.

Theatre: My favourite activity, and sadly the one I haven't been able to enjoy since early March.  I've streamed a couple of specially performed plays, but neither really grabbed me, despite starring Jonathan Slinger in one and Andrew Scott in the other.  For me, there is something very special in being in a theatre and watching a performance.  Yes, I will be watching both The Red Shoes and Uncle Vanya on the television this Christmas, but what I'm really looking forward to is hopefully next summer sitting in front of a real stage enjoying a live performance.

Saturday morning I made my way to meet with my friends via London Bridge, passing the Monument on the way:



It's not the best photo but I had to take it quickly before my viewpoint was obscured by a bus!  For those who've not heard about it, it's the monument to the Great Fire of London in 1666, with a height of 202 feet, being the exact distance to where the fire started at a baker's shop in Pudding Lane.

It must be a couple of years since I last met my friends for various reasons so it was lovely to catch up, and celebrate the birthday of one of them.

In the afternoon we went to Shakespeare's Globe - the birthday friend likes the Globe - to see a play by Thomas Middleton called Women Beware Women.  It was written around 1622, so the language sounds old, even more than Shakespeare - or perhaps I'm just more used to Shakespeare.  We were in the Sam Wanamaker Theatre, not outside, so everything was lit by candles.

I wasn't particularly taken with the play, which was part of the Globe season of She-Wolves and Shrews.  It was well acted, but the story didn't seem to have much depth and the characters were rather two-dimensional.

It wasn't a play I'd have chosen for myself, but that wasn't why I was there and it was lovely to see my friends.

I don't usually see a play twice, but it was no hardship for me to go to Uncle Vanya again.  Last time I went to one of the preview performances by myself, this time the play is well into its run, and I went with friends.

It was lovely to see vix_spes again, and meet two of her friends for the first time.  We'd hoped to go out for a meal together beforehand, but she had had to work late so it wasn't possible, but nevertheless we did catch up on each other's news.

I did enjoy seeing the play again, and not just because Richard Armitage takes his shirt off and gets wet!  It seemed to move faster, or maybe they've tightened up some of the more tedious Chekovian speeches, because I no longer felt like shaking the characters.  Or maybe it was simply because I knew what happened.  In addition, the actress playing Sonya, who I'd not been too impressed with last time, had got a better feel for the part and gave a much more nuanced performance, so her final speech came over very well.

And it's left me hoping RA does more theatre soon!