Did someone mention the West End?
Hello there!
Well, I'm back in England after having survived further travel adventures along the lines of having my luggage lost between Denver and TBay. But I did manage to return home safe and managed to finish a stressful week in the London office. But the pay off was this weekend -- theatre galore with wonderful friends!
evildrem and crowie arrived at Chez Jhava on Friday night and well before noon on Saturday we headed off into London to see not one, but two, theatre productions.
And during the weekend, Markus decided to be very photogenic. I happened to look out the window into my garden and when I saw this scene, I found my camera quickly.
Hmmmm... any resemblance?
As for the theatre weekend itself, the first production was Emperor and Galiilean at the National Theatre. We did manage to meet up with loreley_se as we were just heading into the theatre due to good karmic timing indeed. But, as I don't read review reviews before I go to see a show, I went into "E&G" absent of any spoilers. And wow -- what a production. It's not an easy play to watch; without any background, it will take many (hands up! That was me.) a significant portion of the first half to catch onto where the storyline is taking us. But by the second half you're caught up in the storytelling and wondering where will history take us. (And its' commentary on contemporary politics and religion.)
The staging is absolutely incredible once again (the main theatre at the Olivier, National deserves its own credit) and the cast of well over two dozen were fabulous. And huge kudos to Andrew Scott as Julian. He was on stage for nearly the entire production and brought so much depth to his character with his timing, his body language, and his perfect inflection on so many lines. Well done.
As for the history of the play, although it was written between 1868 and 1873, this production is its' British stage premier. Quite amazing. If you do want to see it, you have ten more days as it closes down on the 10th of August. As to when it will re-appear -- it could be a long wait indeed.
As for the second production of the day, it was off to the Wyndham's Theatre for the evening show of "Much Ado About Nothing". Before the show, we met up with lea_ysaye and londinensa and caught up as best we could on the goings on in the world. As for the production itself, talk about the most comedic production of Shakespeare I've ever seen! I've grown to really adore Shakespeare over the years that I've been here and have seen some utterly fabulous performances. But this show -- hands on heart, it was the most hilarious production of Shakespeare that I've ever watched. And, the thanks go entirely to David Tennant and Catherine Tate. They managed to take serious lines but, through their actions and their tone of voice, tranform them into pure, laugh out loud genius.
We left the production beaming -- that speaks for itself.
And now, to get ready for another long week at work.
Well, I'm back in England after having survived further travel adventures along the lines of having my luggage lost between Denver and TBay. But I did manage to return home safe and managed to finish a stressful week in the London office. But the pay off was this weekend -- theatre galore with wonderful friends!
evildrem and crowie arrived at Chez Jhava on Friday night and well before noon on Saturday we headed off into London to see not one, but two, theatre productions.
And during the weekend, Markus decided to be very photogenic. I happened to look out the window into my garden and when I saw this scene, I found my camera quickly.
Hmmmm... any resemblance?
As for the theatre weekend itself, the first production was Emperor and Galiilean at the National Theatre. We did manage to meet up with loreley_se as we were just heading into the theatre due to good karmic timing indeed. But, as I don't read review reviews before I go to see a show, I went into "E&G" absent of any spoilers. And wow -- what a production. It's not an easy play to watch; without any background, it will take many (hands up! That was me.) a significant portion of the first half to catch onto where the storyline is taking us. But by the second half you're caught up in the storytelling and wondering where will history take us. (And its' commentary on contemporary politics and religion.)
The staging is absolutely incredible once again (the main theatre at the Olivier, National deserves its own credit) and the cast of well over two dozen were fabulous. And huge kudos to Andrew Scott as Julian. He was on stage for nearly the entire production and brought so much depth to his character with his timing, his body language, and his perfect inflection on so many lines. Well done.
As for the history of the play, although it was written between 1868 and 1873, this production is its' British stage premier. Quite amazing. If you do want to see it, you have ten more days as it closes down on the 10th of August. As to when it will re-appear -- it could be a long wait indeed.
As for the second production of the day, it was off to the Wyndham's Theatre for the evening show of "Much Ado About Nothing". Before the show, we met up with lea_ysaye and londinensa and caught up as best we could on the goings on in the world. As for the production itself, talk about the most comedic production of Shakespeare I've ever seen! I've grown to really adore Shakespeare over the years that I've been here and have seen some utterly fabulous performances. But this show -- hands on heart, it was the most hilarious production of Shakespeare that I've ever watched. And, the thanks go entirely to David Tennant and Catherine Tate. They managed to take serious lines but, through their actions and their tone of voice, tranform them into pure, laugh out loud genius.
We left the production beaming -- that speaks for itself.
And now, to get ready for another long week at work.