Books and a play
I thought I'd keep up with my record of always being late for the Book Meme, when I manage it at all.
What I've Just Finished Reading
A Nervous Splendour: Vienna 1888-89 by Frederic Morton. I bought this last year to read before we went to Vienna, so obviously I started reading it this year in Budapest! The author looks at this era of Viennese history through the eyes of figures like Sigmund Freud, Arthur Schnitzler, Hugo Wolf, Anton Bruckner, all in different stages of their career, but dominating them all is the intriguing figure of Crown Prince Rudolph. He is the heir to the Habsburg throne, but denied any power and can only express his liberal views through anonymous articles in the Viennese press. His love affair with Mary Vetsera (I've always known of her as Marie Vetsera but apparently she preferred the English version Mary which sounded more fashionable to a girl who seems to have been the equivalent of one of today's Instagram stars) culminates in their suicide at Mayerling with an initially shattering effect upon Vienna. The author sometimes overwrites but it is a fascinating story with a chilling ending as the signs of anti-Semitism start to rise in Vienna. A good popular history which brings its setting to life, though I could have done with some footnotes as I wasn't sure where some of the author's interpretations were coming from.
What I'm Reading Now
A Place of Confinement by Anna Dean. I grabbed this as I was on my way to the hairdressers this morning as something light to read. It's the last (so far) in a series of mysteries with a Regency setting featuring Dido Kent, who bears some resemblance to Jane Austen. Dido is acting the role of paid companion to a demanding relative and is staying in a house with some intriguing puzzles for her to solve. It's a fun read so far and particularly good on the limited options available to unmarried women at that time.
What I'm Reading Next
No idea, but it might be The Hollow Crown by Dan Jones as I enjoyed The Plantagenets last month and don't to wait too long before reading the continuation of the family saga.
We went to the Menier Chocolate Factory last night to see Love in Idleness by Terence Rattigan, starring Eve Best and Anthony Head.
This is a rarely performed play by Rattigan with a complicated history as this version is actually a composite of two plays, the original version Less Than Kind and then a revised version Love In Idleness written for Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt, who wanted something lighter and less political from Rattigan. The director Trevor Nunn has melded the two versions together so we saw a combination of light social comedy and more politically questioning drama (literally kitchen sink at one point). I'm torn as to how well it worked as at times the effect was slightly grating, but it did give a sense of danger to the evening and right up until the end I wasn't quite sure how the story was going to turn out. The play starts with Olivia Brown (played brilliantly by Eve Best) ringing up friends to arrange a dinner party. She is the epitome of a stylish society hostess and it soon becomes clear that she is living in sin with very wealthy industrialist and wartime cabinet minister Sir John Fletcher (played with urbane charm and underlying ruthlessness by Anthony Head). They appear to be idyllically happy but a problem arises when her teenage son Michael (the excellent Edward Bluemel) returns home from being an evacuee in Canada. Olivia hasn't told Michael about her relationship and he is self-righteously horrified that she is living in luxury with a man whose politics he loudly and persistently despises and wishes she was back in her originally more humble surroundings as the person he thinks she used to be before his father died. There are lots of riffs on Hamlet and it is at times very funny, but there are points when it teeters on the edge of tragedy as Olivia is forced to choose between her demanding son and her lover. Add in Sir John's separated wife played by Helen George and there are some delightful moments of social comedy, but always with a sense that something could go badly wrong. It was a very enjoyable evening and, as usual at the Chocolate Factory, the staging was excellent with newsreels used to highlight the wartime setting (and the time that the play was written). Because it's such a small theatre it does get incredibly hot and the seating is quite squashed but it was worth it for being close enough to see Eve Best almost corpse and catch Anthony Head's facial expressions.
What I've Just Finished Reading
A Nervous Splendour: Vienna 1888-89 by Frederic Morton. I bought this last year to read before we went to Vienna, so obviously I started reading it this year in Budapest! The author looks at this era of Viennese history through the eyes of figures like Sigmund Freud, Arthur Schnitzler, Hugo Wolf, Anton Bruckner, all in different stages of their career, but dominating them all is the intriguing figure of Crown Prince Rudolph. He is the heir to the Habsburg throne, but denied any power and can only express his liberal views through anonymous articles in the Viennese press. His love affair with Mary Vetsera (I've always known of her as Marie Vetsera but apparently she preferred the English version Mary which sounded more fashionable to a girl who seems to have been the equivalent of one of today's Instagram stars) culminates in their suicide at Mayerling with an initially shattering effect upon Vienna. The author sometimes overwrites but it is a fascinating story with a chilling ending as the signs of anti-Semitism start to rise in Vienna. A good popular history which brings its setting to life, though I could have done with some footnotes as I wasn't sure where some of the author's interpretations were coming from.
What I'm Reading Now
A Place of Confinement by Anna Dean. I grabbed this as I was on my way to the hairdressers this morning as something light to read. It's the last (so far) in a series of mysteries with a Regency setting featuring Dido Kent, who bears some resemblance to Jane Austen. Dido is acting the role of paid companion to a demanding relative and is staying in a house with some intriguing puzzles for her to solve. It's a fun read so far and particularly good on the limited options available to unmarried women at that time.
What I'm Reading Next
No idea, but it might be The Hollow Crown by Dan Jones as I enjoyed The Plantagenets last month and don't to wait too long before reading the continuation of the family saga.
We went to the Menier Chocolate Factory last night to see Love in Idleness by Terence Rattigan, starring Eve Best and Anthony Head.
This is a rarely performed play by Rattigan with a complicated history as this version is actually a composite of two plays, the original version Less Than Kind and then a revised version Love In Idleness written for Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt, who wanted something lighter and less political from Rattigan. The director Trevor Nunn has melded the two versions together so we saw a combination of light social comedy and more politically questioning drama (literally kitchen sink at one point). I'm torn as to how well it worked as at times the effect was slightly grating, but it did give a sense of danger to the evening and right up until the end I wasn't quite sure how the story was going to turn out. The play starts with Olivia Brown (played brilliantly by Eve Best) ringing up friends to arrange a dinner party. She is the epitome of a stylish society hostess and it soon becomes clear that she is living in sin with very wealthy industrialist and wartime cabinet minister Sir John Fletcher (played with urbane charm and underlying ruthlessness by Anthony Head). They appear to be idyllically happy but a problem arises when her teenage son Michael (the excellent Edward Bluemel) returns home from being an evacuee in Canada. Olivia hasn't told Michael about her relationship and he is self-righteously horrified that she is living in luxury with a man whose politics he loudly and persistently despises and wishes she was back in her originally more humble surroundings as the person he thinks she used to be before his father died. There are lots of riffs on Hamlet and it is at times very funny, but there are points when it teeters on the edge of tragedy as Olivia is forced to choose between her demanding son and her lover. Add in Sir John's separated wife played by Helen George and there are some delightful moments of social comedy, but always with a sense that something could go badly wrong. It was a very enjoyable evening and, as usual at the Chocolate Factory, the staging was excellent with newsreels used to highlight the wartime setting (and the time that the play was written). Because it's such a small theatre it does get incredibly hot and the seating is quite squashed but it was worth it for being close enough to see Eve Best almost corpse and catch Anthony Head's facial expressions.