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Published: August 9th 2007
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Harrods
It's a great building, shame about the contents. ...and the illegitimate theatre too...
Morning all,
Thought for today: The Poms are, much to my surprise, fiercely patriotic, and often one sees the George Cross being flown from suburban flagstaves, windows and balconies. What amuses me most though are the ENGLAND! bumper stickers all over their Citroens, Renaults, Peugots, Fiats and VWs. Teehee....
To the theatre Batman! This past week has been a week of culture, acting and other such silliness. It all began on a lovely Saturday evening in Oxford when Jen and I adjourned to the Old Firehouse Theatre for a production of Terry Pratchett's Going Postal. It was put on by students, and while that definitely showed through, it had all the hallmarks of an excellent production.
The play itself was staged in a small theatre that was terribly reminiscent of Bats! It was about as comfortable, that's for sure. The sets were simple and effective and shifted about the stage with relative ease and speed. The cast was huge, barely fitting onstage for the curtain call and despite that, some played several parts.
The acting highlights came from the supporting cast. Vetinari was exactly the way he should have been -
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Nice on a cold night. cunning, slightly evil and he did the finger steepling maneuver like an expert. Reacher Gilt was played with an Enron-esque bent, Miss Cripslock, the Times reporter was the most manic journalist ever to have lived and the bloke who played all the golems did a sterling job. Mention must be made of the two actresses playing Mad Al and Sane Alex (of the Smoking Gnu) and their 'Woodpecker' gag - ask me when I get back and I'll tell you! The best of the bunch though, by a long stretch, were the postmen. Apprentice Postman Stanley and Junior Postman Groat were absolutely priceless. Stanley made OCD incredibly entertaing and Groat (played by a bloke who can't have been more than 22) couldn't have been a more cantakerous old sod if he'd actually been one. His excellent pose struck after a cry of "The mail must MOVE!" had the audience hooting.
However, the supporting cast were left hanging a little bit by the leads. Moist von Lipwig is meant to be a scheming conman devoid of all morals who finds that making an honest buck is actually quite an appealing prospect and Adora Belle Dearheart is a woman who is
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Outside the Sheldonian (quite understandably) bitter and angry with the whole world who discovers that she's fallen very hard for the amoral Moist. While the actors put on a creditable display, Moist wasn't quite greasy enough and Adora not quite bitter enough. It was just a little bit one dimensional and often some of the longer speeches seemed as if they were simply being read off the script. The relationship between the two characters was characterised by indifference, rather than the antagonism which Pratchett intended.
Overall though, an excellent evenings entertainment for not very much. We both thoroughly enjoyed it and while the adaptation leaves a little bit to be desired, we had a lot of laughs.
But now, onto some real serious theatre. Five days later we leapt aboard a London bound train and headed for the Ivor Novello Theatre to finally see Patrick Stewart in The Tempest. First of all the train is a much better way to travel to London than the bus although it is quite a bit more expensive. Paddington Station is fantastic too - it's one of those enormous Industrial Revolution-era cast iron glass train platforms and it's HUGE! Magnificent. It's not as detailed or
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Cast Iron and Fire....what's not to love? pretty as Grand Central in New York, but it's just so big!
JOSEPH ALESSI - Stephano
JULIAN BLEACH - Ariel
CRAIG GAZEY - Trinculo
JOHN LIGHT - Caliban
PATRICK STEWART - Prospero
Sets, music, AV stuff, and the seal gag.
So on a bright and sunny London Friday we ventured out into the city. I was exhausted thanks to my cold not letting me sleep overnight but somehow the sunshine and a good brekky did wonders. We took the Tube to Knightsbridge and wandered about in the sunshine until the shops opened, admiring the buildings and just enjoying being out and away from Oxford. When Harrods finally opened it's doors at 10am, we ambled in and I was completely blown away by the place. I'll be honest, I hated it. I think it represents conspicuous consumption of the worst kind and the whole place is an anachronism, a relic of a bygone age. Any store that is comfortable charging £14 for a sandwich and £6000 for a wine cooler is indescribably awful. Jen did make a good point though - the really rich have to have somewhere to go and Knightsbridge is full
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A Luminox Sphere of them. We saw brand new Rollers, Bentleys and Aston Martins as a matter of course. However, despite all that, it had it's moments. The foodhall, aside from being grossly expensive, had some incredible edibles (sorry!) and the upper floors contained a strange mix of antique furniture and brand new 71" (yep, that's six foot) TV. The tackiness of the decor gives it a charm of sorts and I can imagine what a palace it must have been when it opened, but I still hated it.
So having explored Harrods, we decided to do the complete opposite and trip over to Notting Hill and along Portobello Road. The markets at Portobello are perhaps not as extensive as those at Camden Lock but they are certainly just as interesting, if not moreso.
The final touristy exercise for the day was a visit to Westminster Abbey. It is a truly astonishing place, a masterpiece of Perpendicular Gothic architecture and the tomb for some of England's most notable residents. The tombs of Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scots are there, along with several Henrys and Edwards.
Some of the more interesting little things included finding the tomb of Oliver Cromwell
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The Centrepiece of the whole work at the foot of the Battle of Britain Chapel (odd!) and Britain's Unknown Soldier. His tomb is so much more understated than the American or New Zealand examples and yet is just as poignant.
We dined in a lovely little Italian restaurant off Oxford Street and then (eventually, after much faffing about and standing around in the cold) took the bus back to Oxford. The final installment of this update is going to be a description of the single weirdest and most foolish piece of installation art I have ever seen! This was Luminox. The photos here are of some of the Luminox pieces, but not all of them. Imagine, if you will, these installations surrounded by people (read: sardines) and a fierce southerly blowing up Oxford's worst wind tunnel. On the other hand, you've got to admit, they're pretty cool.
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Eleanor
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The RSC is coming to N.Z to do King Lear in June...it has Ian McKellan in it and yey it is coming to Wellington! can't wait. Sadly the BBCD production of The Tempest hath ruined it for me:-(