Well… you know me – I love to do geeky techy things, especially where social media is involved, and this seemed to be the natural step forward (even if people have already been doing it for years!).
I recorded it via my Nokia N95 8GB as my old eye-toy-hacked-into-a-webcam would have given a far poorer resolution. Alas the lighting is slightly off on the clip. You may also be interested to know that it was filmed perched on a loaf of bread (that’s the phone… not me…! )
Anyway, if you have any feedback, please do let me know. I may explore this medium further if folk think it adds some merit to things – possibly to enhance the textual content on my theatre/gig reviews (which usually take 1-2 hours to write and ‘media-up’!), and to cover most of my personal updates to the blog – i.e making them a little more human. Also, I rather like vimeo, so wanted to find a way to connect with that platform a lot more too, especially now that wordpress.com support it.
So, it’s the summer, all the ‘beautiful people’ are out and about with their tops off, muscles out, and once again, I feel awful!
I’ve always had quite a low self-image, despite never really having a lack of attention (weird, I know). I think that I am quite a shy person, and despite occasionally being camper than a row of tents housing a boy-scout orgy (I blame the 80s music – it sets me off!); I am fundamentally very insecure in a lot of things that I do/think, especially when it comes to how I appear/come across to other people.
Today, and unusually(!), I spontaneously decided that I really wanted to buy some shorts and some new shoes to go with them, as the weather down here in London at the moment is simply heavenly (and set to last for a few months!). Shorts and I are a bit of a no-no. I don’t often do anything outside of the normal jeans and t-shirt, and have only recently started to accessorise myself again! I am very rarely seen in public without a top on, and even as a child, I always made myself shower and dress before going downstairs to spend ‘lounging around in the morning’ time with the family. I absolutely hate clothes shopping, as I am never any good at picking clothes out for myself, in the past, folk have just been out and bought them for me. I suppose that I find clothes on a rack boring and lifeless, and lack the confidence to approach a sales assistant and try items on and start experiment a little.
Anyway, cue MUCH faffing around trying to find some shorts that I actually thought looked OK and wanted to try on, and then trying to find a pair that I thought went with what I thought the pair of Converse that I bought this time last year, and hadn’t seen since, looked like (justified at the time as a purchase to go with *any* pair of shorts that I happened to buy… but in the end bought none!), I finally settled on the below (plus a new pair of shoes… just in case )
Converse purchased last year - never worn
New shoes by 'Super Dry'
Going to wear the shorts tomorrow… very worried that I’ll look silly in them, or that my outfit won’t look right, but I shall give it a go!
As for the body, I think that I’m going to try and hammer the Wii Fit for a few days and see if that does anything! Although I’m a 29″ waist, I still have a BMI of around 23.5 and I really would like some definition to my stomach area (and to lose the paunch!). Granted, I am not ‘fat’, however I’m not exactly skinny either!
I seem to have gone several shades darker from the sun this week (yay), though have the usual faff of having to remember to keep my glasses off (as otherwise I’d get glasses marks, cue even more embarassment!) and my hair quiffed up. I have also taken to not wearing a watch, and to rolling my sleeves up to the top to ensure I get a tan right the way up my arm (before feeling silly, and rolling them back down again). All this, just to look ‘normal’ in the summer – argh!
At the moment though, and returning to my opening frustration, it is just really hard to look at all these people walking around with fabulous physiques, as it’s making me feel absolutely terrible! I’m sure that I’m not the only one who feels like this… surely there must be SOME other ‘normal’ shaped people out there without ripped six-packs…right?!
On Bank Holiday Monday just gone, I decided to go out for a walk that I’d been planning for a while; down the Thames Path between Windsor/Eton Riverside and Maidenhead.
I’d especially wanted to get a glimpse of Oakley Court, which was the setting for The Rocky Horror Show and many other Hammer House Of Horror Films.
I had no idea that the whole walk would be so beautiful! Windsor/Eton is gorgeous (if not touristy… which I guess one is to expect), and some of the villages that I encountered on the way up the path actually elicited a gasp from me when I saw them!
I managed to get some awesome photos on my Nokia N95 camera phone – please open them up to full size and let me know what you think… I think the level of detail that the lens has captured is remarkable!
My one tip for people planning on doing this stage of the walk – consider doing it in reverse! It took me 4 trains to get back home (Maidenhead to Slough; Slough to Windsor Central; a walk across town to Windsor/Eton Riverside; a train from W/ER to Clapham Junction [you can go on to London Waterloo]; and then another train back to where I live from Clapham Jct). After completing the walk and being all hot and yukky, faffing around with additional trains is the last thing you want to do! Start at Maidenhead and work your way back down. In my opinion, Windsor also has much more to offer the weary traveller than Maidenhead does.
This has to have been one of the most gadgety walks I have been on too; I had my Nokia N95 with me, my blackberry, mp3 player and a few other bits and pieces – definitely no way that I was getting lost with 3 different GPS mapping devices. If only we’d had all of this in the Scouts! heh.
In addition to providing details of the walk below, I have also created a vimeo video of all my pictures from the walk. It’s my first one, and done late at night, and so some of the wipe effects are a little rubbish; forgive me!
[I reckon that Vimeo is best viewed in full screen - to do this, click on the outward arrows icon situated next to the volume control]
I have taken the text for the suggested walk and the local history information from HERE and added some of my own pictures and comments to it. I would hasten to add that the walk probably comes in around 9 miles (signs on the path indicate 8 miles walking on the Thames Path, and I would add in a mile for walking to/from the respective stations – which is not covered in this guide).
The rural towpath remains on the Buckinghamshire bank, with views of a film set house and Bray village before passing under Maidenhead’s Brunel bridge. There are no refreshments on the towpath between Winsor and Maidenhead except in season at Bray Lock.
WINDSOR is derived from the Anglo-Saxon ‘Wyndesore’ meaning ‘winding shore’, which probably refers to the Thames’ twisting course. The castle, begun as a fortress by William the Conqueror, is the Queen’s main home and the resting place of many past monarchs, including Henry VI. The exterior is the result of extensive restoration by Sir Jeffry Wyatville for George IV. When a massive fire swept the west end in 1992 water was pumped from the Thames and two years later stone for the restoration came by barge. The only painting destroyed was one which George III had wanted to burn almost 200 years earlier. He also gave Franz de Cleyn’s painting The Last Supper to the parish church where curate JS Stone wrote the hymn The Church’s One Foundation. The next door Guildhall, where Prince Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005, was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, who had to add extra pillars (in fact not quite touching the ceiling) because the council thought it looked unsafe.
Almost opposite is a plaque recalling HG Wells’ apprenticeship to a draper, portrayed in Kipps and The History of Mr Polly.
WINDSOR BRIDGE is at least an 800-year-old crossing point. Both road and river traffic paid tolls, and in 1736 it was possible to walk over alive for 2d while being carried in a coffin cost 6s 8d. Tolls ended in 1897 after court proceedings, but the tollkeeper’s cottage remains as part of Sir Christopher Wren’s House Hotel on the Windsor bank. The present 1822 bridge was the first arched bridge on the river. Road traffic was banned in 1970. Until Eton College’s 550th anniversary in 1990 boys were not allowed over the bridge into Windsor unless wearing a tie and jacket.
The Thames Path crosses the bridge to Eton. (The towpath continues briefly on the Windsor side, but the ferry now operates only in late July when a fun fair is on the Eton bank.)
ETON College, dominating the village, was inspired by Winchester College and founded by Henry VI. Seventy poor scholars formed the school nucleus and today there are are still 70 ‘King’s Scholars’, although most of the school consists of ‘Oppidans’ paying fees. The chapel was built in the 15th century with the intention of later adding a nave to what is really just the east end choir. Part of the uniform is a black tail coat, worn in mourning for George III. Eton’s upstream riverside is known as the Brocas after the Brocas family who gave the land to the college – Sir John de Brocas from Gascony was one of the Black Prince’s favourite knights.
Turn left down Brocas Street. Beyond the Waterman’s Arms and the Eton College boathouse there is the Brocas meadow, where the towpath joins at the ferry point and main mooring. The way is over grass with a fine view back to the castle. After the wood there is a railway bridge.
WINDSOR GREAT WESTERN BRIDGE, carrying the Great Western Railway (GWR) branch line from Slough, was designed by Brunel and opened in 1849 just months ahead of the London and South Western Railway which was building the Black Pott’s Bridge.
After two footbridges (the first is Lower Bargeman’s Bridge) over Cuckoo Weir, the path is on an island only spoilt by the Queen Elizabeth (Windsor relief road) Bridge. On the far bank beyond the bypass is Clewer church on the Mill Stream.
CLEWER William the Conqueror attended services at St Andrew’s. Buried in the southwest corner of the churchyard (noted for its wild flowers) is Sir Daniel Gooch, GWR’s first locomotive engineer, who decided to make Swindon a railway centre. Also buried there is Nanny May (Mary Ann Hull), who looked after Queen Victoria’s children as listed on the stone. A now closed convent in nearby Hatch Lane once received prostitutes sent by William Gladstone from London for rehabilitation. (Clewer church can be reached by going up the path on the upstream side of the bypass bridge, over the bridge and down into the village. Follow the road round to the
right.)
Although the main path now cuts the corner, the Thames Path stays with the towpath. The paths are united at a bridge when the towpath leaves the island. There is a view of Eton Wick inland. Behind the trees on the far bank is Windsor Race Course and by the path there is soon a riverside seat at a bank known as Athens.
ATHENS was an Eton College bathing spot where rules required that ‘boys who are undressed must either get at once into the water or get behind screens when boats containing ladies come in sight’.
Soon after Boveney Lock there is a last view of Windsor Castle – the upper turret and flagpole can just be seen above the trees. Soon there is Boveney church.
BOVENEY CHURCH, which has a Norman window, may have been a chapel for nearby Bolney Court, which belonged to Burnham Abbey three miles north. It is now in the care of the Friends of Friendless Churches, which has recently completed work on conserving the 15th-century weatherboarded and timber-framed tower.
After lonely Andrew’s Boat House the river bends to give a view of substantial riverside houses at Ruddle’s Pool and then Windsor Marina. After a mile the path is level with Oakley Court, which will have been glimpsed earlier.
OAKLEY COURT was built in 1859 as a residence for an Englishman who hoped the Gothic style would make his homesick French wife happy. General de Gaulle is the most famous Frenchman to have visited. In 1950 the house was purchased by Hammer Films who used it for making St Trinian’s, Half a Sixpence and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. In 1970 the 92-bedroom mansion became a hotel.
Just beyond Queen’s Eyot is Bray Marina on the far bank. On the towpath, by an iron cyclists’ mile post, an unmarked footpath leads inland, passing through Wallbank Grove (planted 1996) to Dorney Court.
DORNEY COURT dates from about 1440 and stands on slight high ground to avoid flooding. The house, ‘one of the finest Tudor manor houses’, has been the home of the Palmer family since 1600, and among the portraits is Sir James Palmer, Governor of the Mortlake Tapestry Works. Dorney means ‘bee island’ and honey is sold here. It is also where England’s first pineapple may have been grown and given to Charles II who visited here. The church dates from the Norman period. The house, used as
‘Syon’ in the film Lady Jane, is open on bank holidays in May (and the preceding Sun) and Sun–Fri in August; 1.30–4pm; admission charge; www.dorneycourt.co.uk.
A short distance beyond the Dorney footpath turning, the towpath passes under Summerleaze Bridge.
SUMMERLEAZE BRIDGE opened in 1996 as both a footbridge for public use and a support for a conveyor belt carrying gravel from an excavation for a 1½ mile rowing lake developed by Eton College on the left bank. The bridge is named after the contractor from nearby Maidenhead.
Just before reaching a line of residences at Dorney Reach, where the path is well maintained, there is the beginning of Monkey Island.
MONKEY ISLAND probably means ‘monks island’ as it belonged to Merton Priory on the River Wandle (see section 2) which had a house upstream at Amerden Bank. But in 1738 the 3rd Duke of Marlborough decorated the fishing lodge ceiling with
monkeys. The island’s foundations for building had been strengthened when barges brought rubble from London after the 1666 Great Fire. The lodge has been a hotel since 1840. Edward VII and Queen Alexandra had tea on the lawn with three future sovereigns – George V, Edward VIII and George VI. H.G. Wells visited several times with Rebecca West who describes the island in her novel Return of the Soldier. The island could only be reached by boat until a footbridge was built from the right bank in 1956. The ‘Birmingham Six’ spent their first night of freedom here in secret after being released from prison in 1991.
Beyond a gate the way is through a copse and under the M4 Bridge (1961) to Amerden Bank. Soon there is Bray Lock and, after Headpile Eyot, a clear view of Bray village on the Berkshire bank. A seat is directly opposite The Waterside Inn
BRAY is famous for the song Vicar of Bray although which vicar is uncertain. Simon Alwyn adapted to the many changes of the Reformation years but the song probably refers to the Stuart times. The church is early 14th-century and among those married there is snooker player Steve Davies. The village is noted for celebrities including Rolf Harris who came because it reminded him of his “river’s edge home in Perth”. Gerald Ratner lived at upstream Somerville (with the American wrap-around
balcony). On the Waterside Inn jetty is the warning ‘restaurant only’ in case anyone thinks it’s still The George pub rather than Michael Roux’s 3 star establishment opened in 1972. Diners have included the Duke and Duchess of York who came just
two days after announcing their separation. Journalist John MacCarthy first met friend and campaigner Jill Morrell whilst on an outing to the inn – the group made alternative arrangements when they saw the expensive menu. The inn is next to Ferry Lane but a ferry no longer runs across to the seat.
After reaching a house the path is gravelled and then metalled to pass under Maidenhead Railway Bridge.
MAIDENHEAD RAILWAY BRIDGE, completed by Brunel in 1839, carries the Paddington-Bristol railway line and appears in Turner’s 1844 painting Rain, Steam and Speed on the GWR. These are the largest and flattest brick arches ever built and many thought they would collapse under the first train. A shout or whistle from below will echo. The bridge, widened in 1893, partly rests on Guards Club Island – the club was on the far bank.
When you come to the below bridge, you have reached Maidenhead. To leave the Thames Path, keep to the right hand side on the private road, and walk up to the bridge, turn left, and go over it.
According to BBC News’ Entertainment correspondant Lizo Mzimba, and via his twitter account, the new Doctor Who assistant will be 21 year old Karen Gillan (who previously appeared in the Fires of Pompeii episode as Soothsayer).
Soothsayer is a member of the Sibylline Sisterhood that were in Pompeii in 79 CE. She has eyes painted on the back of her hands – a sign of a soothsayer. She was the first of the Sisterhood to see the TARDIS or “Blue Box” that had appeared in a prophecy. She had psychic powers due to breathing in dust from Vesuvius that was converting her into a Pyrovile and could see time thanks to the rift activity there. It is likely that she died during the eruption as it has not been shown otherwise.
NB – I do not know if her assistant will be an extension of Soothsayer or whether she will be a completely different character – I think that they could go either way with it!
Worth noting that Gillan is being brought in for Matt Smith’s doctor, and that the character of Adelaide (portrayed by Lindsay Duncan) is being brought in especially for the Waters of Mars special. Whilst her time on the show has not been confirmed by the BBC, in light of today’s announcement, I presume we can assume it is just one or two of the special episodes… (?)
NB – I went to one of the Preview performance of this show… I understand changes have been made in the weeks after I went to see it in a bid to try and improve most of the issues that people were picking up on… See the comments at the end of this post for more info
Last night I went to go and see Peter Pan at the specially constructed Kensington Theatre in Kensington Gardens, London.
Straight off the bat, I should state that I really didn’t enjoy this production. For the first time in my life, I actually left at the Interval, something I’d never considered doing before at any other production. I’ll let you decide the merit of my opinion on that basis, however I still think that there is probably still some residual value in my thoughts.
In my opinion, they absolutely butchered what has to be one of, if not the best, childrens stories ever written. The acting seemed to play second fiddle to the tech. For example, I got no chills when Wendy utters the immortal ‘boy, why are you crying?’ etc.
As a note on the acting, I am not suggesting that the actors were at fault (in fact, they are a fantastically accomplished and experienced bunch!!), and so that leads me back to blaming the script/staging.
I thought that I was right last night when I proclaimed to Greg that I reckoned that I’d noticed that (the fantastic) Jonathan Hyde was Mr. Darling / Captain Hook, but then I became less sure of myself. Looking at the website this morning, it transpires that I was correct. In a way, I am very dismayed that I had the chance to see Jonathan Hyde in action and, in a way, let it slip.
There was a lot of gloss on this production, without a layer of matte beneath to absorb the guff.
The whole first act just felt rushed.
The venue itself simply does not work. Essentially it’s a marquee, and whilst this worked for music-orientated productions like Cirque and Afrika Afrika, it did not work for Peter Pan.
The whole structure was far too noisy and it was near impossible to hear the actors. The sound quality in the venue was utterly abysmal. All I could hear was people walking around, clomping about and people talking. There were also a lot of restless children about – can you imagine what they’d probably be like at 10pm had we stayed?! The actors make use of the audience areas frequently, which will no doubt cause problems at some point, and at best adds a lot to the peripheral noise that already exists.
The venue is sat in the round, a medium which already has its distractions, mainly due to you being able to see everything and everyone. Being encouraged to up the distraction factor further by having cast members in the audience was a bad move in my opinion.
Do you want to know the shows biggest crime of all? Not one of the children that was sat around me seemed to be remotely engaged in the story. No giggles, no ‘wows’, no movement, nothing. All sat there, deadpan. How can they manage to take the magic out of Peter Pan?! If the kids aren’t enjoying it, you can bet that the adults aren’t going to be either!
I should hasten to add, we weren’t the only people to leave at the interval. People were actually queuing up to leave! Granted, a percentage of those leaving may have been there on freebies… perhaps if I’d paid a whacking £50 a ticket, I’d have forced myself to endure a second act. For that kind of money, and the production that we saw, personally, I would not have been happy if I am being honest.
Normally, I can forgive some poorly developed characters should there be, for example, some disco nuns to hand, however I could find nothing at all to offset the many negative aspects of this production, which is perhaps why I have been so unusually harsh to it.
The thing that had excited me most in the build-up to seeing this show was the tech. They have a huge 360 degree screen which they project your surroundings onto. The scene where they were flying over London was remarkable, I grant, however it quickly became less exciting in more stationary times. Perhaps not quite as exciting as I’d hoped.
The chap playing Peter Pan had some nice muscles, and the puppeteer chap was also rather dishy (I’m sure that you were very keen to know that!), however even they couldn’t distract me from the lack of enjoyment that I was getting from this production as a whole.
All in all, this was an absolute lame duck of a production for me. It didn’t seem to know where it was pitching itself, and the venue let it down immensely. Instead, I hope to go and see a more classical adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s timeless classic so that I can fully appreciate the sheer awesomeness of this fantastic story.
Bit of an unusual post from me now… so do bear with me, it’s all for a good cause, honest!
Last night I was approached by an acquaintance on facebook and asked if I would mind supporting his participation in a Mt. Kilimanjaro climb in aid of Scope, a UK charity aimed at helping those with Cerebral Palsey and helping society to integrate better with those with the condition.
Of course, how could I refuse?!
I would do the climb only if I was allowed to ride a giraffe to the top (thus doing it in style... none of this sweating and panting for me heh!)
The team are aiming for a rather ambitious £7K, and need to have sponsorship in place by November 09. The climb itself is at the end of January 2010.
I’m sure that we all saw the Comic Relief climb done by the celebs and marvelled at just how gruelling that was, and so anybody prepared to put in that much training, comittment and ’suffering’ deserves (at least!) £7K of sponsorship in my opinion!
There is plenty of information available on the team’s ‘Justgiving‘ page, and I’m certain that Rob won’t mind you contacting him via facebook or via his Kilimanjaro 2010 blog if you’d like any further information!
It doesn’t necessarily need to be a huge amount, I’m sure that even £1 would help and be gratefully appreciated by Rob and Scope (as would the £50-s, I’m sure heh!)!
Don’t forget that if you’re a UK tax-payer, you should ‘Gift Aid’ your donation (at no extra cost to yourself) and the charity gets additional funds presented to them from the Government!
Hopefully Rob will keep in contact with his progress when it comes time for the big climb and we’ll all be able to see how he’s done!
Perhaps the only English worded song in the World with Kilimanjaro in it’s lyric!
Yesterday afternoon, my friend Adam and I caught the matinée for Sister Act – The Musical; currently in previews at the London Palladium and set to open on Tuesday June 2nd, 2009.
I was very fortunate to get chance to see the show as my original opportunity was for the week prior and clashed with Little Shop Of Horrors; so hurrah for Adam and the Hairspray outing! I was especially pleased to be watching the show with Adam as I was looking forward to an ‘insiders’ view of the staging to contrast with my own ‘enthusiasts’ view.
We both came out of it thinking the same thing really; the opening was terrible, but as it went along, it got a lot better, and we were both up at the end, wildly swinging our rosary beads with the rest of the jubilant (and upstanding) congregation.
Realistically, we’re talking about a a show comprising of Sheila Hancock and a sisterhood of disco nuns… so it’s hard to go wrong really!
First, I shall tackle the thorny subject of the opening few minutes. You’re opening the London Palladium of all places… you want a huge opening, maybe a lounge act, a few bangs and sparkles, maybe Delores flies in over the crowd… and instead you get Mother Superior stood in the corner, meekly asking for someone to help the convent. Disappointing.
The pre-set of a purple curtain and a large gold cherub was like something ripped off the So Graham Norton credits… ugh! I do hope that the creative team behind the show tweak the whole opening before they get out of previews, as, if you open the show on a bad note, it takes a long time to recover in my opinion; which was true of this show.
The gangsters who were after Delores were comedic (and rarely in a good way… sorry!… script more than actors, of course!) and in my opinion should have been a lot nastier and scarier than they were.
However, those are my only major (and grudging) criticisms of what is otherwise a fantastic show!
Whilst Alan Menken’s soundtrack for this musical isn’t going to set the world alight I’m afraid to report, there are only two decent songs in the production (which they repeat endlessly!), it is certainly foot-tappingly fabulous.
The real winners in this production are the people behind the set design. It is absolutely remarkable how they turn the stage around… it really has to be seen to be believed. A very versatile set with some innovative mechanics behind it. I envisage several technical awards when it comes to award season next year!
Most of the characters were great, with my particular favourites being Sister Mary-Lazarus, Sister Mary-Patrick and, of course, Delores. Some great casting / portrayals in there from a very accomplished company of actors.
Patina Miller is a genuine gem and I think she’s great in the role of Delores.
Disco Nuns!
Disappointingly, Ian Lavender (of Dad’s Army fame, in Sister Act playing Monsignor Howard) was barely in it and didn’t really have much of a role to play, and I thought the back-story behind Sister Mary-Robert was surplus and bored me slightly.
There has been a lot of hype about this show (unfortunately, most of it self-generated by the Sister Act press office!), however I do think that this is a good show, and it managed to do something that a production has not managed to do for me in quite a while; which surprised me. I was actually welling up a little and felt very uplifted at the end of the show…! I’ve been jaded in my theatrical pursuits in the past few years, however this show really did give me that huge overwhelming feel-good-vibe that I’ve probably not felt since first seeing Hairspray (and them finishing on”You Can’t Stop The Beat”)
I give it a few years in the West End and think that it is definitely fabulous as a new piece of musical theatre making it’s debut.
I would heartily recommend it as a fun and uplifting show – at times you want them to just burst into the songs from the film (and to hell with the copyright… I’ll pay my share!) – however the story does transfer well, and definitely works as a stand alone piece of theatre.
Sister Act is currently booking until February 2010 at the (gorgeous) Palladium Theatre, London.
The show runs for 2 hours and 30 minutes (including interval).
For a BBC interview with Sheila Hancock (Mother Superior) along with a few clips of the show, please click HERE.
I was browsing Thingbox earlier and came across this hilarious video skit of The Apprentice that had been posted on the forums:
I have not laughed so much in ages!
Hurrah to ‘Casetteboy’ for such a great clip. Their WordPress blog can be found here – http://cassetteboy.wordpress.com (and there is also a post on his blog dedicated to this clip HERE).
Last night, I went back to watch Spring Awakening for what will no doubt be my last time (very sad!).
Truly a spring to remember thanks to this wonderful musical. Whilst Spring Awakening has been with us, the West End became exciting, fun and really was ‘buzzing’. I still maintain that the West End is going to be much poorer without this musical still playing. It’s a pity that they couldn’t find a smaller venue to house it.
I have to say, this last time was absolutely the best time! We were sat in row E, right in front of the stage. I made eye contact with several of the cast members throughout the performance and, if I’d lunged, I probably could have grabbed the ever yummy Iwan Rheon (Moritz Stiefel) and ran away with him heh!
Being up close really demonstrated just how phenomenal these young actors are. Their faces were incredibly expressive and I will confess to being moved to tears several times in the production.
I went last night with a friend, Ade, who hadn’t been to see it previously, and whilst it was unfortunate that he wasn’t bowled over by it, I found it really good to (finally!) see some criticism of the show, as perhaps I had been a little too ‘this is perfect’ in my prior reviews. We both agreed that the gun shot scene could actually have done with a gunshot to finish it off, rather than the lights just dropping. In a show that deals with the themes that it does, it seems strange that they chose to avoid that.
When I first went to see this production, I loved how the story unfolded and my jaw dropped several times; which very rarely happens. I think that the show still manages to maintain this, however, and again as a result of discussions last night, I think that Wendla’s demise could also have been announced in a far deeper fashion than it was.
Without doubt, Moritz Stiefel is my favourite character in *any* musical. Everybody loves the cute, tragically tormented and innocent underdog, right? I really loved the depth of his character, and I think that Iwan Rheon has excelled himself in becoming Stiefel. When the musical abruptly turns to tragedy, he dies, and during ‘Left Behind’, I am always in floods! If he does not receive a theatrical award for his performance, I will be very shocked. I truly have never seen a character like it in a musical.
That said, the whole cast is absolutely phenomenal. Most of them are making their West End debuts. If this is the standard of acting to come in the West End then I am VERY excited! Across all of my visits to the show, I could not say that I’ve seen one duff performance, and really do wish them all well for the future. It’s hard to see any of them not being top musical theatre names in the future, and I’m sure we’ve not heard the last of any of them.
It seemed apt to close my posting and my thoughts on Spring Awakening with a copy of the lyrics from ‘The Song Of Purple Summer’:
And All Shall Fade
The Flowers of Spring
The World and all the Sorrows
At the heart of everything
But still it stays
The butterfly sings
And opens purple summer
With a flutter of its wings
The earth will wave with corn
The grey-fly choir will mourn
And mare will neigh
With Stallions that they mate
Foals they’ve born
And all shall know the wonder of purple summer…..
And yet i wait
The swallow brings
A song too hard to follow
That no one else can sing
The fences sway
The porches swing
The clouds begin to thunder
Crickets wander murmuring
The earth will wave with corn
The grey-fly choir will mourn
And mares with neigh
With stallions that they mate
Foals they’ve born
And all shall know the wonder
I will sing the song of purple summer.
And All shall know the wonder
I will sing the song of purple summer.
)
)
