May 14, 2019 at 1:28 pm (Artists and Writers, Books, Lists, Plays, Recommended, Women Writers)
Tags: biographies, Cornwall, Daphne du Maurier, English writers, Events, Fowey, literary festivals, praise
Fowey: Tuesday, 14 May 2019
Have attended two talks, both of them brilliant. The one this morning was delivered by Kate Aspengren, an American playwright (from Iowa!): Where’s the Fire? A Playwright Considers the Plays of Daphne du Maurier.
Loved knowing about this other aspect of du Maurier. The woman tried her hand at everything: novels, short stories, plays — even poetry!
Aspengren talked about three du Maurier plays:
- The Years Between (first staged 1944, in Manchester)
- September Tide (first staged 1948, in Oxford)
- her own adaptation of Rebecca
Because self has read Tatiana de Rosnay’s Manderley Forever (one of her favorite reads of 2018), she knows of Daphne’s fraught marriage. Her husband was General “Boy” Browning who was mentioned (not flatteringly lol) in the book self just finished reading, Antony Beevor’s Arnhem: The Battle for the Bridges, 1944. It was a very strained marriage, exacerbated by long absences. And du Maurier seems to have drawn on that for The Years Between.
As for September Tide, trust du Maurier to come up with this wickedly entertaining plot: A woman falls in love with her daughter’s husband. According to Aspengren, “the mother and son-in-law have an instant attraction to each other” despite an age gap of seven years.
Daphne du Maurier brings it.
Stay tuned.
Leave a Comment
February 8, 2019 at 2:46 am (Conversations, destinations, Food and Drink, Lists, plans, Plays, Traveling, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: lunch, Mendocino, restaurants, Shakespeare, teaching
Drove up to Mendocino, which as the crow flies is only 200 miles from Redwood City, but always takes self at least FIVE HOURS.
On the way, she stopped by Yorkville Market and had lunch:
And then she mulled over the writing exercises she should start tomorrow with.
Should she have the students practice writing one very, very, very long, run-on sentence? With points to whoever can come up with the most run-on sentence?
Or, for fun, should she have them write a piece that’s all bad grammar and deliberately wrong spelling? Hamberder, anyone? Smocking guns?
Should she have them write a piece that’s all dialogue?
Should she ask them to capture every nuance of a piece of reality . . . in one sentence?
Should she have them practice writing a conversation that grows from an association of ideas (like a Harold Pinter play?)
Should she have them practice delaying the outcome for as long as possible?
She can’t decide. She’ll have to sleep on it.
BTW, this is one of the plays being presented by the Mendocino Theatre Company in 2019:
Mendocino Theatre Company, 2019 Season
Stay tuned.
Leave a Comment
September 10, 2018 at 4:47 pm (Artists and Writers, Family, Plays, Recommended, Sundays)
Tags: Cal Shakes, causes, performances, praise, Shakespeare, summer
Oh, kudos, Cal Shakes. Kudos for everything. For the chart showing the House of Lancaster and the House of York, for the jumbotron messages above the stage (BOO! and RICHARD IS DEAD! were so on point!)
It was a lovely way to spend a late summer afternoon.
In choosing the seats, self noticed most of the tickets taken were on the LEFT side of the amphitheatre (Section E). She figured that must be because of the sun. When it strikes directly, and you’re sitting there for four hours (yes, the play was four hours: it passes quickly), it is not fun. So she snagged the last three tickets on the left side, which were in the next to last row.
She’s never before sat so far from the stage, but it worked out perfect because this was a large-cast production, with a lot of comings and goings, and from higher up you can really appreciate how every inch of that stage is put to good use.
Self’s only regret was that she did not spring for a button saying, THOU TOAD! ‘Twas only $3.
Both she and son forked up cash for the donation bucket. (This year’s fundraising goal is $150,000)
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
The set for The War of The Roses was amazing, as were the costumes. Kudos to Scenic Designer Nina Ball and Costume Designer Anna R. Oliver.
Leave a Comment
December 21, 2017 at 7:38 am (Artists and Writers, Links, Places, Plays, postaday, Traveling)
Tags: Annaghmakerrig, happiness, Ireland, London, memories, postaday, postaweek, Shakespeare, Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Wordpress
The theme for this week’s Daily Post Photo Challenge is 2017 Favorites.
Here goes!
The Prince Albert Memorial on a Beautiful Day in Hyde Park, London, Late October 2017
Leaving the Globe after a performance of “Tristan and Yseult,” Tuesday 13 June 2017
The Main House in the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Annaghmakerrig, Under a Crescent Moon
What. A. Year.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
2 Comments
November 18, 2017 at 11:10 am (Artists and Writers, Books, Plays, Surprises)
Tags: Annaghmakerrig, artists residency, discoveries, Ireland, Saturday, Tyrone Guthrie Centre
- A play is a kind of — playing.
— Gerard Weales, A Play and Its Parts (Basic Books, 1964)
Self found this book today, while she was rummaging in a cabinet of her cottage at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Annaghmakerrig.
Stay tuned.
Leave a Comment
November 14, 2017 at 11:15 am (Books, Plays, Traveling)
Tags: Annaghmakerrig, Shakespeare, Tyrone Guthrie Centre
Prince: Shall I tell thee one thing, Poins?
Poins: Yes, faith, and let it be an excellent good thing.
Prince: It shall serve, among wits of no higher breeding than thine.
Poins: Go to, I stand the push of your one thing that you will tell.
Prince: Marry, I tell thee it is not meet that I should be sad now my father is sick; albeit I could tell to thee, as to one it pleases me for fault of a better to call my friend, I could be sad, and sad indeed too.
Poins: Very hardly, upon such a subject.
Prince: By this hand, thou thinkest me as far in the devil’s book as thou and Falstaff, for obduracy and persistency. Let the end try the man. But I tell thee, my heart bleeds inwardly that my father is so sick; and keeping such vile company as thou art hath in reason taken from me all ostentation of sorrow.
Poins: The reason?
Prince: What wouldst thou think of me if I should weep?
The Lake at Annaghmakerrig, Early Morning
Leave a Comment
November 1, 2017 at 7:23 pm (destinations, Links, Places, Plays, postaday, Traveling)
Tags: England, London, postaday, postaweek, Wordpress
This week’s Daily Post Photo Challenge is PEEK. Self thinks these pictures, from her current trip to London, do fit the bill:
Sky over Bloomsbury: Today, 1 November 2017
The Gielgud on Shaftesbury, where self saw “The Ferryman” on Monday, 30 October 2017
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
1 Comment
October 31, 2017 at 11:27 am (Artists and Writers, destinations, Food and Drink, Plays, postaday, Recommended, Traveling)
Tags: art, British Museum, desserts, England, exhibits, indulgences, London, museums, performances, postaday, postaweek, praise, restaurants, Wordpress
So many grrreat examples of ROUNDED, everywhere self looks.
First, this from the Scythian Exhibit at the British Museum (The special exhibit is 16.50 GBP, but the rest of the museum is free. This beauty is just standing in the lobby, next to a concession stand):
The Scythians, self learned from the exhibit, were nomads who roamed the wild Russian steppes. Everything of value to them was either made of fur or minted of gold. There are the most intricate golden belt buckles, as well as gold appliqués on thick fur coats.
Moving on:
Last night, self watched a play at The Gielgud: The Ferryman. The play was three hours and 15 minutes, one proper intermission, and a three-minute break to allow the audience to get up and stretch. During the first intermission, they sold Haagen Dasz caramel salt ice cream bars in the stalls (3 GBP)
Searing. The women actors were amazing. As was a live baby, who got onstage to get a diaper change and whose part was very nicely done (Baby never cried)
Display Window, Caffé Concerto, Across from the Gielgud on Shaftesbury Ave.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
Leave a Comment
October 12, 2017 at 3:11 pm (Flowers, Links, Plays)
Tags: Cal Shakes, California, Cee Neuner, memories, photography, Shakespeare, websites
For Cee Neuner’s Flower of the Day photo prompt:
A shot of the Orinda Hills, last month, as self was leaving Bruns Amphitheatre after watching Measure for Measure:
Flowers in the photograph are teensy. She thinks those are penstemons.
Pray the California wildfires cease.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
2 Comments
September 25, 2017 at 6:48 pm (destinations, Flowers, Places, Plays, postaday, Traveling)
Tags: art, Cal Shakes, California, memories, Mondays, museum, New York, postaday, postaweek, Wordpress
Bruins Amphitheatre, Orinda
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City: The squares are on the ground level, the woman taking the picture is on the 4th? 5th? Floor.
New York City, View from the Chelsea District
Leave a Comment
« Older entries
