June 19, 2017 at 9:20 pm (Artists and Writers, Plays, Recommended, Traveling)
Tags: Emma Rice, England, inspiration, London, Mondays, Shakespeare, summer
This year, self was fortunate enough to catch two plays at Shakespeare’s Globe: Twelfth Night and Tristan and Yseult.
Both plays were terrific. But only one was truly unforgettable, because self watched it her last night in London, that fabulous city.
Here’s an excerpt from the Tristan and Yseult programme, written by Director Emma Rice:
Love, I celebrate it, practise it, mourn it, and fight for it.
But my appreciation and experience of this most seductive of topics is dwarfed by Shakespeare’s understanding of love. My mind spins when I imagine how his life must have been: how hard he worked, how far he travelled, how dark and scary the landscape he lived in was. If I close my eyes and propel my imagination back in time, I hear the tectonic plates of the planet creak, I see the ground opening up and Shakespeare clambering out of a deep crack in the earth’s surface, dusty, desperate and gasping for air . . . then, with the clarity of clear water, he sings from the earth he was born. Shakespeare gave voice to desire and to grief, to parenthood and to marriage. He charted the waters of courtship and the loneliness of a failing marriage. He mourned for us, married for us and betrayed for us. He gazed fearlessly into the human existence like no other, before or since.
Shakespeare’s Globe, Just Before the Start of “Tristan and Yseult,” June 2017
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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June 14, 2017 at 5:27 pm (Artists and Writers, destinations, Links, Places, Plays, postaday, Traveling)
Tags: Emma Rice, England, London, memories, photography, postaday, postaweek, praise, Shakespeare, summer, Wikipedia, Wordpress
The bokeh that resulted give the lights of the city a magical quality and creates a unique look for a heavily photographed location.
— David W., The Daily Post
Self had to look up the definition of “bokeh”, here.
Last night, self saw “Tristan and Yseult” at Shakespeare’s Globe. Such a beautiful, high-energy production, Emma Rice’s last as Director at the Globe.
Audience Leaving the Globe After “Tristan and Yseult”: Tuesday, 13 June 2017
Leaving Shakespeare’s Globe after a performance of “Tristan and Yseult,” Tuesday 13 June 2017
Going home, over London Bridge, she snapped this shot of Big Ben:
London Bridge Last Night, Around 10 p.m.
And this one of the London Eye:
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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June 10, 2017 at 7:22 am (Artists and Writers, Plays, Recommended, Sayings, Traveling)
Tags: England, Saturday, Shakespeare, wisdom
O, it is excellent
To have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant.
— Isabella, Act II, scene ii, Measure for Measure
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May 20, 2017 at 1:43 pm (Artists and Writers, Conversations, destinations, Places, Plays, postaday, The Guardian, Traveling)
Tags: discoveries, Emma Rice, England, London, memories, postaday, postaweek, praise, Saturday, Shakespeare, Wordpress
- This week, share a photo that channels a living tradition, whether it’s your own or someone else’s.
— Ben Huberman, The Daily Post
This is her second post on HERITAGE. She deleted the first one, pictures of the Imperial War Museum. For the first time in forever, that post got 0 likes, go figure.
Self watched (last night) a kickass production of Twelfth Night, directed by Emma Rice, who’s departing the Globe after just two years at the helm. As a tribute to Ms. Rice (who famously told the Guardian two years ago: “Being childlike is underrated. It takes commitment.”) Self thinks this would be an appropriate time to share why she loves the experience of watching a play at the Globe, so much:
It’s so London. And London is a city absolutely buzzing with energy. Especially at night. Every year since her first Globe play (2014’s bloody Titus Andronicus), she watches at least one play at the Globe.
Last Night: Heading home in a cab after watching “Twelfth Night”
At intermission, she heads straight for the wharf. This is the view:
The Thames, Seen From Behind the Globe
It is an essential part of her Globe theatre-going experience.
Self still remembers her first sight (up close) of the Millenium Bridge. Her jaw dropped. She had no idea — no idea — that London had become this cool place. That was the moment when self fell in love, really fell in love with the city:
The Millenium Bridge connects the South Bank to Saint Paul’s.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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March 26, 2017 at 9:13 am (Artists and Writers, Conversations, Links, Plays, Sundays, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: art, discoveries, fantasy, flash fiction, humor, inspiration, Ireland, Literary Magazines, rejections, Tyrone Guthrie Centre, West Cork, writing process
We’re going under.
When?
Today.
Just like that.
Yes.
Well, I need more time to select.
Select?
Yeah. What do you think?
Everything you need is down there.
The two men arguing are about to descend to the ocean floor in a bathosphere called Pinkie Pi. They are under the impression that’s where everyone else on the surface has gone.
Stay tuned.
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March 10, 2017 at 10:38 am (Artists and Writers, Books, Plays, Recommended)
Tags: Annaghmakerrig, discoveries, Fridays, music, Tyrone Guthrie Centre
Libretto for Peter Grimes, by Benjamin Britten:
O when you pray you shut your eyes
And then can’t tell the truth from lies.
Yesterday (9 March 2017), Unit # 1
Loud man. I never did have time
For the kind of creature who spits in his
wine.
A joke’s a joke and fun is fun.
But say your grace and be polite for all that
we have done.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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February 15, 2017 at 7:25 am (Books, Movies, Plays, Recommended)
Tags: adaptations, fantasy, Neil Gaiman, novel
It’s a very long fable that gets dropped in on p. 252, and it is one of self’s favorite sections, so far.
The events unfold in 1778 (How does self know? Because Gaiman puts the date right before the beginning of the fable, lol). The twins are born, captured by slave traders, and separated at auction. This part is so horrific, but Gaiman’s voice is at its most mesmerizing:
Their uncle was a fat and lazy man. If he had owned more cattle, perhaps he would have given up one of his cattle instead of the children, but he did not. He sold the twins. Enough of him: he shall not enter further into this narrative. We follow the twins.
In addition, today, self watched Fences. She hasn’t seen the original play, but the first third or so of the movie is very play-iike. The action is mostly limited to the confines of a house, and there’s a whole lot of braggadocio from Denzel’s character, Troy. About a third of the way in, however, the story takes a very interesting turn, and self was never less than absorbed.
She does feel, however, that the movie should have closed with the image of Troy swinging futilely away at a baseball attached by a frayed rope to a tree branch. Troy’s face as the camera zooms in — riveting. Instead, we’re given a kind of epilogue. It’s nice to see what happens to Troy’s son, Cory, though.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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November 24, 2016 at 8:05 pm (Artists and Writers, Conversations, Holidays, Movies, Personal Bookshelf, Plays, Recommended, Relatives, Women Writers)
Tags: poetry, Thanksgiving
Self’s favorite scene in the movie is when SHE (played by Joan Allen) goes to visit her dying aunt in a hospital in Belfast.
Aunt:
The thing is, no-one told
Me I’d have all this time, but far too late
To use it for the things I dreamed of. Fate
Delivers upside down and back to front.
I’ve more to say than ever, but they shunt
Me back and forth all day from bed to chair
And back to bed again; it isn’t fair.
All this experience I’d like to share.
Not that it all adds up. Not that you care.
I’d better stop — it’s time for you to go
Already, isn’t it? Five minutes — oh,
Well maybe ten . . . you see, I never know
When you’ll be here again. It’s such a blow
Each time you leave, it’s hardly worth your while
To come at all. I mean it! Don’t you smile
Like that! Oh, you’ll be sorry when I’m dead.
I’m only joking, dear. I only said
That for a laugh. Although of course it’s true.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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October 28, 2016 at 4:08 pm (Movies, Personal Bookshelf, Places, Plays, Recommended, Traveling, Women Writers)
Tags: Fridays, London, poetry, praise
The London Review Bookshop has a film club. Once a month, they show a film, and bring in the director for Q & A. When self was there, earlier this year, she caught a showing of Sally Potter’s Yes.
The entire film is told in iambic pentameter. Self gets goosebumps just remembering. She asked Sally Potter at the reception: “Is the screenplay available?” When Sally said yes, self wanted to do cartwheels. As soon as she could, she ordered a copy of the screenplay.
The heart of the movie is a woman played by a luminous Joan Allen. She visits a dying aunt in Belfast. The SHE in the excerpt below is Joan Allen’s character. The setting is a hospital:
Aunt:
You’re late again. Don’t worry. Never mind.
I know you’re busy. It’s the kind
Of life you lead. But then you chose it, so
I guess you want it. Always to and fro,
You never stop.
SHE tiptoes into the ward and stands looking down at her aunt who lies immobile, her eyes closed, in the bed.
Aunt (cont’d):
Unlike myself. I’m here
To stay. For just how long, who knows. I fear
It could be ages. It creeps up on you,
This funny business. First a creak or two,
Your knees, perhaps, and — bingo! — then you’re old
And in a bed.
SHE kisses her aunt’s forehead gently, pulls up a chair and sits down by the bed.
She (whispering):
Oh, auntie . . .
When you’re watching the film, you’re aware of the rhyme, but instead of distracting you, it helps you concentrate. Amaaaaazing.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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July 28, 2016 at 2:56 pm (Artists and Writers, Flowers, Food and Drink, Plays, postaday, Surprises, Traveling)
Tags: California, discoveries, Events, festivals, London, Mendocino, postaday, postaweek, Wordpress
- Let’s celebrate the cherries on top! — Michelle W., The Daily Post
The good news: self was back in London in the spring. The Cherry on Top? She was there during the week of the annual Chelsea Flower Show. Just look at the fresh flowers framing the entrance to the Bloomsbury Hotel!
The Bloomsbury Hotel, London: May 2016
The good news was: Self was in Philo, CA. She found a small market that sold delicious potato salad. And the cherry on top? The ceiling lights were things of beauty. From a glass studio in Fort Bragg, the checkout lady told self:
Ceiling Light, Lemon’s Philo Market, California
The good news was: self was spending another winter in Mendocino, CA. The cherry on top is that she got to see “Quills,” a play about Marquis de Sade, performed by members of the local community (It was a very entertaining production!)
“Quills,” a drama about Marquis de Sade
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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