'Twelfth Night' at the National Theatre

Last night we got return tickets to see the new production of 'Twelfth Night' directed by Peter Hall at the Cottesloe Theatre in the National Theatre. It's one of those productions where the tickets sold out to members before they went on general sale so we were lucky to get tickets at all. Or so I thought.

'Twelfth Night' is one of Shakespeare's daft plays about mistaken identity, about shipwrecked siblings who are so alike that no-one can tell the difference, and that's where the fun starts. But it takes a long time for the fun to start. There is the pretty lady that everyone loves, the drunken comic figures, the fool and, of course, the noble duke who, unfortunately sported a mullet hair-do. O dear.

The opening scene made me wary, with the Duke lounging around and his courtiers all in doublets and hose, with lace collars and awful lank-haired wigs. I know it's superficial of me, but I really didn't like the costumes and wigs. We then meet Viola in a dress who becomes the youth, Cesario, in a red doublet and hose affair, who joins the court of the Duke and quickly becomes a favourite and is sent to woo the beautiful lady on his behalf. We meet Sir Toby Belch and yes, the name says it all for the drunken cousin of the lady, his friend Sir Andrew Aguecheek, the servant Maria and the steward Malvolio. It's a relatively large cast with some interesting characters and that, in part, keeps the momentum going forward. It should be a roaring success but I was sorely disappointed.

Simon Callow played Sir Toby and much as I enjoyed his performance his drunken scenes were difficult to follow - enunciation, Sir Toby, enunciation, even when you're drunk. But the main problem was Rebecca Hall (Sir Peter's daughter) who played Viola/Cesario. Considering that the costumes are all period and everyone acts in period mode, she acted like she was in 'Glee' and would do the W ('whatever') sign any moment. Her sing-song delivery, talking with a cynical teenage laughing voice throughout, with her head tilted to one side really made her stand out, but for all the wrong reasons. Why her acting style was so different to the rest of the cast is anyone's guess, but it didn't work. I was sorely tempted to leave at half time (after my pre-ordered glass of Merlot, of course) but stuck through to the end.

There were some highlights, and I'd single out Charles Edwards as the daft knight Sir Andrew, the coward and braggart who brings much joy and levity. I also liked Finty Williams as Maria, the lady's bawdy servant who got the balance between servility and dirty humour spot on - I think I'd like her Maria as a chum. For the rest, I think I could leave it and not worry. I wouldn't dream of seeing it again.

Hint to future producers of 'Twelfth Night': make sure your siblings wear matching wigs as well as clothes to make them identical.

The Human League - 'Never Let Me Go'

You will be delighted to hear that the Human League will have a new single out on 21 March - 'Never Let Me Go'. That's all I know. No doubt there will be a drip-feed of information and sound clips in the run-up to the release. More news to follow when it's available.

'Gutted: A Revenger's Musical' at the Leicester Square Theatre

On Monday night we headed up to Leicester Square Theatre to see a concert version of 'Gutted: A Revenger's Musical', the new comedy musical we first saw in Hammersmith in its pre-Edinburgh Festival run. As Chris commented at the time, it's a cross between 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' and 'Rocky Horror' if such a creature can be believed. Whatever, it's great fun with some rather rude songs and a deeply moral message (ok, that last statement might not be entirely true).

After seeing it at Hammersmith I decided I'd love to see it in a proper production so quickly booked tickets to the one-night-only Leicester Square Theatre production but this was to be a concert version of the show. So the actors were there going through the motions, but no costumes or sets and the stage was filled with a 20-piece orchestra rather than the 3-piece backing band we had at Hammersmith. There was only just enough space to fit the cast on stage let alone anything else. But, you know what? I still enjoyed it far more than the mega-bucks version of 'An Ideal Husband' I saw last week at the Vaudeville. Sometimes seat-of-your-pants works so much better if the spirit is willing and the jokes are sufficiently rude. And, of course, this had one of my favourite ex-pop stars and local boy made good in it playing an ex-pop star, Jim Bob of Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine. We're talking Oscar level performance here.

'Gutted' is great fun, with Colin Hoult playing Mr Bewley (and the other five members of his family, hence the 'Kind Hearts' reference) who marries Sorrow. Unfortunately he seems to have killed Sorrow's parents 15 years ago and she's out for revenge. O dear. That's not a good start. So Sorrow gradually works her way through his family until ... but that would be telling.

Colin Hoult was excellent as the main (and related) characters and so was Michael Legge as the Vicar putting lots of oomph into it. The Penny Dreadful's were good fun as the ghosts in the first half and the police in the second half. I was less impressed by Isy Suttie as Sorrow whose voice didn't sound right for Sorrow. And, of course, the cast was bolstered by a genuine pop star in Jim Bob who gave it a sprinkling of magic as Buddy Stardust.

I have to say I would much rather have seen a properly staged version of the play but the concert version put a smile on my face. What more can I ask for? There was a Q&A after the performance but I was too tired to stay to listen to it. Hopefully there will be more productions of the play and I aim to be there - it's great fun and quite daft and a good use of an evening. Well done people! And the photos are courtesy of DiamondGeyser on Flickr.

Ancient Faces

I was looking through some of the photos I took when I went to Athens last year and I was struck by some of the faces on the ancient statues. The bodies were often remarkably similar but the faces were different. I assume they were modelled on real people. Here are a few of them, including the Roman emperors Augustus and Hadrian - can you guess who is who?

'An Ideal Husband' at The Vaudeville Theatre

My first play of the year was 'An Ideal Husband' by Oscar Wilde playing at the Vaudeville Theatre on The Strand, yes, the theatre famed for my receiving unexpected hugs from Amanda Palmer when she was lying on the floor being photographed by Neil Gaiman (yes, I have to work AFP into every blog post). It was a last minute booking so that Dr Theatre could see to Chris. I won't claim to be a great Wilde fan (I think I've only seen the Handbag play) but I was quite looking forward to seeing Alexander Hanson and Samantha Bond.

It's a play that should resonate quite nicely at the moment, a tale of dodgy financial deals and corrupt politicians, of the public versus the private face, a comedy of morals that never quite got going for me. Alexander Hanson played the politician who made his money selling a secret when he worked in the Foreign Office and has since gone on to be a highly praised minister. Samantha Bond is a rich widow who has money invested in a canal project and also has an incriminating letter that would end Hanson's marriage and career. And there you have the plot. Add in the posh wife, the miscellaneous friend Lord Goring and his father and the politician's sister and you have the full play plus sub-plots.

I wasn't terribly impressed with the writing or structure of the play. Something that should be so current with corrupt politicians, newspaper scandals and suchlike, and it failed to hit the target. I'm not sure why, whether it was the hit and miss acting, the production, the attempts at historical accuracy or whatever. But I wasn't impressed. I also failed to be impressed with the monotonous golden coloured set - it looked quite glam at first but soon became quite tiresome. It was a relief to see Lord Goring's turquoise library (yes, turquoise) in the second half but the unrelieved boldness of colour soon became a bit much as well. How rare is it to hear me complaining about bright colours? That says it all really.

I liked Alexander Hanson in 'A Little Night Music' but he seemed to be doing it by numbers in this play and his awful feet shuffling became rather annoying (he did that in 'Night Music' as well). I identified Elliot Cowan (who played Lord Goring) as 'the Noel Coward' figure immediately - there obviously isn't a Noel Coward character in an Oscar Wilde play but that's what he came across like to me - maybe he wants a part in a Coward play? Rachael Stirling played the stolid wife with the right amount of disdain for non-posh people but every now and then I couldn't help but hear her mother in her voice (Diana Rigg). The saving grace was Samantha Bond who I've not seen on stage before and who played the nasty blackmailing money-grabbing but oh-so-pretty and clever Mrs Cheveley. Her character has all the best lines and best put-downs and she delivered them to a T. Unfortunately she wasn't in the final scenes so I missed her.

So. It was nice to get to the theatre again and always nice to return to the scene of an Amanda Hug but I won't be seeing this play again. Once is definitely enough.

Amanda Palmer & Peaches - Map Of Tasmania (Club Mix)

A remix of the song and video by Amanda Palmer & The Young Punx with a rap by Peaches who seems to be into triangle jerking. It's available to buy (with the orginal version and two other mixes) from The Young Punx page on Bandcamp as part of a four-track package for a mere $2.

Fra Angelico Squared

On two occasions today I've thought about Fra Angelico, the early Renaissance painter. The first time was listening to 'Vegemite (The Black Death)' by Amanda Palmer when she sings 'you love art and books' and suddenly there, on an escalator in Victoria tube station I saw the Good Brother. And then tonight, going home after the theatre reading 'Just Kids' by Patti Smith and there in black and white in the book was his name. Two separate occasions and there was Fra Angelico.

I first learned of Fra Angelico and his paintings when I was 16 and took history of art classes at school. His name was one of the dozens we rummaged through in different stages of the Renaissance. Then, in 2005 we went to Florence, my first and so far only trip to that city. I wanted to wander round the Uffizi Gallery and see all those paintings I'd only seen in books, to explore that old city full of art on every corner and find the wrought iron pig in a old photo of my mother from her visit to Florence in the late 1940s or early 50s. I did all those things and more. We also went to the Dominican monastery of San Marco and saw the glory of Fra Angelico.

I was always in two minds about the work of Fra Angelico, with his delicate brush strokes and draftsmanship, the attention to detail and the sometimes stiff poses. I could see his place in the history of art as it developed through the Renaissance, but did I like them? When in Florence you see art so we went to San Marco and headed up the stairs to the Dormitory and suddenly, there at the top of the stairs was 'The Annunciation' by Fra Angelico, his most famous painting and I couldn't help but feel the tears fill my eyes as I gazed at it in awe.

No reproduction you see in books does it justice. The simplicity of the composition, the beauty and belief that are imbued in a painting on the plaster of a wall are astonishing. Fra Angelico had clearly seen his God and was trying to share that vision with us mere mortals. It is sacred by any definition of the word. I don't know why it affected me so strongly but it did and, as far as I'm concerned, that makes it important. He decorated all the monks cells in the Dormitory but it's 'The Annunciation' that kept drawing me back. Even now, my eyes can mist over at the thought of that painting. I bought a small print of the painting but have never had it framed and hung on the wall. I must put that right.

Why have I thought about Brother John the Angelic One twice today?

Patti Smith at the Royal Geographical Society

Yesterday evening I went over to Kensington to hear Patti Smith in conversation with Geoff Dyer in a lecture room at the Royal Geographical Society. It's always interesting to see Patti and usually a joy, and it was both last night.

Now, Geoff Dyer is a 'famous' author but that doesn't make him a good host or a good interviewer. He'd obviously done some research but it seemed to be based on an old biography that Patti dismissed as full of inaccuracies and made up facts yet Mr Dyer seemed unable to move away from his script so, time after time, Patti was left in the position of saying, 'no, that's not what happened' and 'no, I didn't know about that'. When he tried to bring in his own anecdotes he ended up showing off rather than being the voice of the public on stage with his reminiscences about seeing Patti play in Charleston (I think) and Rome - um, have you never seen her in London where we all are? Mr Dire was not the best of hosts.

Patti was, of course, lovely. The theme for discussion was her book, 'Just Kids' that focuses on her early life in New York with Robert Mapplethorpe and it was nice to hear her talk about those days living in the Chelsea Hotel, working in a book store and meeting famous people. I saw Patti at a signing when the book first came out last year which was a bit of a scrum so it was nice to see her in more civilised surroundings. As ever, she was in her uniform of skinny jeans, baggy white shirt and black jacket (shopping must be so easy for her) with hair covering half her face.

She always comes across as a very nice person (which suggests that she probably is nice) and, even when dismissing books about her, exhorting us to make up our own minds about the books rather than just following her view. I liked her making excuses for Johnny Rotten calling her an old hippy, about meeting Paul Simonon and her love of The Clash, and how some lines of her poetry became the introduction to 'Gloria'. I liked her references to Virginia Woolf and her performance of 'The Waves', and how she chipped in with the fact that it was Virginia's birthday - only a fan would remember that and, of course, we were sitting only half a mile from where she was born. I liked the moment when she deflated Mr Dire who was comparing himself to Lenny Kaye by saying, 'No, Lenny's always over there' and gestured to her left since Mr Dire was on her right hand side. The questions from the audience were the usual non-event - why can't anyone come up with a question that might be interesting to someone other than themselves? And why do some people try to make the Q&A a dialogue? The audience isn't there to hear about *you* so please ask your dull question and then shut up.

There were, of course, references to Blake and, at the end of the talk, we were rewarded with a solo performance of 'My Blakean Year'. And then we headed out into the Kensington night ... or in our case to the pub.

And, just because it's *mine*, here's the photo I took of Patti last year at the book signing:

Amanda Palmer - 'In My Mind'

I love this song from Amanda Palmer's new album, 'Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under'. Brian Viglione plays on the album version with Amanda. Buy the album (or just this song) from Bandcamp (do the clicky thing over there >>)

"I am exactly the person that I want to be..."



Words by Amanda Palmer:

in my mind
in a future five years from now
i’m 120 pounds
and i never get hungover
because i will be the picture of discipline
never minding what state i’m in
and i will be someone i admire
and it’s funny how i imagined that i would be that person now
but it does not seem to have happened
maybe i’ve just forgotten how to see
that i’m not exactly the person that i thought i’d be

and in my mind
in the faraway here and now
i’ve become in control somehow
and i never lose my wallet
because i will be the picture of discipline
never fucking up anything
and i’ll be a good defensive driver
and it’s funny how i imagined that i would be that person now
but it does not seem to have happened
maybe i’ve just forgotten how to see
that i’ll never be the person that i thought i’d be

and in my mind
when i’m old, i am beautiful
planting tulips and vegetables
which i will mindfully watch over
not like me, now
i’m so busy with everything
that i don’t look at anything
but i’m sure i’ll look when i am older
and it’s funny how i imagine that i could be that person now
but that’s not what i want, if that’s what i wanted then i’d be giving up somehow
how strange to see that i don’t want to be the person that i want to be

and in my mind
i imagine so many things
things that aren’t really happening
and when they put me in the ground, i’ll start pounding the lid
saying “i haven’t finished yet –
i still have a tattoo to get
that says ‘i’m living in the moment’.”
and it’s funny how i imagined that i could win this winless fight
but maybe it isn’t all that funny that i’ve been fighting all my life
but maybe i have to think it’s funny if i wanna live before i die
and maybe it’s funniest of all to think i’ll die before i actually see
that i am exactly the person that i want to be

fuck yes
i am exactly the person that i want to be

Amanda Palmer - 'Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under'

I really like time travel. Amanda Palmer has released 'Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under' while she's in Australia and, luckily, Australian time is ahead of UK time so, although it's Friday in Oz it's Thursday in London so I get to download the new record a day early! Head on over to Bandcamp to download the album. Personally, I think she planned it that way so I could listen to the album before it's released. She's thoughtful like that.

Most of the tracks were recorded live on her tour of Oz last year with a few recorded in studios also in Oz, and one track was recorded with Brian Viglione so I'm treating it as a new Dresden Dolls song and I love it. The sound quality is excellent and Amanda's voice is in top form. I must listen to it several more times before bed tonight.

The record is available for download from Bandcamp, priced 'very fucking cheap' at 69 US cents plus whatever donation you want to give - if you only pay 69c then I won't speak to you. Pay what you would expect to pay for a new album and then make a donation. Amanda's earned it by being wonderful so pay up.

I also love the credit on the Bandcamp page that proudly states 'Amanda Palmer appears courtesy of Her Fucking Self' and ends with 'PUNK CABARET IS FREEDOM'. Which it is.

Enjoy!