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I went along to the Watershed this afternoon to see Paul
Wright’s “Arcadia” – a study of Britain’s shifting (and contradictory)
relationship with the land through 100 years of footage from the British Film
Institute’s National Archive. Although I didn’t have huge expectations for the
film, it proved to be a mesmerising array of material.
Watching the film, one is VERY aware that this could ONLY
be Britain – Morris dancing, fox hunting, horses and hounds, privilege and
class, rich and poor, eccentricity, naturism (there were a LOT of people
dancing around in the nude!), folk festivals, racism and even paganism… you get
the general idea.
The film began with a series of black and white chocolate
box images (plough fields, scenic villages, children dancing around the Maypole
and the like)(Brexiteers would hail it as their model for the Britain of the
future!), but soon moved on to encompass so many different aspects of rural
Britain – the beauty, brutality, conflict, magic and madness – and, in
particular, how we as a nation seemed to have largely lost our connection with
nature and turned our backs on the environment.
It’s really very much a montage of archive clips - accompanied
by some rather wonderful music from Anne Briggs, Adrian Utley (Portishead) and
Will Gregory (Goldfrapp). But, actually, it’s much more than that – I found it
quite compelling (and somewhat sobering).
I need to see it
again!
Visiting The Minotaur (Claire
Williamson): Claire
is a friend of our daughter Ruth and this book of poetry is the second book of
hers that I’ve read (the previous one was ‘Soulwater Pool’). I really like her
writing style and found myself reading every single poem out loud (to myself!).
These poems explore emotionally raw subjects such as the suicide of a mother
and brother; the nature of grief; issues from her own childhood… but also about
raising her own children, about culture and about friendships. I’d have loved
to have had some of the background to a few of the poems but, nevertheless, her
words are powerful and engaging enough to speak for themselves… with the bull
as a recurring motif. A beautiful, lyrical book.
Bring Up The Bodies (Hilary Mantel): To be truthful, I’m not normally a
great lover of historical fiction, but I was rather blown away by this book. As
you are probably already aware, it tells the story of Henry VIII’s “darkly
glittering court” (to quote the book’s cover) from the perceived viewpoint of
chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, at the time when rumours abounded of Anne
Boleyn’s faithlessness and when the king had become captivated by Jane Seymour.
Mantel’s ability to combine her eye for detail with well-researched historical
context is remarkable… but she also has the incredible talent of being a
brilliant story-teller and to make the reader feel we are part of each the
lives of the book’s characters. Mantel is an extraordinary writer. I’ll now
definitely have to read Wolf Hall (belatedly)!
La’s Orchestra Saves The World
(Alexander McCall Smith): I
do like McCall Smith as an author… he seems to be able to write in an almost
effortless way. This novel, set on the eve of WW2, tells of a lonely, young
widow who decides to bring villagers and men from the local Suffolk airbase
together by forming an amateur orchestra (there’s also a love link to a Polish
refugee). It’s a very easy read (I finished it in a day), but I found it all
just a little too sugar-coated and altogether rather too quintessentially
English for my liking (perseverance, patriotism, pots of tea and the power of
music will show the way!).
Look To The Lady (Margery Allingham):
First published in
1931 (our edition in 1960). More light summer reading (only my second ‘classic
crime’ novel by Margery Allingham… and my second featuring ‘detective’ Albert
Campion). I have to say I wasn’t very impressed. The first half of the book was
intriguing (a well-to-do Suffolk family had guarded an irreplaceable chalice
for hundreds of years on behalf of the crown; a band of devious criminals were
attempting to steal it; Campion rescues the son of the well-to-do family from
the streets of London…), but then, for me, it just descended into a rather
silly and ridiculous farce (involving a crazy witch amongst other things). Despite
some occasional clever and genuinely amusing passages, I thought the story
petered out extremely disappointingly.
The Blackhouse (Peter May): I’d previously read (and very much
enjoyed) two Peter May books and had
subsequently received encouragement from various friends that I should
definitely read his Lewis Trilogy of novels… this is book one. Lewis-born
detective inspector is sent from Edinburgh to investigate a murder… old skeletons
begin to surface. There’s something about crime mysteries and Scottish islands
that appeals to me (eg. ‘Shetland’ tv series based on Anne Cleeves’ books)… baffling
misdeeds in hauntingly beautiful, isolated places? Whatever it is, this book
certainly delivered… something of a crime ‘thriller’, fascinating characters and
a clever, intriguing storyline (with 100 pages to go, I couldn’t imagine how
all – well, most – of the loose ends could be tied up). Can’t wait to read the
second book.
Last
night, Moira and I went to the Bristol Old Vic to see director Sally Cookson’s
production of Patrick Ness’s young adult novel “A Monster Calls”.
It was superb.
Actually,
before we’d even seen to performance, we just KNEW it was going to be superb…
five-star reviews, passionate acclaim by twitterers, stories of audience
members hugging each other at the end, tears… and, of course, the very fact
that Sally Cookson was the ‘conductor’ behind it all.
The story
centres on a 13-year-old boy, Conor O’Malley, and his mother who has terminal
cancer. He’s being bullied at school, his
father lives in America with his new family, he doesn’t get on with his grandmother,
and his mother refuses to come clean about her illness. Life is stark and very tough… and he’s angry. Oh, and of course, there’s
a monster – in the form of an old Yew tree – which, ultimately, helps the
teenager come to terms with his situation through stories.
As ever with Cookson’s productions, the cast is quite brilliant
(I thought Matthew Tennyson, as Conor, was outstanding) – as was the set design
and lighting and (of course) the music (Benji and Will Bower!).
It’s profoundly sad and
moving, utterly captivating, visually stunning and hugely inventive.
Brilliant, imaginative
storytelling and exceptional live performance.
An astonishing piece of
theatre.
Photo: from the Old Vic
website
PS: The production
finishes in Bristol on 16 June and opens at the Old Vic, London on 7 July for
six weeks.
PPS: Son-in-law Felix Hayes
is also in the cast playing the Dad (and, of course, he’s excellent!).
