A performance of the Sleeping Beauty by the Australian Ballet

The first week of October is proving exceptional in terms of the diversity of cultural experience with this evening a visit to the Sunderland Empire for the musical Sunny Afternoon. On Saturday evening there is nearly a five-hour performance with intervals of Tristan and Isolde relayed from the Metropolitan Opera House, New York. Yesterday I saw a film likely to feature in the awards season because of its contemporary subject content although set at the time of the Civil War in North America, the Free State of Jones, while on Monday I enjoyed the diversity implications of Mrs Pergrines Home for Peculiar Children. On television the experience range has been from Savile and National Treasure, the powerfully insightful Simon Reeve in Ireland to the concluding episodes in the important Drama Series Our Girl and DCI Banks, to the seriously and witty Cold Feet, the disappointing lack an edge as yet Westworld with to come to tonight the second episode of The Fall, a new Beck on Saturday together with a speed viewing of the X Factor live and a Strictly Come Dancing. The less said about the Ryder Cup the better and the announcement that Durham Cricket Club has been fined points banned from holding Test matches and demoted to the second division of the championship as the price of a bail out loan merits a separate writing.

And it is with the dance and the ballet and relayed film of a live performance of the Sleeping Beauty that I commence my first response. Of all cultural experiences the ‘traditional’ ballet has influenced and affected me least with film embedded from childhood followed by television, since it’s a black and while set home made by a first cousin in time for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. I cannot remember now when I was first taken to live theatre which included Opera performances by the Doyle Carte Opera Company or where they took place, and it was only after leaving school at 16 years that I commenced to visiting the local repertory theatre in Croydon on a regular basis and then shows in London and after that around the UK.  As a school child an uncle took me to a music hall in Croydon, I have a vague memory of a pantomime at Christmas and a seaside show or two on holiday. In my first year of work in central London I purchase a half season Promenade for the concerts and went every night standing mainly in front of the tired stalls and sometimes in the Gods and this was the same year that a friend at work took me for my first pints before weekend nights at Cy Laurie, Humphs and the Ken Collyer traditional jazz clubs in and close to Soho.

When I say classical dance I mean music and technically structured dance using the Fairy story as the basis with the three most commonly performed works Swan Lake, the Nutcracker and Swan Lake. In 1956 I purchased a long play record with suits of music from Swan Lake and the Sleeping Beauty performed by the Rome Opera Orchestra conducted by Walter Goehr. I also have a version of Swan Lake on another LP played by the Odessa Philharmonic and for me it is the music of Tchaikovsky which captured my interest than attempting to learn the art of the classical dance and  whereas the second of week of reporting this year  I went on October 4^th to a filmed live performance of the Sleeping Beauty in a new production by the Australian  Ballet company and where the Bolden Cineworld did not provide the usual programme of synopsis, cast and interval arrangements.

The reason for this is that at the start of the prologue and each of the subsequent three Acts there was a brief multilingual story synopsis with that in English at the top. The cast and other information was flashed by at the end making it impossible to read anything let alone find out something about the couple who I assumed where guest principal dancers from another company who performed at the ball to mark the marriage of the Sleeping Beauty and her prince. Through Wikipedia I obtained information of interest about the Australian Ballet which has its roots in a company founded in 1940 and the company only became national in 1962 but is said to have gained a worldwide standing and reputation.

I must declare a lack of knowledge about judging the technical measured and controlled movements of feet, legs and arms involved but the skill displayed was impressive although it had little emotional impact.

The production is both lavish and at times stunning and as the Ballet Producer revealed in a filmed interview the outfits alone cost two million Australian dollars, and where in height, depth and width, the work was performed on the biggest stage I have witnessed other than a performance of the Opera Aida at Earls Court and more on that another day. David McAllister’s (born 1963 the year I commenced to train as a qualified child care officer) production revealed that dancing is something he wanted to do as a child. His interest was reinforced after being taken to see Nureyev and Fontaine, he became a graduate of the company in 1983, a senior artist in 1986 and principal artist in 1989, a position held until 2001 with before that impressing the Russians leading to appearing with the Bolshoi, the Kirov and Georgian state companies. The present work is his creation in every sense including the provision of some of the choreography.

Having long since overcome my negative reaction to thirty to forty year old opera singers attempting to act as 15 year olds I thought Lana Jones in her early thirties  carried off the role of a sixteen year old princess well and the sharp features of her face echoed those of Fontaine whereas the bulk of the trunk her Prince Charming was distracting although I liked what he had to say  about his function in support of the  ballerina and that for any couple of principal dancers there has to be a genuine emotional  connection and intensity which in the close up  was evident to see. I thought the performance of the wicked Fairy, Caraboose, was totally convincing performed by Lynette Wills and was the only other dancer mentioned in the online cast list together with the good Lilac Fairy of Amber Scott The 65-member Orchestra Victoria sounded good with its woman conductor Nicolette Fraillon whose conducting mannerism merit attention as she urges the musicians to close follow her bidding.

The story of the opera is simple with the King and Queen holding an event to mark the Christening of their daughter and the Master of Ceremonies failing to invite the wicked Fairy Caraboose who makes a curse that although the Princess will grow up beautiful and a lovely person, the child will prick her finger on a spindle at 16 and die.  The good fairy intervenes but this only to commute the sentence to 100 years of sleep to be woken by the kiss of a Prince. In the first Act that follows the parents and courtiers show amazing negligence in allowing the wicked fairy to carry out the curse and the Princess is allowed to sleep peacefully in an impressive and attractive locked capsule with a large key.

In Act Two the Prince is out hunting when the good fairy arrives and provides him with a vision of the Princess and how she can be restored to life. As he makes his way the evil fairy does her best to stop him, fails and the Princess comes back to life. The final Act centres on the Marriage of the future Queen and consort and the celebrations that follow with I presume the symbolic ghost in human form of her parents in attendance and in the final scene the miscellany of characters coming together in a scene which appears to be set in the Court of the Louis XIV

There was a fair audience smaller than for Opera and plays and included a mother with two daughters both of primary school age whose excitement was evident to the rest of us and I speculated if the cycle of being inspired and devoting a life to the pursuit of excellence in a highly demanding physical activity was about to be followed. The cost was a modest additional £5.40 to the monthly subscription of £17.40, making a total expenditure of £22.80 for the month so far.

The National Theatre Production of the Three Penny Opera

The Threepenny Opera which I saw in a cinema relay from the National Theatre at Bolden Cineworld on 22^nd September 2016 is a musical and visual presentation of a socialist view of the world of capitalist exploitation of and within the underclass of society, brought up to date and performed just before the Labour and Conservative Party annual conferences. It is important to say at the outset that the work is as opposed to the top down state bureaucratic direction of the economy of Communism or the tolerance and acceptance of the basic capitalist premise of the twentieth century by the Blair and Brown Administrations, following those of Thatcher and Major and furthered with enthusiasm by the Lib Dems under Cameron and George Osborm

The work was created by Bertolt Brecht/ Kurt Weil and performed in Berlin in 1928 as Germany wrestled with having lost the first World War and the collapsing capitalism as vehicle for his wife Lotte Lenya and significantly not performed in the UK until 1956 when it was condemned with the same kind of skilled abuse recently applied to the rise of Jeremy Corbyn. The work is based on the earlier Beggars Opera by John Gay where I am convinced I have seen a Royal Shakespeare production but a search of my programmes as so far failed to confirm. I did experience the Rise and Fall of the House of Mahogany by Brecht and Weill performed at the Royal Opera House in 2015

Although created for a German audience the play is set in London and the National Theatre warns that the work is full of filthy language and immoral behaviour but I found the comical approach dampening the impact rather providing a biting edge of the kind found in the production pf the Season Ticket at Newcastle Stage or the emotional engagement of Norma. I was amused but overall disappointed and just in case my reaction was contrary to the professional critic I have looked at what the Telegraph and the Guardian have had to say and there is agreement that by today’s theatrical, film and TV norm there is a lack of anger. My concern, in addition to the lack of engagement with the characters, the absence of any attack on the basics of internal corporate capitalism.  

The scene is set. and I agree it came across as makeshift without adding to the acting or basic work content, just before coronation day when in the best tradition of Fagan, the gang is prepared for a great day of pick pocketing and the whores to loveless sexuality.  There is a good swipe at the top establishment and the recent rewarding of Cameron’s capitalist chums with complicity state honours as the murdering woman brutalising, and sexually exploiting Macheath (Mac the Knife) not only escapes the gallows but is promised a knighthood and an annual pension of £50000 a year.  There is also reference to the grooming, the seduction of young women   who are viewed as pleasure objects but also to contemporary educational enlightenment and fighting fire with fire as Polly an accountant gains access to the books and joins forces with his other female victims.

I could not help feeling that the inclusion of cross dressing gender bending and someone in a wheelchair with speech disability was more to have contemporary appeal than to enhance the work. It was a good enjoyable evening but not a memorable one. There was a large enthusiastic cast for which the national is famed with Rory Kinnaer as Macheath. Rosalie Craig as Polly and Haydn Gwynne as her jealous mother having also been one of those having sexual intercourse with psychopath. I paid £8.10 for the ticket and enjoyed a 40 pence bar of plain chocolate. Back to the Conservative  Party conference to see how they next exploit  the abysmal failure of the parliamentary Labour Party.

The Season Ticket Northern Stage

On Friday 23rd and 30^th of September 2016 I experienced performances of the Season Ticket performed by Pilot at Northern stage 23^rd to 8^th October followed by York Theatre Royal 12^th to 15^th, Winchester Theatre Royal 20^th 22^nd and Dundee Rep 25^th Oct-27. Despite the dialect difficulties with those unfamiliar with Geordie it is a great pity that the many more theatre goers will not experience this brilliantly scripted very   funny dose of kitchen sink realism on the impact of international corporate capitalism on children and teenagers, who are part of poor families in what I call the economic underclass

I do not use underclass in a pejorative way but to cover those living in or separately from their families who lack the means to provide more than the basics of food and shelter. The irony of the impact of professional football is the stars of premier league earn more in a week than many of the families do in half a decade such has become the level in economic injustice and inequality in the 5^th richest economy in the world. I write this as the first indication of Tory Party Panic to the rise of Jeremy Corbyn and Socialism in the 21^st century as Damien Green announces that the Party is to abandon its attack on the long term sick and disabled abolishing annual reassessments designed to reduce public expenditure supporting some of the neediest while protecting international capitalists from paying their taxes and allowing internal and national crime organisations to flourish.

The play is based on the book of the same title by Johnathan Tulloch which I have now purchased together with a DVD of the film version Purely Belter certificate 15 and copies of his other books, The Lottery where I have experienced a production of the play at the Customs House Theatre in South Shields, Give us this Day and the Bonny Lad. I will view and read and report if my assessment from the theatrical experiences reflects the written word and where later this month the national centre of the written word is to be opened in South Shields.

The family in the play continue to be terrorised by the male coward of a father who has raped the twin school teenage sister of the main character, a truant, foul mouthed and a thief and beats up his wife and son periodically, sometimes drunk, sending both to hospital and defying a court restraining order. What the central character, Gerry, brilliantly played by Niek Vesteeg, survives through his going is his friendship with Sewell played by Will Graham another young actor with a great future although the friendship leads both in trouble and into acts of betrayal to keep the Friendships together. Victoria Elliot as the mother, Lala Zaidi who plays an older sister and also girl friend of Sewell together with Joe Caffrey and Ken Wathen who between them play father, step father, headmaster, school social worker and store security contribute with powerful, sometimes very funny, sometimes biting humour credible performances.

At the core of the play is the importance of football in the life of many cities, towns and surrounding communities and which I have been part of since being taken as a child at Christmas and Easter to Croydon’s Football club Crystal Palace following them as a teenager with less than 500 supporters in the old former third division south, a few games at Oxford City when at Ruskin, got once to Anfield when in Cheshire and  experienced  being stoned after a  game at Everton, running for life at Spurs, leaving early from the Arsenal because of police  crowd demonstration that went wrong,  staff  stolen at Man City, on Tube trains wrecked after matches  between Sunderland and Sunderland,  by West Ham crews rioting against police stopping  a  Chelsea crew getting on to the same station.

As a teenager at Palace we avoided the match with Millwall because their crew came into in the ground for fight as did thugs at Chelsea in and out of the ground where the Right Wing extremists canvassed from stalls before games started.

When I arrived in the North East in 1974 I knew when a goal was scored at Roker Park working in the back garden so I went and was quickly hooked.  The Toon army shouted louder when they came with a significant section of racists although racism and tribalism and religious division, homophobia have been endemic in the north east among the working and middle class along with tolerance of swearing, physical violence and drunkenness with drug addiction and its funding more recent addition from the late 1960’s along with organised crime.

My first visit to the Arsenal was to see Stanley Mathew playing for Blackpool although I only saw on half of the field of play afraid to be handed over the standing crowd of over 50000 crowd to the front. I gave up on Sunderland when they went into third and looked for a time going to the fourth, and then thrilled by Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle who nearly did a Leicester, and now after a decade of continuing failure and Sky I pick and mix what I see and when.

But I understand the match day experience of meeting up with friends for a meal and drink before or after and sometimes bot, hoping but never expecting a win, miraculous play and an exciting moment or two. The reality of Tyne and Wearside with 100000 attending the two clubs on a consistent basis is that locally born heroes have become memories as have sides unless they are pushing for promotion as Newcastle are once again or successfully fighting relegation which Sunderland are struggling to do. The problem has been club ownerships and buying the wrong players for the task to hand and I apply this to political leaderships and politicians all too frequently imported from outside the region and with no understanding the history of how the local community has worked.

There is also a problem that International football has become corrupt and an ally of unscrupulous international capitalism and the national game has been infected as recent development reveal although the failure appears centred on the English Premiership . The abject failure of the English National Team is unacceptable.  It is time for football lovers to reject and rebel in a nonviolent, democratic and constructive way against clubs which betray and persistently fail for decades although the continuing appeal to lads like Gerry will remain. Interestingly the family get their revenge as the play ends.

Cymbeline Royal Shakespeare Company Cinema Relay

On Wednesday 28^th September 2016 I attended a relay at the Bolden Cineworld of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s latest production of Cymbeline. One of only two plays by Shakespeare about ancient Britain, the other King Lear is also part of the present Stratford season and will be broadcast internationally through Cinema relay on October 12. I have previously experienced two RSC productions of King Lear in Newcastle in 1991 and 1994 both at the theatre Royal but not Cymbeline and where I cannot remember having read the play although I did once attempt to read through all the works assigned to Shakespeare. 

Checking my records, I have so found that I watched forty productions of the RSC which cover a wide range of authors other than Shakespeare and twenty-seven of his plays, some twice, a handful at Stratford (Julius Caesar, Merchant of Venice, Midsummer Night’s Dream) come to mind and in Newcastle the famed seasons where plays were performed at the People’s theatre at the former Newcastle University Theatre, now Northern stage and the Theatre Royal.

The relay of Cymbeline featured important explanations of why the play may have come to be written and how the present production was designed to provide clarity on a complex tale and where, as I was reminded, it is essential to allow the ear to tune into the language of the day to fully appreciate and understand the wonder of the works. The production was created on an open stage with the audience on three sides and a back screen plus some back side constructions essential to aspects of story. This was a production which kept the audience focussed on the actors rather than technical wizardry although there was on central stage device which centre on a tree.

The story is divided between geopolitics, family tragedy and young love. Underpinning all these three aspects is the human tendency to distort and manufacture truth, spread lies and deception to further and protect self-interest, to gain revenge coupled with the tendency of the young and the vulnerable to be tricked, seduced, groomed by those will evil intent.  There is an excellent digital programme available on the RSC Internet site which includes cast, interviews, films and photos. Those without the time to re or read the play Wikipedia provides a sound summary.

Cost was an addition £7.20 on top of Monthly subscription of £16.90 with adults paying £18.20 at box office and senior like me with subscription paying £14.20 on line.

Private Lives NoelCoward

On Thursday 8^th February 2014 i saw a filmed version of a live performance of Noel Coward’s Private Lives with Toby Stephens brining back memories of a BBC TV production Alec McGowan and Penelope Keith from the mid 70’s and at least one radio production. It is a divertissement.

From Wikipedia Act 1

Following a brief courtship, Elyot and Sybil are honeymooning at a hotel in Deauville although her curiosity about his first marriage is not helping his romantic mood. In the adjoining suite, Amanda and Victor are starting their new life together, although he cannot stop thinking of the cruelty Amanda's ex-husband displayed towards her. Elyot and Amanda, following a volatile three-year-long marriage, have been divorced for the past five years, but they now discover that they are sharing a terrace while on their honeymoons with their new and younger spouses. Elyot and Amanda separately beg their new mates to leave the hotel with them immediately, but both new spouses refuse to cooperate and each storms off to dine alone. Realising they still love each other and regret having divorced, Elyot and Amanda abandon their mates and run off together to her flat in Paris.

Act 2

After dinner at the Paris flat several days later, Elyot and Amanda use their code word "Sollocks" to stop their arguments from getting out of hand. They kiss passionately, but the harmony cannot last: while Elyot and Amanda cannot live without each other, neither can they live with each other. They argue violently and try to outwit each other, just as they had done during their stormy marriage. Their ongoing argument escalates to a point of fury, as Amanda breaks a record over Elyot's head, and he retaliates by slapping her face. They seem to be trapped in a repeating cycle of love and hate as their private passions and jealousies consume them. At the height of their biggest fight, Sybil and Victor walk in.

Act 3

The next morning, Amanda tries to sneak away early, but is surprised to find Sybil and Victor there. As they talk, Elyot comes in, and he and Amanda start bickering again. It has been decided that neither of the new spouses will grant a divorce for a year, to give Amanda and Elyot time to confirm if this is really what they want. As tempers rise, Sybil and Victor begin to bicker with each other, defending their respective spouses. Amanda and Elyot realise that Sybil and Victor are as suited to each other as they are, forgive one another and sneak out, leaving the younger two together. As Elyot and Amanda tiptoe out, Victor and Sybil have reached the point of mutual violence.”

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The Audience with Helen Mirren and Kenneth Branagh's Macbeth

,the Audience with Helen Mirren, as the Queen, looking back on her life and the experience of the weekly audience with all the Prime Ministers she got to know since the untimely death of her father.

Looking back over the same period I conclude that Mrs Simpson did the nation a great favour by seducing the then King into wanting to marry her, thus causing the abdication and with that the succession of George VI and our Elizabeth. I hate to imagine what would have become of Britain had the Archbishop of Canterbury and other big wigs decided that the King and Mrs Simpson should get their way.

George VI and his wife carried out their required role with dedication, honour, integrity and distinction and acquired the love, admiration and respect of the majority of the British people together with large chunks of the population worldwide, paving the way for Queen Elizabeth to commence her long and illustrious reign with her admirable husband although more than once the British system has been under threat and the position of the heredity head of state placed in question.

There is evidence that twice during the period when Harold Wilson was Prime Minister a military and secret service coup was attempted proposing that Louis Mountbatten should head a government of unity. Harold, who I head speak about the way science and technology would transform the country during the period when I was at the University of Birmingham was according to the play, the Queen favourite Prime Minister because of his direct no nonsense approach to politics and life.

Baron Wilson as he became was clever with a photographic memory but without arrogance or unscrupulousness and double dealing and was the only Prime Minister other than Churchill who the Queen honoured by going to dine at his home before both departed office. For at least a couple of decades mystery surrounded the reasons for Wilson’s unexpected departure from office and in is only latterly that the truth emerged that he developed the early indicators of Alzheimer’s as well as his wife’s distaste for party politics and the then increasing cult of personality politics.

To his credit Louis Mountbatten who had tried to keep India as one country, when Viceroy rejected, the coup proposal and he is said to have encouraged the marriage between Philip and Elizabeth as well as becoming an important influence on the life of Prince Charles. The decision of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to including Louis as one of the three names for their first born maybe more of a nod towards Prince Charles than a statement of Europeanism but I was delighted that this choice of name did upset one little Englander.

While the Queen is shown to have respected Winston Churchill, played by Edward Fox in the play, it is evident that she was somewhat in awe of a man who clung to his traditional understanding of the role while with Wilson she appears to have been able to be herself or at least come to be herself having been thrust into the role prematurely and without the years of preparation afforded to Charles, William and hopefully to George, adjusting to the outward changing nature of the Kingdom without abandoning the core values.(I have the life of Winston by his son Randolph)

Queen Elizabeth was fortunate to have the remarkable Harold Macmillan (I have Anthony Sampson’s study of his Political Ambiguity), the man who advised South Africa on the Winds of Change but who helped the cover up of upper class immorality in the Profumo Affair and which led to an unholy alliance between the secret service, the police and fleet street to blame Stephen Ward. The Judge at the time has no business promising anonymity to witnesses beyond that required by statute hence the continuing clamour to have the papers, fortunately not destroyed as intended, available for professional scrutiny in much the same way as those relating to the covering up of Hillsborough. I am not suggesting there is a difference between upper and lower class immorality or indeed taking a position on what is regarded as immorality but not illegal. I see no value in pandering to the interest of the mob and the only outstanding issue is whether matters were covered up with it was in the public interest in terms of the then law to have processed.

The play showed that Anthony Eden was unfit for the office( I have his Memoirs- Full circle) as well as those of another unsuitable man Edward Heath (George Hutchinson’s book) but I cannot find the study on Wilson although I did find Mrs Wilson Dairy as well as the spirited defence of her husband and the scandalous lies put about by hostile individuals in MI5, in a surprising article which appeared the Daily Mail’s on line edition of Femail.

The play suggests that the Queen found/continues to find it difficult to forgive the decision of Tony Blair to sell off the Royal Yacht and not to commission a replacement or the way he took control of the situation arising from the death of Diana, although not featured in the play, may well have affected the rest of their relationship together with the decisions to use ground troops in Iraq. There was surprising affection for Prime Minister Brown I suspect because the Scottish connection, and common values, together with the most interesting exchanges, confrontation, is too strong a word between the first female Prime Minister and a Queen born in the same year. It is interesting that an almost state funeral took place for Lady Thatcher with the Royals attending, something unlikely for Tony Blair.

In the play the meetings with each Prime Minister was interspersed with Elizabeth reflecting on her life as a young girl and young woman and together with some amazing changes of costumes and physical appearance the show provided an always engaging and rounded perspective on our national life over six decades. It was a good experience with my only regret that I was not able to view live because the theatre at Bolden failed to sort out the communications link with the NT effectively beforehand.

The decision of the Duchess of Cambridge to go and stay with her “ordinary” parents, albeit southern counties middle class, is a good move as was the move to name their first child George. Prince George also has the name of Alexander with the suggestion that was the wish of his mother, the Duchess of Cambridge and is indeed a great name!

In the context of the Audience it is hoped that Charles, William and now George will be adequately prepared for their future roles as understudies and one step could be to include the next in line in the weekly Audience, although weekly is a misnomer as appears not to take place when the head of state is on holiday although presumably direct contact is possible through the use of Skype and the telephone, presuming these can not be monitored by the various intelligence services, including our own.

The Queen has had her horrible years, caused by an unfortunate choice of someone to marry the man who will become Charles III when he was already in a lifelong loving relationship with another woman who has subsequently become his wife. Given the nature of the continuing British establishment the individualistic Charles espousing many causes of significance could prove a workable interim head of state as long as his wife continues to play the supporting role she has developed since their marriage, giving William and Kate more time for each other and for a family life before they become modern heads of state hopefully abolishing the wearing of robes on state occasions such as the Opening of the Parliament and other inappropriate dressing up in such a way as not to damage the tourist value of our ceremonies. It was good to see Republican channels such as Fox News and CCN and France Today providing wall to wall coverage of the birth.

The potential sealing up of an hereditary head of state for the next 100 years should prevent the kind of treachery which Shakespeare covers in his play Macbeth which I saw late (8.30 PM) in a live relay from Manchester at the Odeon Cinema Mansfield.

I studied the play for my ordinary level English Literature General Certificate of education and the words remain familiar to me. Perhaps for this reason it has never been a work which emotionally engaged although I continue to marvel at language with its insight on the human condition even only some murderers are subsequently racked with the kind of guilt which beset Macbeth and his wife played by the excellent Alex Kingston (who recently had a good role in Doctor Who and also who also was a subject of a Who do you think you are programme. At one level I have seen and enjoyed Kenneth Branagh in too many roles, especially Wallander on screen over past half decade to see him as Macbeth, although the performance was of the highest integrity.

The reason why this couple sowed the seeds of their own doom is that he listened to the three witches and failed to remember “beware the Greeks who bear the gifts” while his wife liked the idea of being queen and initiated the subsequent ruthlessness. The National Theatre production took place in a deconsecrated church with the stage the central aisle although some use was made of window and settings of the alter end. There was one memorable performance that of Ray Fearon as McDuff whose reaction to the news of the death of his wife and sons was one of the most painfully moving experience in theatre for the past decade and which followed the excellent performance of Rosalie Craig as his wife and Harry Polden and Pip Pearce as their sons. John Shapriel as Duncan always impresses as did Jimmy Yuill as Banquo. The late start was because the play, as is customary, is played straight for its two hours in length without an interval, There was no vacant seats and the Premium seating was excellent for someone of my size.

It was my second visit to the site of the cinema in consecutive days although my first visit was unintended and I will explain in the second piece of writing about the midlands weekender.

　

　

Les Miserables

It is Les Misérables weekend although the time spent on writing and listening is shared with Wii Sports and Wii Fit as the game disk arrived Saturday midmorning. I have booked up my March trip to London for £31 return. I am debating whether to get myself  dressed and to Morrison’s for some sprats as they had a good supply when visiting yesterday and where I bought four ready made packs. They are so fattening though with the batter and oil .I decided against and will make do with the supply already to hand

I saw Les Misérables one and three quarters times  at the Palace Theatre London in 1991.On the first occasion, a matinee performance on Janaury3rd 1991 Upper Circle  Row A 36 at £18.50 I had to leave early before meeting up for an evening meal prior to an evening performance of Miss Saigon at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. I was to see Miss Saigon four times. I went again to Les Misérables/
    `     soon afterwards and then purchased the complete Symphonic recording of the Alain Boubill and Claude Michel Schonberg musical based on the 1000 page historical novel by Victor Hugo which I have also commenced to read for the first time. James Cameron provided the Score for the Philharmonia Orchestra supplemented with musicians from the Palace Theatre. The cast for the  recording was drawn from London, Los Angeles, New York and Sydney productions with Eponine from Tokyo. A young Michael Ball played Marius.

This morning Friday January 11th 2012 two decades later I arrived at the Cine World Bolden in time for a £1.18 coffee  at McDonalds before the 11am first showing of the film version. There just over 100 individuals in the theatre by around 11.20 when the performance commenced 2 hours 40 minutes concluding at 2pm. I had planned to listen to the recording before attending and without doing so I had  to quickly adapt to what is a fast moving story spanning two decades from 1815 to the revolution of 1832.

While the stage musical made no attempt to cover the full story of the  Victor Hugo novel it is generally agreed that it captures the main themes and soul of the work in an extraordinary way which has led to its worldwide production  attended by an estimated 60 million people. It opened in Paris in 1980 and came to London and then to the West End in 1985, opening on Broadway in 1987 and then on tour in the States. It has remained a feature of the London Theatre scene now at the Queens Theatre Shaftesbury Avenue where one agent is selling tickets in the stalls at £86. I paid £5.40 for my cinema ticket this morning.

The story opens  as a prologue in 1815 when Jean Valjean is paroled after surviving five years for stealing a loaf of bread for the starving child of his sister and a further fourteen years after attempting to escape. He is paroled for the rest of his life with the implication that he is unlikely to find work and therefore accommodation and will live as  a beggar on the streets until  a premature death from cold, starvation and illness. The opening number is in effect a scene setting confrontation between Valjean prisoner 24601 and Javert then a senior prison official who warns Jean that he will never be free.

Listening to the Mayo Kermode Film Show on BBC radio 5 when I returned home they played part of the exchange with Russell Crowe not a singer and Valjean played by Hugh Jackman, an Australian who came to International attention through his performance in Oklahoma for the British National Theatre in London. Until Les Misérables he was known for his appearances in the X Men series of films while also appearing on Broadway. I also enjoyed his performance in the epic film Australia where he replaced Russell Crowe. I thought it was mistake to play the opening sequence in isolation from the rest of the show gives a false impression of his excellence performance.
This is because the film a film and not a theatrical production and where through close ups dramatic acting is as important if not more important than the quality of the singing. This film is extraordinary, very special in fact, for the collective acting of all the members of the cast and which is enhanced by the visual brilliance created on scale  impossible on the stage, although this is not to belittle the achievement of sets created at the Palace Theatre stage which were also remarkable.

Bitter, angry, an outcast Jean Valjean finds his way outside a house which happens to be the accommodation of the Bishop of Dijon who invites him in, feeds and offers a bed  for the night. Jean repays the hospitality by stealing silver, is captured and brought back where the Bishop confirms that he had given the silver as a gift and that the man had failed to take two ornate silver candlesticks the most valuable item of his possessions.

The Bishop sends him away with  the words “Remember  this my brother, see in this some higher plan, you must use this previous silver to become an honest man.”

It after this that Jean Valjean sings an important solo in which he looks back on his life. “ I feel my shame inside me like a knife!” He decides to begin a new life but potentially making his position worse by tearing up his yellow ticket of leave, his parole requirements. (What have I done?)

Is only when I am able to listen to the film Libretto that differences between it and the theatre production may become apparent, but this is not something immediately evident to me although my impression is the order of some events may have been changed slightly rather than the  lyrics.


One change evident between the original productions and the film is that Valjean was described as having disguised himself whereas now he has shaved off his full face whiskers. He has become an important local personality, a factory owner and the town Mayor and known as Monsieur Madeleine. The date is 1823 and we  meer the poor of the town “ Its a struggle and a War”  “And they do not hear the little ones crying and Winter is coming on fast”, “ There’s gonna be hell to pay at the end of the Day.”

We meet Fantine as a worker grabs a letter, a demand from the Inn keeper and his wife who are fostering her daughter. Until this information has become known she was regarded as aloof from the rest of workforce, resistant to the sexual advances of the male foreman. Now the married women turn on Fantine and the foreman siezes the   opportunity to sack her for refusing his advances. Her employer who would have intervened and not tolerated such behaviour is distracted because of the appearance of Javert who has become the local police chief.

Where the order also appears to have altered is in  the incident of the runaway cart which pins  a man down and where Valjean uses his super strength (in the film he raises the flag pole of a damaged ship which is being hauled into a dry dock (filmed Portsmouth Harbour) by lines of the chain gang compared to the small number used in the stage production. Javert has already sensed he has seen Valjean from somewhere before now and from seeing the same great strength he suspects he has found the man who absconded from parole and makes  inquiries in Paris.

There is now one of the most mopving parts of the story commencing with Fantine singing the memorable number I dreamerd a dream, “I dreamed a dream that love would never die, I dreamed a dream so different from the hell I am living,“ followed by the number Lovedly Ladies to describes the prostitues, their pimps and other “low life” who inhabit the port of the town. The film emphasises the reality that the majority of these women were worn and sick creatures, garishly overpainted, and dirty in every sense. Fantine desperate to continue to fund the care of her child is forced to become a prostitute and we see her become thin to the point of emaciation, starving herself to save for the required payments, her body, her feelings has become dead.

There is an incident which leads to her arrest after she refuses a client who hits her with a stick so she claws him across the face, he calls the police who enter led by Javert. She explains what happens and is not believed but Valjean who is passing by steps from the crowd to plead her cause recognising her without knowing what happened, so she explains in disbelief at his ignorance. He takes her to hospital attracting the concern of Javert. It is at this point in the original production that the runaway cart incident occurs. Fantine is very ill.

There is then an important turning point in the story when Javert is confronterd with the information from Paris that the absconder Valjean has been apprehended and is to appear in court to be sentenced to further imprisonment and this poses a moral dilemma for Valjean could do nothing and become truly free knowing he had sent a man to prison for life. He goes to court and admits the truth.”My soul belongs to God. He gave me hope when hope was gone.” He admits he is 24601. There is then the second movings sequence when Fantine dies in hospital with Valjean offering to find and take care of her daughter as his own.

Fantine is played in the film by Anne Hathaway. A beautiful young woman previously in Brokeback Mountain, the Devil Wears Pravda and Rachel’s Getting Married for which she received an Academy Award nomination, Alice in Wonderland and the Dark Knight Rising. Interviewed on Mayo and Kermode she refused to reveal what she did to loose so much weight for the film and which of course could have been cinema trickery!!

However before Valjean can undertake the mission he is confronted by Javert who has come to return him to prison Valjean pleads with him for three days and then he will accept his fate willingly. He is refused, they fight and he escape after knocking down the policeman.

He finds Cossette working as a drudge at the Inn run by Thénardiers at Montfermeil. In the film the wife is played by Helena Bonham Carter who builds on her over the top comical roles of the Red Queen in Alice in Wonferland and as the wicked witch in Harry Potter, I thought she was good and funny whereas Sasha Baron Cohen is Sasha Baron Cohen also over the top but does not come off in my view as strongly as Helena although he tries hard to steal every scene that he is in and in fairness the part is drawn this way especially with Master of the Hosue in which he describes how he uses every tricks to get guests to pay several times for anything and everything if the eat and drink  and if they require accommodation. Helena priases her daughter who is spolit whereas Cosette is sent off to the woods to draw water from the well where she is found upset and bemoaning her fate by Valjean “Castles on a cloud“ Thenardier then  extracts all that he can for the visitor before releasing Cossette to him.

It is at this point that the film introduces a new number Suddenly which has been nominated for an Oscar. Javert also  visits the Inn shortly after Valjean and Cosette have departed.

In the original production this development is omitted and the action moves to the streets of Paris where revolution is in the air. It is 1832 and the poor sing  beggars at your feet echoes the opening music with the chain gang. The singers of  the poor are represented by a prostitute a pimp and an  old women.  and  introduced to  Marius who who  reports that General Remarque is ill, a man who speaks for the poor, We are also introduced to young Gavroche, a clever street urchin who has identified with the rebellion,

Also in Paris  are Thernardier and his wife and grown up daughter Eponine who is in love with Marius who although from a wealth family is living in the same tenement plotting a revolution with  students. They enounter Valjean out with Cosette now grown up and Marius is smitten much to the disappointment of Eponione. Thernardier recpgnises Valjean and exposes him. Eponine spots the arrival of Javert with police constables and Valjean quickly disappears leaving Cosette in the company of Marius. Thernardier gets off because of the absence of a victim who Javert speculates it is Valjean. Javert has an important solo but it is Gavroche who claims But it it’s me who runs this town, Marius begs Eponine find where Cosette lives,

There is now the build up to the rebellion and conclusion of the first part of stage show, Under the banner song of Red and Black the students meets at the ABC cafe to plan their next action, The are waiting for the right moment , the right sign to rally the people to get behind them. Marius is distracted and is chided on being in love and told to concentrate on the task in hand, - Red, he sings  I feel my soul on fire - Black my world  if she is not there - Red the colour of desire- Black the colour of despair. The news comes from Gavroche that General Lemarque is dead, the awaited sign, they will take to arms and man the barricades - They Will come one and all-they will come when we call.

The optimism continues with Do you herar the people sing.. There is a life about to start, tomorrow, will you join in our crusade?

It is time for Cosette to  reveal to Valjean that she has grown up and fallen in Love- In my Life. Valjean commentsd at one point -You will learn that truth is given by God To us all in our time, in our turn,  before leaving the garden where Cosette reflects in how she is feeling, Marius has come to the garden with the help of Eponine who realises that she has lost all hope of winning his love. The couple expresses their feelings for each other.

Outside Eponine finds that her father and his henchmen have also made their way to the house  and when she threatens to warn Cosette and her father of their arrival she is threatened but still screams a warning.. The gang scatter with her father saying he will punish her later,  Marius leaves as Valjean arrives to find out what is happening. He thinks Javert is involved and announces that they must both get away first to Calais and then by ship abroad This leads another of the memorable numbers.

“One Day More” cries Valjean to get away but this poses a conflict for Cosette and in tuirn of Marius between his departing love and the barricades with his colleagues  and friends. Javert also joins in One Day more and plots to join the students  and nip the rebellion in the bud... “They will wet themselves with blood.” Eponine sings  One day more on my own. And everyone sings Tomorrow we’ll discover what our God in heaven has in store, One Day more.

The action moves to the following day and the barricades Javert joins in disgusied as a rebel. Eponine accepts this is no place for her but wants to be with Marius who sends  her off with a letter for  Cosette, Cosette is declaring her in a solo  “On My Own. The Barricades are complete, the students are ready.Jarvert returns  from his false mission warning the students that the authorities have strength in numbers but they will not attack that night, Gavoroche recognises who he is and Javert is captured with a nose placed around his neck.

Eponine returns having delivered  the letter into the hands of Valjean. She is mortally wounded.  She has her moment ”A Little Fall of Rain as she is conforted that she is  dying in the arms of Marius “That’s all I need to know you will keep me close, you will keep me safe“, Others declare they will fight in her name. She will not die in vain. They carry off her  body .

Valjean has read he letter and goes in search of Marius dressed as a soldier he is admitted to the barricade. They are able to repel the first attack. Valjean asks to be put in charge of Javert. He then cuts the bonds and tell him to go. Javert says he will still go afer him Valjean tells him where he can be found. He fires a shot which convinces the comrades he has desposed of the police chief.

Marius and the fellow student revolutionaries have a night of drink and preparations for the battle the following day. There is then another of memorable numbers sung by Valjean over the wounded Marius  Bring Him Home  over the sleeping body  Marius.

With the failure of the people of Paris to immediate rise up the battle is lost and the barricade remains the only one surviving. Gavorich is killed and this spurs the rest to fight on with many killed and the remainder executed on capture. In the film Javert appears affected by the death of the young and pins a medal on one. Valjean finds the wounded and unconscious body of Marius and carries and drags him with difficulty throught her sewers. Javert realises that Valjean is not among the dead and could have used the sewers to escape and follows. Also in the sewers is Thenardier and his men robbing those found dead and when he thinks he found the dead body of Marius he takes the boys gold ring, and then runs off when he finds the exhausted body of Valjean nearby. Valjean  recovers and take Marius  out of the sewers..

He is confronted by Javert once more and pleads just for an hour to take the young man for treatment. Javert has mixed feelings and proclaims ”the man of mercy comes again and talks of justice.” He allows 24601 to complete his task but warns he will be wating for him to keep his word and return. However he then has a major crisis of conscience and self doubt and commits sucide. “Who is this man, what sort of devil is he?

The women discover the bodies of the young men lain side by side and sing “of the children of the barricades someone used to cradle them and kiss them, when they cried.” Marius recovered returns to the cafe and sings another memorable tune “Empty Chairs at Every table. Oh my friends do not ask me what your sacrifice was for? “ He is played in the film by and proves one of the many excellent performances with the young Cosette, the face of the play and the film, young Gavroche and Eponine all memorable performances. Less so perhaps the older Cosette.

Cosette arrives to  help Marius with his recovery and they are to become lovers. Marius seeks Valjean and offers him a home with them. Valjean explains why this cannot be, revealing his past persuading Marius to help Cosette accept his departure in her best interests. The couple marry but the wedding reception is spoiled by the arrival of Therardier and his wife wanting more money and posing as a Lord and Lady at what has been a Society wedding. Marius sees that  Thenardier has his ring and realises that it was Valjean who saved him after the battle..

Thenardier and his wife have their final  number “Beggars at the Feast.”

Valjean has returned to church where he and Cosett had found sanctuary with the help of the man who he rescued from under the cart so long ago. He is preparing to die “God on high hear me now take me home. “The spirit of Fantine arrives to accompany him on his journey  “You raised my child with love and you will be with God,” The young couple rush into the room without seeing the presence of Fantine, They press Valjean not to dire and he tries to live on, but his time has come  and Fantine is there to bless him  “to love another person is to see the face of God.”

There is an epilogue as the people of Paris rise up behind a large barricade  “Do you hear the people sing say do you hear distant drums it is the future that they bring when tomorrow comes tomorrow. “ As with the stage production is the opportunity for the full cast to appears resurrected in several cases in a song of revolutionary triumph against injustice and oppression.

There was applause, somewhat embarrassed, as the film ended and with several others I stayed stead as the best music is repteaed throught the credits. A couple was approached by a young assistant, possible their son or a relative to enquire had they like the film and the man said one of the best films ever. I would not as far as that but certainly one of the best musical alongside Evita which I have viewed several times and also the Moulin Rouge  both of which I have the DVD with another with more serious intent Caberet. While not a film these are alongside the best staged production along with Les Misérables, Miss Saigion where I have a cassette edition recording and where the film will come hopefully one day.

There have been film adaption disappointment with the most significant Hair where I have both Long Play records editions, the first excluded songs related to drug use and verbal sexuality and is a rare item. Les Miserables  as a stage production and now as film can be criticised for  not being out of lace in a Tea party convention, from its emphasise on personal responsibility, crime and punishment and salvation through atonement and  the Christian meaning of love. There is  a lack of socialist principles in the story. As with Miss Saigon  (Madam Butterfly retold) there is great emphasise on giving the public what it wants with emotional numbers and exicting sets, Those who have read the book extol the fact that the production does communicate what the book is about which is encouraging. I found the performance satisfying and moving. A box of tissues is required,