The Musical Sunny Afternoon

On Thursday evening October 6^th 2016 I went to the Empire Theatre Sunderland to see the musical on the life of the Kinks, Sunny Afternoon, and which proved to be an unexpected experience in two ways. First the maximum amps were turned up for short spells, fortunately only twice, reminding the U2 Tribute band concert at the Customs House a few years back and here I met the band in a van lost on the hill where I live overlooking the mouth of the River Tyne, in search of their B and B. I went down and purchased a ticket just before the concert. It was so loud that some of the audience including younger members left at the interval. The only other memorable instance of intolerable loudness was an Elkie Brooks concert also some years back. Sunny Afternoon was both great as a musical and also provided important insights into the lives of rock musicians and the interactions between band members and their other relationships.

I set off to arrive when I anticipated the theatre would open, parking at the Bridge Shopping Centre Car Park just before 6.15 and where the cost for the evening was only £1 because of the Thursday night late opening session. I had brought the novel The Season Ticket but left it in the car and decided not to not to bother to go back once going out of the shopping Centre towards the theatre having buttoned the coat on a chilly evening. I was early for 7.30 show start as I wanted to get a ticket for the Tommy Steel playing of Glenn miller in the show already seen at the Theatre Royal.  I also had a glass of wine with the ticket and a large glass with a third filled plus a small carton of Pringles original crisps for £2. I took a bar stool seat at a window in the circle bar keeping my coat on as it was evident the heating had only recently been switched on in this area although the main auditorium was fine.

On arrival there was just me entering and half a dozen staff selling programmes and checking tickets at the two entrance and there was a choice of seating in the circle bar so I wondered about the audience response on this first night. By the time of curtain up the stalls were full and look back up so appeared the upper tiers. My aisle seat was closer to the stage as anticipated as there was an extension into the auditorium enabling singers and dancers to perform with the first rows having to look across sideways and the main set a full stage rectangular room filled on three sides with attractively autumn warm coloured loudspeakers which I assume represented the Konk recording studios and which covered over, I thought rather drab, for what became the ill-fated USA tour.

The Musical provides the opportunity to go through the Kinks song book and there is now the statutory ten-minute demand for the audience to stand join in sing and dance as a finale but this is a rare event a musical which also tell the raw and frank truth of the band together with the impact of the fame and fortune but also of every member, their separate lives as well as interactions. Some of the aspects are applicable to most bands of young men, the temptation to party to success with teenage girls, drink and drugs, and to rebel at the nature of the industry with managers and agents taking their percentage although nothing compared to palms to be crossed when performing in the USA. The story, the lyrics were created by the principal singer song writer Ray Davies but he repeatedly makes the point of the collective nature of their success, consistent with the socialism upon which his life is based. What is contentious is the claim that the band should be viewed alongside the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in terms of their artistic and playing abilities. What is clear is that Ray Davies attempted throughout to create music with lyrics which reflected his changing experiences of the changing society around him.

The band was originally created by the youngest brother Dave who became ranked as one of the top 100 guitarists of all time, was a sometime lead vocalist and lyricist lyrics with six older sisters and older brother Ray. The family who lived in Muswell Hill North London were music in the music all tradition was an active part of all their childhoods. A three bedroom two storey terraced House with a large 100-yard garden is selling for £1.35 million the cheapest from one online estate agent rising to £3m with the average property over £2m.  Dave became a larger than life character on and off the stage, expelled from school because of a relationship with an underage girl who became pregnant a where separated by the two families he did not meet with their child until three decades later. He had been twice married and had other relationship, cross dressing at times and bisexual and altogether eight children.  He had stroke in 2004 but continues to make news.

Dave originally formed the band with Peter Quaife who visited the family home and was at school with Ray and remained a key member for the for six years and in the Musical the reason given for his departure was a combination of wanting to lead a more stable life and because of relationship problems between the drummer Mick Avory and Dave, although in fact Peter went on to lead his own band the Mapleoak with two Canadians and members and playing for a time in Denmark. His involvement with the band and the music industry was short lived and spent nearly two decades in Canada and then back in Denmark. Peter suffered renal problems and was dependent on dialysis for ten years dying in 2010. He remained a loyal supporter of the Kinks the appearance if the band at Glastonbury was dedicated to him

The outstanding drummer Mick Avory remained with the band for two decades, a record second only to Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones, mentioned because in fact it is said that back in in 1962 Mick rehearsed at a pub in London with musicians who formed the original Rolling Stones. It is said he played with the Stones at their first gig at the Marquee, a venue where I attended its opening when the John Dankworth band and singers performed. When his playing career with the band ended Mick commenced to manage the Konk recording studios founded by the Davies brothers and which they still use to this day with the recordings of the 29 Musical show numbers created on disc. The feuding between him and Dave was legendry but long since resolved.

Ray Davies is the first to acknowledge the debt he has to his younger brother, Peter and Mick and also their first two managers but his work as a songwriter justifiably led to his induction in the USA Hall of Fame and to C.B.E here in the UK. Like his brother, at times he has had a dramatic personal life married three times and with other significant relationships including with Chrissy Hinds. In the musical he makes reference that his first wife was a school girl of (Lithuanian?) Catholic family background and the political background of her parents was an issue when in the United States as well as his commitment to socialism. The pregnancy of his wife coincided with the USA tour so she was unable to accompany and where she was a backing singer at times with brother Dave and also could play the guitar. It is not clear when Ray was first diagnosed as bipolar but would have been a factor in his admitted suicide attempt following the breakup of his first marriage with whom he has two daughters, another with Chrissy Hinds with a fourth daughter from his marriage to an Irish Ballet dancer.  When in the USA in 2004 he was shot in the leg while chasing thieves who had stolen the bag of his companion in the French Quarter of New Orleans and in 2011 he spent six months recovering from blood clots on the lungs.

He and the band are justifiably famed for a long series of records which achieved  success in the, UK, the USA and worldwide and which are familiar those of my and subsequent generations and to  a new generation who attend  performances of the musical although the majority those in stalls at Sunderland appeared to be aged between 40 and 80:  You Really Got Me, Sunny Afternoon, Lola, All Day and All of the Night, Waterloo Sunset and two of my  favourites Follower of Fashion and Where have all the good times Gone. It is noteworthy that it was Dave, dissatisfied with the sound of the opening chords of You Really Got me who worked out the idea of creating the raw sound by cutting into the amplifier and increasing the volume to the maximum amps. I share those who argue that it is this aspect of the recording together with blues background which catapulted the band from obscurity into transatlantic attention and success and which also had great influence on rock, heavy metal and punk.

What struck me most during the Musical is the contrast between the deafening sound of hard rock and the tender and profound insights of the ballads. Despite a huge list of books to read and review I will add Ray’s biography to the purchase of the CD. A special mention for the cast of this touring production and while that of Ray was impressive I am singling out the young man who played Dave who given my close up position seat I have never before seen someone put so much into an acting and sing role, but every one contributed to giving the audience a great time. The contrast between their energy and commitment the age and evident infirmity of their audience is the best way to end given that I count eight other members of the audience with walking sticks.

I made the mistake of purchasing the ticket online where the premium is unusually high in contrast to going to the Box Office. I do not begrudge paying £46 though.

                                       

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.”

`

　

　

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.