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,

I dreamed a dream Susan Boyle

A week has been experienced full of sunshine and tears of joy and it is now back to the reality of disciplined days in which I have much to cover in writing of what has been and preparations for a busy April with in the order of the activity the start of the cricket season, an important medical visit and a trip to London for Durham Cricket at Lords. I am not going to list all the events experienced or the tasks to be undertaken from the fear of being overwhelmed or taking the decision to summarise and move on which would be the sensible approach.

I begin with my second visit to a theatre to see a show in eight days, second for this year and for the past two years. The cause of the effort was a musical story about the life of Susan Boyle which world premiered at the Theatre Royal Newcastle on Thursday 22nd March 2012 at the start of a tour which travels to Aberdeen, Bradford, Liverpool, Dublin, Bristol, Southend, Cardiff, Birmingham, Inverness and Manchester, but not her home city or the East midlands or London.

The full house was not allowed to commence to take seats until well after 2pm which meant queues out into the street so it was just as well it was a warm sunny day. It was not surprising the performance did not being until 2.40 as a consequence and during the wait the audience of oldies remained expectant rather than restless. Unlike the namesake at Nottingham the theatre has dreadful seats with no space to allow people to pass by so everyone has to get up and leave a row to enable those sitting further along to take their seats if they are late. The seats slant forward and are not wide. The gentleman to my right had a hard time because his partner was at least twice my width which is saying something!

The story of Susan Boyle is well known throughout the world since her amazing performance on Britain’s Got Talent in 2009 when at the age of 47 a plain middle age woman stunned those who had come to mock, the judges and 100 million people who subsequently viewed the video on You Tube with at the last count 650 million viewings to-date. The reason for the reaction is that Susan has a powerful theatrical voice which electrifies an audience. It was only after the performance that we learned her life and what happened in the days immediately after the televised showing of an event which had taken place several weeks earlier.

Susan was born on April 1st 1961 in former mining community in Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland the youngest of a Catholic family of four brothers and five sisters. She was deprived of oxygen during a difficult birth and was later diagnosed with a learning difficulty. Because of bullying at school where she was known as Susie Simple. He father had served in World War II, was a miner and led the family in singing. Her mother was a shorthand typist of Irish background.

Her parents, particularly her father were protective blocking the one relationship with a boy which developed when the became a teenager and the absence of a companion continues to haunt her life. Apart from attempting to become a cook at a college for further education she was cared for at home while her brothers and sisters left home and established lives for themselves. The death of her father was significant but that of her mother was devastating.

Susan had sung in the church choir and at local social clubs winning a talent competition in the area but had dreamed of being a professional singer. She participated in a the 1995 Michael Barrymore talent show My Kind of People, auditions and the tape of her experience shows that this awful man was more interested in mocking her than the potential. His failure then was everyone’ else’s gain and it is pleasing that that his life has become so disastrous a view which a line in the show echoed. It is also important to provide perspective the family arranged singing lessons and that she attended an acting school in Edinburgh. She made one CD to showed off her talents with1000 copies pressed and which again having been uploaded to the Internet has been viewed 100’s of million times. She pulled out of applying for the X Factor because she believed the lacked the looks to be accepted.

This is the official background context for her appearance on Britain’s Got Talent. A lot more happened to Susan during the five decades of previous life and as the actress playing her role admits during the show some things she is keeping private and some things she shares she wished were not so.

This is something which scum journalists attempted to penetrate in those extraordinary days between her first appearance, the semi final and final. She was ill equipped for what happened and in truth no one could have equipped for what happened as interests swept world wide, especially in the USA and she was asked to give hundreds of interviews and was followed day and night with some taking rooms on the same floor of the same hotel where she stayed for the semi final and final of the competition just to try and photo her in unguarded moments.

The consequence was that at the semi final she froze and her voice cracked and her performance in the Final failed to ignite the public interest which coupled which bad publicity by some of the tabloids who sensed blood resulted in her becoming the runner up to the dance troop Diversity. There remains the suspicion that the result was orchestrated because it was judged Susan could not immediate cope with the realities on stage concerts and tours. She did not participate in the tour undertaken by the Finalists.
She needed a period of recuperation out of the limelight but feeling low she accepted advice on the appointment of a manager with all the qualities needed to help her move from being an overnight sensation to an international icon with staying power. She has produced three albums the first selling three million copies in the USA and second only to one by a local talent show winner while topping the charts in the UK and in Italy. I am listening to the first album now commencing with Wild Horses, I dreamed a dream, Cry me a River, How Great thou Art, You’ ill See, Day Dream Believer, Amazing Grace, Who I was born to be, Proud, The End of the World, and Silent Night.

In many respect the reliance on album sales is contra the recent trend because of the ability of people to listen without purchasing, legitimately as I am doing on line without downloading. Today the money is made through concert performances which creates a problem for Susan as she finds it difficult to cope with demands of stage appearances. It is therefore not surprising that she is not playing the role in her own story although this is what she did in a TV special, The Susan Boyle Story where she was able to control the involvement through filmed interviews over a period of time as well as film of her public appearances.

This included an expensive plate dinner organised by her USA fan club in which fans travelled from all over the USA to share a couple of hours in her presence. Feeling loved and secure she continued to chat for twice as long as scheduled leaving everyone happy that they had the experience to treasure for the rest of their lives.

The present show includes the statement that she would a personal appearance although not saying she would sing. The production is clever because the show appears to end without her presence thus causing a nearby member of the audience to openly express their disappointment. But the audience, especially those who had seen the local notices new better and with flashing spotlights lighting up the audience to indicate what it is like to appear live the curtain was raised again to reveal Susan standing in a glittering dress to receive a standing roar of ovation a from a crowd used to giving polite applause. Because of the knowledge imparted through the show and the knowledge of her life brought by the audience into the theatre it was one the most emotional shared experiences encountered in such a situation. She sung I dreamed a dream and who I was born to be and although one or more numbers would have been appreciated no one felt cheated and everyone left the theatre with smiles on their faces.

Understandably there has been much considered writing on both sides of the Atlantic about the phenomenon especially her success in the USA which is something the majority of British entertainers aspire but only a handful achieve and none to the same extent. In no order of significance there is empathy because her talent was not recognised outside her community for the greater part of her life and that she led such a normal life with the Christian background, singing in church looking after her mother and also volunteering in the community. She also was willing to expose her personal limitations and vulnerability, especially her reaction at coming second, because this meant there were more who voted for another act than for her,

There is also the aspect of American Dream and the fairy story but I suspect the most potent reason was the unexpected that someone as old and who looked and dressed plainly had such an amazing talent as good as any performer on the London music stage. Today, youth, looks and fashion dominate the culture together with the ability to project presences from Newsreader and weather forecaster, reality TV performer, footballer and politician it is about appearance and effective sound bite. Susan was negative in all the boxes although now she had all the same support of hairdressing and make up, and stage wardrobe as any other International performer and personality and the degree which she remain private and alone. I suspect she has achieved enough to stay the course and join the other UK female icons of Gracie Fields and Dame Vera Lynn.

On Saturday evening the 2012 series of Britain’s Got Talent with another individual getting the same level of attention as Susan, 17 year old large. shy and ungainly youth of few words Jonathan with an operatic voice which if trained could be as good as Pavarotti according to Simon Cowell was accompanied by 16 year old Catherine with a popular or theatrical suitable voice and the two complemented in their singing as well as providing support for the young man on stage. They were being interviewed across the TV networks during today.

The RAS Taming of the Shew at the Theare Royal Nottingham

I am impressed by the inside of Theatre Royal Nottingham which appeared to be to be better proportioned with more comfortable seating than its North East namesake although after the major refurbishment undertaken as part of the Newcastle Gateshead bid for the becoming a European City of Culture won by Liverpool the Newcastle Theatre has a rich feel interior. I have had a behind scenes tour of the theatre after the refurbishment. The outside of the Nottingham establishment is being renovated at the present time. The theatre is run joined with the adjacent music auditorium by the City Council.

I had a two course meal in the theatre restaurant beforehand which with a small glass of wine and coffee worked out at £21 a head another £4 for courses. You can have olives or baked breads as a prelim if you do not want to rush to the first course or are waiting for other members of the party to arrive which the situation was noted at one of the dozen tables providing for between two and eight diners. The Appetizers including Whitebait which was tempting although I like these small fishes such as sprats wrapped in unhealthy crunchy batter. These were served in a good heap with a tartar sauce. There was also soup and ciabatta bread, a Rillette of duck with a caramelized organises and a mozzarella cheese and tomato salad with pesto oil.

I chose a Lamb shank in rosemary and recurrent jus with Lyonnais potatoes and season vegetables with the veg too crunchy for my taste but there were two piece of chunky lamb which were greatly enjoyed. Also available was chicken supreme in a creamy tarragon sauce with crushed new potatoes and seasonal veg, a Nile perch in fresh tomato salsa with a timbale of pepper rice and a Risotto of the day. Additional veg or a salad were available as side orders.

While the apple pie was tempting served warm with crème anglais and Gourmet ice Cream or sherry trifle. I settled for a Chocolate tart served with a white chocolate covered half strawberry. As this level of food goes and prepared for those with a Theatre show start it was neither the best or the worst encountered and being able to stroll over to good aisle seats in the dress circle after listening to a woman pianist gently playing tunes was a bonus, especially as the heavens opened as had been forecast.

My knowledge of the plays of William Shakespeare is no longer what it was during the years in which I attended the seasons of the Royal Shakespeare productions to Newcastle and visited Stratford twice. I also only have a vague memory of the 1988 production of the Taming of the Shrew at the Theatre Royal Newcastle although I remembered more the subject matter of play and the criticism which boiled over into understandable hostility on the part of feminists because in this version of the battle of the sexes the intended outcome in the subjugation of women by men which makes the play a clarion call for the Taliban. I have also seen the play at Oxford. Richard Burton and Elisabeth Taylor did a film version as Kiss Me Kate.

This year’s Royal Shakespeare Touring company production is a bawdy version with the actors speaking in the original English rather than the kind of Laurence Oliver pronounced Oxford.

Christopher Sly is fat, fatter than me, although this is not saying a lot and a drunkard with sexual ambitions and at the start of the play is thrown out of the alehouse scorned by a woman described as Hostess who is not inclined to invite him into her bed.

In the present production the woman director has chosen to use the rest of those in the alehouse to become the pack of hounds of an unnamed Lord and his huntsman who then encounter Sly in his stupor and hit on the idea of making an entertainment of him by removing his clothing and dressing him as the Lord and pretending that he has been deranged for over a decade in his bed. These kinds of devices are common to the Comedies. They also dress up a page to be his wife and who is told to express delight at having her husband seemingly restored to her. The disguise is so effective and Sly so drunk that he seeks his conjugal rights leading to a merry chase under the huge covering of the entire steeply slanted stage out into the audience.

It is at this point the Lord finds that there is alternative entertainment available as travelling players offer to give a performance of a play, The Taming of the Shrew with Sly and his “wife“ watching from different vantages points during the first half observed by the Lord from a box at the side. They disappear from significance until the end when Sly reverts to his former life.

The action of the play takes place in Padua, Italy. Hortensio can be described as a gold digger, Gremio is old and rich and Lucentio is new in town. All three men want to marry Bianca who initially appears beautiful and graceful. Her father Baptista Minola won't let anyone marry Bianca until someone marries her elder sister Katherina or Kate. Known as a shrew Kate is moody, fiery and has no desire to marry. In fact Bianca becomes something of a wanton as the play develops while Kate’s gestures match the sexuality of the language untilt eh end when they kinda switch roles.

Petruchio arrives in town and visits his good friend Hortensio. Petruchio's father has died and he is determined to marry any woman who is rich. He doesn't care how old she is or what she looks like. He is told of Kate and her fortune. Petruchio vows that he will marry her despite her reputation for “her scolding tongue.” He wants her fortune and the challenge of catching and taming her appeals to him. At the Minolas' house Kate has tied her sister Bianca up and is making her cry with her vicious behaviour. Their father frees Bianca from Kate's bullying grasp. Kate accuses her father of loving Bianca more than he loves her. Kate is enraged that she will have to marry anyone who comes along just so that Bianca can have her dream wedding. She shouts at her father: 'I must dance bare-foot on her wedding day / And for your love to her lead apes in hell.'

Petruchio meets Baptista Minola who warns him that wooing his daughter Kate will be difficult. Petruchio assures him he is up to it. Meanwhile Hortensio poses as music tutor and goes in to teach both Kate and Bianca. The class does not last long, Kate swiftly smashes an instrument over Hortensio's head. Petruchio finds this encouraging: 'It is a lusty wench; / I love her ten times more than ever I did.'

Kate is brought to Petruchio. They have a fierce battle of words. He calls her a wasp. She replies: 'If I be waspish, best beware my sting.' Kate hits Petruchio who shouts: 'I swear I'll cuff you Katherina if you strike me again.'

Kate calls him 'one half lunatic'. He tells her they will marry on Sunday and she absolutely refuses and leaves. Both Hortensio and now Lucentio pretend to teach Bianca whilst they are really just desperate to spend time with her. Lucentio's servant Tranio pretends that he is Lucentio's master. The wedding day arrives. Kate waits for Petruchio but he is very late. Kate fears that he is going to stand her up on her wedding day. She feels abandoned and livid and hurt.

But when Petruchio arrives he is dressed like a tramp and rides an old horse and is everything that is the opposite of romantic. Kate is humiliated but he insists that love is not about clothes or image. They marry and then Kate tries to take Petruchio to the wedding feast but he refuses. He won't let her go to it either. Instead he drags her back to his home. Once they are in his house he starves her of food and sleep. He says she must become gentle and obedient before he will feed her.

He brings a tailor with a stylish dress but he finds fault and breaks into pieces. He gets her to say the sun is the moon and vice versa as a prelude to demanding complete obedience to his views and wishes

They travel to Padua to see her friends and family. Petruchio asks her for a kiss in the street and she does not object. Tranio persuades a visiting schoolteacher to pretend that he is Lucentio's father Vicentio. He will assure Bianca's father of Lucentio's wealth. Now the real Vicentio turns up. But Lucentio and Bianca still get married and are very happy. Hortensio marries a wealthy widow. Petruchio and Kate come back to town. Petruchio.

The play culminates in a bet between the husbands about their control of their wives. Hortensio and Lucentio have a bet on whose wife is the most obedient and wager a hundred crowns on it. Kate wins the contest and everyone sees that she is a changed woman. Kate lectures the other wives on obedience. And so the Shrew is tamed.

There is some humour in the work for those who like bawdiness and it can be argued that this is a work about the power of sexuality which both sexes uses to conquer and control each other. As a statement about the role of wives it is appalling and to be condemned. The acting as one expects by the RSC is of the highest standards

White Christmas at the Sunderland Empire

Winter has come early with over a foot of snow here on my hill at the mouth of the river Tyne, falling once overnight and the second time while watching the Irving Berlin musical White Christmas at the Sunderland Empire. According to the weather forecasters the snow which came to Northumbria as anticipated on Wednesday overnight is due to continue falling for the next two weeks with temperatures as low as minus 15 degrees already reported. It is treacherous on roads and pavements although the local council did make effort to keep the main roads gritted in South Tyneside but those in the City of Sunderland were in an appalling condition as I travelled from a roast turkey and gammon dinner at a Carvery in Cleadon Village to a car park close to the theatre on Saturday evening. It is one of the earliest recorded times that such snow fall has occurred as the last Autumn month ends and even back in the 1960’s it was not as heavy and prolonged as now.

I remember seeing the film White Christmas when it was first released in 1954, staring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye with Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen as the two sisters. The films was issued in the new wide screen process Vista Vision and marked the use of a mountain logo by Paramount which became their trade mark for the next three decades. The film has subsequently been shown regularly over the Christmas and New Year holidays on multi channel and I have viewed a few times during the last half century, but my memory of the story had become hazy. Not so several of the songs, particularly the title White Christmas, I’m dreaming of....and Blue Skies. Two other numbers gained a popularity beyond the film and subsequent stage musical, Sisters and Count your blessings Instead of Sheep. There is a number Its Cold Outside which can be confused with the well known Baby Its Cold Outside created by Frank Loesser in 1948.

I knew nothing of the history of the stage version of the musical which in fact was only created in 2004 for presentation in the USA and came first to the UK for the Christmas season in 2006. My impression is that stage production closely follows the film and certainly the song numbers are similar

Happy holiday
White Christmas White Christmas
Let Yourself go The Old man
Love and the Weather Heat Wave/ Let me Sing/
I’M Happy/Blue Skies
Sisters Sisters
The best things Happen The best things Happen While Your’re Dancing While Your’re Dancing
Snow Snow
What can we do with a Minstrel Number
General
Let me sing I’m Happy
Count Your Blessings Count Your Blessings
Blue Skies Choreography


I love Piano Best things happen when
Falling out of Love Abraham
Sisters
Love you Didn’t Do right By Me/ Love You didn’t do right
How deep is the Ocean
We follow the Old Man
Let Me Sing I’m Happy
How Deep is the Ocean What can you do
Well follow the Old Man Gee I wish I was back
In the army
White Christmas White Christmas
I’ve got my Love to keep me warm



The story of the film rendins fo the Christian basis of the season, the getting to gether of friends and families, the having a good time and the dangers of paying attention to heresay, not checking facts and to the harm well intentioned busy bodies can cause.

The story opens as the second World War draws to its close in Europe and two friends are part of an entertainment put on for their comrades in arms at Christmas. The commanding General speaks to the men of the task ahead and the hope that ten years later the men would have good and peaceful lives with families. The two friends in the Sunderland production are played by Tom Chambers, an actor in the TV series Holby City and Waterloo Road but who made his name by winning Strictly Come Dancing, and Adam Cooper, an established dancer cheorographer and theatre director, while the General is played by Ken Kercheval, now aged 75 and who made his name in the TV blockbuster series of Dallas as Cliff Barnes. Ken also played the role when the show first came to the UK in 2006 while Adam Cooper starred last season in Plymouth and Manchester.

Ten years later the two men have become successful in musical theatre, appearing on the Ed Sullivan show before going to Miami over the holiday season to prepare for their next production. Having received a letter from one of their war comrades one of the pair persuades the other to catch the man’s two younger sisters performing at a club and they are impressed as well as attracted to the women. They invited the girls to bring their act to Miami as part of the show, but they are already contacted to appear at a Winter ski holiday centre in Vermont. One of the men devises a plan which results in the other finding himself on the same train as the girls to Vermont and when they get to the resort, they find it being run at a loss by their former Commanding officer. Worse still there is a sudden heat wave instead of snow so bookings are cancelled and General faces ruin. The two men devise a plan to bring their company to rehearse their next show at the centre using the Barn as the theatre and then to invite all the members of the 151 battalion and their families to come to the resort over the holiday to show support and respect for the general. The General meanwhile had applied to rejoin the army but his application is treated by a former colleague as a joke.

All goes well with the plan until the resort receptionist asked to communicate a message from a product producer on the Ed Sullivan show who also produced the wartime show in which the two men first men. She interprets the message as revealing that the men plan to buy the resort at a knock down price and make millions. She passes this misinterpretation on to one of the sisters at the same time as giving her a telegram offering her a major booking at a New York nightclub. She takes the assignment broken hearted at what she feels is the betrayal by the man she had come to admire as well as love. Without understanding why she has broken off the relationship the man follows her to New York and when she still rejects his interest he leaves to return to Vermont for the special performance show. He also leaves her with the Ed Sullivan producer friend he has invited to catch her act and she quickly realises that the man is not a real estate agent and that she has accepted a false story, also returning to Vermont to appear in the show.

The General is persuade to wear his uniform for the occasion still unaware that the support reunion has been planned and gets a second surprise when a letter is sent from the White House giving him a job with the USA army in Europe. He decides to decline the offer and make the most of the opportunity given to him by the former comrades. At the end of the show within a show, the doors behind the stage are opened to reveal that snow has arrived at the resort. And in true Hollywood style everyone lives happy ever after.

The musical is a faithful production of the style of show and song fashionable in the 1950’s and makes no allowance for social changes in the intervening years although the appal from brothers in arms to stick together and support each other when they return to civilian life is as strong now in the post Korean, Vietnam and Middle East conflicts as it was post World War II.

I have visited the Sunderland Empire Theatre several times over my decades living on Tyne and Wearsides usually for the Pantomime at Christmas/New Year. It is an ancient theatre built in 1007 with 2000 seats in an auditorium which has remained substantial the same over the century. However in 2004/5 £4.5 million was spent to raise the height of the above stage tower, lengthen and widen the stage to enable full West End and International theatre productions to be produced including Miss Saigon, one of my favourites, South Pacific, My Fare Lady, and Starlight Express. Mickey Rooney appeared in the 2007 Christmas Pantomime with his wife while Helen Mirren first performed on this stage and the Comedian Sydney James had a heart attack and died on his way to hospital.

I enjoyed the evening despite the horrendous conditions on the untreated Sunderland roads one the way to and from the Theatre. Mist of the audience wisely kept on their coats as it was none to warm inside. The seats remain comfortable, and West End prices were charged about double one would expect for a show at this time of the year and here were no concessions. I would be surprised if the gross box office is less than half a million pounds a week and one hopes the rates paid to the performers reflects this as for many this will be their substantial earning period for the year. I shall now look out for a showing of the film over Christmas.

1901 Blood Brothers in Richmond, Lunch in Kingston

After an excellent journey to the capital, an unexpectedly treat of a day on Monday visiting the town where my first purchased home is located, seeing Shutter Island at Kingston and La Boheme at Wimbledon, taking the tram for almost length of its track, a family meal and lots of chat, deciding what to do with my third full day and something which would add to the experience posed a problem. My pre journey intention had been to visit the new Renaissance exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum and /or the Henry Moore retrospective at the Tate but if the weather as good then I fancied a trip to Richmond, taking the bus from Kingston, and passing Ham and Petersham, alighting at the Thames riverside and going on to the Green, one of the most picturesque in all the British Islands, lunching, having a walk around, taking a river bus trip, assuming their continuing operation, perhaps then continuing on the sixty five to Ealing where I had worked between 1967 and 1970, not that I remembered the number of the bus when considering the options.

All this seemed unlikely when I opened the curtains of the room Croydon and looked towards the Nestle building and the main road passed the Fairfield Halls, towards the Local authority buildings where I had worked for the Finance department in late 950’s and noticed the grey skies which looked full of rain. I decided that I would nevertheless take the bus to Kingston and if weather had not improved take the train from there to Waterloo.

I arrived at the bus stop in good time and was able to take a raised seat midway in the bus, able to pay greater attention to the other passengers and the places passed, remembering previous associations. A retired couple behind me provided a running commentary and at the Fairfield Halls reminisced at a past era. Passing between Beddington and Park and Wallington Green and I remembered the where a Liberal parliamentary Candidate lived whose children attended the same school and church and where we had gone Carol singing one Christmas as teenagers. In those days he lost his deposit gaining only a few votes whereas today the Sutton Council has a Liberal Democrat majority and a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament. After Carshalton pond we passed the former music store, now selling clocks where another former pupil lived above with his family.

At the station stop in Kingston I alighted in front of a Wetherspoons pub offering their three sausages and chips with beans for £3.99. This was irresistible. This is a giant of a Wetherspoons with two large seating areas and a horde of young staff who appeared to be enjoying their working day. The meal came surprisingly quickly given the number of people in the pub restaurant and someone came to check that I was satisfied with the food soon after it had been delivered. It was noon and I realised that Prime Minister’s Question Time was showing with sub titles. I was too lazy to move. However on going to the gents before making my way, I noticed that the House remained full and Chancellor of the Exchequer William Darling was on his feet. It was budget day.

After making myself comfortable I found a table close to a screen and watched the rest of his speech. In total he said nothing other than remind of the Government‘s performance and previously stated policies and decisions to do nothing to lessen the impact of the recession, to protect jobs as much a possible and to stimulate the economy in the best possible of ways. He explained the plans to reduce the national deficit with the forecast reduced by some 11 billions from 178 to 167 because improvements in employment, reductions in benefit payments and other measures. The only new announcement was to double the price of a property to a quarter of a million before stamp duty has to be paid and this will be offset by charging an additional 5% on properties worth more than £1 million. The speech will have placed the Conservatives in a difficult situation because their only accurate from of criticism would be to criticise the failure to cut public expenditure and not raising more taxes, both of which would have been electorally disastrous alienating the centre and their own core supporters. They therefore concentrated on criticising the government leadership and its personalities

I then went in search of the bus station and the bus to Richmond having remembered, so I thought, the way through the town centre having passed the bus station earlier. I was wrong and soon found myself close to the Kingston College and a one way system back into the centre of town where in a side street were not one but two 65 buses to Richmond and Ealing parked on their turnaround and with a small queue of people waiting at the bus stop for the first of these buses to recommence their journey. This had been a great stroke of luck because the bus then filled with standing room only accommodation at the next two stops through the town centre

After leaving the town centre where the traffic is always heavy because of the Thames and the one bridge crossing we moved quickly into the pleasant suburbs and then to a stretch of still magical England with the green at Ham surrounded by fine houses and cottages. Ham is across the way from Teddington Lock at the end of the long Teddington High Street which I had walked its length on the Monday.

It is possible to walk the whole stretch of the river thanes on this side of the River to Ham, Petersham and Richmond, whereas mention on the other side private housing and private roads restrict and discourage entry to the river bank. There is a pond to one side of the Common and a short walk on the other side of the road and one is in the vast acres of Richmond Park. Unless one is a good walker then a car is required for Richmond Park where there is an excellent refreshment facility at its centre in the former home of the first Earl Russell, Pembroke Lodge where I took my birth and care mothers and aunt to tea during their last years together having parked at the Richmond Green beforehand. I had also attended a Home Office Children’ s department arranged course at Strawberry Hill on the other side of the Park over three and half square miles and three times the size of New York’s Central Park. The Royal ballet school is within the park as is the Metropolitan police command centre for all the Royal parks.

A little further along this pleasant road of twists and turns is Petersham with its meadow land under Richmond Hill from which here are impressive view across this part of the Thames valley. There is a gatehouse road into the Park. The bus then continue on a road with the river to one side and the lower slopes of Richmond Hill on the other and this where I alighted rather than continue to the town centre. The sun was shining again and it was pleasantly warm. I unbuttoned my coat. I debated continue down a path to the river bank but thought I would do this later and enquire if there was a river bus back to Kingston. I have with the past five years taken the river boat from Hampton Court to Richmond. I was once interviewed for a senior post with the London Borough of Richmond but political background was not suited. I also recalled making a special journey to the Curzon Cinema and Water Lane to see a film about the Spanish Civil War.

Instead of going down to the river I walked up a steep bank into the Richmond Hill road of art galleries, antique shops and restaurants before retracing steps down to one of the two Odeon Cinema across from the Richmond Bridge which goes to Twickenham and Teddington. Someone has written that in 200 years the only things that have changed is the emergence of the International Rugby Union stadium at Twickenham and the constant flying of planes landing or taking off at Heathrow, although there was not much evidence of this on the day. I needed another visit to the loo and headed for John Lewis and had great difficulty in locating the toilets which are unmarked in the far corner of the second floor, obviously aimed at preventing steady stream of visitors like me. I was able to assist two middle aged women who were on a similar search.

Comfortable once more it was time to make for the wonderful Richmond Green and I thought I would look out the mansion which I had noted for sale in Saville’s. Later on line I learned that the asking price is £6.5 million for this four story property with its own pleasant gardens but overlooking the Green and with very spacious drawing rooms, many bedrooms rooms, and a guest flat or one for staff as garden flat, similar in fact to the situation at my former home in Teddington, There is a double garage and off street parking for five vehicles including access to Old Palace Yard. Located within walking of the Riverside and Parkland it is a dream location in a small town full of antique and art shops and good food restaurants. Oh to win the European Lottery for a win of £20million would be needed to look after the extended family, to purchase and adapted property for my project and arrange and endowment to secure its future from the tax man. I entered the Green by the famous Cricketers Pub and it is on this Green that the first Cricket match between Middlesex and Surrey was played in 1730 although here is reference to cricket being played here in 1666. Croydon also played Chertsey in 1736 thus combining links however loose ones which have drawn me to the town. Most of the benches around the Green were occupied but saw one on the far side and making my way I then stopped having noticed a lot of people outside the Richmond Theatre which is one side of an extension to the Green. Wednesday, Matinee time and it was 2.15.
Then the Gods looked down on me, beaming. There was a performance of the Willie Russell masterpiece Blood Brothers, undertaking its 25th anniversary tour. I could have a seat in the second row at the. I was able to sit with vacant seats on either side and a clear view between the pair of seats in front. I was in wonderland. The rest of the large theatre was full. I has a double chocolate ice cream at the Interval.

The Richmond Theatre on Little Green was built in 1899 and is the outstanding example of a Frank Matchem Theatre with a tradition interior of stalls, dress and upper circle full of gilt and plush red fabric. The Theatre has been used many film and TV productions such as Evita, Neverland and Jonathan Creek and remains capable of productions prior to the West end as well as professional Touring companies. It echoes back to the great era of the musical hall and pantomime

Blood Brothers is one of the longest running West end production in musical history with a tragic moving story, great music and a clever concept imaginatively presented. It features a Catholic Merseyside woman with five children whose husband runs off with a younger Marilyn Munroe lookalike, leaving her to fend on the dole, ordering more goods than she can ever afford from the catalogues. She gets a job cleaning for a middle class housewife with no children and finding herself having twins reluctantly agrees to give one of the two to the childless employer. The woman cannot cope with the situation and having agreed that the mother would be able to see her other so grow up through he continuing work, she persuades her husband to agree to their moving away after the two boys become close friend and make themselves into blood brothers.

When the mother and her six children are rehoused to a new estate on the outskirts of Liverpool they two boys, now young men encounter and re-establish their friendship together with a young girl who adores the working class half who is unable to express his affection while the middle class lad also adores the girl but recognises the prior claim of the other as well as the girl’s preference. When the middle class lad goes away to university, the couple are required to get wed and no sooner does the lad settle down living with their mother he is made redundant and then persuaded to participate in an armed robbery by his elder brother. in which someone is shot and the younger man is sent to prison for seven years, destroyed emotionally by the experience he returns to his family dependent on pills. In desperation his wife turns to his still unknown to them twin brother, now a councillor, for help to get a job and their own council home. The working class lad misinterprets the relationships and enter the Council premises with a gun. He is warmed by an armed police response team.

As a prologue we witness this last scene in which the brothers have been killed and we are told it was part of a curse a warning that should the two ever find out their relationship they would die. In order to prevent the middle class son killing the other, their mother reveals the truth and one shoots the other, with the police shooting the remaining twin.

The musical play demonstrates the strength of my dictum that what we do and say remains with us throughout our lives and with those involved. The main message of the play is one of class and when the two lads get into trouble with the police, one is given a final warning and other advice to keep away from the working class district. There are six principles in the cast. The Mother - Mrs Johnston and her twin son Mickey, Mrs Lyon and the other twin son Edward, the girl Linda and the narrator/chorus /conscience/prophet. Among those who have features as Mrs Johnston are Stephanie Lawrence, Clodagh Rogers, Kiki Dee and four of the Nolan Sisters, with Spice girl Mel among the latest. Russell Crow appeared as Mickey in the Australian production. Petula Clark made her Broadway debut in the work with the Cassidy brothers playing the twins. There has been a Japanese production and boot leg productions in many languages as well as official tours around the world.

Adults play the children and then the adolescents with considerable insight and naturalness and it is this aspect which has made the musical an essential introduction to the theatre for many young people, often brought to schools by the groups of actors. On Wednesday there was a party of fifth or sixth formers who enjoyed the show immensely , some moved to tears at the end. especially the girls who reacted to the jokes and aside about adolescent sexual and emotional fumblings of the boys. Despite knowing from the outset what the end will be there was still a strong emotional outburst from the audience followed by prolonged applause and a standing ovation, something which the show has experienced over the past 25 years everywhere everytime.

I made my way, joyously, back by bus to Kingston, then by train to Wimbledon and Tram to Croydon getting in after seven. I made by way from the Theatre and to where I thought there might be a bus stop in the one way system discovering a mini bus station down a side street and where a 65 bus arrived within seconds.

There was just time for the lady waiting on the seat next tome to hand me a tract from the Bible. She must have been clairvoyant for I was having a brief erotic memory Over forty years ago I was without my car and I had taken the 65 at Ealing to Kingston and then got a bus to my home in Teddington. This was in the late 1960‘s when girls were wearing the shortest of skirts for the first time. Unable to get a seat I had to go upstairs and look up had been startled by the rear of an attractive girl who had turned round and look back at me smiling. She went further inside the bus and I took a seat at the front for the different form of view.

I then made a mess of using the Oyster card for the first time. Again I arrived at Kingston station to find a train being announced so I rushed hoping that I had correct used the Oyster Card to gain entry, but I think I had the card in the holder the wrong way round. At Wimbledon I went straight to the Platform for the tram but the card did not register and I was told to seek help. Being rush hour the attendant was very busy but he eventually helped taking the correct amount from the card for the journey from Kingston. However I was not sure the card registered for tram trip. I thought the card had an initial deposit of £3 showing plus the £5, When I checked the following day there was only £1.10 in credit so a great mystery. However it had been another great day.