Being on top of things
Sunday, 9 July 2006 21:43![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
strange_complexWoot! I have prepared two classes' worth of stuff for the summer school today. That plus the fact that there isn't a class on Wednesday morning means I now don't need to do any more work on it (other than teach the actual classes, natch) until Wednesday itself, when I shall begin preparing Thursday's class. And there are only three classes this week anyway (four is more normal), so by 9:30am on Thursday morning, I'll be done for the week. Should stand a real chance of getting some of my own stuff done this week, then.
Backtracking a little, after finishing my teaching on Friday morning, I progressed up northwards to drop some books off at Warwick University library, and then spend the rest of that day and the Saturday with my Mum. We wandered around Warwick town in the afternoon, having tea and spending an enjoyable hour or so in the St. John's Museum. There was a smell test to do in their reconstruction of a Victorian pharmacy, where I totally pwned my Mum by correctly identifying two out of tea-tree, lavender and carbolic soap (which, to be fair, I'd never smelt before in my life anyway), while she got none of them!
Next stop was The Bridge House Theatre, for an absolutely gasp-inducing performance of Henry Purcell's The Fairy Queen by the Armonico Consort. The instrumentalists were delightful, really bringing out the full range of Purcell's music - the light, the comical, the fantastical and the plaintive. The singers were excellent overall too - there was a rather weak female alto, but two lovely sopranos, an excellent bass (whose name I sadly don't know), and a countertenor I hadn't heard before called Timothy Travers-Smith, who had a lot of fun playing at being an inmate of a lunatic asylum in drag. I was also interested to note that at least two members of the cast who were singing primarily in a 'natural' register (one baritone, one tenor) also used their falsetto ranges for several numbers, and to very competent effect.
But the musical side was only half of it. The stage production was also astounding: innovative and consistently gripping. The basic premise, though with commendably flexible room for interpretation, was that 'Oberon' was not really king of the fairies at all, but a mild, bemused resident in a mental institution, who saw visions of fairies and spirits at night in the hospital. This fitted very nicely with the loose nature of the work itself - not a story, but a series of mini-masques, which lent themselves very well to a fantastical framework. And add to that dancers, acrobats, excellent costumes and scenery, puppets, laugh-out-loud comedy, interactions with the audience, beautifully choreographed action sequences - in short, everything you could possibly ask for for your money, and all of it adding up to a great job of picking up on the essential nature of the original work, while also making it genuinely modern and exciting. The acrobats were particularly amazing, the two of them performing balancing acts and trapeze gymnastics together as though they were literally one person, constantly making me flinch in fear that they would fall, drop one another or overbalance - but in fact always pulling their tricks off with perfect balance, poise and flair.
Saturday then saw us going to choose frames for my antique prints, and to look at curtains and carpets which might be nice for my new flat in Leeds. Since the original building dates from 1903, I'm looking for Art Nouveau-style decorations as much as possible, and we found some great curtain fabric which fits that bill very nicely. We also indulged in Solihull's branch of Hotel Chocolat, before returning home for dinner and then Dr. Who (which my Mum gave a miss). I thought the final episode did a good job of tying up hanging threads, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried! I'm looking forward to the next series more, now, with a clean slate to develop Tennant's Doctor on.
So, quite busy, and I'm pretty tired (as ever!), but feeling much better about things now. The summer school nearly got on top of me the week before it started, but I've turned things round now, and I'm definitely back on top of it. Now time for an early night, so I'm ready to teach again tomorrow at 8:30(!)...
Backtracking a little, after finishing my teaching on Friday morning, I progressed up northwards to drop some books off at Warwick University library, and then spend the rest of that day and the Saturday with my Mum. We wandered around Warwick town in the afternoon, having tea and spending an enjoyable hour or so in the St. John's Museum. There was a smell test to do in their reconstruction of a Victorian pharmacy, where I totally pwned my Mum by correctly identifying two out of tea-tree, lavender and carbolic soap (which, to be fair, I'd never smelt before in my life anyway), while she got none of them!
Next stop was The Bridge House Theatre, for an absolutely gasp-inducing performance of Henry Purcell's The Fairy Queen by the Armonico Consort. The instrumentalists were delightful, really bringing out the full range of Purcell's music - the light, the comical, the fantastical and the plaintive. The singers were excellent overall too - there was a rather weak female alto, but two lovely sopranos, an excellent bass (whose name I sadly don't know), and a countertenor I hadn't heard before called Timothy Travers-Smith, who had a lot of fun playing at being an inmate of a lunatic asylum in drag. I was also interested to note that at least two members of the cast who were singing primarily in a 'natural' register (one baritone, one tenor) also used their falsetto ranges for several numbers, and to very competent effect.
But the musical side was only half of it. The stage production was also astounding: innovative and consistently gripping. The basic premise, though with commendably flexible room for interpretation, was that 'Oberon' was not really king of the fairies at all, but a mild, bemused resident in a mental institution, who saw visions of fairies and spirits at night in the hospital. This fitted very nicely with the loose nature of the work itself - not a story, but a series of mini-masques, which lent themselves very well to a fantastical framework. And add to that dancers, acrobats, excellent costumes and scenery, puppets, laugh-out-loud comedy, interactions with the audience, beautifully choreographed action sequences - in short, everything you could possibly ask for for your money, and all of it adding up to a great job of picking up on the essential nature of the original work, while also making it genuinely modern and exciting. The acrobats were particularly amazing, the two of them performing balancing acts and trapeze gymnastics together as though they were literally one person, constantly making me flinch in fear that they would fall, drop one another or overbalance - but in fact always pulling their tricks off with perfect balance, poise and flair.
Saturday then saw us going to choose frames for my antique prints, and to look at curtains and carpets which might be nice for my new flat in Leeds. Since the original building dates from 1903, I'm looking for Art Nouveau-style decorations as much as possible, and we found some great curtain fabric which fits that bill very nicely. We also indulged in Solihull's branch of Hotel Chocolat, before returning home for dinner and then Dr. Who (which my Mum gave a miss). I thought the final episode did a good job of tying up hanging threads, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried! I'm looking forward to the next series more, now, with a clean slate to develop Tennant's Doctor on.
So, quite busy, and I'm pretty tired (as ever!), but feeling much better about things now. The summer school nearly got on top of me the week before it started, but I've turned things round now, and I'm definitely back on top of it. Now time for an early night, so I'm ready to teach again tomorrow at 8:30(!)...
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Date: Monday, 10 July 2006 16:15 (UTC)YES! Bring in the lovely and talented Mark Heap, RTD, you know it makes sense :D
no subject
Date: Monday, 10 July 2006 16:56 (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, 10 July 2006 21:42 (UTC)In fact, a Mark Heap/Kevin Eldon double act would be just too good.
I think that would win the title of best Doctor Who episode/story ever. Apart from Caves of Androzani, of course, which is just THE BEST, no matter what the experts say when they only ever award it third or fifth place in polls...
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Date: Monday, 10 July 2006 22:32 (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, 10 July 2006 23:00 (UTC)And hooray for another Caves fan! :)