Le weekend

[strange_complex]

Doctor Who

It actually just gets better and better, doesn't it? I mean: the little pile of M&Ms by the red telephone, the many alternative Tardises and, best of all, the Massive Weapons of Destruction. Did the old Who ever boast such delightful symbolism or topical resonance? I propose from this day forth always to say 'Massive Weapons of Destruction' in everyday conversation rather than 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' in tribute to this weekend's episode.

And if that all weren't enough, we have the Daleks to look forward to next Saturday night. * faints from excitement *

Lysistrata at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast

I went to see this on Saturday evening with my colleague, John Curran, our three MA students and one of their boyfriends. It was OK, but I think I've been rather spoiled by the stunning tragedies put on by the Actors of Dionysus, not to mention a bright and breezy student adaptation of the Birds which I saw while at Oxford, and which had translated all the references to contemporary Athens into references to modern-day Oxford instead. While AoD's tragedies are innovative, fresh adaptations, which offer profound contemporary relevance and stunning choreography and manage to strike at the very core of one's emotional being, and the Oxford Birds at least drew on the real experiences of its cast and crew, Saturday's Lysistrata was merely... average.

A pity, because Aristophanes' writing at the time was incredibly bold and topical, and of course there is plenty of local significance that could have been drawn out of a play between two warring communities whose women decide to draw the conflict to an end themselves by holding a sex strike. But the attempts made to do so were half-hearted, the translation sounded suspiciously to me like what I remember of the Penguin one, and many of the lines came across as simply being spoken: not meant. This will probably sound like the most snobbish thing I've ever said, but it felt... provincial.

Still, it was nice to go out with our students, and I'm sure we did much to promote intra-departmental bonding in the process. And I enjoyed some very nice pan-fried duck with a summer fruits sauce in a bistro where we ate before the performance. So by no means a wasted evening.

Comments

[aletharch.livejournal.com]

Doctor Who was indeed lots of fun, but I did have a few problems with it, primarily from a reality-check point of view.

- The presence of Andrew Marr and the obvious reference to the Iraq dossier indicated that this was taking place in the real world - so who was the dead Prime Minister, and why didn't he look like either Tony Blair or Michael Howard? Okay, so the story was set one year in the future, but still, it was pretty close to the knuckle.

- The Doctor knew the password for the British defense systems on that day (and surely, given that the password is a word that can be found in the dictionary, it would be changed on a regular basis) - but he didn't remember that he was talking to Harriet Jones, destined to be one of the greatest Prime Ministers in British history?

- As for hacking into the defense systems and launching a missile through an ordinary web browser - eek.

All of these complaints can be easily defused by saying "It's a kids' show" - which I'm happily doing. Looking forward to the deadly Dalek!

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

What were the M&Ms about??

[my-mundane-life.livejournal.com]

I always miss the first half due to forgetting it starts at 7 but liked the rest! I thought they were skittles next to the phone, but then I don't like M&Ms so would be more likely to see them as skittles ;)

[jurious.livejournal.com]

I am *so* into "Doctor Who" right now... I'm just happy to actually be able to say that there's something worth watching on a Saturday night, never mind something so entertaining and cool! :)

[meerium.livejournal.com]

dalekdalekdalekdalekdalekdalekdalekdalekdalek.

i am so very excited about next week. oh yes.

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

the many alternative Tardises
Did I miss something there?

Whilst I'm not a fan of the bicycle pump, I do rather like the idea of a 70s trimphone in the TARDIS console. And I have to admit, part of me would rather like a re-appearance by Harriet Jones at some future point, Brigadier-style. (Which isn't asking too much, as we all know the south east of England is where all aliens try to invade).

[sir-didymus.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the new dalek yet? It actually looks like bullets could bounce off it!

[swisstone.livejournal.com]

I think I saw that Birds you mention, and it was rather fine, especially coming after an Iphigeneia at Aulis that wasn't.