To Float on the Wayward Wind

5/5 Unscorched , by 2013 Papatango New Writing Prize winner Luke Owen, blends awkwardness, uncomfortable humour, and heart-wrenching romance into a visceral snapshot into the lives of those who bring to justice perpetrators of child abuse. Georgia Lowe’s innovative design sets the action on a runway stage. Sharp geometry using boxes to form key parts of the pornography review office emphasizes the starkness of the profession. Brilliantly, the floor opens to a bed, softening the texture for the love scenes. Lighting by Joshua Carr sets off this design, fluidly changing from harshly symbolic LED lights in the office to a warmer tone in the personal spaces. Justin Audibert’s direction also takes advantage of this intimate design in the Finborough. Whether awkward, romantic, or horrifying, the tone of scenes flows fluidly as sudden revelations shift the atmosphere. Equally fluid are the scene changes, with actors never breaking character even in the low light, allowing the n...

5/5 David Tennant embodies the title role of Shakespeare’s Richard II , live in Stratford and broadcast worldwide by the Royal Shakespeare Company for the first time. The production’s atmosphere is reverent and gripping. Design and lighting, by Stephen Brimson Lewis and Tim Mitchell respectively, feels period-appropriate but freshly modern. The thrust stage offers director Gregory Doran great variety for staging while a bridge and shimmering curtains of beads infuse a sense of mystery. Doran uses space shrewdly in executing the production’s allegorical concept. Parallels between Richard and Jesus Christ were notable but not heavy handed, keeping the focus on the characters. Still, chant-like music, composed by Paul Englishby and performed live, combined with the cathedral-like design contribute to the sense of holiness, aptly touching on the play’s central issue of the divine right of kings. Rather than resting within this allegorical context, David Tennant plays an ...

Before I headed to Paris I had always heard people murmur in low voices about the city and how wonderful, even magical, it is. Other people, in on the secret, would murmur back, "Oui, oui - Paris." I never understood this. I thought, yes I really want to go and yes it's such an iconic, historic city, but I don't know why I'll come away thinking of it the way the murmurers do. Yet come away with that perspective on Paris' magic I did. It was a whirlwind couple days, interrupted in the middle (wonderfully) by a day trip to Versailles and a three-day excursion through the Loire Valley. After some terrible difficulties with travel I finally arrived and made my way from Charles de Gaulle to the local area of my hotel. Immediately I was greeted by the Notre Dame as soon as I stepped out of the metro system. I could not have asked for a more impressive, iconic greeting welcoming me to the city of Paris. As it turned out, Hotel Henri IV was ideally located on the...

My review of the Royal Opera House's production of Verdi's Les vêpres siciliennes  has been posted at:  http://passionofopera.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/when-theyre-on-verdis-les-vepres.html

Among all these posts about my excursions and trips (yes, for those interested, France is coming, if not by this weekend then early next week), I wanted to be sure to put up a post about some of the things I did in London, particularly right before I left for France while my friend was visiting London from Milan, where she is studying. We went to Westminster though it was closed, to the Tower of London, and up the London Eye. She did a lot more but I had some other commitments, like an extraordinary performance of Verdi's  Les vêpres siciliennes ! Also, I was shown around the Greenwich area and university by a wonderful young woman who studies there and works for FIE in London. Westminster Cathedral was an impressive sight from the outside. Of course to get there we also walked by the shadow of Big Ben and the House of Parliament, which was great for photo opportunities and for my friend to be that close to them. It could not have been a nicer day for those kinds of activitie...