Theatre and other live performances

[wendy james]

That’s hilarious.

National Trust have just announced some open air theatre, so Sproglette and I are off to see Macbeth at Dyrham Park. There’s also Little Women at Lacock Abbey but she opted for Macbeth.

Me and the girls are also booked for a relaxed performance of nature and songbird inspired classical music.

[ParisGal]

We saw a local group last night, doing a piece based on the true story (that was made into a film with Colin Firth called The Hour of the Pig) of a village that holds a trial for a pig that ate an unattended baby in the Middle Ages. https://ensemble-poursuite.com/falaise.php

We didn't realise until afterwards that it was a local troupe, who'd written the play and then developed it all during a 10 day residence in the village near us. It was really professional, darkly funny, and included electric guitars and a full drum set plus Gregorian chants We saw the second ever performance - I had assumed they'd started travelling villages after having success in Paris or somewhere.

It was pay-what-you-want, and afterwards there was a free buffet provided by the local butcher

[Ruby]

God that sounds brilliant. As does the Mormon faux-pas.

[wendy james]

I’ve never heard of it but it sounds ace!

[ParisGal]

There was a doll as the baby, that was in a little basket when it was "alive", and bloodstained, with knitted bits of "flesh" after it had been chomped (not shown!) by the pig. When the mother got particularly hysterical she flung bits of the "flesh" around the stage onto the other actors, and they carefully picked them up and gave them back to her )

[Ella77]

Was the pig ok? I’m guessing no .

[cluefree]

The real Mormon. I have become weak.

[ParisGal]

Was the pig ok? I’m guessing no .

At the end there was a voiceover reading a historical text describing the torture, execution and mutilation :(

Apparently normally at that time the animal would have been killed but not eaten (so the same as nowadays, I think). But there was a lot of upheaval in the justice system and somehow this happened.

[H1ppychick]

We got accosted by a real Mormon after the performance we saw last month. They were there in droves, almost kettling the outcoming theatregoers.

I’ve booked tickets for another ballet today, this time Akram Khan‘s Creature, to be performed by the ENB in November. I also bought a ticket to see Rhod Gilbert in the summer.

[Wiggle]

We saw Ghost Stories yesterday and liked it very much. I jumped quite a few times. We spent the rest of the day going over the performance and all connections between the stories.

[wendy james]

So I’ll take the blame for tempting fate and booking lots of stuff this year.

I think I’ll donate the cost of my ticket (if not all tickets I purchased) to the smaller venues who have asked for it. I’m less fussed about Vue refunds.

[Lily]

We were going to see this chap this weekend. https://www.facebook.com/NunkieProductions/

We are going to donate our ticket money to him. I really recommend you login and watch; he's pretty spectacular.

[Flora Poste]

So I’ll take the blame for tempting fate and booking lots of stuff this year.

I did think that

I did manage to see Fidelio a couple of weeks ago - the last performance before Jonas Kauffman was 'indisposed'. Lise Davidsen was phenomenal and one to watch out for, Jonas Kauffman was good, but not outstanding and I didn't think a huge amount of the actual production. They were recording the night I went though (something about it being for the Japanese market) so I suspect that may be released in due course, especially as the live cinema relay has been cancelled.

[Froozy]

The Met Opera are streaming a different opera every day from their website for the next week or so if that’s of interest to anyone.

[Hazey_Jane]

Jennifer Ehle (who was Lizzie Bennet in the 1995 BBC adaptation) is reading Pride and Prejudice out loud on Instagram @ ehle_jennifer

[wendy james]

Marquee TV have extended their free trial period to 30 days (as well as offering the film year for £70 rather than £90 if you sign up).

We ended up on a clip of The Importance of Being Earnest after watching Cosí fan tutte and the girls thought it was hilarious. Marquee has it so we’ve signed up for the trial. It might be one to blast for a month then not sign up.

[Morganna]

The Globe is showing Hamlet online until 19th April. Apparently the title role is being played as an androgynous teen, so if that floats your boat it might be worth a look. If anyone comes across the BBC Hamlet with Andrew Scott in it anywhere, please let me know? It was on TV few years back and I really enjoyed it and would like to see it again, but can't find it anywhere.

Oh, and if anyone remembers the scriptwriting day I went on when back in February, you can see a film of one of the performances by the company who ran the day. It is called Key Change, and is on YouTube. The company works with disadvantaged women, and the play is about life in a women's prison. it's a bit stylised, and will be a love it or hate it thing, but as nobody has much else to do and it's free, it might be worth a look, too. I quite enjoyed it after i got over the awkwardness of the first few minutes.

[wendy james]

NT Live is showing Twelfth Night tonight, and have announced Frankenstein (the alternate Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller versions) and Antony and Cleopatra (the one I left at the interval ) as the next two (three!) shows.

We finally got round to watching The Importance of Being Earnest on Marquee and Sproglette loved it. A lot went over her head, of course, but she followed it reasonably well and now wants to watch more Wilde. I’m not sure if we’ve peaked a bit early, but we’ll see.

[Marth]

We are going to watch here (well, I am with scattered friends) I love Tamsin G.

[rosy]

I didn’t know beforehand but YouTube is doing a livestream of a recording of the Handlebard’s Macbeth. So much energy! It’s just finished though, so I might watch it over again from the start as I missed quite a lot.

We couldn’t go to Priscilla QotD so we just donated the ticket cost back to the theatre.