Episode 159: Don John & Twelfth Night

With Don John, Kneehigh Theatre offers up a riotous visual spectacle, billed by artistic director, Emma Rice, as a female reclaiming of Mozart's Don Giovanni's. The production delivered on the former promise, with plenty of balloons, bangs and confetti to accent the cast's physically robust performance. The set was also elaborately constructed, allowing for a dynamic use of space, especially by Cscape's dancers. Set changes were incorporated into the performance, creating seamless transitions that helped to keep the story moving as it switched between its three main threads. However, the production didn't quite achieve the latter aim. Amy Marston's Elvira, Nína Dögg Filippusdóttir's Anna, and Patrycja Kujawska's Zerlina weren't fully fleshed out as women, although the latter two were more believably sympathetic as an alcoholic vicar's wife and a foreign cleaner respectively. Within the narrative of the production, the women weren't exactly empowered, except for one scene in which Mike Shepherd's Nobby was tied up by all the female members of the cast.

Of the male characters, Craig Johnson's Derek deserved particular mention as the comic reverend who preaches to an empty church, rails against God, and is ultimately incapable of action. The titular character of Don John was played by Tristan Sturrock, replacing Gísli Örn Gardarsson, touring overseas with another production for a short period. While Sturrock turns in a solid performance as Don John, this is an instance, I think, where what the actor looks like is absolutely crucial. Whereas Gardarsson is conventionally athletically handsome, which would make for a more convincingly seductive rake, Sturrock's demeanour is more suggestive of the conman's oily smile. It is, to some extent as I see it, a question of emphasising one aspect of the character's personality over another, so it would be churlish to criticise really. I guess I just find Sturrock's Don John not terrible attractive and unlikely to inspire the sort of wanton lust that he is supposed to in the story. Casting kind of matters in this case, that's what I think, so a more conventionally good-looking guy would have helped.

I must say I really liked the live musical accompaniment though, and how it blended together with the pre-recorded soundtrack. I thought Dom Lawton's voice was easy on the ear, and how the rest of the cast joined in here and there to layer harmonies, that was cool. His paperboy character also helped to frame the narrative by insinuating himself as part of the audience, peering in on the goings-on in this town. At the very end, the cast came down into the audience to get people to dance with them onstage during the epilogue. Was sitting along the aisle, so I got pulled up obviously. It wasn't so bad. Danced with Cscape's Emily Dobson, made some small talk and it was over in a couple of seconds. I can't do dancing that involves actual coordinated footwork, however vague. It makes me feel clumsy. Overall, I would say that for Don John, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, so if you haven't seen it, it's actually too late to catch it at the Warwick Arts Centre, but the production's still touring, so go here to see if it's coming to a place near you.

Went back to my room for an hour, before heading out again to catch a bus to All Saints Church in Leamington Spa for the Shakespeare Society's performance of Twelfth Night. Managed to grab a bite at Vialli's! The church's architecture is very beautiful, although at times it turned into a bit of a distraction from the actual play, particularly since it was initially hard to see and hear the actors. Things got better after the interval though, so at least I didn't leave feeling like I'd wasted my £5. Never actually read Twelfth Night before though, but now that I've seen it performed, I find the central premise of the plot a bit hard to swallow. The whole mistaken identity thing? Don't buy it. It's just a bit too implausible. I suppose though, the whole point of theatre is that the audience engages in what Coleridge calls a 'willing suspension of disbelief', and it's churlish to complain about what is otherwise a perfectly fine play. I think Feste is my favourite character in the whole play. I just don't really find any of them particular sympathetic, which is a bit strange for a Shakespearean play.

Episode 158: The Ugly Cousins' Long Lost Relative Re-Reunion

This has ended with me bringing an almost-full bottle of rum back to my room. It was a fun night though, and I'm glad I decided to go instead of hiding in my room and wasting a few hours of my life away, watching TV on my laptop. Plenty of time for that some other day anyway! Ate a very late dinner of very soggy fish and chips. Was a bit disturbed to see that it had to be wrapped in at least three layers of paper, all of which the oil still soaked through anyway. So much for healthy living. Watching people slam is interesting, although I don't know if I'd be able to do it myself. At some point in the future, I think, but not now. Now I am keen to see what else The Ugly Cousins are up to though, so I'll probably be headed down to The Writers' Room on Monday evening. Have bummed the entire afternoon away, so I will need to make an effort to do the McGann reading for next Tuesday's seminar between Don John and Twelfth Night. It seems like I'm incapable of staying on top of my work for more than a couple of days. Oh well...

Episode 157: Twilight

Progress has been made on several fronts, which has brought some measure of satisfaction to me today. The EN122 lecture this morning was ghastly. I'm still not sure if I actually learnt anything in it? I think the only lecturers whose lectures I've enjoyed for EN122 have been Emma Mason's and Pablo Mukherjee's. Grabbed a drink at the Kami Lounge with Lucy before my EN123 seminar, as well as buying my first Warwick hoodie. Black. Didn't realise it was discounted by 20%. Now I feel like collecting them all. Haha! Watched Twilight before drinks at Varsity, and unfortunately, I can't bring myself to say that I liked the film. Perhaps I'm asking too much of my films, but where was the complexity in this? Never having read the original book, I can't comment precisely on what was lost in the translation from book to screen, but I'm certain there must have been something missing. I also hope that the dialogue wasn't lifted wholesale from Stephanie Meyer's book, as some of it was just excruciating. Plus it's always a sign of trouble when you find one of the supporting characters (Ashley Greene's Alice) more interesting than the lead character (Kristin Stewart's Bella). Can I also say that Bella looked more sickly throughout the entire film than the whole family of undead? That was a little weird. So overall, sorry, Lucy, I don't Twilight is going to make it into my list of must-see movies. If I want sexy vampires, I'd still go back to Anne Rice.

Episode 156: Ruth Padel

Just got back from Ruth Padel's reading at the Arts Centre, and I've decided it's far too late to justify having dinner. That and my face feels particularly fat today. I know I should really stop obsessing and start exercising instead. Just let my face put on a few more inches and I'll get down to it! The reading was excellent, as it usually tends to be. I liked how all the poems she read were threaded together by the common theme of Darwin, and I would have liked to have bought the collection they were from, but I'm thinking that I should continue to spend more conservatively this term, as far as possible. That and I just bought Improv For Storytellers: Theatresports And The Art Of Making Things Happen by Keith Johnstone for Peter Blegvad's class. Incidentally, it was a wise decision to hold off buying all that stuff I'm hankering after on Amazon, as every single day, the price of one of the huge number of books I've picked out has fallen! Today's was particularly significant, as it was one of the PostSecret books that got its price reduced. Perhaps I will buy them after all, even though I was actually thinking of asking for them as a birthday present. Have managed to finish reading all the Shakespearean sonnets, as well as the Elizabeth Bishop poems on the handout for tomorrow's seminar with Jim Byatt, so I feel like I've earned the right to slack off for tonight. Unfortunately, I still have to do a bit of research for LL208 tomorrow, on the French President and Prime Minister. Sigh. Once you start being hardworking, you feel like you have to continue all the way...

Episode 155: Pancakes!

Wrote my performance writing piece after Lucy and Sophie left for their seminar. It's somehow become a piece about circuses and an orphanage, although that latter bit doesn't hit the reader/listener until the very end. Shirley complained that I've turned circuses into something depressing, but well, that was kind of the idea, to be honest. Anyway, researching the whole circus thing got me onto Cirque du Soleil. I'm quite sure that I've seen one of their shows that made a stop in Singapore. I've managed to find the soundtracks for all the shows, which is just great. More random music for my iTunes library. Yay! Went down to Leamington Spa for the Good Food Society's pancake social and had my fill, so that cheered me up after I finally got confirmation that the postal system had screwed up and lost the books I sent back for a refund. Not to mention that the company has such awful customer service. Two e-mails through their online form went unanswered, and it was only after I fired off an angry e-mail directly from my account that I managed to get a reply telling me that the books hadn't arrived. Like was it so hard to tell me that in the first place? Consider this a £10 lesson learnt! Sigh...

Episode 154: Reading Done, Writing Undone

I just finished eating what was perhaps the most balanced meal I've made entirely by myself since I've come to Warwick. Pasta, baked potatoes and sausages. Admittedly, the pasta was boiled a few days ago, the baked potatoes were fresh out of the microwave, and the sausages came out of a jar. It was reasonably yummy, I guess. I've managed to finish the required reading for a EN122 seminar, for once. It was pretty interesting, and made me want to read Erich Auerbach's Mimesis: The Representation Of Reality In Western Literature. Intimidating title, but the premise sounds intriguing. Easter vacation reading, perhaps? I've also started charting my use of time this week for the CM1 portfolio. It got off to a rather depressing start, but having managed to finish the Greenblatt chapter, I feel redeemed. Somewhat. Still can't figure out what to write for my EN124 seminar on Wednesday morning though. How does 'And we were afraid, but in a good way' sound as a repeated chant? I'm liking it at the moment, but as is often the case, it's a good idea that I have no idea what to do with.

Episode 153: W.

Went to see W. with Laura, Lucy and Sophie at Warwick Student Cinema. There was hardly anyone there though. The film was actually quite entertaining, and it did manage to make Josh Brolin look like a better-looking version of George W. Bush. It isn't really a straightforward political film, which makes it easier to get through. That and it was the first regular film I was seeing with WSC, so it was free. We're thinking of seeing Australia next week! Have heard mixed reviews about it, but I guess I'll go for the company. We were at The Grad after the film, just to grab a drink. Alex came by, and we had a hilarious time. If anyone had been eavesdropping for the Overhead at Warwick Facebook group, they'd have got quite a lot of material. Picked up a load of stuff from Iceland and Tesco after church, including three jars of those sausages that I really liked with mashed potatoes a week or so ago. Am pretty much set for the next week or two in terms of meals and snacks, although the Nandos chips I bought weren't that spicy. This is me being distinctly unimpressed!

Episode 152: I Can't Believe It

I can't believe this. Today, after the CM1 session ended, I was thinking of walking to Costcutter to grab more food. On the way, I passed by the Bookshop, and randomly decided to pop in instead. Guess what was one of the first things to catch my eye? A copy of the B-format Faber & Faber edition of Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness Of Being, which I've been searching for for the last year or so, whether in bookshops or online. (See here for an interesting discussion about the significance of paperback size.) It even comes with the same cover design as the A-format paperback edition I had all along, before I had the means to obsess about things like uniformity of book sizes on my shelves. Finding it kind of made my day. That and watching the latest episode of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, which everyone should totally start watching now! This new show is pretty awesome. Really. I'm basically a sucker for anything with a science fiction plot, but I think this could be the next big thing for TV. Now that I'm done with CM1, it's time to start working on pulling together the portfolio, which obviously didn't happen tonight. If I don't get at least part of one assignment done by next week though, I'm not going to let myself register for another module this term, even though there's stuff that I want to do. Randomly, am tempted to order the PostSecret books...

Episode 151: Working Well In Advance, For A Change

After I got home from Varsity, I briefly entertained thoughts of reading Shakespeare and Spenser in bed. I even went so far as to take out all the material, before deciding that it just wasn't worth the loss of sleep. So I went through another seminar without saying anything. Thank God for people like Alex and Dan who always volunteer something. Haha! I just came back from a Warwick Skills Certificate session. I'm doing the weekend intensive for CM1 Getting Started On Skills Development, which is interesting, but still not the kind of stuff that I couldn't pick up by reading a few books or surfing a few websites. Bits of the module sound really familiar though, like stuff I've facilitated for when I was working at High Achievers. The assignments look really easy to complete, and I've had good practice with that sort of stuff while doing WITS project reports during NS. I've also started doing my French homework really early this time, as I've got no major looming deadlines and can afford to spend time catching up on work and reading. So I will probably start on the portfolio for CM1 well in advance of the April 24 deadline! Randomly, Walkers Sensations chips have been half-price at Costcutter for really long! I'm so happy because it's letting me stock up on snacks. Especially Thai sweet chilli chips. Yay!

Episode 150: Put Your Boots On, Baby, Get To Work!

Have succeeded in finishing my commentary on the Spenserian sonnet before heading to Varsity! You know how sometimes you don't notice stuff, but then when you do, it becomes all you can think about? I'm like that with pilling on my clothes, so much so that I've decided I should try getting a cheap fabric shaver to see if I can reduce some of the worst pilling. Anyway, today's lecture on The Buddha Of Suburbia was like that. I don't particularly care for the book, and was terribly amused when Adam Putz showed us his ripped up and chewed on copy of Kureishi's novel during Tuesday's seminar. I described it as 'episodically entertaining', which is quite true, given that I read the first two chapters, and felt like it was just a waste of my time. It was funny, but I didn't feel particularly amazed at the language, or at the message of the novel. Today's lecturer didn't do much to improve my impression of the novel, especially since from the way that she put it, it sounded to me like the terrain Kureishi treads has been done before, only in far more capable ways. Didn't help that every other sentence of hers was peppered by 'uh'. It's like once you notice something like that, you can't help but be hopelessly distracted by it. The Waiting For Godot workshop in the afternoon was fun though, and now I really, really want to watch it in London!