My week in retrospect ended with a lovely fan-high: Not only was there a nice selfie of Richard with Richard (III), but yesterday I also welcomed my lovely friend and fellow fan Helen. She came laden with gifts – lots of bits and pieces for my crafty endeavours, as well as a beautiful piece of her jewellery (not the little heart decoration in the pic below).
She stayed overnight with me before heading off to a week-long creative holiday in the West of Ireland. We had a great time yesterday and this morning, although most of our evening last night was taken up by the theatre. We had tickets for the opening night of Hamlet in Dublin’s Gate Theatre, starring Ruth Negga as Hamlet, directed by… Yael Farber. Farber was in attendance last night – presumably she is still rehearsing with the cast – and just before the play started, I spotted her standing just a meter in front of us.
She made an announcement just before the start of the play and watched the performance from a seat in the audience about three rows in front of us. The play itself… well, let’s just say it was long. Three and a half hours of Shakespearean English took a lot of concentration. Not just from the audience but also from the cast. I had had high hopes for this production, not least because I thought it was an interesting move to cast Hamlet as a woman. Ruth Negga did an excellent job. However, it was never really clear to me *why* a woman was cast as a man in this play. With a woman playing the lead role, I had somehow expected Hamlet to be a woman. But that was not the case. The character was still a young man – and I didn’t quite see the point of a female-played Hamlet, especially as the petite actor did not make any attempt at giving Hamlet any “masculine” mannerisms or gestures. Or maybe it was exactly meant as a comment on gender stereotyping, with my ignorance a case in point. If that is the case, it might have been useful to cross-cast a few other roles as well, just to make that point, though.
Anyway, the set was really interesting (consisting mainly of dark panelled doors that were opened and closed in order to create “rooms”) but the overwhelming darkness of the background and the lack of props made it even harder for me to focus and not drift off. There was plenty of obvious symbols in the play – except it was not really clear to me what they were supposed to mean. Again, possibly *my* ignorance. But how good and effective is a play if the audience doesn’t understand the points that are being made? The play had a few trademark Farber essentials, the continuous background drone of the soundscape included. Never-ending tinnitus, if you ask me – I really dislike it, much as I disliked it in TC. There was also the scent of incense in the Ophelia burial scene – and I was convinced I smelled some coffee at another point in the play, but maybe that was just the adjoining theatre bar getting ready for the interval *lol* and some sand being thrown around, which all seemed rather familiar from the other Farber productions I have seen. – Overall, I was not quite convinced by the production. Sure, it is a tragedy, hence the subdued colour scheme of the set and the costumes is explainable. Some other artistic interpretations/choices I could not get my head around. I liked that Farber often uses the auditorium as the stage and had the cast run through and speak from the middle of the room. She was extremely effective with the way she included the audience in TC when it was staged in the round and the lighting design occasionally lit the first row of the audience, thus making us part of the Salem community. In Hamlet, she placed the actors as spectators of the ‘play in the play’ in the middle of the auditorium. Again, a great way of making the audience part of the play. However, it meant that none of the audience could actually see the actors’ reactions to the play – which is a bit of a fail if you ask me. I have not seen any reviews of the play yet – and I am curious to see what the critics make of it. Also, the caveat remains that this was the first performance of the production, and knowing Farber’s MO, there will be plenty of changes in the days to come. Ruth Negga was fabulous and has to be commended for taking up the mantle, especially as she was suffering from laryngitis and had been advised to cancel her performance.
Anyway, sorry for that long excursion. Take it as a “tangentially related” post, as coined by Servetus.
And now for the light relief:
- A proper Claude Becker buffet, courtesy of mezzmerizedbyrichard
- Moodyhedgie paints Richard as Logan – pretty good! He would fill that role very well, I think
- Riepu10 is delving into Sleepwalker to give us the dreamy doctor. Nice one!
- I hadn’t seen drldeboer for a while but she is now back with her trademark screenshots, this time of Daniel Miller in the new BS trailer – great
- Including this short text post by elizabitchdarcy not only for the funny user name, but especially for the tag
- And mezzmerizedbyrichard again – obviously got into a bit of a Daniel Miller frenzy thanks to the new trailer. Here’s a set of really nice pics of Danny Boy
- The extended fights scene from the Wolverine BTS, giffed by cxbledxxedpooll – that must have been one heck of an intense recording…
- Check out splunge4me2art’s WIP portrait of Richard and then compare with the finished piece
- Moodyhedgie again with Wolverine – I like this one better
- Yeah, Claude is a douchebag, but he’s nice to look at. Here’s a gif set for the mole lovers among you. Giffed by kendaspntwd
- I am right there with spocks-brain
- A cutesie piece of fan art for all bagginshield lovers out there. By krappuy
- Professor Bilbo LOL. But the “younger Thorin” is really cool. Fan art by nerdeeart
- Interesting screen shot by h3110-7h3r3 – now we know what people are searching for…
- This short modern!AU of Thorin might actually have legs. I mean, imagine him as a hunky ship captain. Yep, the launch of a thousand ships. Eh, dreams. Thank you, thorins-magnificent-ass
That’s it for this week. I am glad to say I have been able to finally migrate all my stuff from “Little Miss Bling” to “The Silver Fox”. Yes, indeed, I have got a new Macbook. Little Miss Bling is going back to my ex-bosses tomorrow, and after the first Macbook was a complete write-off fresh out of the box, a replacement machine was sent to me and finally put in operation yesterday. It’s a new machine, but a 2017 model, in “space silver” – hence the “silver fox”. It reminds me of my favourite silver fox, too. I might just have called the machine “Richard” but then I thought that maybe that mightn’t have gone down too well with Mr Guylty…
Hope you’ll have a nice weekend,
Guylty ❤️
Guylty Pleasure 
You are too nice. I would have asked for my money back and left. No way would I spend three hours watching a play I didn’t fully understand…unless Richard were onstage. Ha! 😇
Anyway, I’m glad you spent time with Helen and that she brought you all those pressies. Happy First Day of Autumn!
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Hehe, Richard would make *anything* worth while. As has been said many times before, I’d gladly watch him read the phonebook for three hours. Actually, I’d happily sit for three hours, watching him breathe on a stage… 😂
Oh yes, beginning of autumn. Celebrated with a pear cake. Good start.
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Pear cake yummy yum good!! 👍😛
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Tastes even better with some proper whipped cream.
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Yes! My mom used to make it when we were growing up. She was a fantastic baker her specialty was Apfelkuchen where she sprinkled powdered sugar as the topping but I’m more a whipped cream kinda girl🤣😉
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Apfelkuchen is the business. (I think every German woman has a personal apple cake recipe of her own… it’s what you get married for ;-)) And yeah, whipped cream makes almost everything better…
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Ohh The thoughts swirling around my head tonight re whipped cream esp w a certain Guy!!😍😛💗💗
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Hahaha, I knew I shouldn’t have phrased it like that… *tuttuttut*
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🙂 Helen vos cadeaux sont inspirants! J’espère que vous vous êtes bien amusées ensembles et j’ai hâte de découvrir les nouvelles créations.
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Helen is always really thoughtful. She is a lampworker and jewellery maker, and she collects all sorts of bits and pieces for me. So every time we meet, she has a big bag of goodies. She also gifted me the most gorgeous piece of jewellery, a glas pendant in beautiful sea colours. It’s like the beads in this bracelet she made: https://bit.ly/2xwsGZ6
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Does she have a website? Sell any of her jewelry? That is gorgeous in your link !!
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She does, but you can see more of her work on her Facebook page which she updates very regularly. (The image I posted is her current header image.) Her jewellery is gorgeous and I am very lucky that I have been gifted quite a few pieces over the years already. Here’s her FB: https://www.facebook.com/seahorsestudioholt/ Leave her a message and tell her that I sent you 😉
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Um I’m not on FB can you give her my email address or can I reach out to her via email?
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hold on, here is her website: http://www.seahorsestudio.co.uk/
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Cool !! Seahorses are my favorite !!
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And she uses little silver ones as her trademark on many bracelets. Definitely check out FB if you can – lots of beautiful examples of her work to go through. I can’t even tell you what my favourites are – there are too many of them, but those seashore beads are up there.
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Quite gorgeous! She has a wonderful eye for color !!
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Oh, and PS – I think you don’t need an FB account to look at a FB page. It’s a public profile, not private.
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That’s right I can see her site.
I have made a note of her address because I have just booked a cottage for next Easter close by, so hopefully I will call at her shop.
I have taken a couple of jewellery making classes so fiddly but I love beads.
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Yeah I could see her site too but I couldn’t send her a message or rather I tried to and FB was non cooperative 🤔😳😤
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Aw, dang. Have you been able to get in touch otherwise? She does have an e-mail, of course.
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Um no but I’ll send her an email from the FB post listed.
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Oh fabulous. You must definitely pop in there. I have never been, but I see the pictures of her shop on FB, and it looks like a treasure trove. Plus, I think her workbench is right there in the shop, so you can even see her working on her glass beads. If you pop in, you should definitely make yourself known to her – Helen is lovely!
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C’est impressionnant! Merci pour l’adresse mail.
J e ne saurais que choisir. Quel talent!
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Exactly – very hard to choose. I have been looking at Helen’s jewellery because I wanted to commission her to make something for my mum. The problem is that I just can’t settle on anything because *everything* looks so good…
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I can imagine you and Helen having a great time hanging out. The play, umm not so much. Sounds like an endurance outing. Hope the seats were comfortable.
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It was lovely to have time with her. She is great fun to have around.
The seats were surprisingly comfortable – the theatre is actually a beautiful little Georgian number. Very special.
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I was hoping you guys would spot a strapping stubbly 6’2 chap maybe incognito in shades taking in the play. I thought maybe Farber would reveal her next play w a certain someone. Hamlet as a play has grown on me but not my first fav. Haven’t delved into your list yet. I’m saving that for tomorrow but thank you for the terrific and very honest down to earth post 👍👏
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You know, that would’ve made the evening very worth-while 😉 Alas, Ireland is not on his map… Very curious to see whether they will get it together and collaborate again.
Hamlet – yeah, not my favourite, either. This was the fourth time I have seen it on stage – and funnily enough, the only non-English language production among those 4 times, was the best version I have seen. Hm, could it be because that was the only time that I was able to understand every single line of the text… *coughs* So there you go, maybe my negative impression comes down to my non-native speaker inability to understand Shakespearean English.
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Oh even in Shakespeare’s English I find a lot of what da hell is going on? DC Shakespeare theatre is doing Richard 3 in January so I’m stoked to see that alas not w Sir Guy though. Well sounds like your outing w Helen to the theatre was nice so that’s a plus there.
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It was great sharing the experience with a friend. I might have thrown in the towel after the first half otherwise 😉 And we had a double G&T during the interval to keep us going *grins*.
Oh, I was just looking at tickets for RIII, too. It’s being played in the Dublin Theatre Festival, and after seeing it once in German a few years ago, I’d love to see it in the original.
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Hahaha double G and T!! My preference is Glenlevit or Jameson’s
I am looking forward to Richard3 we get some fantastic productions esp from Royal Shakespeare Co. I admit Farber’s Salome that I saw in 2016 was ok. But her The Crucible was phenomenal at least on DT. Sometimes theatre outing is more pleasurable then the production🤔😏
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The Crucible was remarkable – a fantastic play, and all of it really worked so well. I also enjoyed another production she did in London, ‘Les Blancs’ in the National Theatre. This one, not so much.
When it comes to G&T, it’s Hendricks for me, preferable with cucumber rather than lemon. Whiskeys – I love Bushmills black label, and when it comes to Scottish Whisky I love Talisker.
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Good to know! I’ll have to try the Scottish whiskey out sometime👍👏😀
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Quite different from Irish whiskey! Scottish whisky always has that smoky touch – because the barley used for making it is smoked. My favourite is Talisker Skye which has the least amount of smokiness (in the Talisker range).
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Talisker Skye-I’ll have to search some out. My brother likes Scottish whiskey too although he’s a fish he’ll drink just about anything..socially.. So Irish whiskey is more subtle or mild tasting? When I went to Dublin in 2000, I didn’t taste any which looking back I wished I would have but I was more a beer girl then and of course love Guinness just that dark beer heaviness esp in cold weather was sooo gooood!!!
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Irish whiskey tends to be milder – and doesn’t have that peat-y/smoky taste at all because the barley is only roasted, but not smoked.
Ah, such a pity you didn’t go to the tasting session in the Irish Whiskey Museum. It’s at the end of the museum tour and great fun.
Guinness – I used to love the dark stuff, but have gone off it a bit over the years. For cold weather, there is nothing better than a Hot Whiskey: a shot of your favourite whiskey, filled up with hot water and a slice of lemon that has some cloves stuck in it. You can sweeten it up, and it is heavenly after a windy, cold walk on a stormy winter beach. (Yum, I am almost convincing myself that I am already looking forward to winter…)
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Oh yes that’s a brilliant possibility, Michele. Can we have fan spies casing the house every night, please?
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Hahaha I’d gladly sign up as a fan spy even if the pay was null. What fun we would have recruiting more fan spies with the lure that Richard was popping up every night stubbly, maybe then clean shaven for Guylty a couple of nights then Proctor bearded for a few!! 💗💗💗😍😍😍👏👏
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Haha, good times reading your list just now. Works killing me, it not my customers, it my stoopid G@Damned monopoly distributor. Sigh, well at least there will be a news article about it all for anyone in the world to read. And I will not be even a tiny bit sorry either. (Sorry, I digress.) SOoooo, Guylty, thank you for taking my mind off work for a few minutes today, now back into the maelstrom. Wish them luck. 😈
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I’m glad I was able to provide a little bit of light relief. It’s good to be distracted from work for a little bit.
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Another great roundup as usual, and thankyou again for the link love. Yep, definitely a Daniel frenzy brought on by the new trailer! Kinda wish he was back to his S1 look, but I’ll take him any way I can. 😍Maybe Richard himself likes having a beard, and if he can get away with for a role he will lol.
Sounds like you and Helen had fun, Hamlet notwithstanding. I’m on countdown now to my group’s next meetup – yay!
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Yes I find myself putting my hand over his bearded chin , wondering what he would look without it. Those S1 Daniels are very engrossing. Thanks for the post, as ever, Guylty
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You’re welcome, Jane.
Nice trick, blocking out the beard with your hand ;-). Must try that, too.
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Couldn’t agree with you more. The beard was great for Daniel as Trevor in S2 – gave him that edgy, slightly dodgy look that shady Trevor needed. Now that Trevor is done, I would’ve hoped for a return to Stubble Star Daniel, but well, I guess you are right. RA likes having a beard.
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“Shady” Trevor–hahaha too cute! “Stubble Star” Daniel.. you mean like Guy stubble or Lucas stubble? Porter was pretty clean shaven like Harry right?
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Porter had a lot of stubble going on, too – after all he was on a mission, and busy heroes have no time for shaving *lol*.
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🤣🤣👏👏👏
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LOL for the coffee quip!
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Coffee rules!!!!
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*grins* – well, I was so confused by all the symbolism in the production that my mind started working overtime. I was convinced that there was a hidden meaning to that coffee smell.
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Hmmm I can drink coffee all day any day in all forms-Irish, Cuban, iced, latte, Hawaiian, cappuccino,
Maybe the hidden meaning was “I need some to wake me up from this production…”
I thought it was super cool that you saw Yael Farber so close and the pics of her are terrific!!
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See, that kind of thing doesn’t really work for me. I don’t like coffee, I don’t drink coffee, except for the occasional cappuccino.
Yeah, I had been looking out for Farber because I was pretty sure she wouldn’t miss the preview week. She is really petite but looked stunning that evening.
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In my mind I pictured her tall
thin somewhat proportional to Richard.
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Yeah, me too. I was quite surprised.
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I saw Othello at The Globe on Thursday it was very good and the yard was packed and every seat taken I think Sir Mark Rylance playing Iago might have had something to do with that!
I have never seen Hamlet performed but I think the ‘novel’ performed by Richard will have spoilt all other shows for me.
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Oh, Mark Rylance – I would love to see him on stage. I am sure the whole performance was a great experience.
Luckily I never listened to Richard’s narration of Hamlet. I just never got to the end of the audiobook – unlike many others, I simply didn’t like what Hewson did with the play. (I also didn’t like Romeo & Juliet. I just find it slightly blasphemous to change these texts, or to embellish them.)
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Yeah know I’m kinda glad that you said that bec I’m still struggling to finish RandJ pt1 w 6 hours to go for Pt2
I love traditional Shakespeare and Hewson is a good writer but I agree w you. Hamlet had taken me awhile to grow into. Maybe it’s time for Lost Daughters. 🤞🤔😉
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I never warmed to R&J – but that is just me. I think the audiobook was overwhelmingly received well. And personally I think that Hewson is much better with his original stuff than with his re-writes. His Nic Costa series of thrillers is brilliant.
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I will have to add that series to my growing list of books!!
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I can definitely recommend them. It started out with one of the Nic Costa books that I found in a charity shop. At 1.50 € you can hardly go wrong, and so I decided to give it a go. Since then, I have read the whole series and become a fan of Hewson as a crime author. Top tip: buy the books on eBay.
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Great tip! E Bay has become my home away from home ever since the Auction! I told Sue I found a Belstaff women’s jacket on E Bay for 43 pounds which considering how much it retails on Amazon I thought was pretty good!! It cleared customs yesterday so it is making its way to me!!👏👍
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oooh, nice one – a Belstaff jacket.
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Yeah I mean it is not new w tags but it strongly resembles the one Lucas wore a lot in S7 and I won the bid which was the overriding factor for me (👍😀😉)besides I’m thinking the coat as a top quality British label would go the distance for me in DC/VA winters and travelling as well.
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Oh, totally. It’s a really classy (and expensive) label. And bonus: being reminded of Lucas every time you wear it!
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Omg exactly !! like you know me so well! I’m a winter girl so sweaters, scarves, boots I’m in heaven!! I stumbled on it bored at night wide awake and I knew having googled Belstaff after watching Lucas prance around in his that it was ultra cool although I’m not tiny like Ros so hers sits like a cropped jacket which doesn’t work for my birthing hips. I like longer jackets. The Burberry ones on EBay are expensive. I suspect even the outlets will be expensive as well.
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Michele, Lost Daughters was great! Harrowing but easy to listen to, and it’s not just Richard’s narration, believe it or not lol. I like Joy Ellis’s writing style and she ties up the red herrings and loose ends satisfyingly. I’ve nearly finished The Man from St Petersburg, that also been a good listen, although I haven’t been a fan of Ken Follett in the past. With both of these audiobooks I find it difficult to “put it down”, same with The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Lords of the North, and the Georgette Heyer audiobooks are my favourites to listen to over and over again.
I see on Audible there are four audiobooks narrated by Richard to be released before the end of the year.
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Spot on, Mezz! I really enjoyed Lost Daughters, too. It was great that I was on my holiday in Majorca when I listened to it because it meant that I could spend hours and hours lying on my sun lounger and listening. Very dark material, but not a dull moment. RA totally nailed it (although I have been told by someone in the know that he could work a tiny bit on his Norfolk accent ;-)) . Man from St Petersburg is also great – but I love Follett anyway. Funnily, though, I am stuck on the last few minutes of it – it has come to a point where something horrible could potentially happen, and I just can’t bear the thought of it…
I am really looking forward to the other two Joy Ellis audio books. They are both already pre-ordered.
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I listened to the end of it in bed last night – I had a similar feeling, dreading the ending yet wanting to know the outcome. I think it will be one that I can go back to and listen again.
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That is encouraging to know, Mezz. I mean, I sort of expect that the novel is not going to end badly, so it’ll all turn out well in the end. But the whole drama was just a bit too much for me the last time I listened ;-). Now I can safely continue.
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Mezz and Guylty, Thank you guys so much for the info and glowing endorsement of Lost Daughters. I definitely will pull the trigger and get it. My trouble is I can’t listen to him even with his different accents and intonations without coming undone esp driving. I have a tendency to daydream anyway in the car which is bad to start with (esp jamming to my 80’s new wave music) but then top it off listening to that VOICE ummmm yummm wowsy!!!
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Yeah, I agree, that voice never gets old… Better be safe than sorry. Listen from the safety of your bed.
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Would also make for some wildly vivid dreams💗💗😍👍😀
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The car is mainly when I listen to audiobooks, especially on longer trips. Used to be CDs in my old car, much easier now that I have Bluetooth and it picks up the book on my phone the moment I start driving. I do turn it off when I hit the heavy traffic on a trip to the city, I don’t need the distraction! Wanderlust was not a sensible choice to listen to while driving *cough* I always felt the need to turn the volume down if I was stopped at traffic lights when the narration got particularly hot, especially Richard’s part, in case someone heard lol.
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Yep it’s that Voice that just makes me tizzy so any sex talk by him would just be a collision waiting to happen. I think I’ll end up buying Lost Daughters for my plane trip to see my parents and bedtime listening there bec no tv in my sisters old bedroom where they put me when I come visit.
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LOL – Wanderlust, even though I didn’t like it all, wasn’t even safe when listening to it while walking 😂. Mostly because I guffawed so much, saying “ugh” under my breath, or exhaling in annoyed sighs 😁. But also because it just was so bizarre to listen to a hot sex scene while standing beside a group of tourists at the traffic lights. I turned the volume down, too 😎
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Hehehe! I know it’s a good audiobook for me when I find it hard to press stop and am hanging out until the next time I can listen. With Wanderlust, it was a case of just ploughing through it without any real enjoyment, just lots of cringing and second hand embarassment for Richard (totally unnecessary I’m sure!). I ended up skipping the female character’s chapters. Even Richard couldn’t work miracles with such a poorly written story, but his voice, as ever, was woth the sacrifice. 😉
I’d still like to know why he did it, but looking now at what he’s narrated since and what’s to come, it seems as if he is covering as many genres as he can – so far he’s ticked off regency/contemporary romance, sci fi, horror, classic fiction, action/suspense, crime, poetry, historical fiction and television (Robin Hood extras).
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Same here, Mezz. Since I am not an audio fan per se, any of the audio books that make me want to listen, are good ones. Wanderlust was an exercise in “have to listen in order to have consumed the complete oeuvre of Mr A”. Like you, I skipped through some parts of the text – and the cringing game was pretty strong, too.
I think you are right in terms of why and what he has narrated. That’s an impressive list of genres there. Is there anything left that he hasn’t done yet??
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I’d forgotten The Snowman, so that ticks off children’s fiction as well.
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Mezz, I am very curious to read Joy Ellis period. I like detective stuff now esp after seeing Broadchurch which I just devoured. The Tattooist of Auschwitz would be hard emotionally for me bec my mom was a teen in WW2 and escaped to Poland with her mom (my Oma) and just hearing my mom discuss WW2 and what she went thru even being non Jewish was hard to hear. I think I would be a blabbering crybaby thru the entire piece even with Richard’s voice as a distraction. But I like the “difficult to put down” remark of yours and that is always an attention grabber for me.
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Michele, totally understand, it’s emotional enough listening to it without that connection you and others have. I cried in parts. I found it particularly interesting because Lale and Gita Sokolov eventually made their home in Melbourne, so there was that link to Australia.
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My brother had encourage our mom to write her thoughts down about pre during and post war Stuttgart where she was born and lived most of her whole life until she came to America to marry our dad but she vehemently resisted which of course I don’t blame her. The movie Sophie’s Choice was gut wrenching for her to watch and she ended up leaving our family room at the pivotal scene in the movie. It breaks my heart that she went thru all of that at a young age but she is a mentally strong woman w no filter but has a heart of gold!!!
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Oh, I never knew that film Sophie’s Choice – just looked it up. Sounds like a harrowing story. And yes, I can understand that your mum finds it hard to talk about her life during that time. I remember that both my sets of grandparents were fairly tight-lipped about that era, even though neither of them had done anything to be ashamed of. However, it is absolute gold that my paternal grandfather did sit down to write his memoirs of that time for me and my cousin. I wish I had sat down with my other grandfather (who was half-Jewish and had an extraordinary story to tell) to record his experiences at that time. Maybe you can sit down with your mum and just let her talk while you record her on your smartphone. It would be such a shame to lose the stories.
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Yeah that was the idea my brother had to have our mom write down her thoughts and he would write a memoir. I mean I could potentially do the same but turn it into a fictional story since she went thru the whole shebang of WW2 and post war. I think the post for her was the hardest bec the lifestyle and security that she and my Oma felt were gone.! My Opa tried his best to restore normalcy but how when your beloved country has been bombed?
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As a child, I used to listen to my grandparents’ stories with horrified fascination – the bombs, the total upheaval of normal life, the displacement to a child seemed like a huge big adventure. It was only as a grown-up that I understood the horror and the fear for their own lives that they must have lived in. I totally understand that the survivors do not like to revisit that, with or without the guilt…
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Guylty, yeah I mean my grandparents were for those times well off not rich but probably upper middle class and my mom is an only child so I think she felt shock and displacement and possibly guilt although she’s a proud German and I think really didn’t know all of the stuff happening in Germany. She told my sister and I (I think bec we were being pouty and she wanted to make a point) that she only knew the severity of what was happening when her dad (Opa) sent her and Oma to Poland ahead of the bombs coming. She always tells us “I hope you children never live through a war” and I think those scars will never heal for her. So when my dad was stationed in Germany (Frankfurt, Munich and Wurzburg) I think she was really happy to be in her homeland although she is adaptable anywhere..
P.S. I recommend Sophie’s Choice but it is gripping to watch and Kevin Kline should have won his Oscar for this particular role not Fish Called Wanda (although he was good in that too).
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Oh, Würzburg? I studied in Würzburg for many years in the 1990s…
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Yep my brother was born there in 1972 when my dad was stationed there right after Munich. I loved Wurzburg. We would go castle sight seeing with my Oma and Opa. They loved the car rides and my dad is a meticulous travel planner. I think I got my love of maps and travelling/geography from him. My dad owned a Yellow Oldsmobile Tornado with black leather interior. Imagine driving that baby around the narrow cobbled streets of German towns. He always got asked if he wanted to sell it but that was his prized possession back then and it sat 6-7 people adults and kids.
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Did you live in the Army compound up on “Hubland” when you were there with your family? Many years later, they built the extension of the university up there, too. I remember the compound well from my uni days. By then it was after the fall of the wall, and the US Army began to reduce their presence in Germany…
Würzburg is very nice – I loved the castle, too, and I have very fond memories of taking some of my history lectures in the university’s rooms inside the Rococo palace in the city centre.
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We lived on base in 1972. My dad’s last tour in Germany was in Frankfurt from 1977-1980 and we lived in Bad Vilbel because government housing in Frankfurt wasn’t available I think at the time. I loved it there. Yes I do remember the castle. Many of the Army bases in Germany are closed now a lot in the 1990s and early 2000s. One of my biggest regrets was not going to Berlin in 1989 to witness the fall of the Wall. I was in a gap year between college and grad school and stayed home in Texas and worked to make money for living expenses. My mom didn’t like my sister and I travelling by ourselves so she would have kabboshed the idea anyway.(The folks would not have paid for the trip for my sister and I too)
Any particular reason if I can ask why you chose Wurzburg for university? You are from northern Germany right?
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Oh, I also wish I had gone to Berlin in 1989!
Yep, I am from the North. And upon graduating from school, I simply could not wait to get as far away as possible from home – not because I didn’t get on with my parents, but because I wanted to prove myself. I chose Würzburg because I wanted to study at a really old, established university (1402 – the fourth oldest uni in Germany after Erfurt, Heidelberg and Cologne), in a historic town with a castle (seriously!).
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Guylty, me too! I went to a small college about 45 minutes away from home bec I wanted to prove my independence although now I wish I had gone to a bigger university (I was accepted at UT in Austin ) but my dad gave me some great advice: “do you want to be a big fish in a small bowl or a small fish in a big bowl.” The 45 minutes was enough away but close enough that I could see my parents reg. and still live away from home. I love Germany’s castles!! I am so hoping that one day down the road I can take the twin nieces on a castles tour in Germany with my brother, sister in law and my sister and relive some of the wonderful times we had growing up in Germany…ahhhh as Richard recently tweeted “very fond memories..”
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How long since you have last been in Germany?
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I went in 2011 w my signifant other at the time (long story requires some Scottish whiskey or a double G and T) we used Frankfurt as our HQ and I took him to Düsseldorf, Baden Baden, Heidelberg, boat tour on the Rhein to Lorelei and Rothenburg . We did the last tour stop in Stuttgart in honor of my mom. All by train 🚊👍I really loved the trip although there were storm clouds ahead for the relationship
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Aw, sorry to hear that your last experience of Germany is slightly overshadowed by what came after. All the more reason to go again with your family and create new memories.
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😉 Alas, Ireland is not on his map…
Pourtant j’avais cru comprendre qu’il voulait se pencher sur ses études en criminologie, en particulier sur la combustion des corps dans les cheminées irlandaises fonctionnant à la tourbe. All this is black humour, but it is also tragi-comedy (waiting for him behind the camera, over a longer period of time. ).
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Touché – I am wondering where he is with his Irish production. Sounds as if that has also been put on the backburner…
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Fancy Yael Faber being there ! Hamlet isn’t my favourite either, in any shape or form, but King Lear is my worst. Out, vile jelly. Ugh.
That fight scene looks like a lot of fun, but I didn’t realise how the claws came out. Now that must sting.
Thanks for another great round-up, Guylty, and congratulations on the new Mac Book. Now I’m off to enjoy all the wonderful comments. One of these days I’ll get here in time to join in. 😄
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You are still in time, Jenny 🙂
And well, I expected Farber to be there. She has been rehearsing with the cast for the last three weeks, and I am sure the play will be tweaked still. (I have another set of tickets for tomorrow night… *um* I have to admit I am not that much looking forward to it. But then again, maybe changes have been made and maybe I will understand more the second time around…)
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Thanks for your thoughts on the play. It sounds somewhat tedious, glad that Ruth Negga was good nonetheless…
Nice that your visitor brought some lovely gifts! 🙂
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Went back to the play a second time last night, and it had changed a bit. They tightened it up, too, so the first half was 10 minutes shorter, and thanks to sitting closer to the action, I found the words much easier to understand. The production isn’t bad by any means, but having seen it again now, I can tell that things weren’t quite there yet on opening night.
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I take it no sightings of a certain someone… any more coffee wiffs??
I’ve never gone to a play opening night. I usually see them more towards the end of the run or the last show at the Kennedy Center in DC although I missed Hamilton completely bec the tickets were just outrageously expensive even for the nose bleeding seats!!
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No, neither. 😔
Opening nights can be exciting – but also a bit of the fail. I get the impression with Yael Farber that she still experiments in the first week of performances, changing bits and pieces around, fine-tuning the production on the basis of audience reactions and practicality on stage. I look forward to seeing the play on its last night again – how it has changed over time.
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I think it will be cool to see opening night then st end of play for comparisons
Excellent planning!!
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I learnt that when I saw The Crucible. That was the first time ever that I went to see a play three times. It would never have occurred to me to do such a thing. However, I learnt that it is really interesting to see how a play changes every night – and over time. I didn’t exactly see it on opening night – middle of the run – last night, but with enough time in between each performance to see a certain evolution. It was fascinating, and if theatre tickets weren’t so expensive, I’d recommend doing that all the time.
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Oh I would totally have seen him 3 times too! I just fell in love w the play, the cast, the scenery when I saw it on DT so live would be shut the front door
ecstatic 😍😍💗💗💗🤣👍
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I’m glad it’s getting better!
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I’ve seen a couple of reviews now, and they are sort of so-so. Usually very complimentary of the lead, but not understanding some choices of the director. That confirms exactly what I thought, too…
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Gotcha. Not everything can be great, I guess.
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Pingback: Richard Armitage tangentially related | Me + Richard Armitage
Cheers and thank you for linking!
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Need to go through the links and hopefully the coming weekend will feel more like it but what you say about the play isn’t very promising.. sounds like much of the same with her visual and audio tricks and it gets boring after 2-3 plays in same vein. As does ‘dark’ in Hamlet generally. Why not make the character a women? There is nothing there to say she couldn’t be that really. And at 3,30h not much cut by the sounds unless the interval was long. I quite love the play but having seen a few recently not sure. We’ll see what critics say.
We went back to theatre at weekend and saw Anthony and Cleopatra at the National. Excellent in every aspect although will not be my favourite play, but very interesting nevertheless. And interestingly it had all sort s of accents from Irish to Scottish, etc As long as text is clear, accents just blend in 🙂
But productions do tend to settle in sometimes in runs. And sometimes even great casts can’t save a sinking ship, like the NT Macbeth proved 😉
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In fairness, the second time watching was better than the first. I think Farber tightened up things a bit. She also changed things and I had the impression that they put more emphasis on the lighting features in the play. She stuck with the actors observing the play in the play from the middle of the auditorium – which was even more of a fail when trying to observe that from one of the front rows – I had to crane my neck between the players on stage to the actor-observers behind me in the auditorium. Uncomfortable.
But yeah, I had the impression that Farber has certain “trademarks” that get wheeled out every time. Even though I was not a fan, the soundscape in The Crucible was interesting. Enduring the constant drone in the third play, it kind of gets old. As does the dark/black backgrounds and the whiff of incense. I still haven’t seen any reviews of the play…
How was Fiennes in A&C? Would love to see him again on stage.
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i hate to rub in….. but he was fantastic, as natural and at home with the text as always, no idea how he does it.. and as magnetic too. Okenedo was great as well and so was all supporting cast, opening night was yesterday and all reviews today are complimentary 4/5 stars which does not surprise me. If it comes to cinemas def a must see.. unless you fancy a little visit 🙂
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They’re showing it in the NT Live series here the first week of December — lots of anticipation!
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that’s good news! definitely one worth it, no comparison to the misfire Macbeth. I wasn’t familiar with the text, as never seen it or even read it before in detail and it just worked perfectly.
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Well, all to be expected. Fiennes is simply a genius on stage. Definitely would love to see the play if it makes it into NTLive.
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It seems weird to just put a woman in the role of Hamlet as a male (if I understood you correctly) without making additional changes in response to that (btw I have always liked Hamlet, even if it’s not my absolute favorite Shakespeare play). It would seem to have some kind of consequence to the relationship with Ophelia, for instance, or Laertes. I wonder what the point of that is. Seems like she didn’t think all the way through the problem she set up.
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Yep, that was exactly what I thought – it would’ve been more radical if they had changed some of the text. Looks as if the reviews aren’t stellar, either…
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