The Wickedest of Cargoes

I recently went to see an exhibition put on by Newham Council at Stratford Town Hall about the slave trade. I should perhaps, before too long, do a blog about Stratford Old Town Hall - it is a building that is a work of art in itself. The picture shows elected Mayor of Newham, Sir Robin Wales visiting the exhibition when it opened. I was interested to discover how many local notables from East Ham and West Ham were connected with the campaign to abolish the trade in slaves two hundred years ago, and slavery itself. These include MPs who aided Wilberforce in passing the Abolition Act in 1807, and various campaigners, including Elisabeth Fry, Samuel Gurney, and Buxton. Of course the Borough has other links of a more unsavoury nature - Tate & Lyle have their biggest sugar refinery in Silvertown. I was impressed by the exhibition - it included a wide variety of artefacts and a good narrative outlining the history of slavery from ancient times to the present day. Slavery (in a variety of forms) exists throughout the world today.

The Entertainer

I couldn't find a picture showing the cast from the present run at the Old Vic. The illustration here is from the film starring Lawrence Olivier. It is said that the great actor told Robert Lindsay that he would be ideal in the lead role. Mr Lindsay has only just reached the appropriate age to take on this monster of a part, requiring incredible dexterity, skill and determination - Robert Lindsay took on the role with tremendous verve.

This play is set in Britain at the time of Suez and is intended to be a metaphor for the decline of the British Empire - as the leading character (Archie Rice) is a music hall entertainer at the end of the era of variety. Perhaps this was one of the great triumphs of television that it hammered several nails into the coffin of this 'artform'. Like Britain, Archie has lost his way and can't quite find a role in the new world. His wife, played by Pam Ferris, is a total revelation - she changes her mood rapidly and expresses every emotion with superb timing.

The action is set in the lodging house Archie has taken for the season. There lives his father - who is a retired actor - clearly of greater standing than Archie - his wife and one of his sons, who had refused to be conscripted into National Service. The other son is away in the army, and his fate forms the centre of the piece. the play opens with the arrive of their daughter, who is going through some tricky relationship difficulties. Although this is a comedy it darkens as it progresses, and is very thought provoking. Archie himself is extremely repulsive in his behaviour and attitude, but somehow induces sympathy. The remainder of the family also parade less than attractive qualities, but somehow you empathise with them.

The play is rarely revived - and it isn't surprising because it is rare to find such quality of acting from a cast and this play demands such high standards. It is worth reviving more often. My rating: 8/10

Cutty Sark

Fortunately, when the fire broke out, much of the structure had been removed for a massive restoration and preservation project.

The fire was started deliberately it is believed, and the Cutty Sark Trust are concerned that the heat of the fire may have buckled the iron hull, but they will have to wait for further examinations.

Go to http://www.cuttysark.org.uk to contribute towards the restoration. The Cutty Sark normally gets 7 million visitors a year - so if each person send £1 they will be close to meeting the costs of all the work required to make it once again a place of pilgrimage for all wanting to get a taste for Britain's Maritime History

19 Princelet Street, Spitalfields

A friend told me about this unusual project in East London. 19 Princelet Street in Spitalfields, close to Brick Lane and Liverpool Street is a house built in 1719 that has had a remarkable history. It was firstly rented by a Huguenot family of refugees, then after a period of prosperity the area began to decline. The building was converted into lodgings for silk weavers, who created large windows on the upper floors to allow them to work longer hours. Irish immigrants used it as a lodging house in the nineteenth century and then in 1869 a Jewish Friendly Society took the lease and built a synagogue in the garden to serve the growing community of immigrant jews from eastern Europe. A caretaker lived in one of the flats, and other rooms were rented out. In the C20th the Jewish congregation began to dwindle, and the last wedding was held in the 1970s. The building became derelict, although one reclusive lodger continued to rent the top floor, although he walked out one day leaving his 'home' untouched for a decade or so. A charity rescued the building, but it is still in danger. It is now trying to raise £3m to preserve it. For a few days a year it is open to visitors, when I came out today there was a queue reaching to the corner of the street. It is next open on Sunday 27th May.

Find out more at http://19princeletstreet.org.uk

Renoir Landscapes

I was pleased I managed to go to the Exhibition of Renoir Lanscapes at the National Gallery, just before it closed this weekend. I'd been recommended to go by a work colleague.

I have to say I found the townscapes more charming than the countryside views, and some of the Venetian pictures appeared somewhat unsuccessful. Renoir certainly had an eye for scenes involving water - the ones involving boating, or with a river in the background really caught my attention - but for vibrancy of colours the Algerian pictures are superb.

My favourites? 'Woman with a parasol and a Small Child on a Sunlit Hillside' (1874); 'Allee in the Woods' (c1878-9) - what a beautiful impression of a wild wood, 'The Jardin d'Essai, Algiers' (1881), 'Field of Banana Trees near Algiers' (1881), 'The Railway Bridge at Chatou' (1881) - utterly charming, and of course 'Chestnut Trees in Bloom'. What can be nicer than viewing some art followed by a cup of tea in the cafe in Trafalgar Square? Bliss.

The Eurovision Song Contest

Words fail me.

Tony Blair - history will judge him kindly

Ten years of government led by Tony Blair will shortly come to an end.

I'm going to list the things that I think should be remembered about him and his term of office.

The first Labour leader to win three general elections with large majorities.

The minimum wage.

The Freedom of Information Act.

The incorporation of the Human Rights Convention into British law.

Power Sharing in Northern Ireland.

Greater tolerance for minorities - the introduction of Civil Partnerships.

Greater equality and protection of minorities.

Better maternity and paternity pay.

Holiday rights.

A decade of low inflation.

A decade of economic growth.

Free entrance to museums and galleries.

Family Tax Credits.

IRAQ

A victory for democracy?

The election of Nicholas Sarkozy may not end the problems that beset France. I wonder if he can really get to grips with the deep seated divisions within French society. Is he truly the French Margaret Thatcher? Certainly he recognises that the French need to work harder, economic growth is more important than a job for life. The enormously high levels of youth unemployment can only signal trouble unless jobs can be created and France can be dragged into the top ranks of economic powers in Europe. There is a degree of schizophrenia within French society, proudly nationalistic and yet holding unrealistic views about their place in the world. This is an aging population finding change difficult to cope with - and yet they voted for a man who seeks economic transformation - perhaps because of his hard line on immigration, to outflank Le Pen. However, who will be the stokers of the engine of economic growth if the immigrant population are cast out - the French workforce seem to only want to have the lifetime civil service jobs. The excellent 85% turnout is incredibly impressive and Royal did well to gain 47% of the vote. Sarkozy needs to unite and not alienate, and Britain will find it difficult in Europe if Sarkozy maintains his opposition to Turkey's accession and continues Chirac's defence of French farmers in the face of the costs and economic realities.

Sarkozy will need to start work pretty quickly if he's going to be believed as the true reformer.

St Paul's Covent Garden

A friend of mine had a nine hour stopover at Heathrow en route between Manchester and Hong Kong on Tuesday. I suggested

we met at Covent Garden, to take up some of the time. After a pleasant lunch we drifted around the piazza and came across a
a real gem of a Church - St Paul's, which is known as the actors Church. The face turned to the square is plain, classical and understated, but the reverse face overlooks a lovely garden with

many seats. We wandered into the church and discovered an array of plaques to many actors, theatre producers, dancers, directors and playwrights. Richard Beckinsale, Flora Robson, Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward, Edith Evans, are all commemorated. The interior of the Church is restful and plain, very Georgian. In many ways the fact that it is so plain makes this Church very moving, and there close by the door is a plaque marking the life of Vivien Leigh. How appropriate is the epitaph upon it - taken from the play Anthony and Cleopatra:

'So fare thee well,

Now boast thee, death, in thy possession lies

A lass unparall'd.'

The Lady from Dubuque

What a superb actress Dame Maggie Smith is! She truly transformed this play that I saw at the Theatre Royal Haymarket recently.

The Lady from DuBurque is not often produced but it is an excellent vehicle for Maggie Smith, who dominates the second act totally. The play is by the same writer as 'Whose afraid of Virginia Woolf' and is as verbally violent as that play, famously starring on screen Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. The Lady from Duburque opens at the end of a social evening involving three couples, who are 'friends' but appear to have absolutely nothing in common, but in reality hate one another - or do they. One woman is dying of cancer and is in enormous pain - and takes this out on everyone else - her husband, her old college friend, her weak husband, their boorish male friend and his seemingly unsophisticated girlfriend.

The humour is harsh and bitter, sharp and pointed, to the extent that it almost offensive. When things appear to be on the brink of open warfare the actors address the audience and demand answers. (Of course as a British audience we resolutely stared at our shoes and hoped not to have to respond).

The woman who is dying is bemoaning the fact that her mother has abandoned her and ignored her even at the moment of her death. And then Maggie Smith appears with her black 'friend/lover?' and claims to be the long estranged mother. But is she - she is the lady from DuBurque. These two characters inject a great deal of humour (still extremely sharp) and pathos but prevents it from turning into total bathos and melodrama.

Worth seeing - even if only for Maggie Smith's wonderful performance. Rating 7/10

Hogarth Exhibition - Tate Gallery

I managed to catch this 'major exhibition' of the works of Hogarth at the Tate Britain today. I think one of the problems I had with this exhibition was the volume of people allowed in to view at the same time. Many of the pieces are relatively small, and the captions attached are quite lengthy - obviously wanting to put the prints and paintings in some kind of context. The crowds gathered around each print meant it was difficult to appreciate the contents. The other problem stems from familiarity. Many of the pictures or series of pieces (Rake's Progress, Harlot's Progress, Marriage a la Mode) are reproduced so regularly that seeing the real thing holds no surprises. With large scale pictures this isn't a problem, but prints that appear true size in magazines are not going to be revelatory when seen hanging on a wall. I don't feel much link with the life of pre-industrial England - and although Hogarth was a campaigning artist many of the targets of his satire have been lost in time. He isn't really an innovator, nor is he a great portrait painter or landscape painter. The Holbein Exhibition earlier held many surprises and you could see the development of his art - into realism and perspective, the Constable Exhibition revealed so much about his techniques and composition, Hogarth tauught me nothing new. Interesting to see these works of art all in one place but not a truly memorable exhibition.

The Seraglio

This is blog number 200! Celebrations all round!
I must be turning into a total philistine but I have to admit that I am no longer a fan of either Mozart on his operas.
I have not seen this opera before but I have no intention of ever seeing it again. I suspect it is intended to be light-hearted and humerous, but the kind of studied humour in this opera is just too wearing, and wearying for me. It is the usual operatic story - lovers forced apart by circumstance (in this case pirates and a hareem have intervened) and two hours are spent re-uniting the lovers. However, as it is Mozart there is not the tragedy that I love in Verdi or Puccini, no romantic music and soaring duets instead we get vocal gymnastics and downright showing off. In this case the notes and arias go higher and higher and to my ears the beauty of the song turns into shrieking or screeching.
In Amadeus the Emperor declares 'Too many notes, Mr Mozart' and oh how I agree with him!
My rating 4/10
This was the English Touring Opera production at the Hackney Empire.

Eugene Onegin

The English Touring Opera production at the Hackney Empire was a wonder to witness. As always the staging was slightly disconcerting - huge mirrors were employed - but to remarkable effect, especially in the ball scenes where it created the illusion of a mass of dancers instead of the dozen or so members of the cast.
Tchaikovsky's opera 'Eugene Onegin' requires great skills from the performers - exacting singing, enormously long arias, almost balletic dancing (frequently), dramtic acting, a score requiring the orchestra to play not as accompanists but as a symphony orchestra, and great stamina. Based on the classic Pushkin epic it is the tale of two sisters, one of whom is spoken for the other who falls for Eugene who fails to return the emotion. As is inevitable in opera there is death and passion, many fallings in and out of love, and a not entirely happy ending, for opera should not be anything other than tragic to my mind.
The letter scene ( six hours attemting to construct a love letter contracted into a ten minute aria) is a tour de force and needs a soprano of great skill - and here this was achieved with enormous finesse. As this is Tchaikovsky the dance scenes have beautiful melodies, and some of the musical passages are worthy of being a movement in a symphony.
I love this opera and will seek it out in future. My rating: 9/10

Lets skip spring

I bought some daffodils from Marks & Spencer today. It does brighten up my flat to see some spring flowers inside. However the temperature in London today was a balmy 17 degrees. For March this is exceptional - it seems as though we'll be skipping spring and going straight to summer. On the other hand we've had snow in April before now!

Welcome Visitors

Now that the blog counter is back working I'm pleased to welcome 1040 visitors to my profile. Hope you enjoy.

Porgy & Bess

I went to see this marvellous, vibrant production at the Savoy Theatre yesterday. It was a matinee performance and so it was full of coach parties, mainly women from the Home Counties.

This is a period piece. The Gershwins were trying to produce a twentieth century opera dealing with modern themes. George Gershwin always wanted to write classical music but this is really just a popular musical play. That isn't to devalue it though, 'Summertime', 'I got Plenty of Nothing', 'I Love You Porgy' 'It Ain't Necessarily So' are all time popular standards. This is the usual love story of tart with a heart who is reformed by the love of a good man, but led into temptation by the bad guys. In this production there isn't really anything operatic, it is good American Musical through and through. None of the cast are duds. The dancing is superb, and the audience were engaged from the start.

However, this is a production written by whites and performed by a black cast. I became a touch uneasy at times because the roles were so stereotyped, and I wonder how comfortable some of the cast were in portraying these parodies of black lives - the great dancers, the negro spirituals, the language of subjection. Would it be performed in America nowadays I wonder.

Clive Anderson - What a star!

Now I'm a total radio addict, I have the radio on throughout the day. I am now becoming an enormous fan of Clive Anderson. He's been filling in for Parkinson on his Radio 2 show on Sunday mornings, and I have to say he does that kind of show tremendously well - talking about the papers, entertainment, theatre, music and films. Now he's filling in for Sandi Toksvig on the News Quiz. Now I love Sandi - she is so good on this show, chairing with an infectious laugh, but I have to say Clive is probably even better - and funnier.

In search of the nuclear umbrella

Having taken the decision to renew trident when the prsent system reaches its' 'use by' date, now Britain appears to be in a desperate auction with the American government to become the setting for a new anti-missile/missile system. We're told that the United States are convinced that before too long a rogue state (Iran?) will develop a nuclear warhead and will inevitably aim them at U S cities and hold the American government to hostage. A system, being called 'the son of star wars' to show it is a different version of the failed experiments under the Reagan Presidency, is ready to be deployed. This system will, at a stroke, be launched from a site in Europe to head for a point shortly before an enemy missile whilst it is cruising just beyond the atmosphere. As if by magic the American missile will shed the pointed end and 'negate' the nuclear missile harmlessly before it re-enters.

Tony Blair is eagerly shouting 'me, me, me' whilst waving his hand at George W demanding that this system is placed somewhere in North Yorkshire. Unfortunately for poor Tony the Poles are the front runners. How times have changed since Soviet days!

Underneath the Lintel

Starring Richard Schiff - previously seen on TV's 'The West Wing'. This play is currently been performed at London's Duchess Theatre. An amazing one-man show - only one act but Richard Schiff is on stage (alone) for 80 minutes - and how well he does it too! He holds the audience from the moment he walks on stage. This is a voyage of self discovery. The play begins with the actor arriving on stage with the pretence of giving a lecture about what? An ex-librarian becomes obsessed with discovery the truth behind the book he finds in the returns file - it is over a century overdue. He then attempts to trace the owner of the book through a dry cleaning ticket from London, a tram ticket from Bonn, and so on and so on. This is good, old-fashioned story telling, and depends so much on the abilities of the actor - it is a monologue but Schiff uses his voice and body and the few artifacts with tremendous skill. There are a few visual aids, and some sound effects, but remarkably understated. Schiff's self discovery is about religion, the existence of God and about a man finding out about himself and his relationship with the world.
A remarkably good play. Rating: 8/10

Richard & Judy scandal?

I derived some pleasure from the discovery that the Richard & Judy Show 'quiz' 'You Say We Pay' has been fixed. The successful candidate to appear on the show is selected early in the live programme but the hosts (unaware of the fact - we're told) continue to urge viewers to phone a premium rate number to get on the quiz. I do have another objection. Most of the 'selector questions' are so bleeding obvious that there is no skill required at all. Of course that is intentional to get more people to phone up. Premium phone lines generate huge sums for Channel 4 - so call me cynical but I'm hardly surprised that they want to have overwhelming numbers of callers. It also illustrates to me that Channel 4 do not deserve to be considered a Public Service Broadcaster. After the Big Brother troubles earlier this year (another scheme to get money from phone calls) Channel 4 should be thinking long and hard about their programme ethics.