wrong...
but do the words...
National Theatre Live mean to you that
you are paying £17.50 per ticket
to see a live performance beamed to a
cinema near you...
actually live...
as in... happening now?
On Thursday evening a fellow lover
(not literally, naturally!)
of Alan Bennett and I took ourselves
off to
'The Habit of Art'
Two large large ladies of mature years,
her of ninety summers and me not far behind,
deposited our ample girths into the
embrace of the pneumatic armchairs that pass themselves off
as today's answer to the 3/9d's.
With huge glasses of wine to hand we settled comfortably
in for the long haul.
We did pass on the giant tubs of popcorn for two reasons
a) they didn't sell it
b) and even if they did...
we would have been hard-pressed to balance it on our tums.
Settling back for a night of being part of the audience
of the National Theatre made my heart sing.
Alright the fact that the National is a good 20 miles away
as the Albatross flies is a mere bagatelle.
This was live theatre...
and one of the countries finest to boot.
Hold tight...
roll of drums at this point please maestro.
Now I am fully aware that I'm not the sharpest
tool in the box, however it didn't take me long to
realise that is was anything but live...
Why?
You might well ask!
W H Auden was played by Richard Griffiths
who sadly died this year.
The mark of a truly great actor is one who
will come back from the dead in order that
the show must go on.
The play was another Alan Bennett masterpiece
about the imagined meeting after twenty-five years of
W H Auden and his friend and collaborator
Benjamin Britten.
The queens of creativity of yesteryear had
had a fall out about who knows what, and this was them
getting back in touch.
Rent boys, peeing in sinks and other unsavoury
aspects of old artisticals in decline
were the order of the play.
And very good it was too...
but wait...
I did have a few uneasy moments
not for me you understand...
but for my 90 year chum,
when W H Auden described what
he wanted to do to the rent boy!
If it's showing in your local flea-pit and you have £17.50
to spare I can highly recommend it...
although take it form me...
it ain't live...
one of its cast is most definitely dead.
The mark of a truly great actor is one who
will come back from the dead in order that
the show must go on.
The play was another Alan Bennett masterpiece
about the imagined meeting after twenty-five years of
W H Auden and his friend and collaborator
Benjamin Britten.
The queens of creativity of yesteryear had
had a fall out about who knows what, and this was them
getting back in touch.
Rent boys, peeing in sinks and other unsavoury
aspects of old artisticals in decline
were the order of the play.
And very good it was too...
but wait...
I did have a few uneasy moments
not for me you understand...
but for my 90 year chum,
when W H Auden described what
he wanted to do to the rent boy!
If it's showing in your local flea-pit and you have £17.50
to spare I can highly recommend it...
although take it form me...
it ain't live...
one of its cast is most definitely dead.
Richard Griffiths
1947 - 2013
1947 - 2013
I suppose National Theatre Taped doesn't sound as good does it? And technically Richard Griffiths was alive when it was taped. But I absolutely agree with you ~ I would have wanted to be part of actual live experience 20miles away, even if displaced by a glass of red and comfy chair. Hope you are well x
ReplyDeleteSounds good - except for Richard Griffith's birth year...
ReplyDeleteYou enjoyed it, it was a night out with a friend and a glass of wine was involved!
ReplyDeleteoh err missus think i would be a bit miffed if i had been expecting it to be live and it wasn't!!!! surely it was just like watching a tv programme or a film then so why the vastly inflated price? i'm glad you enjoyed it though - by the way i'm impressed that they didn't sell popcorn - i hate the smell and that puts me off going to the cinema these days when i have to sit there with a hanky on my nose!!!!! take care xxx
ReplyDeleteHello girls, sorry I'm not bestirring myself to answer you individually. I am so off-message at the mo: not even sure that means what I think it does. Frankly my dears I don't give a damn if it don't, because it seems to fit so well in how I'm feeling. Not against you, you understand. I'm out of sorts, with a huge hole in my heart. Tears come and I'm so sad. I'm just so worried that the daft tart crossed with a first division battleaxe has gone, never to be seen again. How will I survive without silliness and straight talking to while away my twilight years. The only answer I can see is for all to send corny Christmas cracker jokes and champagne.
ReplyDeleteLLX
So glad you told us LL ~ a problem shared is a problem halved and all that stuff they say. You haven't lost your silliness and straight talking ~ just be gentle with yourself and feel what you gave to feel. We all feel off-message at times. Take care x
DeletePerhaps they used him as a glove puppet, it's amazing what they can do now a days. Worry not, I thought this was beautifully 'daft tart', any way, you can't expect to be all singing all dancing at the moment. We all have holes in our hearts at some time, they heal, and the scar that's left there is proof you're human. xx
ReplyDelete