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Short break....
Sunday, 15 December 2013 08:28 pmI had a lovely mother-daughter weekend last week. We went down to London, mainly to see Henry V, which I got my parents as a Christmas present last year (Daddy chickened out, though, so we had a bit of extra spending money, and more piece and quiet, lol). But since we were already there, we also went to St James Smith Square for Haendel's Messias, which was just the right thing to get us in the Christmas mood. It was a fairly small orchestra and choir, but that worked really well in that setting, the acustic and quality was excellent, but it had a much more intimate affaire compared to the Royal Albert Hall, for example, where we went last year.
Saturday we mostly spend at the British Museum in the Ancrient Collection (we made it through Egypt, Assyria and Grece but caved before Rom) and Sunday we swung by the National Portrait Gallery (I love that all the public Museums are free of charge, it means you can do it in small chunks rather than feeling you've got to get 'your money's worth'. Henry V was very good, though it took me a bit longer to get into it because I've never seen the play on stage, just as various TV and movie productions, and there you have a lot of action and change of location, whereas in the play most of that takes place off stage. But at the same time this really focuses the play on the essential, the internal struggles of the king. As often with the Grandage productions, the set is minimalistic and the costumes vaguely historical, and there is little to distract from the words and the acting. I really liked the stage design, which was borrowed from a Shakesperian theatre, which fitted very well with the set up of the play, which includes a chorus that continues to comment and fill gaps in the play. A very good performance from Jude Law, I thought, he effortlessly went from regal, to conflicted, anxious, funny and flirty. And one has to be amazed by all the actors ability, this was the second performance of the day (and the 7th in the week) and one could not tell other that they cut the applause a bit short.
Saturday we mostly spend at the British Museum in the Ancrient Collection (we made it through Egypt, Assyria and Grece but caved before Rom) and Sunday we swung by the National Portrait Gallery (I love that all the public Museums are free of charge, it means you can do it in small chunks rather than feeling you've got to get 'your money's worth'. Henry V was very good, though it took me a bit longer to get into it because I've never seen the play on stage, just as various TV and movie productions, and there you have a lot of action and change of location, whereas in the play most of that takes place off stage. But at the same time this really focuses the play on the essential, the internal struggles of the king. As often with the Grandage productions, the set is minimalistic and the costumes vaguely historical, and there is little to distract from the words and the acting. I really liked the stage design, which was borrowed from a Shakesperian theatre, which fitted very well with the set up of the play, which includes a chorus that continues to comment and fill gaps in the play. A very good performance from Jude Law, I thought, he effortlessly went from regal, to conflicted, anxious, funny and flirty. And one has to be amazed by all the actors ability, this was the second performance of the day (and the 7th in the week) and one could not tell other that they cut the applause a bit short.