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Post by jek on May 18, 2024 14:24:36 GMT
Thanks to TallPaul for moving my post. I don't know why my search failed to show up the thread - I clearly looked in the wrong place!
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Post by jek on May 18, 2024 14:08:24 GMT
I joined the waiting room for this at about 7.30 am this morning. When random places were allocated at 9 am I was allocated a queue position of 13,000 and something. It took about an hour and three quarters for me to reach the front of the queue. Luckily the three proms I wanted tickets for weren't of the high demand variety (proms 21, 35 and 45) and my prom planner was processed without issue. Clearly the queue was lengthened by the sheer number of Florence and the Machine fans logging on. It wasn't that long before the message was coming up on my screen that tickets for that prom were selling fast and then sold out. Hope that others on here who were booking had a smooth experience.
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Post by jek on May 12, 2024 10:50:26 GMT
I think Spain was my favourite. I loved the fact that it felt like something that I would have sung along to at the working men's clubs we used to frequent when I was growing up (summer weekends on the Isle of Sheppey in the 1970s were quite wild I can tell you!) I was slightly thrown by the fact that the singer reminded me (facially) of Gloria Hunniford. And I did wince every time I saw the dancer do the splits (felt one slip away from A&E). I was really surprised that it didn't do better.
I also enjoyed Estonia.
Impressed by the balance skills of the winner. I'm sure that Switzerland will be a nice - if expensive - trip for those who attend next year.
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Post by jek on May 10, 2024 15:51:31 GMT
I know it is very much each to his own on this but I am always glad to receive the physical copies from the National. I do search out a lot online but I still like a nicely produced pamphlet that I can look at at leisure (just as I also like to buy a physical newspaper - the Financial Times - at the weekend). Simlarly, while I love my Kindle, I also still buy quite a few well designed physical books. I am particularly pleased that the 'What's On' booklet that arrived from the National today has a nicely illustrated piece in it about the artwork by Amelia Lancaster which is currently on display in one of the foyers.
As for environmental concerns I expect there are other areas of the National Theatre which are much more profligate. And, of course, online content isn't 'energy free' either.
I think that calling people/businesses to account on their energy usage is difficult. I, for example, due to family circumstance, haven't been on a plane for 27 years. Nor do I drive. But I have adult children who, obviously, are only here because of me and who, of course, use up the planet's resources.
As for opting in/out it does seem wrong that there isn't an option to do so on the website. I am a priority member and I can't recall every being asked my preferences and, looking on the account section of the National website the only preferences you can set is for which emails you want to receive. It would be interesting to know what sort of marketing research the organisation has done around this issue.
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Post by jek on May 7, 2024 7:33:48 GMT
I hadn't been thinking of booking this - just because, although I've loved lots of things at the Menier, the seating is so uncomfortable. But with Clive Rowe in the mix I'm reconsidering. Loved him in both Carousel and Guys and Dolls at the National. And he is a big part of my children's growing up with pantos at Hackney Empire and his TV role in Tracey Beaker. He was also in a truely terrible BBC drama about a choir called 'All The Small Things' which starred Sarah Lancashire.
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Post by jek on May 6, 2024 17:42:46 GMT
Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry is a really nice film made by the performance of the central actress. She positively glows. I had no idea that the Georgian alphabet looked like it does - the shop signs etc. are fascinating.
Saw it at the Barbican - and it's nice that even on a Bank Holiday Monday the bargain Monday £6 ticket charge still holds.
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Post by jek on May 3, 2024 17:41:17 GMT
I have just seen and loved That They May Face The Rising Sun, based on the novel by John McGahern. Being second generation Irish with many family members who left Ireland to work at the Fords car factory (an experience that one of the film's characters has had) I was predisposed to like it. But, even if you don't have that connection, it is very beautiful and profound. This was the first time I have ever been to the Garden Cinema, just near Holborn station. It really is a gem and there is a real personal touch - a member of staff came in before the film started and made an announcement about phones, toilets and other useful things. And it was only £5 for a weekday matinee ticket. If you don't know it then it is worth having a look at their website. www.thegardencinema.co.uk/
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Post by jek on May 1, 2024 18:12:32 GMT
This was just not for me. I could admire the acting and the craft but I didn't find it funny (unlike people sitting around me). And I didn't think it had anything particularly revelatory to say. It wasn't terrible like some things I've seen at the National (I'm thinking Saint George and the Dragon here) but it just didn't add up to much.
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Post by jek on Apr 29, 2024 12:26:04 GMT
I'm a priority member and so I booked last Tuesday. I have just logged in and it is still saying that I can book now but that for Advance Members it is saying booking Monday 29th April with no time of day specified.
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Post by jek on Apr 28, 2024 7:11:47 GMT
Good background piece on Pudding Mill Lane station and the future of the ABBA arena on the Diamond Geezer blog today. diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2024/04/pudding-mill-lane-10.htmlTake home is that the arena currently has planning permission until 2026 but the promoters would like it to stay longer. That directly conflicts with longstanding plans for housing etc. in the area.
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Post by jek on Apr 27, 2024 14:11:17 GMT
I hadn't heard of the Italian movie There's Still Tomorrow until I read an article about it on the BBC News website a couple of days ago. It's set at the end of WWII and is filmed in black and white making it look like an Italian neo-realist movie. The Guardian gave it four stars and described it as resounding sentimental, which is about right. The reason for the BBC article was that more people went to see it in Italy than saw Barbie there. We could only find it on at our local Vue where we hadn't been for many years, but it was well worth seeking out. Some of the domestic violence sequences are very cleverly filmed. The lead actress, Paola Cortellesi, is also the director and the film is a real triumph for her. Three of us went (making the total audience six) and none of us saw the ending coming. Highly recommended.
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Post by jek on Apr 22, 2024 8:07:12 GMT
Thanks Jan. I clearly misunderstood the GLA budgeting pages that I read.
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Post by jek on Apr 20, 2024 18:30:24 GMT
I have been, since last July, the happy owner of an Oyster 60+ pass. It is an absolute bargain in that you pay a small amount (£10 a year I think it is) to verify that you live in a London borough and then travel on the London transport system is free Mon-Thursday after 9 am and on Fri-Sunday all day. It was free all day every day until Covid, the prohibition on morning commutes was brought in to encourage social distancing. Until very recently there was a Friday prohibition before 9 am but that has currently changed as the mayor is trialling a three day weekend off peak fares system. The reason it is only available to people who live in London boroughs is that we pay what is called the Mayor's GLA precept - money collected as part of our council tax which goes directly to the Mayor/GLA instead of the local authority. It depends on your council tax band but it is in excess of £400 per year.
As I have mentioned in another context I recently found out about the National midweek matinee discounts for over 60s. Well worth looking at if you fit the right category.
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Post by jek on Apr 20, 2024 8:34:24 GMT
Noel Streatfeild's (that spelling is so counterintuitive) The House in Cornwall is about to be reissued by the excellent Manderley Press who publish beautiful new editions of old books with interesting contemporary introductions. I heartily recommend the Helene Hanff 'Letters from New York' to anyone who loved 84 Charing Cross Road. www.manderleypress.com/
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Post by jek on Apr 17, 2024 19:48:29 GMT
Just saw 'Sometimes I think about dying' starring Daisy Ridley. It was a Picturehouse Preview (previously free, now £1). It was better than the two star Guardian review led me to expect. It feels like a filmed American short story. Nothing much happens but there are some profound moments and Ridley was excellent. The quality of the light in the film is also very pleasing.
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Post by jek on Apr 13, 2024 14:24:03 GMT
I belatedly went on a day trip to Chichester yesterday to see the Pallant House exhibition of the works of John Craxton. The exhibition finishes on Sunday 21st April - meaning that there is only a week left to see it. There are some lovely things in the exhibition, including some of the designs and preparatory work that Craxton did for Frederick Ashton's Daphnis and Chloe in 1951. There is also a short video showing the preparations for the revival of the work in 2004. It's worth a look if you are anywhere near Sussex.
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Post by jek on Apr 11, 2024 13:23:37 GMT
showgirl How I wish I could explain the ending of Evil is Not Enough! There were seven of us in the screening we attended (and we were a party of three) and there was some discussion as we emerged as to what it meant. General consensus was that nobody had a clue but it was a beautiful ride to get there! My son has been playing the soundtrack pretty much non-stop since seeing the film. I haven't seen the director's earlier Drive My Car but I am planning to rectify that. I'm disappointed that the Teachers' Lounge isn't coming to my local Picturehouse and so I may not get to see it any time soon.
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Post by jek on Apr 11, 2024 12:53:22 GMT
I have just received an email with the trailer for the Buddha of Suburbia. Really surprised to see that it is two and a half hours long without an interval. I know that is only the length of many films (and shorter, for example, than Oppenheimer) but it does feel like a long time without a break in a theatre. And I would have thought that the RSC would have wanted the interval bar takings.
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Post by jek on Apr 7, 2024 16:06:10 GMT
I also have tickets for this. I am looking forward to seeing Jamael Westman who I remember seeing in the first month of Hamilton (my then teenage daughter begged me to get tickets for her and her friend!) I remember seeing him a little while later in the audience of a proms concert and getting the feeling that he was a well grounded young man who hadn't let the attention go to his head. Nice to see him doing well.
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Post by jek on Apr 7, 2024 12:22:25 GMT
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Post by jek on Apr 6, 2024 7:43:44 GMT
These days Mark Lawson reviews for The Tablet, the Catholic weekly journal (he started his career at another Catholic paper, the Universe, so there is some symmetry in this). I have a subscription for academic research purposes. His review of this is headed 'Closing night beckons. A production not long for this world or good for the theatre'. It describes Smith as 'magnetically watchable in anything' but says that 'at every level, Smith deserves better'. In particular he says that Wainwright has written two operas and that his 'eccentric libretto......might have passed in the Linbury Studio at Covent Garden, but lands awkwardly in a populist genre prioritising rhyme and rhythm'.
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Post by jek on Mar 30, 2024 14:59:59 GMT
I have just booked a midweek matinee for this (one of only a couple of remaining seats for that performance). I am very happy - not just because I so loved Gemma Whelan in Balenciaga (her command of languages to be able to perform in this is clearly very good). But also because I had no idea that there was an over sixties discount at the National for midweek matinees. My £50 seat was in fact £36. Getting old is no fun so I take my victories where I can!
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Post by jek on Mar 25, 2024 13:13:11 GMT
I haven't booked for this - I feel like I've had enough Brontes - but I am tempted purely because of Gemma Whelan. She is excellent in the Spanish TV series Balenciaga (on Disney plus) as the journalist who secures an interview with the reclusive fashion designer. She was just as good in Gentleman Jack. So I may cave in and book.
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Post by jek on Mar 24, 2024 21:52:52 GMT
Anyone looking for a good New York movie look no further than Robot Dreams - the Oscar nominated animation about a dog and his robot. It's set in 1980s New York which is lovingly rendered (there is even a glimpse of the Twin Towers). It's about loneliness and love and loss and while it's fine for children it has much wider appeal than that. You will - however - be left with an earworm of September by Earth Wind and Fire!
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Post by jek on Mar 17, 2024 14:40:09 GMT
Of course Nye is heading off to Cardiff. So maybe this could head to somewhere in/near Mansfield. The audience reaction would be interesting.
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Post by jek on Mar 16, 2024 10:37:04 GMT
Saw this last night and thought it was good in parts. Some of the 'episodes' are better than others - a bit more of the Dennis Potter influenced bits would have helped - or maybe that's just because I am old enough to remember the first broadcasts of The Singing Detective and Blue Remembered Hills. I also - given that one of my sons was in it - inevitably thought of the London Olympics opening ceremony (all those swirling beds and nurses) and all that hope and expectation there was around that. My husband and I first met over 30 years ago when we were studying for PhDs in Labour History/Politics and so the subject matter of Nye is right up our street. It was good to be reminded of (and no doubt for many in the audience introduced to) just how much opposition the BMA put up to the founding of the National Health Service. It was also good on the pragmatism/compromises necessary to get things done in politics. Good use of video too. But it was a bit long. Good that it is going to Wales.
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Post by jek on Mar 12, 2024 9:08:07 GMT
I once saw her present a fashion show at Liberty's - the London store. I was a teenager (obsessed with Liberty silks and soon to become a textiles student) and it was - shall we say - a bewildering performance.
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Post by jek on Mar 11, 2024 11:54:47 GMT
Finland have clearly gone for the batsh*t approach with Windows95man.
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Post by jek on Mar 11, 2024 9:48:37 GMT
I got tickets for Till The Stars Come Down for last Monday via Friday Rush - side high chair seats in the circle (restricted view, but in reality not very restricted). On opting for the Monday performance I joined the queue at somewhere in the 30s. I didn't realise that there were separate queues depending on which performance you chose - I thought that was just a way in and that you could then choose different performances. I didn't try moving around as Monday was the day which suited us. So much of where you get in is clearly down to luck. So all I can do is wish you the best of luck when you try this week.
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Post by jek on Mar 10, 2024 22:56:08 GMT
Another vote for the Barbican. I particularly like the doors at the ends of each row and how they all shut in a choreographed manner at the start of the performance.
I also like Sadler's Wells with its very good sightlines. Having said that I was there this afternoon for the New York City Ballet and the auditorium was uncomfortably hot.
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