Theater

Lilith

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Yesterday I went to see Claron McFadden perform her musical theater piece Lilith. It was shown in the Grand Theatre, which was fun as I had never been there. I had to work before hand, but had some time in between work and the show since it didn’t start until 20:30. So, I met up with Gert and we had dinner at Pappa Joe’s after which we walked in the direction of the theater before going our separate ways.

The Grand Theatre is smaller than I imagined it would be, and also in a shabbier state. It does have a nice atmosphere, though.

Claron McFadden LilithThe show itself is a two player piece done by McFadden (in the flesh) and Jeroen Willems (on projected video) about the biblical Lilith. In Jewish folklore, she became the first wife of Adam, created at the same time as him, who later left him (as she would not be submissive to him) for the archangel Samael.

In the piece, we meet Lilith in a mostly modern-day setting. She and Adam have separated long ago and she tells us, in speech and in song, of her life both back then, with Adam, and her life after. This is interspersed with Adam, shown on a screen, in a talking-head interview style, who also speaks of Lilith and their life back then, and his current life with Eve and the kids.

Adam seems to have never quite gotten over Lilith, but also cannot live with her free spirit. Lilith struggles. She loved Adam, but she is a free spirit, her own woman, equal to him. As they both speak, and sing, we get occasional flashbacks where the projection changes to a top down view of a bed with Adam in it. McFadden then stands in front of the screen to play her part as if in bed with him while they talk, and argue.

As time went on, and Adam started being weirded out by her passion for life in all its facets and her willingness to embrace it. He becomes more restrictive, and wants her to obey and submit to him, culminating in an incredibly powerful rape scene performed by McFadden in front of the screen.

After this, Lilith left Adam, and ended up with Samael. But over the years, this has not made her happier. The same goes for Adam, he married Eve, had children, but he misses the life that Lilith brought. In the end, both can’t live with, or without each other.

I really enjoyed the show, it was something I hadn’t seen before. I chose the piece because I was intrigued by its description, not only of the story, but also of the fact that Willems’ part was on screen only. I also read he died shortly after the show premiered a few years ago, so I thought that might be the reason, but it was really done because it fits the piece much better. It leaves the focus solely on Lilith, which she deserves.

I am impressed McFadden is able to play with a video projection so well, even though she’s had years of practice with it by now. It must be tough, playing with someone you know isn’t there anymore.

The music wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I had read up on McFadden and knew she was a trained soprano, so I was expecting more classic like music. Instead it is much jazzier and much more down to earth. It takes some getting used to in the beginning, but then you realise it fits the story perfectly.

War Horse

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war_4-1280x800Yesterday, Mom and I went to see the theater production of War Horse. It was beyond amazing.

It tells the story of the English boy Albert who acquires a horse, Joey, and then loses it to the military when World War I comes around. He enlists in the army to try and find Joey again and promises to bring him home. We then follow both of them through the war. Joey is used in the cavalry, pulls medical carts and cannons. Albert goes from trench to trench. In the end, just as Albert, wounded, is about to give up, he and Joey get reunited.

The animals in the show are puppets, made by the same company that made the Lion King puppets. There are a number of horses, but only two of them are main characters. So these two are the most elaborate and require three people to play them.

It was an amazing show, the story line itself is a bit simplistic, but seeing as how the book it is based on is a children’s book, that is to be expected. The decor was very understated. Freestanding doors and a window frame on a string to indicate the houses, iron poles held by people to signify fences, a plow, a cannon. High above the stage was a big projector screen shaped like a torn piece of paper. On there, throughout the show, hand drawn animations were shown to display scenery (extrapolated from what was shown on stage) and drive home the horrors of WWI (which really packs a punch) with also occasionally dates and places to give an idea of when and where everything takes place.

The horses look fantastic and the choreography and movement is so well done that, within minutes, they transcend their form and become real. We were seated first row on the balcony giving us an unencumbered view of the whole stage and allowing me to lean on the balustrade and just be totally immersed.

Mary Stuart

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ms 9092_791x545Yesterday I went to see the play Mary Stuart, written by Friedrich Schiller.  It was performed by Toneelgroep Amsterdam together with Toneelhuis, from Ghent, and directed by Ivo van Hove. It features Chris Nietveld as Queen Elizabeth and Halina Reijn as Mary Stuart. The play covers the final months of Mary Stuarts captivity. She has been convicted of treason, for which the sentence is death, but the sentencing, by the Queen, has not yet been done. The Queen is in doubt. One the one hand, she cannot let Mary live, she will always be a threat to her reign, and it will make her seem weak. On the other hand, she also can’t order the execution, as she is then directly responsible for killing another queen, which will incite the part of the populace that is sympathetic to Mary.

The play is fairly cerebral. It is sparse in decor and costume. A bare back wall with some benches in front for the actors to sit on while they wait their turns, a door in the middle for dramatic exits and entrances. The actors are all dressed in black. The men in costume, the women in basic dresses. All the attention is on the lines, the delivery, the interplay between the characters as they speak, fight, beg, command and despair.

ms 9114_791x545The moment where Elizabeth and Mary meet, even though they never did in real life, is the the best part, performance wise. They speak of their lives as ruling women in a men’s world. About power, about responsibility, loneliness, strength and the perception of weakness, and about personal and public lives. About knowing that they are more than just Elizabeth and Mary, they know these are the moments of History. What they do then and there, is what History will reduce them to.

At the end, when the execution has been ordered, in a round-about way, we see the only moment of extravagance. Mary Stuart appears, dressed as we all know her from paintings and descriptions. No longer herself, she is (and knows it) now just the historical figure, about to be executed, about to be placed on the wrong side of History. When the deed is done, Elizabeth appears, likewise dressed as we all know her. She knows that, whatever her personal feelings on the matter, she, too, has been placed in the annals of History to be judged by the generations after her.

ms 100_791x545The only thing I couldn’t really get into was a bit in the middle where Elizabeth goes a walking, and dances in the park with one of her underlings. And since they chose, for the music, an electronic rendition of music of that period, the dance is also a weird, modern thing that I didn’t really like.

That notwithstanding, the play is excellent and deserves to be seen by as many people as possible!

Waylon

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I went to see Waylon perform at the Oosterpoort yesterday with Kim and Ingrid.

We met up at Mr. Mofongo’s to have dinner first. I had this awesome beef tenderloin with roasted vegetables (red onion, paprika) and chorizo, on a bed of seasonal vegetables (haricots, parsnip, yellow beet, red beet puree, pumpkin and roasted chestnut) with baked potatoes and orange mayonnaise. It was absolutely delicious!

Dessert was a crème brûlée with red berries and raspberries and a glass of amaretto.

20141129_202703We then headed for the Oosterpoort and, once there, found ourselves some good seats. Most people were seating themselves near the stage or standing in front, but we went for a little further away and up. Since he was playing the small room, this was still close enough to see everything, and by sitting a bit higher up, we could see over the rest.

The concert itself started a little after eight and for the next three! hours, no break, Waylon sang, and talked, and it was fantastic. He played songs from his newest album, songs from his previous album and even a Common Linnets song. I was a bit disappointed, though, with that one specifically. It is an emotional song, and one of my personal favourites. He did most of the song very well but decided to mess up the last few lines, in an attempt to be funny, which so didn’t work for me. Besides this minor thing, I loved the rest. I definitely recommend going to see him if you can.

All-Night Vigil

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St. Petersburg Chamber ChoirThe concert last night was fantastic!

The St. Petersburg Chamber Choir was founded in 1997 by Nikolai Kornev who is still its main conductor. The repertoire is wide, ranging from renaissance to more contemporary; and the singers, 20 men and 20 women, are trained at top musical institutions in Russia. They have won many prizes, even a Grammy, and made a number of albums.

The programme for the night was to sing a number of parts of the All-Night Vigil, which is a part of the Vespers of Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943). They started off, however, with some other pieces that offered context for Rachmaninoff and his work.

The first were four pieces of A Russian Requiem, by Alexander Dmitriyevich Kastalsky (1856-1926). Kastalsky, who studied under Tchaikovsky, was a prolific composer, writing at least 130 choral pieces between 1896 and 1917 and as such greatly influenced, among others, Rachmaninoff. Then came six pieces of the Liturgy of St. John Crystostomus by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893). His work in composing these pieces allowed others to also write new music to known hymns. People such as his student Kastalsky, and Rachmaninoff. Combined,  Tchaikovsky greatly influenced Russian sacred music, and Kastalsky influenced, and advised, Rachmaninoff. Together, this brings us the masterpiece that is the Vespers.

The Vespers are a complicated work, with melody lines and dynamics that go all over the place, from serene to exuberant. It hearkens back to older church traditions, even though Rachmaninoff was fairly ambivalent towards the church, by using older melodies and an occasional more recitative style. Vocally, the Vespers ask a lot from the singers, with extreme highs and lows, and complicated techniques.

Now, I’m not well-versed, or versed at all, in classical singing so I have no words to describe what they did and how they did it. I just know I loved it. And based on the standing ovation, so did the rest of the audience.

The only shame was that there were so many empty spots in the room. The performance was in the great hall of the Oosterpoort, and it can seat a great many people, but that great many people weren’t there. It almost felt a little disrespectful 🙁 Although I can imagine that the accoustics of the great hall are better for a work like this.

Programme:

Alexander Dmitriyevich Kastalsky: A Russian Requiem

  • Requiem aeternam
  • Ingemisco
  • Confutatis
  • Hostias

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Liturgy of St. John Crystostomus

  • Symbol of belief
  • After the symbol of belief
  • After the exclamation “Thine from Thine”
  • After the words “Especially for our most Holy”
  • The Lord’s Prayer
  • Communion hymn

Intermission

Sergei Rachmaninoff: Vespers op. 37 “All-Night Vigil”

  • 1. O come, let us worship
  • 2. Bless the Lord, o my soul
  • 3. Blessed is the man
  • 4. O Jesus Christ
  • 5. Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant
  • 6. Virgin, Mother of God
  • 7. Glory to God in the highest
  • 8. Praise ye the name of the Lord
  • 9. Blessed art thou, o Lord
  • 10. Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ
  • 11. My soul doth magnify the Lord
  • 12. Glory to God in the highest
  • 13. Today is salvation come
  • 14. Rising from the tomb
  • 15. To thee, o Mother of God

If you want to listen to the Vespers yourself, the album they  made of it a few years ago is available on Spotify.

Movies Galore! Also Lego! And Theater!

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Did a bunch of movies this week, by myself and with others. Monday after work I went to see Edge of Tomorrow. It was a much better movie than I was expecting. I really like Full Metal Bitch and I didn’t even mind Tom Cruise in the movie 🙂

I also ordered tickets to go see War Horse with Mom. We’re going January 14!

Tuesday I finally went to see The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. The movie is hilarious! It’s been a long time since I laughed out loud at a movie that much. It’s been compared to Forest Gump, but it’s better than that. The titular character, Allan, gets put in a home when he blows up his hen house. Then on the day of his 100th birthday he decides to escape the coming party and attention and climbs out the window and walks off. As he goes to buy a bus ticket at the station, he gets asked to watch a suitcase for a minute and decides to walk off with it. It turns out the case is full of money. Criminal money. Cue an awesome road trip where he meets all kinds of people while being tracked and followed by the criminals that want their money back, interspersed with flashbacks to Allan’s long life where he experienced important events and met important people all the while being mostly oblivious to the importance of it.

Wednesday I had my shot again. Had it done in my arm because I still had some movies planned. Am never doing that again, though. My arm hurts like hell now still, and it’s Sunday. A quick Google has taught me that arm muscle is just not big enough. The way T. shots work is that the fluid bubble sits in your muscle and is slowly absorbed over the three weeks until the next shot. A leg muscle (or your ass 😀 ) is big enough to stretch around the fluid bubble, but arm just isn’t.

I also went to Bedum and Uithuizen with Mom to check for World of Warcraft Lego (Megabloks technically) at the Action10173768_10152193319638155_281758145161566397_n. Nico had seen it there, they had a big Stormwind Demolisher Set, a smaller Goblin Shredder (which I already have), about six or seven mounts+riders and eight single character figures with a small piece of scenery. They didn’t have all of them anymore, but I got a fair bunch

At the end of the afternoon I headed for the city to meet Gert. First we saw Grace of Monaco. It took me a while to get into but that’s mostly because I had the wrong idea and expectation beforehand. I’d seen trailers of the movie before, and that gave me the idea it was more a biopic of her life from marriage on and further. Until her death basically. But instead, it focuses on a specific period (early sixties) and shows how it was difficult for her to get used to life as Princess, torn between acting (Hitchcock offers her the lead in Marnie) and her family and duties, and how she could influence people, both behind the scenes, as well as the general populace. Once I figured that, the movie fell into place and things like pacing made sense.

Afterwards I had planned to go home, but we sat and talked for a while and decided on a whim to also see A Million Ways to Die in the West. I won’t dignify that movie with too many words. Suffice it to say that it is a stereotypical American comedy that runs on sex and poop jokes. The basic plot is fun, and there are occasional good, clever, jokes. So if it had been more of that, it would not have been so bad.

Thursday I also had the day off since I had to work yesterday. Nico was off early, so we decided to go see X-Men: Days of Future Past. It’s a good movie, I really liked that we got to see the merging of the old trilogy and these new films. Even though the timeline of the old trilogy is fairly effectively wiped by the events of this film, I like that they didn’t just go fingers-in-your-ears-it-doesn’t-exist-la-la-la-I-can’t-hear-you 😀

Back home, I finally ordered my theater tickets. As I said on Facebook, it cost me three organs and some change. But I have seven shows (in addition to the earlier mentioned War Horse) to go see in the new season two of which Mom will join me for.

  •  Chamber Choir of St. Petersburg: Vespers of Rachmaninoff ( 25-09-2014)
  • Toneelgroep Amsterdam & Toneelhuis: Maria Stuart (10-12-2014)
  • Musictheater Transparant & Claron McFadden: Lilith (05-02-2015)
  • Sara Kroos: Van Jewelste (25-03-2014) with Mom
  • Toneelgroep Amsterdam: Koningin Lear (03-04-2015)
  • Various Comedians: Onceuponatimethegodfatherflewoverthecuckoosnest (29-05-2015) with Mom
  • Marrugeku: Gudirr Gudirr (dance performance) (06-06-2015)

Friday, after work, I spent the evening reading and avoiding football. Not very lucky with that as I sat in my bedroom with the window open so I could hear the whole street erupting every time we scored. And we scored a lot.

Then, yesterday. I had a late shift, which I can normally do at home. But I realised this too late and since Kim was also working, I came to Groningen. Got a message from Gert half way through, he was at the Action, did I need any more Lego? I was indeed missing some, so I had him take a picture and saw they had ones I didn’t have yet. He was so kind as to buy them and bring them to work for me. I took my break and met him at Starbucks. I had just enough time to get a drink and chat briefly, before having to head back.

Today I slept in, and just as I was gonna go to the Parents for Father’s Day, Mom rang the bell. Dad was out cycling, so she came to ask if I wanted to take a walk with her. I joined her, and then after went back to their place for coffee and merriment 🙂

A Week in the Life [+ The Normal Heart]

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The_Normal_Heart_PosterI came home Tuesday to a new edition of Flow on the door mat as well as next season’s theater catalog. After the first run through, I was on 9 shows I wanted to see.

My Uncle’s birthday was Wednesday so went there in the afternoon.

BphOiMBIUAAKrBFThen Thursday I had planned to go see The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared after work, but it rained so much I decided against it. Instead I went to the Bruna at the train station and bought books (including The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman). Once home, I watched The Normal Heart (I had recorded it when it premiered on HBO Sunday).

It’s a movie, after the play of the same name, about the beginning of the AIDS crisis in New York City in the early 80’s. Main character is the, gay, writer Ned Weeks. As more and more people around him get ‘gay cancer’ and die from it, he notices that mainstream medicine and the government choose to look the other way. He and his friends form Gay Men’s Health Crisis, an advocacy group to raise awareness and money and help those affected and afflicted by the disease. Ned favours a more aggressive, vocal approach which conflicts with the more diplomatic way the rest of his friends choose. Meanwhile, in his personal life, he falls in love with journalist Felix. The two start a relationship, but then Felix gets AIDS as well.

It is a difficult movie to watch. It is raw and deep and open, quite literally like a festering wound. It is beautiful, intensely fragile and strong at the same time. Watching it left me devastated and in pieces. I will be watching it again, and I will definitely be buying the blu ray when it’s released. And I only buy blu rays of movies I really, really, love.

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Saturday: Lounging on the bed with Milo 🙂

The Normal Heart stars Mark Ruffalo as Ned, Matt Bomer as Felix and has, among other, Jim Parsons, Julia Roberts, Jonathan Groff and Alfred Molina in it.

Friday I went to the cinema with Kim to see Maleficent. I liked the movie. The visuals were very pretty, and the back story they gave for Maleficent was nice. The acting was okay to good. Angelina Jolie was good, as was the guy playing her lackey. But the dude playing the king sported the most awful fake Scottish accent. And later on, in a scene at his castle, all of a sudden mid-scene half the men there acquired the same horrible accent… And the ending felt rather rushed.

Back home, I went through the the theater catalog again. Got it down to 7… But am talking with Mom about going to see War Horse in January…

Saturday I played a lot of Warcraft, and I read The Ocean at the End of the Lane. It’s a lovely, lovely book. It tells the story of a little boy who meets the people who live at the end of the lane, the Hempstocks. And there is something odd about this family. There are no men, and they have an ocean in the garden. And then an old evil manages to enter this world, and he needs the Hempstocks to survive. It has magic and supernatural stuff and all those things you find under the veneer of modern day life (well, modern day sixties life). It is definitely a recommended read.

Also,  the new birthday calendar I ordered to hang in the downstairs toilet came. Unfortunately packed, but very, very, pretty 🙂

 

Lohues

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I’m back from a glorious night out with Mommy dear. We had dinner at Het Feithhuis on their back terrace. It was a lovely place to sit, but it got a bit chilly quicker than expected. We had an amuse with potato cream and paprika and something, it was quite tasty. For the main course, I had steak and Mom went with chicken. The dessert was the best, it was a platter for two with seven or so (per person) tiny dessert items like pastries, ice cream, fruit and combinations thereof.

After that, we walked towards the Schouwburg to go see Daniel Lohues perform. He writes and sings beautiful songs about life in the dialect of Drenthe. Songs that are deceptively simple and straightforward and can hit you like a brick. Between the songs he told stories and anecdotes in typical Lohues fashion. All in all, it was a wonderful performance.

Confetti and Streamers

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Tomorrow is my Dad’s birthday, he turns 71. Sometimes it kinda scares me when I consider his age, and keeping in mind he has heart problems and an ICD. But everything is actually going really well, the meds are doing their thing, the ICD is doing its thing, so I expect to have him around for quite a while still 🙂

We celebrated today, because the weekend is easier.  I gave him money for a present as he has said he would like a new bicycle. Together with the rest of his prezzies, he made a good start towards one 🙂 The day itself was the usual family gathering fun.

Friday and Saturday I watched a bunch of movies (Hancock, Mirror Mirror, Holes, Oz the Great and Wonderful, Robots, Epic) and hung around the house in chill mode. And tomorrow evening? Tomorrow evening I go to see Daniel Lohues at the theater with Mom.