Much Ado About Nothing in London

Now, I haven't made a blog post in around a month - which also means I never got around to reviewing the performance of 'Much Ado About Nothing' at Wyndham's Theatre in London, which was the main purpose of my day-trip to London. I think I fell into some kind of post-IB pit, where I really needed to just do absolutely nothing for a while; and even though I love writing this blog, it also felt like a bit of an obligation, because I felt I needed to post regularly. Now, I'm getting back into gear - first of all, doing nothing gets boring after a while, secondly I start working in a couple of weeks, and thirdly I have tons of stuff I need to figure out before I (hopefully) leave for St Andrews mid-September. Oh, and our grades are published next Wednesday, so I guess I'm also just a bit too restless to not be doing anything. It freaks me out!!

But back to my visit to London. It was one of the best trips I've ever been on!!, even if it was not very long - I had a marvellous travel companion, and when she hopefully joins me at St Andrews in the autumn we'll have to make theatre-day trips to London a regular thing. We went to the same pub for the two nights we were there (I really love Strongbow cider - not like the sweet stuff you can get in DK), we   bought loads of books (including a V&A hat anthology and a 1959 self-help book called 'The Art of being a Well Dressed Wife'), and I got a gorgeous three-strand pearl necklace with a silver clasp at Alfies Antique Market. The McQueen dresses we saw at Harvey Nichols were amazing, and the afternoon tea at Harrods just how I imagined (well, better, really); the champagne was delicious, a waiter came to pour us more tea and ask if we wanted more of anything every 5 minutes (we didn't really - there was so much food we couldn't eat it all in the first place), and the Terrace Bar in itself is a quite beautiful place. 

We stayed at Harrods for so long we ended up having to rush home to get changed, and run to the theatre - we made it in 2 minutes before the play commenced. Our seats were great, we sat near the middle of 5th row stalls (and with a rather insubstantial price difference between the two seating-categories, I don't see how it would make sense to go for the cheaper option). Evidently, we were not the only ones there who were David Tennant fans - several girls sitting along the wall were wearing identical Superman T-shirts, which turned out to be of the kind worn by Tennant in the play, when he as Benedick listens in on his friends talking about how in love with him Beatrice is.

Overall, the play was fantastic. I hadn't read it before we went, but the change of setting from medieval Padua to 1980's Gibraltar didn't really bother me - rather, it meant all the guys were wearing crisp white navy outfits, which can only be a plus.
          The story is basically two interwoven love stories; Hero and Claudio are young lovers, who are to be married - Benedick and Beatrice mutually loathe each other, and both swear that they shall never marry. But when their friends devise a plot wherein each overhears a discussion on the other's being madly in love with them, they of course discover that they requite it. The story's villain interferes with the young engaged couple, making Claudio believe that Hero was unfaithful to him the night before their wedding; he 'exposes' her at the wedding ceremony, and Beatrice asks Benedick (who has sworn to do anything for her) to kill his friend Claudio. A Romeo & Juliette-esque scam ensues, where they pretend Hero has died of sorrow, and as her innocence is discovered Claudio falls into despair; but as the play is a comedy, we of course get our happy ending.

One of the play's themes explores gender roles; the old idea of a female falling into one of two categories, Madonna or Whore, is shown in Hero and Claudio's relationship (the Madonna-Whore complex is attributed to Freud, but it seems Shakespeare beat him to it). Claudio idolises Hero, but all too readily believes she would deceive him; he doesn't even seek an explanation, but takes revenge by exposing her publicly. Beatrice and Benedick have a more healthy relationship in that sense - they are more than aware of each other's faults, but love in spite (and because?) of them. I'd like to think that the latter were the more modern couple, but we still have some issues suggesting otherwise.. it is generally less socially accepted for a woman than a man to be casual about sex - luckily, that seems to be changing.

Not surprisingly, I think Tennant was genious in this production. He is absolutely endearing as he, utterly tonedeaf and with no apparent aptitude for rhyming, waiting for Beatrice tries to compose a love song with the help of a toy keyboard. Also, the scene where he listens in on his friends is one of the most hilarious ones I've seen in a long time - the walls are being 'painted' at the time, and in his distraction Benedick places his hand in a paint bucket; Tennant's impressive timing, his ability to look so utterly astonished and his gradually being covered in white paint (as he of course keeps barging into the paint buckets) makes for stomach cramp-causing laughter.
           I'm afraid, though, that the corresponding scene with Beatrice is not nearly as funny. It's still rather funny, but in general Catherine Tate doesn't really live up to Tennant's comical talent -- she doesn't manage to make her character quite as believable, and sometimes it seems Beatrice is nothing but a bunch of grimaces. That's a bit harsh I guess, and it's not that I don't find Tate a good actress; but the problem is, working with Tennant, she is a bit overshined.

One actor worthty of mention, though, is the production's Claudio, played by Tom Bateman. He was apparently fresh out of drama school when he landed this part, but he seems to easily match his more seasoned fellow actors. Josie Rourke (the director) has put in a 'new' scene in the play, where Claudio, after hearing of Hero's innocence and death, spends the night at the church - drinking his brains out, and ultimately almost shooting his brains out (saved by a 'vision' of Hero). This scene, as well as the animal-like anger and desparation he shows when he 'sees' Hero (really her maid) with another man after her hen party, was very impressive and deeply moving to me. I must confess, I cried a bit. So kudos to Tom Bateman - I'll look forward to seeing more of him.

I must confess, I'm still a bigger fan of Tennant in Hamlet than Much Ado About Nothing - Hamlet remains my favourite play, and the general cast of that production was more impressive. But I by no means regret going to London to watch this comedy - it was a great, great trip, I liked the play very much, and in general it is just nice to be able to watch a play in English. And as I said - we plan to make a habit of it.

There's No Place Like London

In just five days, I will be walking the streets of London! I'm going with a good friend from next Thursday evening to Saturday morning, which gives us a full Friday to enjoy the city. We'll be staying nice and central, right by Piccadilly Circus, which means most of the stuff we'll be doing is within walking distance - and means we'll have time to get home and change before we're off to the theatre. 

The plan so far is to start the day off with book shopping in the huge Waterstone's right where we live; I went there last time I was in London as well, and bought a copy of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as well as Dita von Teese's Burlesque and the Art of the Teese. I love Dita von Teese's style, and that she's been able to revive a more aesthetic, less vulgar form of strip tease - where it's really more art than anything else. I have yet to actually see a burlesque show, but I will one of these days -- I must admit I imagine it sort of like being on the set of Cabaret. I hope I'll find more great fashion books this time around, I've soon filled a shelf with them, but I'm missing some on shoes. And possibly one on McQueen. And whatever else I haven't thought of yet.

This and the picture to the left are
photos I took of some of Polly
Morgan's pieces exhibited in the
summer 2010

Following the book shopping, we'll go to the gallery The Haunch of Venison, which I briefly mentioned in a past post. I am hoping the experience will be as great as last time I went - back then I was slightly put off by looking at their homepage, but decided to go anyway and did not regret doing so. One of the artists they were showing a couple of works by was Polly Morgan; I even bought a book about her work, named Psychopomps. 

After that, we've planned to go vintage shopping at Alfie's Antique Market - an indoor market in Marylebone. I found it when searching the web for vintage shops in London last time I went, where I came up with a place called The Girl Can't Help It; I hadn't the time to go during my previous visits, but this time around I will. 

We also plan to visit the small Beyond Retro in Soho; there I bought a beautiful opera coat in black moire with red silk lining, from the 1950s I'd guess, last time I was in London. We sort of happened upon it, because it is situated right next to a really nice Korean restaurant named RAN, where I went with some people (including the friend I'm going to London with this time around) during our studytrip to London last spring. We might go there to have dinner again, but that is not quite decided. 

Now, we're arriving to the two main reasons for the trip. I e-mailed Harvey Nichols at Knightsbridge to ask how long they would exhibit the McQueen garments in their windows; it said until the end of May on their homepage, and I would be so sad if I didn't catch it. Whether it was my email or they'd decided upon it already I do not now, but after some days I got the reply that 'they could confirm' the exhibition would stay in place until the middle of June! So of course we will be going to Harvey Nichols. 

When our noses begin to feel sore from being pressed against the glass too long, we'll move on to Harrods to have afternoon tea at the Terrace Bar, with scones, cucumber sandwiches and a flute of champagne. I haven't ever tried proper afternoon tea (although I have had scones with clotted cream once), so I can't wait.

And then, finally, we'll go home to the hotel to change into heels and drop off a day's worth of shopping bags, and set off towards Wyndham's Theatre. We'll collect our tickets and go watch Much Ado About Nothing with David Tennant and Catherine Tate. I can't wait to watch a Shakespeare play in proper English (not that easy in Denmark - except of course for our amazing A Midsummer Night's Dream), with great actors, with a friend who's just as crazy about both Shakespeare and David Tennant as I am :)

We'll probably go eat dinner after the play, and then find some pub where we can hang out until the small hours, and then go to the hotel and pack; our train from London to the airport leaves at ten past five in the morning, so it'll really be no use going to bed. I'm so excited!!!

Waterstone's Piccadilly

203/206 Piccadilly
London W1J 9HD

Open: mon-sat 9-22; sun 11.30-18

Haunch of Venison

6 Burlington Gardens

London W1S 3ET

Open: mon-fri 10-18; sat-sun closed (free admission)

Alfies Antique Market

13-25 Church Street

London NW8 8DT

Open: tue-sat 10-18; sun-mon closed

Beyond Retro 

58-59 Great Marlborough Street (in the cellar)

London W1F 7JY

Open: mon-wed 10.30-19.30; thu-fri 10.30-20.30; sat 10.30-19.30; sun 12-18

Ran Restaurant (horrible website, nice restaurant)

58-59 Great Marlborough Street
London W1F 7JF

Open: mon-sat 12-15 & 18-23; sun 18-23

Harvey Nichols

109-125 Knightsbridge

London SW1X 7RJ

Open: mon-sat 10-20; sun 11.30-18

Harrods

87-135 Brompton Road 

Knightsbridge

London SW1X 7XL

Open: mon-sat 10-20; sun 11.30-18

Wyndham's Theatre 

32-36 Charing Cross Road

Leicester Square

London WC2H 0DA

Analogue Blogging & When you wish upon a star

This week I've probably been more stressed than I've ever been before: I had 8 exams in 5 different subjects during 4 days. So when I got home from my last history exam, I collapsed on the sofa in our garden-facing room where I could see our 90-year old apple tree blossoming. I fetched a blanket, a pillow, Thursday's newspapers and my May issue of British Vogue which I hadn't had the time to look at yet - and sitting snugly I read both newspapers and Vogue from cover to cover. I can strongly recommend this to anyone in desperate need of tranquility.

At night, I wanted to write a blog post - felt a bit guilty for not posting anything the whole week. And guess what: Blogger was down! And remained so until sometime Friday evening. Very annoying. Instead, I resorted to some analogue blogging; I cut out stuff I liked from my Vogue and posted it to my beloved Moleskine notebook. I had space in between the poems I learned by heart for my English exam - had planned to write notes for them, never got around to actually doing it. Reading through the magazine reminded me why seeing the editorials online just can't compare; especially since not all of them make it to for example fashiongonerouge.com.

Out of the four editorials in Vogue, 2 of them were some of the best I think I've ever seen; 'White Mischief' with Agyness Deyn by Tim Walker:

and 'Forget Me Not' with Hannah Holman by Tim Gutt and set design by Shona Heath (who also did the 'Star Signs' set design in the December 2010 issue; those who have been in the Nørre G drama room will recognize those pictures as some those I decorated the walls with). The shoot was themed around the customary gifts for different anniversaries (17th = Furniture, 20th = China, etc.):

And by the way: I felt like humming 'When you wish upon a star' yesterday; some of the McQueen garments meant for the 'Savage Beauty' exhibition at the Met got caught in customs, and weren't allowed to enter the USA. Which means: They are displayed in the windows of Harvey Nichols at Knightsbridge until the end of May !!!!!!!

I've been talking to a friend about going to London for a couple of days sometime during the summer, to watch David Tennant in 'Much Ado About Nothing' at Wyndham's Theatre. We both loved him in Hamlet (although we only watched the movie), and would like to see him on stage - now, we're trying to find out if we have time to go sometime this month, so we can catch McQueen at Knightsbridge. And I also want to show her the fantastic gallery "The Haunch of Venison" which I visited by myself when I was in London last summer (my companions went to Abercrombie & Fitch across the street instead) - I'll write more about that some other time. 

Wicked

The musical 'Wicked' has been the best selling musical worldwide since The Phantom of the Opera - this Friday, I watched it at Det Ny Teater in Copenhagen. The theatre had as the first theatre been allowed to make their own production, i.e. do costume- and set design themselves rather than have it dictated by the copyright owners (something which has so far not been allowed with Phantom of the Opera). It has received very good reviews in the Danish papers, around 5 out of 6 stars mostly - and it is a good musical. 

Opening scene, Glinda greeting the people of Oz.

The opening scene had us worried about the vocal performances; Glinda (Anette Heick) starts of with a rather high-pitched number (picture above), and the actress had evidently not done her vocal warm-up thoroughly enough, as she missed a lot of the high notes and sounded generally very strained. Not the best start to a musical. Luckily, she steadily improved through the course of the story, and by the second act she did a decent job. The other main character Elphaba, played by Maria Lucia Heiberg Rosenberg, was a better singer by far, which also helped us to move on from the bad start. But none of the singers ever really managed to reach the level I've experienced in London - although they were quite good singers, a lot of the songs seem quite challenging, and it mostly sounded as if they just barely got there, a tinge of strain in their voices. I've posted some links to recordings of the Danish production and the Broadway production below - judge for yourselves :) Reading this through, it all sounds very negative - but my point is that it's a pity we don't really have any really good musical actors in Denmark, perhaps except Maria Lucia - and they are kind of a must for a musical like this one. 

The Wizard of Oz and the history teacher Doctor
Dillamond (who happens to be a goat)

But a few things we do have: Brilliant musicians and set- and costume designers (or at least... we're good at importing them - Paul Farnsworth, an Englishman, was responsible for the two latter). As I haven't seen the original, I can't say how costumes and sets were compared to that, but I thought they were marvellous. The Ozzian costumes on the picture above I particularly liked - and in general, Farnsworth had managed to hit just the right combination of oddity and recognizable signals with his costumes. One of my favourites was the costume (and acting) of Doctor Dillamond, Elphaba and Glinda's goat university history professor (played by Kristian Boland), on the picture to the right. 

You can see some of the costume drawings here.

One of the interesting things about the musical is that it turns the traditional "Wizard of Oz" story completely around - but in a way which fits into the original. The Wicked Witch of the West is in reality the good one, the only one who stands up for the animals which are made into scapegoats by the Wizard - banned from speaking, kept in cages. The wizard is turning Oz into an increasingly totalitarian society, and he wants Elphabas help to do it - which she refuses. Similarly, Glinda is a spoiled, selfish brat who only learns magic because Elphaba insists on it - because she thinks Glinda has helped her sister (when she in reality has simply used her to get rid of an unwanted admirer). The musical opened with a crowd cheering over the death of the Wicked Witch, singing "Alle hader ondskab" (translates to "Everybody hates evil"), which is what "no one mourns the wicked" has been translated to in Danish. This recurring phrase of course takes on another meaning as the 'true' story is unfolded, and it is one of the many criticisms of the use of scapegoats and fear of the unknown, utilised by those in power, which extends beyond Oz to our everyday lives. 

Elphaba and Glinda singing  "Jeg har forandret
mig" ("For Good" in English)

As always, I was slightly bothered by the English to Danish translation; and listening to the original songs here afterwards they are clearly better. But it was not as much as when I watched My Fair Lady - I haven't had the chance to watch Wicked in English. There were a couple of things I picked up on, but I think generally the translation seemed okay.

          

I guess when it comes to musical-music, I have my favourites: The soundtracks of Chicago, Phantom of the Opera, Cabaret, West Side Story and My Fair Lady are all on the 'most played' list on my iPod. But I'm not sure the Wicked music will be - at least not the Danish. The songs were good, but they seemed to land somewhere in between The Phantom of the Opera and West Side Story - they had the ambition of becoming goose-bump-evoking songs, but few of them really made it; on the other side they were neither the kind of musical songs that you walk around singing for ages afterwards like those from West Side Story or Chicago, simply because they're too difficult. Too many canons were fired to begin with, and there is a limit to how many 'grand' songs you can cope with. I know I'm comparing this musical with some of the greatest classics of the genre, which is perhaps not fair - but on the other hand, that must be the aspiration. That said, Defying Gravity and For Good were really good songs (if a little too Disney-ish for my taste in musicals) - and I might even end up downloading the soundtrack at some point ^^

As I said in the beginning, Wicked at Det Ny Teater was a good musical. Alltogether I wouldn't say it was brilliant though - 4 out of 6 stars perhaps. Costumes and set design, along with the music was great - but I was a bit dissapointed with the singing, mainly in the beginning. I know Copenhagen is not London, and that we don't have as many good musical actors - but then we'll just have to make an effort to find them wherever they're hiding.

Jeg har forandret mig (Elphaba & Glinda) - and in English (For Good):


Mine vinger bær' (Elphaba) - English (Defying Gravity):


Populær (Glinda) - English (Popular):

Postponing the Stolen Spring

Spring is finally arriving to Denmark - and this year, with it comes IB exams and university-decisions. I'm still waiting for an answer from one of the universities I applied to in the UK, and it's driving me crazy.. You could probably say I'm the kind of person who likes to be in control, and not knowing even which country I'll be living in half a year from now is a bit unnerving!!

I've been missing doing "A Midsummer Night's Dream" terribly (pic left) - the costumes, the directing, the horrible busy-ness was way more fun than preparing for exams! 

This week, I got a bit back into my theatre-state-of-mind, though; thursday, I went to Krudttønden with a friend to watch David Mamet's "Oleanna" (pic right), and saturday my family and I went to the Royal Danish Theatre to watch their production of "My Fair Lady". The play thursday was really, really good, and very intense; a two-character play, with a total of only three scenes, concerning a student who completely destroys a professor by accusing him of amongst other things sexual harrassment and elitism. We spent a lot of time discussing the play afterwards, and it was interesting how differently one might view the play depending on cultural standpoint. Accusing him of those things based on the actions we saw him perform would be ridiculous in a Danish context - but probably less so in for example the US, where the play was written.

My Fair Lady was also a really good production. Especially the sets and costumes were amazing, and the actors were also good. I did get a bit annoyed with the translation to Danish at some points - but a translated version is practically impossible to make as good as the original, I guess, because the language will always be a bit clumsy. Not surprisingly, Cockney-english can't really be translated because the dialect-variations in Danish are smaller than in English, but Eliza (Cecilie Steenspil) instead spoke a kind of 'ghetto'-Danish with a lot of misinterpreted 'sayings' such as "Jeg er ikke den der slipper en halv vind" and "Man kan ikke både blæse og have rent mel i posen" which were brilliant. 

I especially adored the costumes and set of the Ascot scene; all females had elaborate headpieces relating to 'tea', such as teacups, saucers, trays with tea sets etc. It must be difficult to reinterpret costumes to a so iconic scene, but in my opinion they fell nothing short of the Audrey Hepburn movie-version.
          One costume which didn't quite live up to the standards set by the rest were Eliza's ballgown - it was not a very flattering design for the actress, made her look all boxy, and all the flowy pieces of fabric made it look like a bundle of chiffon-rags - nothing like the simplistic Givenchy gown it's in my mind supposed to be.
          Still, it was a visually beautiful production, which did a pretty good job of overcoming the language problems. The actors were good; it was much less emotionally intense that Oleanna, but that has more to do with the script than anything else. The two plays were very different, also in size; Krudttønden is such a tiny, intimate stage, that in comparison the Royal Theatre's Gamle Scene is huge - that also makes for quite a different experience. I'm very happy I watched both plays - and I definitely have to keep up the habit of watching a lot of plays!

Aside from watching theatre, I also twice this week practiced my directing skills - I helped a friend who was also in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" prepare for an audition at a drama school. Coincidentally, she had found a monologue from Oleanna, which we then rehearsed for her modern part; it was an excerpt from the first act, where Carol (the student) protests when the professor questions the purpose of higher education. It went really well, and I personally think she turned out to be much better than any of the versions we could find on youtube ^^

          For the classical pieces we rehearsed Ophelia's "O what a noble mind is here overthrown"-monologue from Hamlet, as well as Puck's "Though the forest have I gone..." from A Midsummer Night's Dream. I have missed doing Shakespeare! We've had some good times watching the 2010 David Tennant version of Hamlet, which is by the way brilliant, and laughing at the ridiculous acting of Kenneth Branagh in his 1996 version. I found it difficult to give directions on Ophelia - it is difficult to make it anything but static, and the emotions have to come by themselves in order to seem real. Puck was a bit easier, and we managed to redo the scene so we didn't just copy Puck from our school play (which was played by a different actor) - ending up with a good result. Her audition was today, and I can't wait to hear about how it went. I've been crossing fingers and toes and whatnot all day, so now we'll just have to wait for the results --

Good luck to her, and good luck to me with universities!