In the absence of having much else to say (ahhh Christmas brain melt is about to meet the fast approaching train of reality, the return to work, deadlines for all sorts of stuff coming right up atcha) I’m not going to bother chronicling the various entertaining arts events I attended in the run up to Christmas. Sorry!
In the meantime, (attempt to) enjoy the 2nd pic in my attempt to ‘do’ Project365 this year…
Shaws Bridge
To be honest, I can’t see me getting my act together to post anything except for photos until I get my head round the fact it’s January, hopefully in time for Out to Lunch, but until then…pictures!
£2!! Not to mention the beautiful duck egg blue Okaidi pullover (or tricot if you will…or gansai if you won’t) for a fiver. Bargain! Wish they had stuff in adult sizes too :)
Great wee event today and v well attended, so I hope NCT raised some cash. As always, best bargains to be had, esp when it came to toys, were kersnaffled by people there at 10.30 on the dot, when the doors opened.
Rocking up at 11 having strolled with baba in buggy and accompanied by a slightly hungover Mr O in tow (yes Belfast Music Week is in full swing apparently..) I was steeling myself to come away empty handed but was pleasantly surprised at all the designer baby gear at knock down prices. Woo hoo!
So last night we went to Enchanted Garden in Botanic as part of the Belfast Festival at Queens, with baby in buggy (bedecked in spooky Halloween pyjamas under his outdoor suit!) and friends to hold our hands in case we got scared of the dark! Luckily after the torrential rain on Sunday/Monday, we had a lovely clear evening last night so hopefully it’ll stay like that for the rest of the week…
Some of you may recall we also went last year and documented the occasion on this blog too so here’s the link if you wanted to compare and contrast our pics…
There’s also a great wee exhibition on in the foyer of museum this year by suitably enchanting artist Francis Morgan and the museum cafe is also open late this year for the duration of Enchanted Garden, which is a nice bonus if you’re out and about and looking to get warmed up before you head home.
This year’s seemed a lot more Midsummer Night’s Dream to me (behold Titania below) with people reciting bits of poetry and Shakespeare as we walked about but there was less music and since none of the performers had mics some of the dramatic effect was a bit lost.
Titania
Not that that mattered to all the kids who couldn’t be bothered with all that plain verse and instead were surrounding costumed creatures and scary puppets, demanding to know if they were the Gruffalo or if they happened to KNOW the Gruffalo.
Or call it “Belleville Rendez-Vous meets Salad Fingers if it starred Edward Scissorhands, were scripted by Jonathan Coe during the What a Carve Up! era and narrated, in part, by a caramel voiced Jarvis Cocker“.
More a complete audio visual, musical, vaudeville experience than a play, The Animals and Children Took the Streets is full of clever tricks, phenomenal visuals and infused with a slightly zany, surrealist humour.
Such is the visual appeal and the degree to which the audience are drawn in by the whole visual experience, it takes a while to realise all the parts from the piano player, dodgy Russian saleswoman, existentially wracked caretaker and icecream man to the prim Agnes and the nosy, sour neighbours are all played by three actresses. The white, mime-style make up and the very effective costumes certainly help create the illusion of a play with a cast of many, but much of the credit should go to the actors of 1927 themselves for allowing the audience to suspend their disbelief so effectively.
Red Herring Street and the Bayou Mansions is vividly and gruesomely brought to life in a way which is incredibly engaging and although the political digs the play makes (the mayor with a most convenient blindspot to the areas of the greatest social deprivation, the brothels crawling with pubic lice…and city bankers, the gentrification of the city park which has involved cleansing the benches of sleeping drunks and the replacement of the weeping junkie with a water feature, endless bureaucracy and negation of public sector responsibility, medication as a solution to subversive behaviour, the triumph of authoritarianism, the lack of social mobility) are hardly subtle, they nonetheless manage not to overwhelm the sleazy charm of the play nor does it lapse into preachy earnestness at any point.
In summary, great show and on for the next couple of nights in the Brian Friel theatre as part of the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queens. Last night’s performance was packed out, though, so get in quick if you want to grab a ticket!!
Dans une boîte de paille tressée
Le père choisit une petite boule de papier
Et il la jette
Dans la cuvette
Devant ses enfants intrigués
Surgit alors
Multicolore
La grande fleur japonaise
Le nénuphar instantané
Et les enfants se taisent
Émerveillés
Jamais plus tard dans leur souvenir
Cette fleur ne pourra se faner
Cette fleur subite
Faite pour eux
A la minute
Devant eux.
Check out this rather entertaining blog post on what happens and how you feel after you’ve been fOOl enough to set out and actually finish a degree in English Lit. Heh. Poor ol’ Reasonably Ludicrous, I wish him luck – and I can also fully sympathise, since I’m a secret fantasy book fan who has just managed to finish reading Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series though (and eagerly awaiting the next – and last – volume…oh do hurry up Brandon Sanderson) and I can appreciate that a dedication to these books takes time and perseverance but somehow the horrible real world of jobs and stuff just don’t seem to value the skills gained and the knowledge of the White Tower gained along the way.
I’m also the kind of idiot who thought one degree in English wasn’t enough, oh no, I had to go and do a PhD as well and thereby doom myself to being irredeemably unemployable forever.
Except then I got a job and some freelance work and it all worked out happily ever after. You see, books are good for your CV. Sort of. God Speed fellow-English graduates!
