Weekly Wrap-Up #28 - Theater

Weekly Wrap-Up #28 - Theater

A bit late, but here goes.

1. Do you enjoy the theater? Why or why not?
I love the theatre. I don't go as often as I do to the cinema, but when I've got a week off work, one of the first things I'll do on Monday morning is check out what's on at the local theatres that week and get a ticket for a matinee if there's anything I fancy seeing.

2. What is your favorite play? Why? What's your favorite musical? Why?
My favourite play is probably "Dangerous Liaisons" by Christopher Hampton, based on the novel "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" by Choderlos de Laclos. I've seen that twice in different productions and what I like about it is the decadence and cruelty of the atmosphere. The best play I've seen recently was the touring production of "Art" starring Leigh Lawson, Philip Franks and Simon Shepherd, which was hysterically funny.  
My favourite musical is "Kiss Me Kate", which I saw in London last year

3. What do you like best about the theatrical experience? Why? What do you like least? Why?
Best - the fact that it is live and therefore different every time.
Least - uncomfortable seating and steeply raked seating (scary !)

4. Do you buy soundtracks to musicals? Why or why not? What's your favorite soundtrack? Why?
The only one I've ever bought is the "Rocky Horror Picture Show", but when I was young I often listened to my mother's LPs of "My Fair Lady" and "West Side Story", so I knew all the songs and the story long before I ever saw them on film.
I'm not sure why I don't buy soundtracks, but I think that I'm more of a visual person, so I'd rather buy a video or DVD and have the pictures to go with the songs.

5. Have you ever been in a play, either on stage or in supporting roles backstage? What was the play? What did you do? Would you do it again? Why or why not?
I haven't been in a play since I was a primary school, as I'm too shy. However I was in a Tudor pageant for Pope John Paul II's visit to the UK when I was in secondary school.

Current Reading: Bloodtide by Melvin Burgess

Bloodtide is a is a retelling of the first part of the Saga of the Volsungs, the story of the twins Sigmund (here called Siggy) and Signy. It is set in a futuristic London, abandoned to gangsters when the government moved out to Ragnor and cut-off from the rest of the country, by a no-man's land populated by halfmen (human/animal hybrids).

The story of the twins takes up less than 20 pages in my copy of the saga, and this has given the novelist a lot of scope for fleshing out the story and the characters, without losing any of the savagery, brutality or passion of the original.

Whereas the saga has Odin thrusting his knife into the tree that grows up through the great hall of the Volsung's palace, this book has him thrust it into the diamond-hard glass elevator shaft full of the hanged bodies of human sacrifices, that rises up to the broken tip of a skyscraper.

Even the fact that he has the old Norse gods appearing in the city leaving death and destruction in their wake (gods are wont to do) works, as the gang lords and citizens of London only half believe in the gods, suspecting that they may be cyborgs sent from Ragnor.

I'm only just over half-way through it, but so far I'd give it 10/10. Supposedly it's for teenagers (which is quite surprising considering how dark and violent it is), but it's an exciting read for adults too!

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