The Constant Wife, W Somerset Maughan by The Tower Theatre Company February 23, 2009
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Reviews , 1 comment so farA piece in the guardian yesterday bemoaned the way contemporary rom-coms show pathetic women focused on little but men and manolos. I’m as up for pretty candy-floss for the brain as anyone, but ‘He’s Just Not that Into You’ and ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’ don’t appeal much. My chick flick heroines need to be a little, well, heroic, and to have some self-respect and brains.
So this revival of W Somerset Maugham’s classic twenties drawing room comedy ‘The Constant Wife’ was good fun, with the added bonus of gorgeous flapper dresses. It’s of its time, and the stereotypes are rather dated, but the essential idea that a woman may have the same economic and sexual freedom her husband takes for granted must have been subversive in 1926.
It’s witty and entertaining, with a nice twist at the end. Vicky Young plays Constance Middleton, the wife who thoroughly understands her husband and is determined to make a life which works for everyone, by no means least herself, with aplomb. She has a hard act to follow – the part was first played in 1927 by Ethel Barrymore, great-aunt of Drew and proposed to by Churchill. W Somerset Maugham said her performance was the best in any of his plays.
Gemma Hutchinson is delightful as the airhead flapper who is Constance’s best friend and her husband’s mistriss. Alex Barker takes a while to get into his stride as the husband John Middleton, but comes into his own at the end, as the knife turns and he realises that he is powerless to prevent Constance will get her own way.
The Tower Theatre Company is non-professional, but the production was easily as good as many fringe or smaller professional productions.
The Constant Wife finished at the Bridewell Theatre on Saturday, 21 Feb.
Winter’s Nearly Over February 22, 2009
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden,Trees , 2 commentsThere are bluebells crocuses in Gordon Square
Lost libraries of Timbuktu February 15, 2009
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Reviews , 2 commentsOn Thursday, I found another little gem on that treasure trove that justifies the licence fee, BBC4. It did exactly what TV ought to do, and showed me something I never imagined existed.
If you live in London Timbuktu is the back of beyond, but if your world is North West Africa, and your culture and trade look to the North African coast, Egypt, Arabia and west to Ghana, then Timbuktu is is the centre of it all. It’s on an important river linked by overland trading routes through the Sahara, and in the 15th century was a major centre of Islamic scholarship.
Over the years, manuscripts were written or brought here, and bookselling was a major industry. When European explorers came and during the disruptions of modern times, the locals sensibly hid them away from light-fingered collectors, so, rather than gracing the museums of Europe they are still kept in the hot but very dry climate of the region.
And there are thousands upon thousands of them, written in Arabic script but many languages. The look on a Malian conservator’s face as he talks about finding ancient writing in his own language says it all. This is such an important treasure, only just being opened up to scholars.
The BBC4 documentary ‘The Lost Libraries of Timbuktu’ should be available on iplayer for another week or so.
Britblog is up February 11, 2009
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Miscellany , add a commentGo and have a look at the Britblog round up this week – posts on Jeni Barnett’s silliness, liberty, bishops who shouldn’t be, a few sheep and lots of other good stuff.
Disagree? You must be a fool. February 7, 2009
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Miscellany , add a commentRecently, the British Humanists have been running a low-key advertising campaign in buses and on the tube. Like the humanists, its undogmatic and doesn’t take personal pot-shots at anyone. This, on the tube, with a quote from Katharine Hepburn, is about as offensive as it gets.
But even that was enough to cause some people to become very unhappy, including one bus driver who refused to drive a bus with the slogan ‘There’s Probably No God. Now, stop worrying and enjoy you life’ (though he was presumably happy enough to drive buses advertising violent movies).
And today, while waiting at a stop in Camberwell Green, what do I see, but two buses with that wonderful quote espousing goodwill to all, Psalm 14.1 “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God”. It’s the Trinitarian Bible Societies response.
Just in case you were wondering, the rest of the verse is pretty unfriendly as well.
1The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Delightful. Can you imagine the furore if the humanists had said ‘Only fools believe in God’? Can you imagine Transport For London accepting that as an advertisement? That’s not something I’d say, or indeed believe, but I really don’t like being called a fool.
No, I’m not going to complain. They’re welcome to say what they like. It does make you think though, not an activity encouraged by this Bible Society at least.
Vaccination Intimidation February 6, 2009
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Miscellany , 1 comment so farTwo related events :
The Health Protection Agency reports that measles cases are on the rise, largely due to parents being duped by the anti-MMR campaign.
Dr Ben Goldacre, writer of the wonderful Bad Science column and tireless campaigner against the anti-vaccination campaign, is being threatened with legal action by the radio station LBC for having a clip from one of their shows on his blog. It’s the daftest bit of anti-vaccination waffle, in which the presenter, Jeni Barnett, actually encourages a woman who advocates taking unimmunised children to visit people with the diseases.
He’s an ordinary bloke, with not much money, so he’s taken the clip down. You can find it on wikileaks.
