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It may be hard to tell from the overweight baggage I'm carrying beneath my eyes, and how I find it hard to string two sentences together coherently but ...



yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn

Outrageous Fortune meets Footrot Flats

Our first review is out! and it's great! and! I am named! and! I am maybe ever so slightly, just a little, a teeny bit excited about that ...



Reviewed by John Smythe, 18 Feb 2009

Outrageous Fortune meets Footrot Flats: that's the look, anyway, of the costume choices for Katherina and Petruchio in this all-woman Bard in the Yard production of The Taming of the Shrew, directed by John Marwick as the Butterfly Creek Theatre Troupe's contribution to Fringe 09 and the Compleate Workes project.

Not that Katherina and her sister Bianca are bogans born and bred, they're too well-spoken for that. But each has rebelled in her own way against their more respectable father, Baptista Minola; if the feral Katherina is redolent of Cheryl West (sans cigs), Bianca is more Pascalle.

Petruchio might be all black singlet and gumboots, but he's doing pretty well given the number of blokes working on his backblocks property. While other men vie to woo the sexy and manipulative Bianca, he relishes the challenge offered by "Katherina the curs'd". And Baptista has decreed she must be wed first before Bianca goes.

The way Liz Sugrue and Rowan Macrae work it through, Pet and Kat instantly see their match in the other and so play the game full on and for keeps. A line in Katherina's controversial final scene speech, "That seeming to be most which we indeed least are" seems to be the key: Petruchio knows she's wired to be loyal and loving, and that she's protecting that vulnerability with her stroppiness; Katherina knows he is a lovely big softie beneath his 'dog boss' exterior. They just need to know it's finally safe to let their guards down ...

Ideologically correct sexual politics aside, there are plenty of real-life examples to validate this behaviour and it's this core of truth that gives this production its spine. But despite a number of other good performances, a few players have yet to pursue a stronger intention than remembering their lines and this tends to weaken the sub-plots.

Elspeth Harris is deliciously manipulative as Bianca and Florence McFarlane nails old Gremio so clearly - got up as a fairground impresario and/or successful gambler - that it's hard not to see them best suited to each other. Harris and McFarlane also offer excellent cameos as a tailor and haberdasher respectively.

Other strong performances include Kat Angus as Hortensio, Tamsin Bertaud-Gandar as Biondello, Sarah-Rose Burke as Grumio and Sue Jones, contrasting a Cooch-like Curtis with a gentlemanly Vincentio.

As an ensemble the 12-strong cast gives good support to the on-stage action with collective reactions and live sound effects. In place of the induction, the actors arrive in branded t-shirts, bop to 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' then change into costume in front of us, which takes a while. The ghetto-blaster music backing is weak, and when it failed briefly, on opening night, and the cast spontaneously sang live, I couldn't help feeling that was better.

The Butterfly Creek Theatre Troupe has set a good standard with their annual Bard in the Yard productions. The Taming of the Shrew is a well-conceived addition, intelligently approached with strong central performances and a clear intention to share the fun.

London, 29 September 2007

Borough Market





Craig and his beloved Roast







and finally? Southwark Cathedral



p.s. SO TIRED. The Taming of the Shrew opened tonight! Come along!



Where: Muritai School Yard, Eastbourne

(Outside but moves inside in poor weather)

When: 7.30 p.m. Tuesday 17 to Saturday 21 Feb

Tickets: $15, $12 (concession) & $10 (Fringe Addict/child)

Dymocks Bookseller, Lambton Quay

Rona Gallery, Eastbourne

Door sales from 7 pm

Booking line: 0832 77790

Train Breakdown, Twitter Breakdown!

Sometimes Twitter is very very good, like when @stephenfry is stuck in a lift, but when it is bad? it is horrid.
I tweeted away this evening as I was stuck on the train, and they have still not arrived on twitter itself.
Sigh.





At least the view while stuck at Ngauranga was quite nice.



So, naturally, I amused myself by taking photos.









Four trains and 1.5 hours after getting on the train at Wellington, we made it home.

FUCK.

Week Seven

Sunday
Gelato with Sir C after rehearsal.


Monday
Charlotte's plant yearns for the sun.


Tuesday
The fog (or cloud) closes in on Eastbourne. It was completely still.


Wednesday
Amongst the death, an adorable Koala.


Thursday
A wet wet softling grey day.


Friday
I really hope that the sticker wasn't necessary.


Saturday
Kitten and Mac: perfectly co-ordinated.


&

In honour of Black Friday ...

&


yes, I am tempted to try and remove 0.3MB worth of photos from my iPhone

Mi Perdonato, gentle masters mine*

Tuesday, yesterday (is it only WEDNESDAY? this week feels like a month), I had precisely 50 minutes between getting home from work and leaving again to go to rehearsal. 50 minutes in which to get changed, get some food, any food, make sure all my needed bits and pieces were in my rehearsal-tote, spend quality time with my husband, post archive pictures to this darling little site, and run my lines one last time.

I managed precisely 50% of those things.

And then forgot lines at rehearsal.

And then rehearsal ran late so at 11pm I raced home and managed to wash my face and brush my teeth before collapsing into bed.

I think this may be the longest time (not counting vacation in Hawaii) that I have gone without washing my hair**.


SO there were no photos yesterday. You may have noticed (delusions of grandeur). YET! as they are, here they are, come to greet you***




London, September 22nd 2007

St Bartholomew House, near Fleet Street



St Bride's Church, Fleet Street



Standing 69 meters high, it is the 2nd tallest of all Wren's churches, with only St Paul's itself having a higher pinnacle.





Bizarre symbol!! On a church!! Exciting!! Or not. Conspiracies!! Or not.



The tiered spire is said to have been the inspiration for the design of modern tiered wedding cakes.



A Banksy! seen in the wild!!





*Shrew reference!

** Don't panic. It's only been 3 days. It looks surprisingly cute.

*** Another Shrew reference. This one is actually one of my lines. I cannot remember if it is greet or meet …… Oh bollocks. It's meet. Time to go over lines again.






Where: Muritai School Yard, Eastbourne

(Outside but moves inside in poor weather)

When: 7.30 p.m. Tuesday 17 to Saturday 21 Feb

Tickets: $15, $12 (concession) & $10 (Fringe Addict/child)

Dymocks Bookseller, Lambton Quay

Rona Gallery, Eastbourne

Door sales from 7 pm

Booking line: 0832 77790


p.s. I can heart NOTHING this week save for learning my blasted lines.

Week Six

Sunday
A grey day in Eastbourne, on the way home after rehearsal.


Monday
6am. On the way to catch the train to work for a 7am breakfast meeting.


Tuesday
Heaviest snowfall in 18 years for London, Hades in Wellington.


Wednesday
I wasn't going to buy blueberries but then, I'm very susceptible to suggestion.


Thursday
I got dressed in the grey and dreary morning so wore my new winter-esque boots. I love them but they didn't suit the afternoon sun.


Friday
The bruise from my fall at rehearsal on Tuesday had blossomed.


Saturday
Desperate to get out of the house I went and read my magazine in the park. It's not exactly Hyde Park, but I guess it'll have to do.


&




I'd fallen at rehearsal the night before, barely slept, ached all over, spent the morning at a seminar, and felt like death warmed up. The bags under my eyes were ridiculous and I couldn't be bothered to look presentable.

Food Obsession

In London I became obsessed with a salad from Pizza Express. So much so that whenever we ate there (not often, Craig doesn't believe in fancy pizzas) my order was exactly the same.

Dough Balls, Pollo Salad, a glass of Pinot Grigio Blush, and Lemon Sorbet.

After months and months of trial and a lot of error, I've finally made one that I like just as much as the Pollo. All the basics are there but ...



Kalamata Olives
Red Capsicum
Lettuce (mesclun? I never know)
Toasted Slivered Almonds
Chicken Breasts



Prenzel original salad dressing.




Or rather, the ingredients. I think it's just Balsamic Vinaigrette with Soya Sauce.




OBSESSED!