Have you ever read a book that made you wonder how ever did you miss something important because there it was in plain sight all the time?
A few years ago I came across this amazing volume:
I am delighted to announce that Priscilla and I will be jointly presenting on this subject. It will be online, hosted by The Centre for Myth, Cosmology and the Sacred on Tuesday July 16th 2024 at 6:30pm UK time. Here’s the link.
I’ve been in a dozen or so Shakespearean productions and have been a fan since youth. Of course I was aware of the canon being peppered with cosmic and celestial references, what I had not noticed was how certain of the plays are fraught with precise overarching astrological meanings – in the language, in the plot and in the story.
This will be a somewhat more scholarly take than my planned show AstroBard which had to be postponed earlier in the year.
If you have an interest in either Shakespeare or Astrology or ways they combine, please do come along!
NB: if you do decide to splurge on the required 10 quid (ten pounds sterling) when you click the link you’ll get to the listing page – you need the first BUY NOW button the one that is higher on the page not the lower! Thanks!
NB: If you live in the greater NYC area, read to the end for news of a Westchester show!
It is staggeringly impressive how you can turn a common or garden boozer into a posh venue when you spend a million pounds sterling. To experience this phenomenon I recommend The White Bear in Kennington, London, UK. What was a black box theatre downstairs is now a superior black box theatre upstairs. Downstairs you can get very good fish & chips and the back of the place has been knocked through and made into a bit of upmarket gentrification complete with micro-brewery ales.
We had just got off the plane from New York and went that evening to see the last night of Harry and Meghan – the fact that my old friend and sometime fellow-student, Michael Kingsbury, has run the place for the past 40 years, and done much to elevate the cause of interesting theatre on the London fringe was a motivating factor. A talented quartet delivering sketch comedy style satire. – Packed!
That was Saturday
On Monday we saw The Hills of California, the latest play from Jez Butterworth. It bears all the hallmarks of his work – snappy dialogue with mythological implications and references, tense drama, and high production values.
A powerhouse performance from Laura Donelly – I mean POWERHOUSE – I knew her in The Ferryman – and here she gives whole other dimensions in her work – quite amazingly impressive – not sure if it’s coming to Broadway.
That was Monday
On Wednesday we saw Uncle Vanya at The Orange Tree in Richmond. Very interesting from all sorts of point of view. Directed by the 80 year old Trevor Nunn, late of the RSC, the National and of course Cats which made him rich.
James Lance ( a very fine actor) in the title role was off, and we were told there would be a substitute who had almost no rehearsal and would be carrying the script.
Sadly I cannot tell you the name of this heroic actor. Not only did he not carry the script, his performance was superb. As was the whole production. All the Chekhov elements were there: pathos, bathos – texture, passion, terminal boredom, frustrated desire, and above all humor.
A young man who could have been playing Trofimov (the eternal student) in The Cherry Orchard was seated next to Trish. He admonished us for laughing. Not a surprise to be informed that he had a PHD in Theatre.
Where do you start with such people?
So we fled to Paris
There was an interlude with zero theatre – Rodin, Monet, The Tuileries –
Well we did go to the ballet one night, Don Quixote was the show – I must honestly confess that I had no idea of the story (and I have been in Man of La Mancha in Beijing), but it was of course ravishing on the eye, and breathtaking when you consider what some people can do with their bodies.
Another interlude on the south coast…
The lovely Polly Adams and family and a rogue hot water bottle.
Meanwhile in London …
Colin McPhillamy, Michael Shaw, Matilda Thorpe, Richard Fallon, Roy Drinkwater
Actors – lunch, drinks, coffee … chat
With David Verrey
… As above with Mark Carey
And then … The Picture of Dorian Grey at the Haymarket.
Again, another show with multiple points of interest. First off: it is a solo performance by Sarah Snook (you’ve seen her in Succession), produced initially in Sydney Australia. A staggering tour de force with some very inventive tech. If you are an actor reading this, I highly recommend it from a professional research and development point of view. The show is slated to come to Broadway.
Which brings me to episode 2 in My Guest Today.
Amelia Campbell and Anthony Akin talk to me about the new play What Keeps Us Going by Barbara Dana, to be directed by Austin Pendleton. The cast includes Amelia and Tony, Tim Jerome, and Karen Ziemba – Tony nominations abound!
The play opens May 24th and plays until June 9th at the Schoolhouse Theater in Croton Falls in Upper Westchester. Run do not walk to get tickets!
Unfortunately my friend, host and producer Mary Carey has had a bereavement and must attend a family funeral on the 27th April.
The world premiere of AstroBard is canceled.
AstroBard – Cancelled
This was to be a singular gig, as my chum David Verrey (catch him in Napoleon) put it: “to attend the gathering of a knot of astro-literati in a Cotswolds village hall to see a woo-woo presentation given by a Briton, resident in New York … well, where else can you get that?”
And so given the, of necessity, somewhat homespun publicity on this one, I am circulating this post far and widely.
Following the theme of the show, Mark and I have agreed (although of course one wishes it were in happier circumstances) that this does distantly reference the old gag:
Psychic Fair
Cancelled Due
To Unforeseen Circumstances
This is really a postponement, AstroBard will take the stage at a later date.
Meanwhile …
I am pleased to announce the first in my occasional series, “My Guest Today”. The idea of this show is simple: whenever I meet someone interesting I ask them to have a chatty half hour with me at the local television station.
This is an interview with David Bruson, a man with a unique connection to an Australian hero, the late great Barry Humphries.
I admit to a certain over-loquacity on my part as the interviewer – this totally a result of a) being over-excited in the moment, and b) my life-long admiration for and fascination with Barry’s astonishing life and work.
Dame Edna Everage
My journey into awareness of Australia and what it meant to me began on or about April 1st 1972.
I had an Australian Godfather (the best of godfathers) living in London, but being British born myself and in 1972 a mass of the identity chaos known as ‘a teenager’, I really had no idea how the Aussie piece fitted my personal jig-saw.
I was fifteen when I first went to Australia on a Qantas airplane. I remember the flight vividly. It was overbooked and in the Manila transit lounge in the Philippines passengers were offered money and three nights accommodation if they would take a later flight. I was tempted, but in pre-internet days had no way to communicate with my Australian relatives waiting to meet me in Sydney.
8 months in one of the most beautiful cities in the world with a hugely welcoming aunt, uncle, a grandmother, a couple of younger cousins, and some extended family, the time including a sojourn at North Sydney Boys high school, and a spell in the North Shore hospital following a dose of viral meningitis visited on me during a locust storm in the bush, and I really did wonder who the hell I was.
I could have stayed in Australia at that point and about 49% of me wanted to. But the controlling 51% was adamant to consolidate the remnants of my British I.D. and so I returned to London to complete the confused teen years in that capital.
Shortly after I got back to England, my godfather, Collin Bates (AKA Tucker Bates – a superb jazz pianist) introduced me to an LP of Sandy Stone, and without trying I learned every word of the long monologue. It would be a few years before I realized that this was a character created by Barry Humphries.
Barry Humphries on his 87th birthday
So I am pleased to introduce you to my occasional chat show, “My Guest Today”. As I said above, David Bruson is someone who knew Barry Humphries intimately and worked closely with him for several years, becoming part of Barry’s showbiz family.
I think the conversation is a bit of an exploration of the cultural crossroads where Britain, the USA and Australia meet (and don’t) through the lens of contact with one of the great comic geniuses of the 20th and 21st centuries.
If Barry Humphries is new to you, you are likely familiar with one of his creations: Dame Edna Everage or Sir Les Patterson or Sandy Stone? This great Australian was lately honored with a state funeral in Sydney.
This notice goes to far flung places. Your blogger understands that you may not be able to make it to Ilmington, UK on the night. Maybe you know someone who would enjoy AstroBard?
