Lockdown - Week 3: 7th - 13th April

Well, to be honest, this third week feels like it was almost indistinguishable from the second. Days and weeks are certainly starting to blur into each other, despite my best effort to recreate normal life.


I went 'out' to the theatre twice - first to The Globe to see Hamlet; a very interesting, compelling 'gender blind' production with various male characters played by women (including Michelle Terry as Hamlet himself), and Ophelia played by a man (Shubham Saraf). It's hard to make such a well-known script come over as new and fresh but this production did - and James Garnon almost made me feel sorry for Claudius. I wish I'd been able to see it live.
 A couple of nights later was a National Theatre Live recording of Jane Eyre, a co-production with Bristol Old Vic, starring Madeleine Worrall as the diminutive, feisty heroine, Felix Hayes as brooding Mr Rochester, and directed by Sally Cookson. I'm not generally a fan of books turned into plays, but this worked brilliantly - not trying to cram every bit of dialogue from the original in, but aiming more for mood and character development. Oh, and I loved Pilot the dog - the actor playing him almost stole the show.

In between these two, I went to an Isolate Live gig to see one of my long-live favorite singer/songwriters Sean McGowan performing live from his 'gaff' (well, his mum's front room), and on Easter Monday I went to a festival - not out in a tent in the back garden as I know some people did, but a sensible Front Room Festival organised by Folk On Foot presenter Matthew Bannister, featuring a mix of familiar and new (to me at least) folk singers. As at any festival I dropped in and out of the music tent, and I have to admit I left before the end but really enjoyed watching Beth Porter from the Bookshop Band, Nancy Kerr and James Fagan, Kris Drever, Rachel Newton playing the harp, and Jackie Morris paintings otters.

Apart from these 'evenings out' day to day life doesn't feel like it's changed that much. I finished knitting a scarf made with some fabulous rainbow yarn brought back from a trip to Riga by my youngest daughter.




I went out for a short walk one evening to see the sunset - but this time I encountered cyclists riding too close to the pavement, so there's another worry for when I'm out and about.










The weather has returned to glorious sunshine, and most of my days are spent pottering about the garden doing something or other.


Sowing seeds, watering tiny plants, tucking them up under bubblewrap at night, all with the intent of producing home-grown vegetables, makes me feel I'm clawing back a certain level of control over my life. I feel fresh fruit and veg may be hard to come by as spring progresses, and I'm targeting my sowing at producing crops as soon as possible. I already have rocket and mizuna for salad, and rhubarb for desserts; there'll be more to follow.



Obviously I haven't seen my family but we're keeping in touch with an almost daily video chat, often involving a lot of running around from my grandson, and a quieter pictionary style online game at weekends. There still seems to be as much traffic as ever out on the nearby main through-estate road, so at times it's hard to believe in the virus and that the world has changed.

I never expected three weeks to be the end of lockdown, and I've braced myself to follow the twelve week isolation period recommended to 'shielded' vulnerable people; I've no need to be as restricted as them but 'better safe than sorry' is my motto for now.

Romeo and Juliet

I seem to be having a mini Shakespeare fest at the moment - following on from the RSC's excellent production of The Taming of the Shrew, it was Headlong Theatre's turn to amuse me for an evening at Nottingham Playhouse.

Romeo and Juliet is one of those really well known plays that even if, like me, you've never seen it performed live, you know the plot outline, how it all ends, the main speeches from school or somewhere, you might have seen Baz Luhrman's film adaptation with Leonardo Di Caprio and Clare Danes, or you might have seen it in rehearsal as Romeo and Ethel the Pirate's Daughter gradually changes shape into Romeo and Juliet in Shakespeare In Love. There have to be difficulties in putting on such a well known piece and trying to make it new and different, yet at the same time the old well-loved play. This is the only explanation I can think of for the strange 'what if'/Sliding Doors episodes when a scene would play out then a blinding light flash on the audience and the scene re-play differently. To be honest, I just found it confusing and unnecessary.

As for the rest of the production - well, it was ok. The star-crossed lovers were a bit wishy washy and lacking in sexual tension, though I thought Catrin Stewart's "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" speech excellent. The most outstanding performances of the evening came from the two of the supporting cast playing Mercutio and Benvolio. Both were excellent particularly Mercutio's death scene.

I think I'd been a little spoiled by seeing the RSC the previous week and may have appreciated this more if I'd seen them the other way round. Still, the Teen took away some ideas for her Billy Liar GSCE performance, so not an entirely wasted evening.

Taming Of The Shrew - RSC at Theatre Royal Nottingham

Funniest Shakespeare EVER!

Shakespearean plays seem to be like buses - you don't see one for ages then three come along at once! Derby Theatre staged The Taming of the Shrew recently and this week Nottingham sees a double dose with Romeo and Juliet at the Playhouse and the RSC performing The Taming of the Shrew at the Theatre Royal. As I can't afford to watch as many as I would like, when I saw Nottingham Royal looking for a Twitter reviewer, I jumped at the chance.

The plot - Baptista has two daughters he wishes to find husbands for, but won't allow the younger, Bianca, to marry one of her many admirers before he can find a husband for the elder, Kate, the 'shrew'. Fortunately Petruchio, a stranger to

town, turns up and is prepared to take her on for her dowry - and straighten out her attitude later.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this production. I'd read reviews for it that seemed to suggest it was going to be gritty and possibly violent, so was totally unprepared for how much fun it was!

Yes, Shakespeare can be fun!

After a slightly slow start, the comedy picked up pace and had the audience in fits of laughter - the first time I've heard that at a performance. I can imagine academics tittering respectfully over Shakespearean wit but not laughing out loud in this manner. The RSC's performance is an energetic, fast- paced romp, full of sexual innuendo, that puts paid to the idea of Shakespeare being dull and fuddy-duddy.

Kate is a hard-drinking, hard smoking, ready for a fight woman. Petruchio, muscled and fit, the only attractive-looking guy on stage. They were made for each other. Kate's end speech, about women obeying their husbands, is a bit hard to stomach these days but having Petruchio abase himself to kiss her feet after it balanced things out somewhat, leaving me with the message that love and respect are two-way things.

My only regret is not taking my teenager along. I'd queried whether or not it would be suitable for a 14 yr old - and with innuendo and semi-nudity perhaps it's as well to err on the side of caution but I would have been happy for her to have seen it.

An excellent evening's entertainment that I'd urge everyone to see - especially if your only impression of Shakespearean comedy is of dull, dragging school-work.