Richard Alston Dance Company: Final Edition tour – seen at Northampton Derngate. As always, lovely light and beautiful dance, to evocative music (Monteverdi, Chopin, Elgar, Brahms). Sad to think that this is the last time we’ll see this fine company, which is disbanding because of the difficulties of operating in the current financial climate.
World on Fire – tremendous WW2 TV drama series. I loved the multiple international characters and inter-connecting storylines, but I was rather hoping for closure rather than a second series.
We must deliver: Brexit, Johnson and the robots of Milton Keynes – video by John Harris for The Guardian. During the conference season, with Parliament still stuck in Brexit debate, the Guardian ran an ‘Anywhere but Westminster’ series, to explore life outside the Westminster bubble. This episode was from Milton Keynes, “a town evenly split between leave and remain, and hurtling into the future. Robots are delivering people’s shopping, but there’s also homelessness and glaring inequality, and clear signs that most people want no part of all the Brexit madness.” Our delivery robots really are cute, and I’m happy to see them getting a national profile. (See also the text version ‘Britain is less polarised than the media would have us believe’.)
The rise and fall of social media platforms 2003-2019 – Impressive and informative animated graphic, noted in John Naughton’s Memex 1.1 blog.
Downton Abbey (film) – how good the splendour and period detail of the locations and large-scale set pieces look on the big screen, unlike say Dad’s Army with which the charm was largely in its tatty war-economy settings and confinement to a half-hour TV show.
Enneagram Rhapsody – perceptive and very funny, but only if you know the Enneagram. The large audience who get all the jokes turns out to be a US church where it’s been part of their ministry.
Broken Sword 4: The Angel of Death – another adventure game in the Broken Sword series, but not one of the best. (See the review in Adventure Gamers.) George is as amusing as ever, especially when he’s trying to get into the Vatican by pretending to be a stupid American tourist, but Nico’s absence for the first half if the game is keenly felt, and her replacement is no substitute (even if there turns out to be a plot reason why she reveals nothing about herself). And many of the puzzles are just too hard.
Mythos – retelling of the ancient Greek myths by Stephen Fry. I was disappointed; some parts were boring, where Fry was trying to be scholarly and felt the need to tell us the names and relationships of obscure deities about whom nothing further is known; other parts were just silly, where he was trying to be a comedian and make the gods talk in 21st century colloquialisms. It is possible to tell myths in a way which is accessible and relatable and yet delivers their ancient power; Neil Gaiman did it with the Norse myths, for example.
His Dark Materials – excellent BBC dramatisation of the Philip Pullman novel series, with a very powerful Lyra in Dafne Keen, who was so good in Logan. Her reactions are particularly strong, the hallmark of a good actor, which locks the narrative around her and makes us see the fantastical places and events through her eyes. And a splendidly creepy turn from Ruth Wilson as Mrs Coulter.
Official Secrets – excellent film telling the story of GCHQ whistleblower Katharine Gun, who in 2003 leaked US/UK efforts to blackmail UN representatives into supporting a war with Iraq. Kiera Knightly as Gun is particularly effective in showing the emotional toll of the investigation and subsequent prosecution. There’s also a neat reminder for all copy editors and proofreaders about the times when you shouldn’t change US to UK spelling. The archive footage of mass street protests against the war brought back memories and reminded us that governmental lies and efforts to circumvent or suppress the institutions of democracy did not originate with the Johnson administration.
Wyrd Sisters – decent local amateur production of the stage play derived from Terry Pratchett’s Shakespeare / Macbeth Discworld spoof. An interesting programme note that Pratchett anticipated the internet’s potential for spreading fake news in his 1995 interview of Bill Gates.
Akhnaten live from New York Met – my favourite Philip Glass opera. Great to see it staged and on a big screen, with top singers belting it out in close up.
Anna’s Quest – proper fairy tale adventure game, with a decidedly Germanic and Grimm (or grim) feel (the producer is German). Nicely scripted and voice-acted characters, including an innocent (but not dull) heroine, and well-integrated puzzles.
The Scarecrow’s Wedding – the Christmas show at The Stables. The performers, Scamp Theatre, really know their craft, in their interactions with the audience coming across like mature professionals rather than students just out of drama school. Skilled musicians too, singing some really great songs, including a blues number (sung by Betty O'Barley while keeping the crows at bay) worth the price of admission on its own.
Star Trek: Discovery – recent addition to the franchise, now available on Freeview. Interesting, though rather violent, and suffering from the absence of any likeable or even relatable characters; the principal character, Michael, is the strongest but for plot reasons she is necessarily remote. Still better than Star Trek: Enterprise, the last of the classic shows. We’ll see how it develops.
Paddington 2 – fun sequel, with much more of the authentic trope of Paddington trying to help but getting into difficulties. Best sight gag: when he accidentally leaves a red sock in the prison washing machine, so that all the inmate’s uniforms are dyed pink. And a stirring speech by Mr Brown when he denounces Mr Curry’s bigoted anti-immigrant stance.
La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman – prequel to His Dark Materials. Compelling writing, with a very vivid sense of place – in this case, mainly the Thames above Oxford – and a persistent atmosphere of menace, which makes the actual violence when it does occur all the more shocking.
