What to Watch This Week on the Internet. So it’s Week Eleven and there’s no sign of the theatres, concert halls, cabarets and other places of entertainment reopening. Our stages are still empty. My heart is with the thousands, and I do mean thousands, of performers, technicians, backstage crews, box office staff, and front of house gangs who have no work nor prospect of any. It is wonderful that we are able to watch the fruits of their labours on the internet but do remember as you watch, that the events in this, and every week’s blog, were made by those workers. The Cellist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDdo6P8LnFE&feature=youtu.be&utm_source=Master+List&utm_campaign=ebfe637ca0-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_5_25_2018_20_58_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_087289d63a-ebfe637ca0-202441125 My show of the week comes from the Royal Ballet. Hurry, it’s only on until June 12th and it’s absolutely unmissable. It’s the new story ballet, the first from choreographer Cathy Marston, and it’s a memoir of the cellist, Jacqueline du Pre from when she first picked up a cello until her terrible death at the age of 42 from multiple sclerosis. The Cellist misses nothing, not the exuberance of the young Jacqui, not the ecstatic, often difficult, relationship with her husband, the conductor, Daniel Barenboim, not the nourishing and hilarious relationships with her friends, not the frightening degeneration when one of the greatest cellists of all time discovered that she could no longer hold a bow. And Lauren Cuthbertson, hitherto underrated ballerina of the Royal Ballet, gets it all with a technique that never obscures the drama. She has du Pre’s naturalness and ease, and the smile which made Jacqui’s friends call her ‘Smiley’. Matthew Ball is strength and grace and selfishness as Barenboim but, even with these two extraordinary dance characters, the performance of the ballet is that of Marcellino Sambe as The Cello. Yes, the instrument itself, as he curves his body into hers in an unbreakable bond to make music together. This is a remarkable performance, memorable and unique, and, if he weren’t already one of the Royal Ballet’s most important dancers, I’d have said it was career-making. Philip Feeney’s original music quotes from Elgar, Beethoven, Faure, Mendelssohn (and those are only the ones I recognised) and features a cello solo (of course) played well by a young cellist, Hetty Snell. The Madness of King George 111 – National Theatre at Home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fofiKCV9wGc&list=PLJgBmjHpqgs6BHQ-AUcsfj_p9J2prqIsf When the original production of Alan Bennett’s play was made into a movie in 1994, the joke was that the title had to be shortened because otherwise the American audience, not accustomed to British Royal succession, would wonder what had happened to King George the First and Second. The producers need not have worried, Madness was an immediate critical and audience success as it had been in London. That success was repeated in 2018 when Mark Gatiss, one of Britain’s most versatile actors and writers, as often seen on TV in Sherlock and Wolf Hall as for his Olivier-nominated Menenius in the National’s Coriolanus was cast as the poor sick King, and brought even more insights to the character and the politics. It is this production that will be streamed this week by the National Theatre At Home. It turns out that the King wasn’t mad at all. He had a disease, unknown at that time, called porphyria, which displays all the symptoms of psychosis but is, these days, curable. This is a production of the Nottingham Playhouse and its director, Adam Penford, points out that Madness “remains as pertinent as ever in its exploration of mental health, power, and political divide.” True. And there’s room to speculate, although not in this play, that if we’d had a healthy King at the time, perhaps he’d have taken better care of the States and the US would still be part of the UK. June 11-June 18. Coffee concerts from Canada. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELvBYnABYGs&feature=youtu.be Soulpepper, a small and unpretentious group of actors, singers and musicians, reminds us of what we love about Canada – good, well-crafted, entertaining arts events with no showing off or excess hype. Once a week, on their YouTube channel, there’s a new short show combining poetry with music. Liza With a ‘Z’ https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/B089JWVKYF/ref=atv_dl_rdr?autoplay=1 When I think of Liza Minnelli, I remember her at her unstoppable best in Liza With a Z, a concert written and managed for her by her favourite songwriters – Kander and Ebb, and her favourite director Bob Fosse, all coming off the massive success of Cabaret. It was 1972 and all Liza’s prodigious talents were on display. This is what concert films ought to be and almost never are. I’m so glad to see that it’s just become available online. Free if you have Amazon Prime and for a small charge if you don’t. At her best, Liza had it all, and, just as importantly, when this film was made, she had it all under control. She never did anything better. When I look at her now, in this great concert, I want to weep at what’s happened since but this is a good lesson about making sure everything you care about is recorded somewhere. Jason Farago The Gross Clinic - NY Times https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/28/arts/design/thomas-eakins-gross-clinic.html?algo=als1&campaign_id=73&cmpid=73&emc=edit_ywp_20200605&instance_id=19130&module=newsletter-best-reads&nl=personalization&rank=0®i_id=6331304&segment_id=30200&user_id=83027c41d3f05329fc02574088fc83e7 I don’t know whether I’m even allowed to reproduce this item as it’s an article from the New York Times by Jason Farago and bound to be protected by copyright but it’s the most fascinating piece of art criticism I’ve read since the lockdown and I hope I’ll be forgiven by making it more widely available. If not, please visit me in Wormwood Scrubs. It Is Easy to be Dead https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pFdzhKq-X6Y This play, set during the First World War, was nominated for an Olivier Award and originated in one of London’s unsung heroic theatres, the Finborough, where week after week, the brilliant Artistic Director, Neil McPherson, finds plays that deserve production. Often, they are 20th century plays that have fallen from grace or been forgotten and he breathes new life into them. This one, though, is one he wrote himself, based on the letters, poetry, and songs of Charles Sorley, a young man killed at the beginning of that terrible war. Filmed in a tiny theatre, there are technical inadequacies – the audio is murky, the camerawork is less than perfect, but the music, drawn from some of the finest composers and songwriters of the era, and the touching simplicity of the story and the acting, make it entirely worthy of its Olivier nomination and of your time to watch it. Music Across the Ocean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RObONbXL9Jk&list=PLwf4gNQg-Pu1MfiRpkqLgycQy_iTd8s89&index=3&t=0s These two organizations – Chineke! and Sphinx – have collaborated to support young Black and ethnic minority musicians across the world and the results include this performance of the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Othello Suite by an orchestra of 72 young musicians, each in a different location, and no fewer than nine conductors (and, no, I don’t know which one they’re following but somehow they all manage to begin and end in the same place) which is a remarkable technical and artistic achievement and worth celebrating. Revelations – Alvin Ailey https://www.alvinailey.org/performances/repertory/revelations There must be those who have never seen Alvin Ailey’s masterpiece Revelations and to them I say, you’re lucky, because the impact of what is perhaps the most important work of modern dance is so joyous that I would love to be seeing it for the first time. I have, however, seen it dozens of times, whenever there’s an opportunity, either live or on film, and it never fails to enchant and amaze and move me. Using African-American spirituals, song-sermons, gospel songs and holy blues, Revelations explores the places of deepest grief and holiest joy in the soul. It is a cultural treasure, beloved by generations of fans. And by me. It’s only available free until June 11 so don’t miss it. Where the Hell is Matt?
https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pwe-pA6TaZk?rel=0 Well, it’s not Swan Lake. But if this little piece of dance video doesn’t make you smile, you’ve just fallen off the edge of the world.
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AuthorRuth Leon is a writer and critic specialising in music and theatre. Archives
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