Piaf – Nottingham Playhouse nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk/events/piaf-on-demand/ Click here to rent “You don’t have to stay in the gutter just because you were born there…” Born Edith Gassion in 1915, no one could have predicted Edith Piaf’s phenomenal rise to fame – from singing in the streets of Paris to becoming one of France’s biggest international stars, her voice is still revered to this day. But her extraordinary talent was matched with an equally extraordinary personal life. Jenna Russell stars in Pam Gems’ sensational and emotionally-charged play which explores the highs and lows of the enigmatic yet fragile singer’s life and features some of Piaf’s most famous songs, including La Vie en Rose, Hymne à l’amour and Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien. Directed by Adam Penford for the Nottingham Playhouse, Piaf is available to rent for five days from now until Dec 31 £15.00 The Octave of Christmas - Melbourne Octet Click here to watch This sounds like a glorious concert from Australia’s Melbourne Octet, exploring the extremities of Christmas repertoire from the 13th to 21st Century, this presents some of the most fabulous rare gems of Christmas music; each piece a showstopper in the context of its time. The program includes works by several Melbourne composers and some classics in close harmony arrangement. It includes various well-known carols in unusual arrangements but, more interestingly, it has music by Perotin, Praetorius, Dering, Britten, Warlock, and that most famous of composers, Anon. The sticking point for those of us NOT in Australia is that this is a livestream and requires a certain amount of arithmetic to work out what time it will be streamed where you are. Live, it is broadcast on Sunday Dec 9 at 8.30pm AEDT (Australian Eastern Daylight) which works out to be 9.30am in the UK the previous day, Saturday, Dec 8, and 4.30am in the Eastern US. I hope you know how to work your recording equipment. Dec 8/9 $24 AUD Shakespeare’s Globe new player Click here to register Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre has a marvellous archive of its past productions and they have a new mechanism to make them available to us – Globe Player. Here, for a mere £59.99 year or £9.99 per show we can access their A Midsummer Night’ Dream, Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, Much Ado, The Duchess of Malfi, King Lear, Two Noble Kinsmen, Loves Labours Lost and a bunch more. For Shakespeare lovers, especially those lovers who appreciate the Globe’s somewhat unconventional take on these classic plays, this is a good deal. But nothing in this world is as easy as it looks. First, you’ve got to set up a Globe account. Go to the Globe website www.shakespearesglobe.com to activate your account and set up a new password. Once you've set up your password, it’s fairly straightforward (everything’s relative) and you can log into player.shakespeareglobe.com to find the play or film you want to watch. You only have to do this once. The Snow Queen – Scottish Ballet Click here for tickets I’m already sick of The Nutcracker. Yes, Tchaikowsky’s music is wonderful and every version of this ballet – the paradigm is of course Balanchine’s choreography for the New York City Ballet – gives new insights into this, let’s face it, silly story of a child’s birthday party which gives way to a grown up horror tale of man-sized rats and toys which come to life. The whole thing is preposterous. After all, have you ever heard of a little girl being given a kitchen implement as a birthday present? Instead, this year, try something a little different. Blessed with its own Russian score, in this case by Rimsky-Korsakov which is no less tuneful but much less hackneyed, Scottish Ballet’s 50th anniversary year comes to a close with the world premiere of The Snow Queen. This glittering new ballet by Christopher Hampson, designed by Lez Brotherston, is inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s much-loved tale (which was also the basis for Frozen). From the bustle of a winter’s market to the shivers of a fairytale forest, take a journey to the Snow Queen’s palace, where you’ll find her surrounded by the icy fragments of an enchanted mirror. Along the way, you’ll meet a colourful cast of characters, from young lovers parted by a spell to a circus ringmaster with a few tricks up his sleeve. It’s fresh and modern, the dancing from an ensemble Scottish Ballet cast is fine, and it gives us a break from the usual Christmas fare of pantos and Nutcracker. Holbein – Eye of the Tudors – Waldemar Januszczak Click here to watch Searching around the internet this week for a programme about art that didn’t come from the Rijksmuseum or the Frick (you must think I’m on commission, so often do I recommend their videos to you) I found this. It’s a fascinating documentary about the painter, Hans Holbein, who gave us our indelible view of what people, particularly Royal people, looked like in the time of Henry V111. What did they wear? How did they present themselves? Why did they matter (if they did)? Holbein – Eye of the Tudors is presented by the immensely knowledgeable and erudite art critic and historian, Waldemar Januszczak. What he doesn’t know about painting in the 16th century isn’t worth knowing and he tells it in an earnest, down-to-earth style that is direct and communicative. On the minus side, the programme is riddled with commercial interruptions which you just have to ignore and the Januszczak style of presentation is not everyone’s cuppa. I admire what he writes enormously but find watching him somewhat harder to take. But if you’re interested in portraiture, there’s no one better. Hindle Wakes – Mint Theatre Click here to watch This 1910 play by Stanley Houghton caused a scandal at its first production because it concerns a brief affair between a mill girl and the son of her employer. Its subject is class, and sex, which in 1910 were not considered suitable subject for discussion and the choices made by the young woman were thought completely shocking. It deals with an independent-minded young woman insisting on her right to enjoy a sexual flirtation regardless of the disapproval of family or society. The play is very old-fashioned but quite startling, once you realise that it was staged in 1910 and popular enough to have been made into a film no fewer than four times, the first in 1931, the last in 1952 when it was updated to the 1950s. Hindle Wakes is not often revived and it’s a strong play so, good for Mint Theatre that they’ve once again unearthed an unusual work that’s worth seeing again. Directed by Gus Kaikkonen. Nov 29-Dec 26 on demand
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AuthorRuth Leon is a writer and critic specialising in music and theatre. Archives
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