History Cycle
Went to see Richard II at the Round House last night, as our marathon History Cycle viewing begins. Do you know, I don't think I've ever been to Chalk Farm before. Seemed very nice, very middle-class. I like RSC audiences, they're scruffier than the ROH crowd. The production itself was crammed with the most luscious Elizabethan costumes - I wish people still dressed like that nowadays, the men looked so lovely. Unfortunately Richard himself was played as a screaming queen - think Richard Dreyfuss' Richard III in The Goodbye Girl. I think this was a mistake - the man can be ineffectual, but he still has to have an air of nobility about him, otherwise where's the tragedy. All that lovely poetry is wasted. You shouldn't be thinking that if it wasn't Bolingbroke, it was bound to be some other fellow because the rightful king is such a whiny petulant loser, or be positively pleased when Bolingbroke deposes him.
Had nothing to eat beforehand and survived by eating a pack of giant crisps in the bar before the show and most of some extremely sickly coconut ice during, that I found in the bottom of my bag.
Kids were babysat by a girl called Lenka: "I come from a very small village of a 100 souls in Slovakia." Tried to engage her in conversation about our imminent trip to Slovenia, but apparently Slovakia and Slovenia are not the same country, even though right-thinking folk might consider that they might as well combine and save us all the confusion.
Had nothing to eat beforehand and survived by eating a pack of giant crisps in the bar before the show and most of some extremely sickly coconut ice during, that I found in the bottom of my bag.
Kids were babysat by a girl called Lenka: "I come from a very small village of a 100 souls in Slovakia." Tried to engage her in conversation about our imminent trip to Slovenia, but apparently Slovakia and Slovenia are not the same country, even though right-thinking folk might consider that they might as well combine and save us all the confusion.
posted by FBT at 9:42 pm
8 Comments:
I'm sure I came across, if not a Lenka, then an Olinka in the movies a few years ago. She was improbably blonde and had a heavy mid-European accent. Didn't say much though.
Do you know that's not even funny in this part of the world. Suggest you don't mention it when you come.
Mind you, this faux pas is slightly better than that commited by a friend who, before his trip here, was convinced that all Slovenes got around by donkey and cart, and insisted on telling our neighbours of his surprise that not only was this not the case but also that they drove better cars than his.
All that money it sponges from the EU. (Ducks and runs)
Ducks and runs - sounds like Christmas dinner at the Phiz's before she hit the big time ...
Sorry (on several different levels) to say that Slovenia is a net contributer to the EU gravy train.
Ulaca, have you ever driven between Northern and Southern Ireland? Don't know what it's like now but over a decade ago it was like going from a third world road system to a first world one - and not in the direction most Brits would assume. All courtesy of EU money of course!
That bad, was it? So long as she had an downstairs and an upstairs cloakroom, I imagine you coped.
My only experience of Ireland was 30 years ago in the s-w corner of County Cork: Dunmanus Bay - next stop Rockall. Dad did all the driving, as I recall. Asking for directions was a big mistake. The fellow would lean on his scythe and 10 minutes later he'd still be going. A Guinness pump in every village shop. Impromptu music in the pubs. No gastro-pubs either - Toast would be pleased.
I got in trouble in Czech for calling it Czechoslovakia.
Some people are so sensitive!
Well, to be fair, at the time I did think they were still one country.
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