The Deep Blue Sea

A very poignant play on the slightly old-fashioned theme of unrequited love. Not sure I was utterly convinced by this drama, but perhaps that is because I am so unromantic.

It commences with a woman being found alive after trying to gas herself (but failing due to not having put a shilling in the meter first). She did it because she felt her partner didn't love her (having forgotten her birthday the day before). We quickly become aware that he is a bit of a cad, but she is utterly devoted to him, whereas her husband seems a very decent chap (well of course he is, he is a lawyer). Ad this is the credibility problem. I just can't buy that anyone would be so devoted to the unsuitable man and prefers death than living with a decent one she just doesn't have any passion for.

If you can swallow that then the drama is an absorbing one, if not exactly uplifting. There is nothing much sadder than a tale of unrequited love.

I do like Rattigan plays, even if they do feel a bit dated. The emotions are strong and the plots are unhurried. The play develops in front of your eyes at a believable pace - there aren't sudden gear changes where someone who believed black a moment ago has sudden conversion to white.Helen McCrory is wonderful as the repressed heroine, searching for a way out. The problem for me is that I just couldn't relate to the awfulness of her existence. Get a grip girl, and go back to the lawyer.

(By the way, as the play is set in the Fifties everybody smokes. Almost continuously. Its even intrinsic to the plot, so if you are offended by open displays of cigarette smoking, look away now...)

Brexit

Ok, I don't really use this blog for political statements, not least as its not a public blog in that sense, more of a personal diary. But I can't let Brexit go without some comment.

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING YOU MORONS??? See what you have done to the country? And why???

I went to see Bridget Christie on Saturday night doing a warm up show. (Of all the warm-ups I have seen hers was by far the worst prepared. She she summed it up well in a spoof letter explaining why she voted Leave. "Well I was really angry about something but I can't quite put my finger on it. I thought it might have been the seal going on my washing-machine, but it wasn't that. And anyway, I wasn't going to listen to all those experts. I mean, I am pregnant but I don't want one of those midwives with all their training and experience. I want a bloke down the pub called Nigel to deliver my baby after he has had a fag and a couple of pints. He has common sense and that's much more important than education and learning and stuff."

So who do we blame for this mess? Well primarily pensioners and the northern and midland poor uneducated working classes it seems. The pensioners are presumably doing it out of spite to hurt young people. The poor working classes, well probably the same, allied with having the IQ of potted plants, which of course accounts for them being poor in the first place. Its no surprise to find that the educated basically voted Remain and the uneducated voted Leave. Problem is that its the young and those in  jobs that actually earn the country money (as opposed to needing subsidy to prop them up) that bear the brunt of this. I think in all fairness there should just be a surcharge on local authorities outside London and cuts to their benefits. They were after all warned by all those experts what would happen. And now ts happening. Just how cretinous to you have to be to vote for a recession? 

Reclaim our sovereignty? What good is that when we don't all want the same things? We had sovereignty in the Seventies. We also had economic meltdown with Denis Healey having to beg for bail outs and raise taxes just to keep us going, and whenever anyone suggested living within our means might be a good idea it was thought unsocialist and could be better solved by another strike.

And of course the biggest issue was immigration - and it played most in places where there are few immigrants. Essentially its all those people who start sentences with "I'm not a racist but...."

And having done nothing at all that prick Jeremy Corbyn is trying to cling onto power with his little coterie of supporters. Of course he is - a man so useless no-one has ever given him a job finally gets one, he isn't going to give it up lightly. In his own mind and that of the collection of left-wing fantasists that had previously had to split from each other on ideological grounds every five minutes to retain their ideological purity and got less votes at elections than the Monster Raving Loony candidate, he is the Messiah come to save his people from reality. And bring us all the prosperity that Greece and Venezuela have acquired. Of course those countries may look poor and desperate to the uninitiated, but it is London with its millionaires that is in really dire shape. Pillock of the first order, but only a really really stupid man, and a man who with a private education could muster only two E-grade A-Levels is undoubtedly at the chimp end of the mental spectrum, can't see his own ineptitude. Its all a conspiracy.

And then England go out to Iceland. Can this country get any worse? We were ticking over pretty nicely up to last week. Decent growth, recovering better than most from the 2008 recession. Now we are a country of racist thugs and idiots who can't even string together a few passes against a country the size of Leicester.

Well if it proves one thing, as if we didn't know it. We have a lot of thickos in this country. 

I will calm down eventually. It may take some time though. I have this awful sound of the song "The Lunatics have taken over the Asylum" running through my head.

Hobson's Choice

This is one of those plays you feel you have to see. Bit like an Inspector Calls. And it suffers from the same problem. Grossly moralistic, you see the plot a mile off and the morality tale just isn't a good one. Its trite. Old man treats his daughters badly and so in the end he who was great is cast down. something that raises moral dilemmas is worth seeing - this is a revenge tale.

Also not very well-suited to the modern stage with a cast of about a dozen speaking parts, headed by Martin Shaw as old man Hobson. No problem with the acting or staging, and not a boring night at the theatre. Just not a very engaging one either. The play is just too dated.

Coldplay at Wembley

A rare experience for me. Being taken to a gig by someone else. My mate James called me out of the blue early in the year to ask if I wanted to see Coldplay. Of course I said yes.

It was also nice to see James after a long time. He had decided to drive down and indeed drive to Wembley, having pre-booked parking. So he came to my place, we had a late lunch and set off round the North Circular to Wembley. It was one of those awkward days to dress for. Will it rain or be sunny? We were more prepared for rain. Within an hour of getting in bright sunshine in our eyes was the problem.

We could have got a place to stand nearish the front on the pitch, but instead chose to sit at the far end from the stage, but dead centre. So we were a long way away from the action, but at least we had a good head on view of it. And a comfy seat.

First support came from a young Canadian singer songwriter called Alessia Carr. Unfortunately almost everything I hate. Pretentious girl with flat if powerful voice thinking she is writing with enormous profundity, letting loose long introductions to her songs which are of course just trite.

Second support came from Leanna Le Havas. She has everything Alessa lacked - cool, charming with a voice of great subtlety.

 So then we just settled down to await the main act. Some photographers got on stage to photograph the crowd.

 And finally we get Coldplay. Now say what you like about them, they put on a great show. You know  the tickets are expensive. but you also know they will pull out all the stops to entertain. You get their terrific back catalogue added to with their latest album. Money's worth.

In an attempt to give everyone a good view the whole band came to the edge of the walkway in front of the stage.

As the sun went down, the illuminated wristbands we were all given came into view. The audience literally glittered. Don't know how much of our ticket price went on wristbands, but it was worth it.

James getting into the whole affair, wrist duly glowing. Just a little bit sci-fi

Great lights, lasers, pyrotechnics and everything, but just about my favourite was the backing film to Adventure of a Lifetime, one of the best tracks off the new album, with its multicoloured Simian dancers. Plus the balloons.

The band then came off to return up at our end of the stadium for some quieter numbers.

It was a brilliant evening. Chris Martin is a great front man, and I particularly liked the way he thanked the crowd not only for coming but also "for taking all the stick you get as Coldplay fans." Of course he recognises how unfashionable they are in critical circles, but  then its a well-known fact that bands get worse the more people like them. And people like them enough to sell out 4 nights running at Wembley stadium. Indeed I went to a meeting next day and two other people at the meeting had been to the same gig. They are crying all the way to the bank.

Only dampener in the evening was getting out the car park. Easy driving in, but we must have spent an hour stationery trying to escape. Stewarding seemed pretty non-existent on the way out. So a very late night home. But well worth everything.