This is all culture, no knitting, I am afraid.
I hope everybody realised yesterday that silence was
due to my busy day. And I got through it – the lunch with Helen’s sons at
Dishoom was delightful. I took a taxi up, and walked back, so the day wasn’t
completely without exercise. And I was still strong enough for Godot in the
evening.
It was sensational. If we hadn’t all been so British,
we would have stood up and cheered at the end. As the Times rightly said at the
end of their review, “So there you have it. We can all stop waiting now. Godot has arrived.” [And yet
they gave it only four stars. What did they want? Love interest?]
It was brilliantly designed and directed and acted and
choreographed. I read some of it today, to see if they had hammed it up a bit
to make it more entertaining. No, it’s all there in the text, including the
stage directions. If the dead care for such things, Beckett must be very
pleased.
Perhaps you have to be Irish to take him to that
level. They all were – a company called Druid of which I had never previously heard.
Tonight on television – to descend to the mundane – is
the program about Sylvia Plath which prompted our recent conversation. I have
been reading The Bell Jar in preparation. I thought it was going to be a
re-read – I’m sure the book is on a shelf in Kirkmichael – but it doesn’t feel
at all familiar, after the first couple of chapters about the month in NYC with
Mademoiselle.
It’s very grim. It was published shortly before her
death, although the slightly-fictionalised events in it had happened a few
years before. Did she feel that, once it was published, she owed it to her public
to go through with a successful suicide?
I’ll watch, anyway, getting on with Rachel’s socks.
Then, next week, the Calcutta Cup vest must be resumed.
Tomorrow is Paradox’ 1st birthday.
And what I forgot to tell you in advance, now really
too late, is that there was a nice puff for Greek Helen and her mosaics in
yesterday’s Times – but only in the Scottish edition, alas! in the Bricks &
Mortar section, halfway through an article called, I am afraid, “Ways to Craft
Your Own Homeware”.
So glad you had a successful day yesterday.
ReplyDeleteBest to get Sylvia Plath out of the way while it is still summer. I think she would be even grimmer, read in January.
Beverly in NJ
An even sadder possibility - back in the 1970s I think it was, I read an article theorizing that Plath had not intended an actual suicide, but a 'demonstration' one, since not one but something like five different people who would ordinarily have saved her (as they had before) were by chance prevented from doing so.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to hear that you had such a successful day, with two social events and still enough strength to knit!
I have never seen Godot - sounds like a wonderful outing, good food, good company, good theater.
ReplyDeleteWe saw the same Druid Company perform Waiting for Godot at the Shakespeare theater in Chicago last month.
ReplyDeleteIt was very well done. The audience stood and cheered at the end with great enthusiasm.
Happy Birthday to Paradox! She has added great happiness to your household (Perdita might disagree with this!) and we have all loved reading about both of them.
ReplyDeleteHurray for.a very good day. I love it when that happens! Chloe
ReplyDelete