King Lear (version two)

I'm half tempted just to talk about my weekend and not even mention the weekdays as invariable I put something rather vague and nondescript in most entries, we'll see (thoughts are welcome in the comments dear readers).

'Blindsided' is progressing rather well, most of our props are sorted and rehearsals are looking good I'm told. With the show being set in 1979 I have managed to get a Doctor Who paper prop in there (I needn't do anymore work on the show now, mission achieved). Alongside props I've watched many, many hours of Who sorting out stuff to get printed for next weekend (not that I'm complaining).

As ever come the weekend and I was off. Now as of last weekend my plan had been to go to an event this Saturday morning and then see 'King Lear' in the afternoon. That changed however as I wasn't able to get the ticket I thought I could on Monday. Instead my week has also consisted or ringing up every morning to try. Now my train got in at 9.55 am and five minutes later I tried again, and got a ticket! A fairly good one it turned out, in the dress circle, pretty central. Anyway, so I went to the Film Convention and met two actors, Isla Blair (nothing to do with Tony) and Hugh Futcher. I seemed to spend ages talking to Hugh who was delightful, such a nice man. From there I dashed across to the Old Vic. I forget if I've already waffled on about this, so unlucky if I have, here it is again. Whilst at Cardiff Comic Con, I said hello to Danny Webb who invited me down to see 'King Lear' if I could, so naturally I went along. Having never been to the Old Vic before I was very impressed, it is massive (really massive). The stage itself is ridiculously big. Now for those avid (more likely bored) regular (you poor people) readers, you'll remember that Dad and I saw it at the Exchange this year, but this was a very different production. This was set in modern day, in a brechtian style, using some incredible AV. Whilst the Exchange had been very intimate this was on a different scale, using shadow and light to partially tell the story. Then of course there is the question of Lear himself. Don Warrington was a very troubled, but loving Lear, whereas I felt Glenda Jackson was more vicious and controlling. Afterwards I said hello to Danny as promised and then met Glenda Jackson and a surprise Doctor Who actor, Simon Manyonda, who was lovely. As ever, I headed back to Cardiff, rather late at night (it’s the norm these days).

Sunday was a far quieter day, catching up with everyday life, but also catching up with the designers who I lived with last year. Having seen them briefly since July it was nice to have a proper catch-up with them.