Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Hansel and Gretel

This was a recording from the New York Met seen on TV.  We started watching towards the end of scene 1, just before Mother arrives home to scold the children, and watched through to the end.


An absorbing and very dark fairytale, with, of course, a happy ending.  Great scenery and stage effects - quite Alice in Wonderland in places, especially the fantasy banquet scene with the chefs and the butler-fish.  I wasn't sure whether they were evil or good.


Odd to hear opera in English - good to have subtitles even so! 


Here's a link to  a 2007 review of the production http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/arts/music/26gret.html

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Lemon Sherbet and Dolly Blue - Lynn Knight

I caught this on Radio 4 early on August 3rd - I guess it was the mention of Chesterfield and in particular Whittington Moor which caught my ear. So, I ordered it.

It turns out Lynn Knight used to be an editor at Virago, too, and has written some women's history books

I think anyone would find the social and personal history interesting - Lynn concentrates on the three adopted children, her great-grandfather, Dick, her great-aunt Eva, and her own mother, Cora.  Around their tales, she includes a lot of local history.


For me, the book has a particular resonance, since my father's family lived in Chesterfield, and the Whittington area at that.  She talks about Pearson's Pottery, where my grandfather and uncle still worked when I was a child, and Shentall's grocer's - the yard was very close to Queen Street where my father and his brothers and sisters grew up.



Wednesday, August 3, 2011

A Winter's Tale at Tolethorpe

As usual a very enjoyable performance by Stamford Theatre company in their outdoor theatre at Tolethorpe Hall..  Some good set pieces - sword dance and morris dancing,  Especially liked ... as Paulina, ...as Autolycus, and ... as the young shepherd.