The Owls of Bath

I wrote earlier this month, about hunting for Minerva's Owls in Bath. The Art Trail ended on 10th September, but this weekend all of the owls were on display together, at the Bath Recreation ground, before being auctioned, for charity, in a couple of weeks time (except for the smaller owls (owlets) created with local schools, which will mostly be returning to  the schools involved)

There were originally 82 owls, with 2 extra ones added for the weekend.

Vincent Van Owl

Some of the owls were influenced by famous artists and artworks  (there was a Frida Owlo, as well as the Van Gogh / Starry Night owl), and one named 'Magritte, ceci n'est pas un owl',as well as Inkie Hoots , created by 'Inkie' , a famous local graffiti artist.

Patch

Some were inspired by local heroes, such as 'Patch', remembering the late Harry Patch, (the last surviving combat soldier of WW1, who was born just outside Bath, and died in Wells.) The owl was decorated by children from Combe Down primary school, which Harry Patch attended.

 There was also a HershOwl, recalling William and Caroline Hershel, musicians and astronomers, who lived in Bath in the late 18th C.

Octavius

Bath's Roman heritage was also represented. I found Octavian, with his mosaic  plumage, particularly appealing,  although there were a few others which also had some mosaic elements, and of course Brian, the Monty Python inspired owl ('grafitti'd' with "Romani ite domum" (Romans go home) was there. 

Cosmos

There were a number of Space related owls. Cosmos made me smile, but there was also Seemore, who had telescopes in his eyes and constellations painted on his body, and Cosmic Allen, which had a starscape across his plumage. 

Nor was Seemore the only interactive owl - there was another, Bird of Play, which at first glance seemed a bit dull, being plain black, but who featured a teleidoscope in one eye..

As a booklover, J.K Owling appealed to me a lot, and there were others with literary inspiration - Glimfeather, as well as being named after Lewis's Narnian Owl, has quotes and illustrations from various children's books on his plumage,  and the Festivowl celebrates the Bath Kids Literature Festival.

It is impossible to pick just one favourite owl,. I still really like the Sea Owl, which I 'found' on my original hunt, as well as at the weekend gathering.

Another lovely one was Tyrell, apparently intended as a replicant owl inspired by  'Blade Runner'

Tyrell

While I didn't think it was the most attractive, I also very much enjoyed the wealth of detail on Isambird Kingdom Brunowl...

Actually, I tell a lie. I did have a favourite. Her name is Pippa, and she was much smaller, more feathery and more mobile than the rest!

(She is a Little Owl, and was there along with a Tawny Owl and an Eagle Owl, and their handlers, a little way from the bustle and noise of the main event.)

I have a Flickr set, here, of all of the owls, and  the the Minerva's Owls website, which is at  https://minervasowls.org/owls/  has full detail of all the artists and owls. 

The Height of the Storm

I booked to see The Height of the Storm because how often do you get to see Eileen Atkins and Jonathan Pryce on stage, still less get to see them together.?

The play is interesting, and moving, initially, we see a daughter, returning home and trying to help her father, coming to terms with the loss of his wife, her mother . . . or do we?  

André and Madeleine have been a couple for 5 years, and have two adult daughters, but what is the loss they are dealing with? The sands are shifting underfoot, and the play explores the issues of grief, and loss, and dementia without ever naming any of them. 

It is very, very well done.(And one gets to hear Eileen Atkins say 'Fuck' , which carries it's  own joy!)

It's strange, but thought provoking, and despite dealing with loss and grief has its entertaining moments!



The play is in Bath before it opens in the West End. It's well worth seeing if you have the chance (and it's short  -about 90 minutes with no interval) 

Macbeth again

I saw the RSC's production of Macbeth with friends,  in March this year, and , before seeing it, had also booked a second ticket, to see it later in the run (we saw it very early on - I think still in previews.

Other than the company, I enjoyed it more the second time around, partly as my seat was in the central section of the stalls, so I could actually see the whole of the performance, including those parts behind a glass screen at the back of the stage, which were invisible from our seats the first time round! 


The production seems to have settled down, some of the rough edges which were there the first time have gone, and the cast seemed more confident. I think they had made one or two changes, particularly at the end, when MacBeth and MacDuff fight. (MacDuff, Edward Bennett, remains excellent. His grief, on learning of his family's murders, and his change from civil servant to avenging warrior remains a high point of the production).

I still feel that the projected quotes  / explanations were unnecessary and somewhat distracting.

I did enjoy the performances, and did feel it was better this tie round than the first time!

The production is over, now, at the RSC, but is at the Barbican in London from 15th October until  18th January. And I'd say that it is interesting enough to be worth seeing.

Art Matters - Chris Riddell and Neil Gaiman

Regular readers will know that I am a huge fan of both Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell, so I was excited to see that they had a joint event in London, celebrating the launch of their new book, 'Art Matters', and naturally could not resist the opportunity, even though it was (most inconsiderately in my view) on a Wednesday evening, so I was for some time on tenterhooks wondering whether I would be able to wrestle my work schedule in order to be able to go, but happily I could, and so Wednesday afternoon found me on train to London, and then in a very long, very hot (but polite and friendly) queue, with a good friend.

And after some queuing,and collecting our pre-signed copies of the new book, we found ourselves in the auditorium. It's a former cinema, and still has some lovely panels on the ceiling.

Chris Riddell was on stage as we came in, sharpening his pencils and drawing sketches. (As Neil commented" There was a moment of panic, about 20 minutes ago, up in the Green Room  when we looked around and went, ' where's Chris?' . We thought we'd lost you" )

Then Neil read the 'Art Matters' speech from the book (after pointing out that it was a slightly new version, as it is the elements of the original speech which Chris liked and chose to illustrate), At the tart, this was accompainied by a running commentary from Neil's son Ash, before his mother took him backstage again. Which was a shame, his enthusiastic 'Dadda!' was lovely to hear!  After which Neil ad Chris  both answered questions put by host Lauren Laverne.

Neil spoke briefly about his current involvement as a show runner for the 'Good Omens' TV show ("Stuff like budget meetings, I was not put on this earth for fucking budget meetings") and about writing the sequel to 'Neverwhere'  100 pages in, but taking time due to the demands of being a show runner)

Towards the end of the evening, Antonia Byatt, Director of English Pen spoke a little about the organisation and it's aims, and read from a recent letter from writer Ahmet Altan ,  who who has been imprisoned in Turkey for expressing unpopular views.

There was also an auction in support of EnglishPen, of one of the original artworks for the book, (which auctioneer Lauren Laverne pointed out, included DNA samples from Neil and Chris from where they had handled it, so the winner would be able to clone their own Neil or Chris!)

Neil holding the artwork to be auctioned

(and photographer Tom Bowles took the most perfect picture of it, which you can see  here)

There was then some time for a few questions from the audience, for which Chris drew replies, as well as giving verbals replies. 

I had to leave just before the end, in order to catch my train home, but the entire evening was videoed and is up on YouTube for all to enjoy. And of course the book is available to buy all over the place. If you don't already have a copy, I urge you to get one. 

Hunting for Minerva's Owls

This summer, Bath has been hosting an arts trail of Owls, to follow on from the previous pigs, and lions.

This year, they were owls, (for Minerva, given Bath's Roman history)

PeafOwl

  There were, apparently, 82 of them altogether, but I only had time to find a selection, about 20 of them (and as I did most of my looking on Saturday, which was supposed to be the last but one day, it seemed they have already removed some of them, which I can't help but feel is cheating!)

Speculo

Spokes

Each owl was sponsored by a different local business, and decorated by a different artist or school. Some, like Speculo  and Spokes (above) were beautiful. (Speculo was sponsored by a glass shop, and has separate, glass feathers on it's wings and back)

Brian

Others, like Brian, were amusing! (although I think they missed a trick by putting him in Queen Square, and not by the Roman Baths )

Forrest Stump

Some had smaller owls upon them.

The Owl and the Pussycat

After this weekend, I gather they are all collected and cleaned up, before being auctioned for charity.

They are really rather nice !
I have a Flickr album here with all of the ones I found.

Killer Joe - Trafalgar Studios

I had a busy time, when I went to London  - decided that if I was travelling up to see 'Othello' I should find in a couple of other plays as well. So s well as 'Exit the King', and a second visit to 'The Lieutenant of Innishmore' , I also went to see 'Killer Joe', at Trafalgar Studios. 

I chose not to read any reviews ahead of time, so all I knew going in was that it it features Orlando Bloom in the title role, as a cop with a sideline as a contract killer.



The plot features the Smith family, poor 'trailer trash',  living in Texas. Son Chris (Adam Gillen) returns home desperate for money, as he urgently needs money to pay off a drug gang, after his  mother stole his cocaine and sold it for her own benefit. 

He suggests to his father, Ansel (Steffan Rhodri) that they hire Contract killer Joe Cooper (Orlando Bloom)  to kill his mother, who has life insurance of which Chris's sister, Dottie (Sophie Cookson) is the beneficiary. They could, he suggests, use the money to pay Joe, and split the balance 4 ways between themselves, Dottie, and Ansel's wife, Sharla (Neve McIntosh)

The problem is, Joe expects payment in advance, and the family have no money, so he negotiates instead to take Dottie, as payment on account...

Things do not end well for anyone.

There are excellent performances all round - Sophie Cookson is particularly impressive,  vulnerable and child-like, save when she is  unexpectedly alert and aware of her family's plans. 

Bloom is also very good, never letting you forget that this is a man willing to kill for money,and, despite the romantic veneer, to coerce a vulnerable woman into sex. Definitely not someone who you would want to get on the wrong side of!

 I was seated right round to one side, at the front, so was very close to the action, including getting an unexpected eye full of the various incidents of full nudity! 

Very interesting play, if somewhat disturbing  lots of sex, violence and just enough humour to relieve the grimness.

the run ended on 18th August.

Enter the King at the National Theatre

I've enjoyed previous adaptations by Patrick Marber, so I thought that Enter the King was likely to be worth seeing, and I didn't think I'd seen it before. (Once it began, I started to think it sounded familiar, and realised I did see it, at the Ustinov, a couple of years ago).

Pre-performance set

This production features Rhys Ifans as the King, with Adrian Scarborough as the Doctor and Indira Varma and Amy Morgan as his Queens.

For those unfamiliar with the play, the King is, after over 400 years of rule, dying, a fact he is reluctant to accept, and as his life ends, that of the his Kingdom does too. 


It's a dark, but often funny, look at the process of ageing and attempting to come to terms with it. 

While I enjoyed the play, I did feel that it could have done with a tightening up a bit , there were points, particularly in the second half of the play, when the King's musings became a little tedious rather than thought provoking, but it is worth seeing.

It runs until 6th October

Othello at the Globe

I was excited to see that Mark Rylance was going to be performing at the Globe Theatre, in Othello.  I really enjoy his work as an actor  loved him in Farinelli and the King . So, months ago when the season booking opened, I booked myself a ticket, and on Friday, travelled to London to see it.

It was another blazing hot day and I was a little worried about whether my seat would be in the sun, as despite a hat and lots of sunscreen, I don't think I would have been able to manage 2 and a half hours in full sun.

Happily, my seat (or rather, my segment of backless wooden bench, this being the Globe) turned out to be in a section which was in the shade, although only just so, when I arrived the next bit of bench along was still in sunlight, and as I discovered when I sat down, the patina of god-knows-what which has built up on the wooden bench over the past 21 years had melted, or whatever happens to gunky wood, so I stuck to it when I sat down!


However, that was a small price to pay for the chance to see the production, which was very good.

Andre Holland  was excellent in the title role: he came across as very dignified, and his American accent is an asset, at it reinforces the sense of his distance from the Venetians.

Mark Rylance, as Iago, was, as might be expected, equally good, in an evil kind of way, and comes across as a small, jealous man, rather than one with a towering ambition.  Sheila Atim, as Emilia, was outstandingly good, a powerful, strong woman, uncowed by her husband or Othello himself. 

The play is on until 13th Septmber and well worth seeing if you can get a ticket.

A Quiet Weekend

Life has been somewhat stressful recently, and in addition, I do not really approve of the heatwave we have been enduring (or enjoying, depending on your point of view),so I was glad to take a long weekend last week to visit my parents and catch up with some other family members.

Having arranged to spend the weekend at (near) the seaside, it was perhaps inevitable that the weather would break and that 3 out of the 4 days I was there would see torrential rain and passing thunderstorms, and the 4th, intermittent rain.

However, since I was mostly going in order to unwind a little, and see my family, that wasn't too much of an issue! 

My aunt and uncle live near my parents, and it just so happened that they, with both of my cousins on that side of the family, had rented a house on the beach, for a family holiday starting that weekend, so on the Sunday, we went over for lunch and to spend time with them.

The beach is one which we as a family have been going to for years, and the house was literally right on the beach, so we were able to sit out on the patio looking out over the beach, and enjoying fizz and food, and retreat inside every time it started to rain! 

Which was handy.

The younger members of the party (aged 3 to 14) braved the sea and did some body boarding while a rotating selection of parents and cousins supervised them, and the older members of the party paddled and chatted , and a good time was had by all.

The rest of the weekend was very low key, and restful, which was good . I did a lot of very undemanding reading, a little baking, and some high quality lazing around!

And of course, as I drove home, the sun came out again!

Happy Potter and The Cursed Child

Two years ago I saw 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' when it was still in previews, and I thought I would like to see it again, from a different area of the auditorium to see some of the special effects from a different angle.

On a second viewing, it's still a lot of fun. There is a whole new cast, featuring Franc Ashman as Hermione, Jonathan Case as Scorpius, Joe Idris-Roberts as Albus, Jamie Ballard as Harry, and James Howard as Draco.

I enjoyed trying to spot how the various bits of magic were worked, and simply enjoying those that I couldn't work out, and it was fun, too, to see how the different cast performed their roles.

However, it's fair to say that the somewhat clunky and predictable plot drags a little (more) on a second viewing.

Overall,fun, but with an element of diminishing returns.

Henry V - Shakespeare At The Tobacco Factory, at the Ustinov Studio

I don't think I have seen any previous Tobacco Factory productions, but I like Shakespeare and I've tended to enjoy plays at the Ustinov, so I was optimistic I would enjoy Henry V, and I was not disappointed.

The production, (directed by  Elizabeth Freestone) has a modern setting,with a minimal, stripped-down set.

At the outset, Ben Hall, as Hal, is still the party prince we know from Henry IV, returning home after a night out, and  the opening scenes, as his lords and bishops discuss his rights to the throne of France, takes place while they assist him to dress and wake up.

As the play progresses, he becomes more confident, but also more vulnerable - appearing a little uneasy in his power, and st times overwhelmed.

The threats made to the 'half achieved Harfleur' speech are made via radio, setting up an interesting question as to whether, and to what extent, Henry is bluffing, as his aides appear appalled, almost on the verge of interrupting him.

The production combines the roles of the Dauphin and Katharine,(played by Heledd Gwynn), which makes for a fascinating and deeply moving slant on the final scenes, and Henry's proposal. Her scene learning English vocabulary, as she cradles the body of her lover, one of the prisoners killed on Henry's order, is extraordinary.

It's a very good production, (and it was good to see women playing Exeter, Monyjoy, Bardolph and the Chorus, as well as the Dauphin)

The play is at the Ustinov until 21st July.

Photos of the show, and tour dates here 

Westminster Cathedral, William de Morgan, Art and Family

While I was in London last weekend I had some spare time, and used it to do a little bit of sight-seeing.

I called in to Westminster Cathedral, which is a Roman Catholic cathedral, built between 1895 and 1903 - it's built from brick, so on the outside it has a flavour both of Victorian municipal building and Italian church - I can't help but think that the architect had seen Siena but didn't have the budget (or the marble)

Inside, it isn't completely finished, but those parts which are complete are Neo-Byzantine, with mosaic ceilings. (I do have a very soft spot for a well done mosaic ceiling)

It's impressive, although I couldn't stay long due to the amount of incense!

My second bit of touristing was a visit to the London Guildhall art gallery, to see their (temporary) William De Morgan exhibition.  I am very fond of William De Morgan's work, from when I first came across his work in the Manchester Art Gallery, years ago.

He was a contemporary, and friend of William Morris', and designed and created ceramics - dishes and tiles (including tiles explicitly designed to complement Morris's wallpaper designs.

What I didn't know before seeing this exhibition was that De Morgan's father was a celebrated mathematician (Augustus De Morgan) who was an agnostic who became a professor at University College London as, unlike Oxford and Cambridge, no theological test was required. He also taught Ada Lovelace. It seems likely that his skills in maths and geometry influenced his son's designs.

I also learned that William De Morgan designed a set of tiles for Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (better known, of course, as Lewis Carroll), who was a friend of his,  which were installed round the fireplace in his college rooms: they feature Dodos and dinosaurs, among other things. (They are still in the College, but the exhibition has photos) 

 I loved the dragons and fishes, and the fact that almost all of the designs are symmetrical, some of them in more than one direction.

Sadly the Greast Hall at the Guildhall was not open, so I couldn't look round the hall.

However, the church next door, St Lawrence Jewry, was open, so I popped in for a while. The church was designed by Christopher Wren, but was badly damaged in the Blitz, leaving the walls and facade standing but not much else, so the interior and stained glass are modern. I rather liked St Michael.

 But the best known of the windows is the Christopher Wren window, which features the man himself (flanked by woodcarver Grinling Gibbons and Master Mason, Edward Strong, with the architect and Vicar at the time of the restoration shown at the bottom of the window.

All very enjoyable. As was the duet being played on the church's grand piano, while I was there. It wasn't clear to me whether they were official, as it were, or if they had, like me, simply popped in in passing but (unlike my) had the skills and talent to play wonderful piano duets!

And in between, I got to meet up with one of my cousins, and to have a really enjoyable catch up.