All My World's a Stage

Last year, I only went to the theatre five times. When I say "only" I'm well aware that I still went more an the average person, but I live in London, I work in the industry and do occasionally get free tickets. I even drink out of a "Chicago" mug (as do most people in our office - we were sent a shipment of them).

So one of the things I was determined to do this year was to go to the theatre more. So far, I'm level with last year's record, which is still probably way less than most people in our office, but then I am limited in my choices as (whisper it) I don't really like musicals.

My theatrical experiences this year have been as follows:

Spamalot - I'm aware that this is a musical but it is more Monty Python than musical, and I like Monty Python. This is rather a double-edged sword though, because you have to like Monty Python to enjoy this, but if you like Monty Python, chances are you will already know all of the best jokes.

Ring Around the Moon - A farce about mistaken identity by Jean Anouilh. It was funny, but I couldn't help but think that if I'd been directing it, I'd have done it darker as there was definitely potential in there for the comedy to be blacker. Sadly, as it wasn't a musical or a play starring a big name from television (just lots of good actors), it closed pretty quickly.

Festen - I returned to my old theatre, an amateur place that prides itself on producing to professional standards. I used to do backstage work there but hadn't been back for about four years. I was the youngest person in the audience by about 30 years, although there weren't many in the audience anyway. According to the programme notes, many members had vowed to stay away as they did not like the subject matter - incest basically. It was a good production and I was reassured to find that the old place hadn't changed a bit - I'd worked with the director and a few of the actors back in my time there.

Billy Elliot - I was at the 3rd Birthday Party for the show, which meant it was introduced by the director and there was a special performance at the end by the new set of Billys who are going to New York. The show is excellent, that is undeniable. However, I did have problems with the casting. Its terribly un-pc to even mention this, but in some pieces such as this "colour blind casting" just doesn't work. If you have play set in a precise time and location, especially one in such recent history, to me it looks frankly odd if one member of a family from a white working class area is black. The dialect coach should also be fired. The accents, on the whole, were woeful and kept hopping over the pennines. There were about four people in the cast with a north east accent, and only one with the correct accent for that area. Obviously, being from there, I'm more sensitive to this than the average person. In fact one of the snooty "never been out of London" types in my office said they didn't like it because they couldn't understand a word that anyone said. But so long as you aren't from the north east but have heard someone who speaks with anything other than an RP accent before, it is a brilliant show.

Fat Pig - A comedy by Neil La Bute starring a trio of people currently very popular in the world of television comedy. This promised more than it delivered. It was entertaining enough for the first half, but after the interval it dipped and it really didn't have anything special to say.

I had the chance to see "Gone with the Wind" but decided that free ticket or not, I didn't fancy sitting there for over three hours.

Screen Time

Of my vague resolutions the only one I’ve really made much head way with is my resolution to watch more films. Not exactly a difficult aim and quite an enjoyable one. So since the beginning of the year I’ve seen three films in the cinema, plus one regular film club screening.

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
The previews described it as “part heist movie, part Greek tragedy” but it was pretty much all Greek tragedy really. It had that awful inevitability about it, where you want to scream “Don’t do that. That’s a really bad idea!” and you just know its going to end badly for everyone concerned. It didn’t end quite badly enough for Ethan Hawke’s character in my opinion, but that’s just because I have an unexplainable dislike of him.

No Country for Old Men
Its not that I didn’t understand it or that I’m a heathen who only likes blockbuster action films, but really I thought that was one of the most over-rated films I’ve ever seen. Every review I’d read of it, the reviewer was practically wetting themselves over it. But it did nothing for me. I didn’t hate it but it didn’t seem anything that special. The phrase "Emperors New Clothes" sprung to mind. Yes, it looked beautiful – give the cinematographer an Oscar by all means, but then again how difficult is it to make a good looking film with a million dollar budget? I've seen lots of good looking films. Sometimes I want something more.

Frank and Cindy
The film club screening this month was a documentary about a one-hit wonder musician and his wife, as filmed by her son. I’d never heard of Frank’s group Oxo who had one hit in the USA in the 80s, but that didn’t matter. Unlike No Country for Old Men, it didn’t look good. It won’t be winning any cinematography awards anytime soon but it had something more. It was funny, it was touching, it was interesting, it was original. Unfortunately it may never come to a cinema near you but it is still going round various festivals.

Juno
Courtesy of the Sunday Times, we went to a preview screening of this last night. A comedy about teenage pregnancy doesn’t sound the most promising (I was half expecting something like a Ken Loach film!) but it was brilliant. It was funny and heart-warming and really properly feel good, which is saying something as very little usually makes me feel good. I liked everything about it - the music, the titles and since I no longer have a father, I would like to be adopted by her father in the film.

My only qualms with it is the way it is being marketed as being a script by a stripper turned writer – actually she was an advertising executive turned stripper first of all, but that doesn’t make for such good copy.

The people coming out of the cinema behind me had a strange complaint about it though. They didn’t believe the girl was 16 as "she acted more like a 12 year old with her constant drinking of Sunny Delight". This wasn’t a major part of the plot and seemed a very small odd thing to pick on, but perhaps they were students doing a thesis on “the consumption of soft drinks in contemporary cinema”.

The Futility of Resolutions

I’m fighting the urge to write out a list of resolutions for 2008 as I fear they will be depressingly similar to those for 2007.

Get a New Job in particular has featured on the resolution list ever year that I’ve had a job.

Get Fit is always in there too.

As is Save More Money.

But that last one often conflicts with vaguer aims to Have a More Interesting Life or Be More Cultured (which can usually be broken down into Read More, Travel More, Learn Something New, Watch More Films, See Friends More Often, Go to More Exhibitions).

I may have once vowed to Give Up Coffee but I won't be doing that one again, although Drink More Water and Eat More Fruit will probably return.

What is particularly depressing about my failure with the resolutions as that they are all obtainable goals. Its not like I'm aiming to Swim the Channel, Win the Lottery or Win a Nobel Prize.

And yet each year its the same. Well maybe 2008 will be the year I succeed. If not I can always just cut and paste this post again in 2009.