Wednesday 23 October 2013

Taking a bite

The Boy may be contemplating whether his trip to Brecon Beacon was a wise decision.  I received a text this morning which said "Sideways rain, gale force winds, endless foggy skies and a landslide blocking the main road.  We left at 6.30 to go 5 miles by 7.00.  Had to spend an hour and a half going round."

I say it's all character building.  but I'm glad it's him, not me.

Some people think The Cat's Mother and I go to theatre, cinema and events too much.  "It can't be very special can it?" They say.  It's a fair point really.  But we like doing it...it's a hobby in just the same way writing a blog is.  We are quite picky about what we see, but that doesn't mean we don't get it wrong sometimes.  There have been some real clunkers this year, and an awful lot of mediocrity.  But in the same way you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your Prince (or Princess), it all seems worthwhile when you finally get to see something that's really worth it.  And last night was absolutely worth it.

We went to see Dracula, a dance production at the Wiltons Music Hall.  It's an old building (of course) and pretty tumble down, even with some restoration work having been done, and some more to come next year.  In a sense the building was ideal for a dark, fore boding horror story. The creator, Mark Bruce, had excelled in every respect.  It was dark with mist enveloping stage and audience, the staging was creepy and the music was perfect...spooky and scary and it filled the auditorium.  Some of the costumes were remarkable...the devil hounds and the horses pulling the carriage up to Dracula's castle were beautifully conceived.  All the dancers were phenomenal, with Jonathan Goddard as Dracula the stand out performer. If you live Oxford it will be there for a couple of nights in November and in the south-west, you can still catch it in Frome I think...highly, highly recommended