Things That Have Been Keeping Me Cheerful During Lockdown 3.0 in England
Lockdown Lectures With James Wright, Triskele Heritage
What a gem of archaeological and historical information and drinker of mysterious pink squash. Generous answerer of questions and intellegent and humourous communicator and sharer of skills and knowledge. Loved hanging out with Richard III, panel interviews and more. Plus, there is still the 'poo' lecture to come! Book your place on Eventbrite now!
Hanging Out With Famous People....
Obviously I did what I do best, and carried on hanging out with famous people during Lockdown 3.0!
With thanks for enabling this to....
Edinburgh Youth Theatre Masterclass: James McAvoy!!!!
Enjoyed all their interviews though - Zoom format has challenged me to listen to people that I'd not heard of before, such as Moyo Akandé and Stef Smith.
Best of all BSL interpretation too and even adjustment to audience (such as taking out the Scottish words for one member). Brilliantly inclusive and safe environment - online churches, theatres etc please up your game! and money raised goes to supporting youth theatre group.
National Arts Club New York
Again, thankful to the NAC for allowing me to hang out with famous people - including.... Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen and more! Worth jumping time zones for or catching up later on YouTube. Generously free...
Fane
More famous people! So far Neil Gaiman, Elif Shafak AND Paterson Joseph; Raymond Blanc; Joanna Lumley, and very sweet Dame Maggie Smith and Kathleen Turner.
Not to forget, Neil Himself Gaiman AND the Queen of Bridgeton, Adjoa Andoh! Starryness indeed!
Kate Adie!
Engrossing 2 days real life story (and history) of how the SAS ended the siege of the Iranian Embassy in 1980 with one of the men who was there....Rusty Firmin. And Guy Walters, historian, and KATE ADIE!!!! Kate described how the journalists (who'd been in Northern Ireland) were braver than the police, inching forward and crawling across the road, after standing on vans to see what was happening, and interrupting the World Snooker Match with live coverage. I'd confused this with the Lebanese Embassy siege and shootings so very glad of the clarification and to enjoy some bravery without bravado.
Six Days in Knightsbridge proving that truth is often stranger than fiction.....
History Wardobe
Like Lucy Worsley and dressing up - think more of the same? A new discovery for me, but thoroughly enjoyed their presenation of the Working Women's Wardrobe through the decades.
Most items are original and donated; some are replicas. Love hearing the stories and seeing the practical adaptations of clothes by working women. Also thinking through how women often essentially wear men's clothes (body protectors in the Police or jumpsuits in the RAF) and they just aren't designed to fit female shapes properly. Hence the holding the sides of the anti-stab vest in Line of Duty - this action stops the item riding up for female PCs.
See Eventbrite for new events to come!
Classics For All
Good quality, accessible lectures on the Ancient World - featuring Mary Beard, a piractical looking Edith Hall and soon...Michael Scott!
Nunkie
Whilst this Global Pandemic world can frequently offer up new horrors, Nunkie provides scares and thrills of a Gothic kind! I'm not a fan of horror per se (as real life and the real world can, frankly, be scary enough), but do love me an MR James ghost story or some perculiar under the sea alien invasion take over from HP Lovecraft. These I can cope with and still sleep. If you're about to charge out to the newly re-opened cinemas to watch Saw, probably too tame - but I defy you to cope with Nunkie's sudden and unexpected screaming during a recent reading.
Plus, who does not love to have a story told to them? If this is all too scary, there is a virtual pub for more stories, and a poetry reciting thesp puppet - T S Elephant....Love me a pun too!!! Thus combining the perfect combination of Gothic, punning and quirkiness for me =)
On Eventbrite; but also has an active YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/c/NunkieFilms
He screams, I scream, we all scream!!!!
My lastest discovery the Nunkie Arms (an online pub and read story on Saturdays), plus the poetry quoting T S Elephant!
Charles Dickens Museum
Again to carry on hanging out with famous people - both Charles Dickens and Simon Callow in one! Not quite what I expected as Simon Callow gave us audience a tour of the Charles Dickens Museum, discussing Dickens life. In Dickens' own study and writing room, he did the 'voice' and performed a selection of readings including the infamous Sykes and Nancy murder scene from Oliver Twist. Was expecting more readings and voices, and less tour, (and it to be live rather than pre-recorded), but interesting to try none the less.
Theater of War
An ongoing Lockdown discovery for me (and again worth jumping timezones for) - passionate theatre company using Classical materials to speak to our society today. Stay if timezone differences allow for the discussions afterwards - often happen with carers or medical professionals, or those who've suffered huge losses such as women and grieving parents from Fergusson. Very powerful and insightful.
Again on Eventbrite, and have a YouTube channel too...
Travel is Still Possible - https://www.youtube.com/c/dariusarya
Seeing the sun set in Rome was incredible (as was seeing someone wander round Rome in the evening when UK and travel were locked down), not to mention some cheekily built ancient Roman toilets with the brilliantly named Darius Ayra. Plus free lectures at the weekend.
Some of the lectures are more detailed than others, (they lack the consistent erudition of Triskele Lockdown lectures with James Wright unless you pay sometimes), but I think for free and abroad, why not?
Mischief Movie Nights
I wasn't sure when I signed up for this as a lot of comedy can be vulgar and well, not very funny. But mainly keeping it clean cos kids near the screen....Mischief Movie Nights. We watch (in the manner of a reviewer or perhaps Blockbuster rental) a classic of a suggested title, genre and characterisation suggested by the Zoom audience. The reviewer will then interrupt/pause play at points to heckle, react or push the cast into showing edited or extended scenes.
And it's very. very funny and I will never look at an escritoire in the same way. Also the way the cast were very, very health and safety focused when one of the cast (impersonating a canine candidate at Crufts) decided to realistically create a very thin, very dangly collar and lead from a thin piece of rope.
Props, silliness and singing rainbows!!!!
This is the team who've done all the 'goes wrong' stuff in the West End and touring currently....
Worth watching the opening credits for alone...
The props, the props!!!!
Merchants House, New York
Involves a time zone jump again, but virtual behind the scenes tours are well worth it. This house is a time capsule of several generations of an upcoming 19th century family who lived there and the changing area. Plus it's near Bond Street (which as a Brit makes me laugh!) Enjoyed making a Yank's eyes pop as I announced on the chat I was from Southampton, UK, (it was LATE where I was). Virtual tours have included lighting (gas pipes hanging from the chandlier to power secondary lights - arghhh!) furniture, architectural features, and behind the scenes with the Irish servants.
Worth supporting as the house is underthreat from development works around it which may undermine its foundations. Wish they weren't chasing paranormal and ghost hunting activities - but ignore these and enjoy the history. Virtual tour of the house with Untapped New York (and the eye popping incident) was wonderful too - and so informative.
Still giggling - Bond Street...New York! Fascinating guide to the area, how it was created and how it's social status changed over time and how the Treadwells reacted to this (or not)....
Wallace Collection
I've taken great delight in the art history lectures from the Wallace Collection - Introducing.... Rococco; The Passion of the Christ in Art; Marie Antionette and Riesener's beautiful furniture; Scuplture and making connections with art, learning to really look at art and paintings and their subject matter, lighting, positioning and angles. Content and delivery has been very high quality overall.
I was suprised when one was disappointing - more film studies based and considering the art of place - Venice. It had so much potential, just from the title alone - Venice and the Moving Image; Curating the Cinematic City. The first presenter literally read from her slides (which were strobing in their colour combo for me) and seemed very unconfident in their content (huge quotes on slides too), and struggled to break away away from a flat, monotonous tone; while the second um'd and um'd some more, despite delivering overall more confidently. Considering that these are costly, I do expect to pay for a level of presentation and delivery and this wasn't it. Others have been wonderful - such as the Velazquez and the Spanish Prince conference.
But Venice has been redeemed by Bridgerton. Thoroughly relished the diverting and immersive pair of lectures on Austen to Bridgerton; Decoding Dress in Costume Drama. And truly splendid images, (past and present). I love the fact that, unlike other museums which are sacking their experts, the Wallace Collection utilises its curators expertise and also operates to a range of levels of knowledge and understanding. During this time of closure they've wonderfully shared their collection from a range of free Zooms and YouTubes too on particular designs and designers, and on their areas of expertise. Setting a great benchmark for sharing what they have and know.
Strobing, even with a Bond picture =(
And Others....
That I don't have a picture of! Wigmore Hall concerts; Barbican online concerts (Paul Weller and Jules Buckley!!!!!!); daily Come and Sing With Me Facebooks or YouTubes and some spin off concerts; Serge webinars; Krish Kandiah's thoughtful ongoing discussions of how we can reconcile and acknowledge painful topics of race, justice and injustice, and racism in society and church culture today; Patrick Regan and Kintsugi Hope; praying with London City Mission; Bodycoach TV, My Charleston dance parties and Kyra Pro; the London Writers Salon lectures; Morphe Arts; free lectures from the Royal Institute, the Royal Geographical Society; the Royal Armouries; the National Army Museum; Lucy Worsley and curator friends from Historic Royal Palaces; Jane Austen and Co lectures - we've Lockdowned with Jane Austen, now they're really beginning to look at diversity in Austen's world and writings; Trinity Forum discussions and truly excellent Sandbach monthly concerts.
Not to mention Zoomin' round the artistic centres and collections of the world with Andrew Graham Dixon (Florence, Paris, Venice and the UK); gigs from Jazz at the Lescar; Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club and the Globe Newcastle, as well as live theatre wherever it can be found, and One Sound Music's IsolationFest21 =)
Music Festivals Are Still Possible - https://youtu.be/M2JikJWRV2M
Loved IsolationFest21 (over THREE days too!!!!)
Jake Issac's Concert
Many, many concerts but this was a wonderful one.
Mind Melting With Crosslands Training
Had to go to this online lecture twice cos Tim Chester whizzed through Hebrews so fast; but free! and probably adding to my count of 'famous people' too....
One Tim, Two Toms
And not to be outdone - not one but two Toms (Holland and Wright) at Unbelievable conference 2021. No dinosaurs tho!
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House deserves a special mention for working within the restraints of COVID restrictions to promote the arts, music, dance and opera and to widen its audiences as well as promoting dynamic and diverse young artists. They also offer a mixture of free and paid for content.
A Midsummer Night's Dream ballet was both entrancing and really funny. Puck was very energetic. Steven McRae was fantastic in his face suddenly changing from stern, ethereal Oberon to a beaming grin at the end. And the dancing....
And my favourite ballet cats from The Sleeping Beauty....
Julius Caesar (Streamed On The Show Must Go On)
Perfect production, perfect diction! Minimalist modernist setting!
For who's who, see more here - https://www.rsc.org.uk/julius-caesar/past-productions/gregory-doran-production-2012
Lucy Worsley Book Lectures
Queen Victoria, Kensington Palace who's who, the Georgians.... and frocks! Who could ask for anything more?
Plus the ultimate social distancing court dress!
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