Sunday 3 May 2009

What have you seen recently that's had an impact?

Just to start this off, here's an obvious one - just thinking about things you read and see, so many pass by with hardly a remembrance and it's a joy when it's not like that. When you find yourself thinking about it in an unexpected moment, or you keep starting a conversation about it.

Recently, something that stayed with me was Every Good Boy Deserves Favour at the National Theatre. First produced in the late 70s, a collaboration with Andre Previn and Tom Stoppard (well, I guess that's a good start), breaking the traditional idea of how you create and set a play with music. They chose to put both orchestra and actors on stage together and to have both a part of the action. Magic moments arise, such as when 3 chellists suddenly emerge as contemporary dancers.

The subject of the play is enough alone to get you thinking, with an exploration of the imprisonment of dissidents in the Soviet Union. The staging sets it apart and increases the impact artistically and intellectually. Thank you Felix Barrett and Tom Morris for giving it to us.