I was very excited about today - the Old Vic has taken to streaming shows live in camera (so, played to an empty theatre). And coming up next is Three Kings - a one-man show with Andrew Scott! Showing from Wednesday to Saturday, it replicates a live theatre show, in that you have to attend at the scheduled time - so the only show I can make is the Saturday matinée. For which I snatched a ticket asap! Caveat - despite the different ticket prices, the view is the same for everyone - it's just a question of how much of a donation you feel like making. They're supposed to send me a Zoom link, shortly beforehand - oh, and these are non-transferable, you can only use the link on one device. But boy, do I love Andrew Scott..
Sadly, he had to go to hospital (neither serious nor Covid-related, we're assured!). So it was rescheduled to this week - but they then informed us that it's now postponed to an unspecified date, as he's still not feeling well. Watch this space.. blast. At least it freed me up for Meetups - so I booked my first meeting in months with London Social Detours. This one was a chat about Elizabethan times, along with a short film. A small charge, but what the hey.
I decided to use my work computer, to ensure a smoother performance - I could have used my phone, but the whole event was supposed to last two hours, which is a bit too long to hold it! Happily, my work computer worked just fine. I logged in about five minutes early, as instructed - and was the first there. But within a couple of minutes of the scheduled start time, most people had arrived - sadly, one forgot all about it until it was nearly over, as she messaged us after.
It's become rather amusing to see the host's continuing struggles with technology - today, it ranged from not being able to broadcast sound with the video she was showing, to not being able to share her screen at all. Never mind - she tends to get there in the end. She actually showed two short films, both available on YouTube - and despite everything I've seen on this period, these were well worth a look, with a new, engaging narrative, and some clever visuals to recreate the Elizabethan town over the modern-day facade. Now, she was supposed to share with us at least the links to the other videos in that playlist - nothing at all yet, though.
In between, she had prepared a slideshow of interesting things to look at from the period, each complete with accompanying narrative. And I really do have to commend her thoroughness - even though I still don't like her breathy, gasping reading style. And even I learned new stuff - we spoke about how rats have been somewhat let off the hook for spreading the plague, and the second video had a very interesting sequence about the development of the ruff. The chat afterwards was a relief - I don't get to chat to enough people from the outside world these days. Even if, as the host bemoaned, just like every talk, it did work its way around to Covid!
After a slew of films on telly that I'd already seen, late tonight finally threw up one I hadn't. A Mighty Wind is a mockumentary about the reunion of a (massive) folk group, in memory of a recently deceased concert promoter. Written and directed by, and starring, Christopher Guest as one of the musicians, it stars Eugene Levy as another, who turns in a wonderful, half-crazy performance as someone that seems to have just left a home for the bewildered. All in all, this is a lovely, daft, ensemble piece with a sustained, wry humour. Recommended.
Now, tomorrow has no online Meetups that I can see. However, the London Chamber Music group is attending a classical concert, live in Highbury. I can't go, of course - and it's sold out anyway. But as they've published the programme - I can recreate it for myself. A popular set, including Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven - just the thing for whenever there's a black hole in the tv listings! I can't have the setting - but it can't be helped.
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