A conservatoire according to Collins dictionary is "an institution or school for instruction in music", so when the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama changed its name to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland you could have been forgiven for thinking that they had decided to get shot of their role as a drama school.  Not so. Theatre training continues and produces excellent results.

I popped over to Glasgow recently to see two productions by the final year acting students. They were both excellent.  One was The Hypochondriak, a version of Molière's Le Malade Imaginaire. His comedies always seem to work well in Scots and this was no exception.  The other was an absolutely first class production of The Country Wife.  The Herald gave it five stars and it deserved every one.  

Another great play and fine production that I saw last week was Bondagers.  It's an exploration of the lives of a group of 19th century female agricultural labourers that premièred at The Traverse a little over 20 years ago.  I was stunned by that production so the Lyceum's was inevitably a little bit of a let-down but only a little bit.  The harshness and fragility of the life people led in rural Scotland at that time has thankfully gone but the characters drawn surely still exist in different guises throughout modern society.

My neighbour in the Usher Hall on Friday opined that "she fair draws them in" referring to the fullness of the house, the fullness of the Caird Hall the previous evening and doubtless the fullness to come of Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall on Saturday, brought about by the presence of Nicola Benedetti.  For it was she we had come to hear play Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto.  I'm sure there are other violinists who play it well but we all believe that our local hero is the best.

A few people seated in the organ gallery could be seen shuffling out during the piece, their loyalty to Nicola (if indeed that's what brought them) not sufficient to stand up against Shostakovich's brutally beautiful phrases wrenched from the extremes of the instrument.  I love it.