Thanks to Photoshop and Bev's expertise Ernie and Kathleen have made it to Rome as agreed in crackers,  separate rooms of course.  The show went well and audiences were most appreciative as were those for the show I did the following week, The Curious Case of Osgood Mackenzie. We've been asked to take that show up to Wester Ross where Osgood developed the gardens now in the care of the National Trust for Scotland at Inverewe.  I think we are all keen provided a suitable date can be found.

So much for my shows.  Now for a quick run down on what I've seen since I last posted.

Shakers - the Grads other production.  A sparkling comedy by John Godber set in a cocktail bar.  Four actresses played a multitude of parts male and female to well deserved full houses.

Emmanuel Ceysson and Friends - an EIF concert in the Queens Hall.  He proved that the solo harp in the right hands can produce exceptional sonic beauty and in combination with strings and woodwind delighted the audience with a range of French pieces. 

Tutu - men performing both badly and well while clothed in tutus and other female dancing gear.  Impressive en pointe.  Less impressive was some of their humour.  The Stage didn't care for it much .   The Wee Review was slightly kinder.

Andras Schiff - EIF at the Queen's Hall.  This was great music played by a great pianist.  He overran the declared duration of the first half to such an extent that when the second half started we were within ten minutes of the normal end of those morning concerts.  By that time I was listening from the landing at the top of the stairs so that I could get off to my next show without creating a disturbance.

The Life and Times of Michael K. -  I loved this dramatisation of J.M.Coetzee's novel.  Despite the length and wavering focus, commented on in this review,  I was held by the artistry of the staging and performances and the tragic tale that we were being told.

National Youth Choir of Scotland -  The EIF in the Usher Hall.  Gorgeous listening.  No more to be said.  In a curtain raiser before the concert Christopher Bell gave a little background to the why and when of the founding of the choir and demonstrated, with audience participation, some of the teaching techniques that he uses with the choir and that are associated with the name Kodaly. 

Old God's Time - A novel by Sebastian Barry.  At the Book Festival he read a chapter from the novel in which the protagonist is listening to a cello being played.  His chum Steven Isserlis supplied the music to accompany the reading.  Chaired by Nick Barley the outgoing festival director there was a lively and interesting discussion of the book.  The reading was magnificent so I was not surprised to hear that Barry's mother had been an actress.  I was also intrigued to discover that her sister was Mary O'Hara whose folk singing to her own accompaniment on the harp was part of my record listening in the 50s.

The Court - I went to see this because one of my fellow cast members from crackers was in it. I wasn't overly impressed though it was reasonably entertaining. The audience, who were asked to reach a verdict in the case put before us had no real evidence on which to base a judgement.  It was one party says X while the other says Y so choose the one you find the more convincing.

Ayanna Witter-Johnson - an EIF event at the Hub. Ayanna is an English musician of Jamaican heritage who has a long association with the LSO and sang and played most engagingly with members of its percussion section in a programme mostly of her own compositions.  

A Portrait from the Archives -  At the Book Festival Iman Mersal (an Egyptian poet I'd never heard of) discussed her book about Enayat Al Zayyat (an Egyptian writer I'd never heard of) in front of a pitifully small audience. I'd never heard of any of them either (nor they of me) but the important point is that the event was very, very interesting.  To the extent that I bought the book and queued to have it signed, probably because I like to see my name written in Arabic script.  While in the small queue an Omani girl who'd been at the talk urged me to read Mersal's poetry and recommended a starting point. Pity I didn't make a note of it.

Lilies on the Land - Arkle's early evening show.  I enjoyed this well performed and directed story of the lives of the girls who replaced men in agricultural labouring roles during WWII.  My enjoyment was a little marred by some diction problems that should have been ironed out in rehearsal.

The Importance of Being Earnest - Arkle's second show.  Impossible not to enjoy Wilde's wonderful wit and the skilfully contrived plot despite not all the performances quite hitting the mark.

Talk of the town -  Two books, Who Runs Edinburgh and Edinburgh's Festivals discussed by their authors and the rector of Edinburgh University.  I didn't find the discussion particularly illuminating, perhaps because I already knew a fair bit about the early years of the festivals and because only stereotypes featured much in the picture drawn of Edinburgh's high heid yins.  I hope the books, which I felt obliged to buy, will give me more.

Quartet for the end of time -  EIF event at the Hub.  Composed in a wartime prison camp to suit what imperfect instruments and players he could find Messiaen's piece seems to me quite bleak, particularly the solo clarinet movement.  I don't mind bleakness when I've got a comfy home to go to afterwards.  Not everyone feels the same about it.  Read Steven Osborne's piece about it in the Guardian (nothing to do with this particular performance).  

Geology and Hope - Two books that provided an interesting discussion between their authors and Scotland's Geographer Royal.  Christopher Somerville walked from the Butt of Lewis to Wallasea Island in Essex focusing on the changing geological landscape. His book Walking the Bones of Britain records that journey and he sees hope for the future in the efforts that are being made today to harness nature to mitigate climatic and ecological change instead of relying on man's technological brute force.  Jay Owen's Dust  looks at dust everywhere : the skin flakes under your bed, the creation of the dustbowl in the American plains, the continuing health impact of the atomic test dust particles from decades ago et al.  She sees hope in the ongoing restoration of the Owens Lake in California which had been turned to dust in Los Angeles's thirst for water.  Both books underline man's ability to turn his world to dust but at the same time herald his attempts to do better.