Review of theatre: Seasons Greetings

TL:DR – A review of a Hunters Hill Theatre production – Seasons Greetings by Alan Ayckbourn. Flirtatious middle age woman in Hunters Hill!

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Hey fellows!, flirtatious middle age woman are running amok in Hunters Hill! Well, they are at least running amok in Hunters Hill Town Hall during performances of a play Seasons Greetings by Alan Ayckbourn. A male guest, a famous author, joins an extended family for Christmas celebrations, and receives much attention from all the women-folk. The hostess switches on her charms, delighting the male guest late in the evening wearing only a thin slip.

 

Image credit: http://www.huntershilltheatre.com.au/component/content/article/107-seasons-greetings

The play is about a dysfunctional British family and it covers four days of the Christmas period of the year 1990. Neville and Belinda Bunker have opened their home to other family members including a peculiar doctor; Bernard, who has little regard for his occupational success.

The play had a few slow moments – particularly in the middle of the first act. The pace of the later part of Act 1 and the whole of Act 2 was more to my liking. I was uncomfortable with the plot development. For instance, it took some time for it to dawn on me why the family had gravitated to Neville and Belinda Bunker’s house.

The cantankerous Uncle Harvey was a welcome addition to the mix: he bought back memories of Christmases past. No family Christmas is complete without an aged relative who is still living in yester-year! The author; Clive, has perhaps the toughest acting gig in that he has to cope with being both a guest in the house and an attraction of the ladies.

We were fortunate to attend on opening night. The play runs through to 17 June 2018. The venue is very suited to a play with the stage suitably elevated above viewers. Appropriately, a picture of Her Majesty gazed upon us subjects as we watched this British production.

Thank you to Ticket Wombat for the freebie double tixs. Parking was a breeze on the main road and the coffee at interval was hot. This was the second play for us in as many months – heady experience for us.

Shalom,
Ozhamada

Reading Group question: regret

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce included a set of Reading Group Questions. One of the questions seemed particularly appropriate. It seems proper to finish the book by proposing an answer to that one question. The question is:

 

Regret is an emotion that plays a key part in the novel. Do you think Joyce sees it as a positive or negative force?

Image credit: https://goo.gl/images/UUKYkh

 

In answer:

 

• Joyce sees the emotion of regret as a positive force.
• It is positive in that it causes Fry fruitful contemplation and re-centering of focus.
• Fry is entering a new season in his life. The pilgrimage serves to cause Fry a major shift in focus from self-centred to other person-centred. Initially, that shift occurs in respect his target; Queenie, and then his daily contemplations bring him to focus on his relationship with his spouse. Most positive of all is that Fry, after many years, reconciles the loss of his son.
• The new season cannot be endured in old shoes. Fry’s yachting shoes deteriorate through the walk as a metaphor of how Fry need leave those shoes, and his stagnant way of life behind.
• There is no question that regret was both a positive and negative force – the later occurring in Fry’s recognition that he cannot holistically relate to his late-story followers. Nonetheless, the positive nature plays out stronger than the negative.
• Overall, the reader is left recognising that Fry will seek to make good on a wasted life. It is very plausible that all of his relationships improved as a result of his pilgrimage.

 

Shalom,

Ozhamada

Tim Winton, The Shepherd’s Hut

I’ve read many a Winton novel  or short story – including some of his work for younger readers. This novel made we groan up until the main character made contact with the occupant of the Shepherd’s Hut. The groan stemmed simply from the first person voice of the main character. That voice describes a loner’s journey on foot in escape from a circumstance.

That first person voice – used in current and reflective tense - is over loaded with Australian slang. Winton almost seems to pour out the entire Australian slang upon his readers. Schoolteachers could use this part of the novel to assess student’s breadth of comprehension of Australian slang could. The first person voice is current in describing the journey and reflective in drawing out the back-story.

Image credit: https://goo.gl/images/ivbu9s

On making contact with the occupant of the Shepherd’s Hut, the first person voice suddenly works. It works because it changes to a richly descriptive language that is interspaced with meaningful dialogue. It works also because Winton best draws out the beauty of the stark land when he is allowing the reader to view it through two character’s eyes rather than a loner’s eyes.

My two star rating rests largely on the first part of the book (up to approximately page 140). I truly feel that Winton would have done better to find another way of communicating than the extended first-person, loner dialogue. The second part of the book is memorable Winton.

The test of the novel perhaps lies in how an independent playwright may prepare the book for screen. I suspect a playwright may draw the viewer to the Shepherd’s Hut much quicker than does the novel. The meeting of the main character and the occupant of the Shepherd’s Hut – a meeting that the main character sought to avoid - would generate suspenseful screen action.

I am reading the hard copy edition ISBN 978-0-14-378611-5 as borrowed from City of Sydney Library. This post links from Goodreads. The two star rating is of the Goodreads system of user applying 1 to 5 stars.

Shalom,

Ozhamada

#timwinton #penguinbooks #theshepherdshut
#readAustralian

Review of movie: Downsizing

Rating: 1 out of 10

My interest in the movie Downsizing arose on observing a movie poster (refer this linked post). I had always intended to see it while it was in its run at the cinemas. General busyness and other opportunities saw the movie run its course.

 

Image credit: https://goo.gl/images/LruFVR

While sitting aboard a long-haul international Qantas flight I finally had the opportunity to watch the movie. The premise is relatively straightforward: a married couple commit to a procedure that will downsize them to five inches tall. In downsizing the couple is doing their bit to save the planet in terms of over-consumption and pollution.

The movie was a huge disappointment. The aspects that were true to the downsizing process were concluded within the first half hour. The balance of the movie was a messy mix of preachy environmentalism, love story, exploitation and racism. I was left feeling that the movie had no real idea of what it was trying to achieve. In contrast; Jumanji – another of the offerings on the Qantas entertainment system – left no question as what it was trying to achieve in that it provided Jack Black wonderful chances to pull off some worthy character specific jokes.

The messy mix was devastating enough yet the real problem was with the starring actor Matt Damon. Simply put, Damon appeared grossly disinterested. It almost seemed that Damon perceived in advance that the only nomination that the movie would receive for the 75^th annual Global Globe awards would be for “Best Supporting Actress” – an actress that starred alongside Damon and whom only made an appearance at approximately the half-way point. Damon seemed so disinterested that I expected a breach of the fourth wall as he voiced a note to his manager of order: “GET ME OUT OF HERE”. Damon’s expression was poor and he largely plodded through the movie waiting for it all to end.

There was hope that something exciting would occur – like a five inch actor being plucked from a boat by a passing seagull – but alas that did not arise.

Damon’s character loses his wife in the early part of the film. The two of them had starred together on a previous outing. By separating the actors the viewer never sees any development of on-screen chemistry in this movie. With an established male/female actor coupling broken early in the movie, Damon seemed to be left to hold the fabric together for the other female actor to thrive. Damon is too big a star to be asked to do this.

Downsizing – watch at your own peril!

Shalom,

Ozhamada


Note: After writing this I noted that Paul Brody, a film critic of The New Yorker, wrote of the film: "“Downsizing,” is three movies in one—a passable one, a terrific one, and a terrible one.". See, Paul had his reservations about the movie too.

Genogram from The Tattooist of Auschwitz

I quickly find myself muddled in books where the author introduces family relationships. Often the reader is required to hold aspects of the family structure in their head as they continue reading through the book. The Tattooist of Auschwitz includes a family grouping.


I prepared this genogram to understand the main character's (Lale) family structure. I hope you find it helpful.





And,



There is a full review of the book linked.


Shalom,
Ozhamada #readAustralian