Am I cultured?
Roger hasn't been to Stratford for a long time - so he was bemused by the glittery, high tech, high rise monster the 2012 Olympics spawned. The Edwardian Theatre Royal - no doubt more used to ....
...Alert, alert...to hell with the "legit" theatre. Just binged out on the first series of "Line of Duty". We've had to stop viewing as the young punk is cutting off the fingers of our hero! We couldn't take anymore.
Absolutely transfixing: 3 pretty brutal murders and a few digits removed along with a really realistic throat cutting and a mesmerising baddy in the shape of a DCI who seems to have sold his soul for the entry to a private school for his two delightful daughters!
This is Websteresque: this is Jacobean tragedy: this is on the edge of your seat drama.
So the question is: Where is this on the theatre today. It ain't. It's revivals and fucking musicals of cartoons. No wonder Teresa May is PM and we are totally fucked. O.K. the link between T.V. drama, Aladdin and the total collapse of the UK as we knew it is weak. But...that fucking kid handing our DCI the phone and calling his shit face.. and this stupid, stupid policeman whose dick and lies are all for his kids' schooling. It couldn't get more tragic than that.
But we understand. State education is fucked so you do all you can to get your kids into the best schools you can afford. Being a total arsehole, a superhuman coward is not what we expect - unless you're keen on saving the Tory party.
Finally, inflation. I am concerned about police car inflation. Ordinary fucking policemen are driving around in really expensive cars. How do they justify that? In the "Sweeney" it was a bog standard "Capri" now Superintendents drive around in what - German fucking gangster Mercs.
"Equus" was brilliant. Although after a stunning first half -all magical and mystery the rationalisation of the second act was a disappointment. The blinding of the horses was painful. And the representation of horses was quite magical. Which for me shows how glorious are these animals. Which is what the play's about.
"The Price" was quite unexpected. I don't associate Miller with humour, but the first act was Jewish vaudeville. David Suchet was wonderful as an 89 year old Lithuanian Jew. He knew the price of everything and also its value. Unlike the two brothers and wife.
The slow expose in the first act was a joy to watch - we learnt a bit about the policeman and his wife and the Jew? how much was true. But it was fun until the successful, tax manipulating brother arrived. All kisses and cuddles not having bothered to contact his bro' in 16 years. And then all the resentment, pain, misopportunities spooled out. The deception? possibly? the cowardice? possibly? the loneliness definitely and in the end a sort of resolution.
The fucking doctor brother went home to his loads of money and an empty flat. I had no sympathy for that arsehole. As for the plodding cop - on the beat for 20 odd years - looking for retirement, not knowing what to do with it. Initially I feared for him. His wife was money and status focused -and drank her disappointment (rather trite). But in the end, they accepted their fate. They got a fair price and they had themselves and an opportunity.
Who could ask for more.
I can't wait to binge on the last two episodes of "Line of Duty", although we may fast forward the Duchess of Malfi - esque finger cutting scene.
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