Fanfare Le SNOB

The opening of the Festival couldn't have been more captivating! During the first song I was a bit afraid of Fanfare Le SNOB - they seemed mystical, something like the witches out of Macbeth with a sinister edge. Ben said their pointy hats made him think of the KKK... but by the end of the performance they felt like friends and I didn't want them to leave. If you ever get a chance to see Glissssssendo take it!

Here's a video of them - not a patch on actually being there but it gives you a sense of what it was all about.

Looking forward to the fireworks in Earlham Park tomorrow night!

(updated as found embedded video)

The Painted Veil

Next on my reading list is The Painted Veil. Having watched the film a few days ago I highly recommend it. Full of good acting (Ed Norton and Naomi Watts), haunting music (Satie's Gnossienne No. 1 is the theme) and a brilliant plot.

The film is based on the novel by W Somerset Maugham - a story made into a film three times since its publication in 1925. It was inspired by a tale in Dante's Divine Comedy which tells of a man who suspected his wife of having an affir. As punishment he took her to a place where she was likely to catch a deadly illness. She didn't die soon enough for his liking so he pushed her out of a window. The film doesn't follow its inspiration exactly, rather it portrays a rather surprising and smoulding love story.

Mother Superior played by Diana Rigg, had a few lines that have stayed with me over the weekend:

I fell in love when I was 17... with God. A foolish girl with romantic notions about the life of a religious, but my love was passionate. Over the years my feelings have changed. He's disappointed me. Ignored me. We've settled into a life of peaceful indifference. The old husband and wife who sit side by side on the sofa, but rarely speak. He knows I'll never leave Him. This is my duty. But when love and duty are one, then grace is within you.

The title The Painted Veil is taken from a poem by Shelley:


‘Lift not the painted veil which those who live
Call Life: though unreal shapes be pictured there,
And it but mimic all we would believe
With colours idly spread,--behind, lurk Fear
And Hope, twin Destinies; who ever weave
Their shadows, o'er the chasm, sightless and drear.
I knew one who had lifted it--he sought,
For his lost heart was tender, things to love,
But found them not, alas! nor was there aught
The world contains, the which he could approve.
Through the unheeding many he did move,
A splendour among shadows, a bright blot
Upon this gloomy scene, a Spirit that strove
For truth, and like the Preacher found it not.’

(My crude interpretation - Walter Fane, a man who lifted the veil, was looking for things to love and thought he'd found this in Kitty, but sadly there was nothing in her of which he could approve after she was unfaithful. The painted veil hid their loveless marriage from the outside world and tricked everyone into believing that they were in love, that Kitty followed Walter into a cholera-infested land out of devotion, when in fact Walter, like the Preacher in Ecclesiastes, found that he was searching for a love that didn't exist).

Incidently, Shelley's biography is quite interesting. He abandoned his pregnant wife and child for Mary Godwin (later Shelley, authoress of Frankenstein), who he married after his first wife drowned herself in the Serpentine in Hyde Park. He died at just 29 years old yet has become one of the great English poets, influencing the likes of Tennyson, Byron and Keats.

Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2009

1-16 May 2009 is the Norfolk and Norwich Festival. There's lots of really interesting performances going on, these are the ones I've got my eye on at the moment...

Glisssssssendo - 1 May on Millenium Plain, 5.15pm and 10.15pm (FREE!)

Dressed in cone-shaped gowns and hats spouting flames and performing on an assortment of brass, percussion and plucked instruments, the members of Fanfare Le S.N.O.B move swiftly and silently, morphing as if by magic into transfixing choreographed routines. These magnificent musicians/comedians are by turns heroic, glorious and hilarious, pushing the limits of a mere fanfare to create, in their own words, generous and humorous shows.

Bombs per Minute or Tres Mechant -2 May at Earlham Park (FREE)

A clock ticks. Bells begin to toll. Fireworks start to errupt into the night sky in a continuous, almost hypnotic flow. The tempo quickens and a torrent of light and sound is unleashed – a furious but beautiful explosion of energy that will set your pulses racing...

Phillip Glass - Etudes and Other Solo Works for Piano - 15 May at the Theatre Royal - I really wanted to see this but all the cheap tickets have gone already!

The Garden Party - free performances in Chapelfield Gardens during the middle weekend including...

Levity III - Adults £4, children £3 - this will be open throughout the festival

A kaleidoscope of liquid light, gentle surround-sound and psychedelic colour. Levity III is a 10,000-square foot inflatable, walk-through sculpture inspired by Islamic architecture and the beauty of natural geometry. It’s also a fantastic chill-out zone, so come on in and lose yourself in multicoloured bliss!

There's much more going on, have a look at the website. A lot of performances have tickets for £5 for under 26s if you book in advance.

Decorative Arts

There's a fabulous new permanent exhibition at the Castle Museum in Norwich called Decorative Arts. Lots of interior design inspiration! There's a great fashion section with fabulous examples from the Carrow Road textile archive - this isn't easily accesible to the public (I think you have to book an appointment) so it's great to see some items on display. They will be rotated every so often.

The exhibition is also made up of items that families in Norfolk have collected over the last few centuries. There are beautifully made pieces from all around the world including exquisite embroidered sleeves from China, Art Deco and Nouveau jewellery and many beautiful knick knacks like the girl below. It's a fascinating glimpse into the the work of some very talented people.


You can get in to the Castle for £1 if you go for the last opening hour any day or between 12-1pm on weekdays during term time. I find an hour is perfect to take in one or two sections before I start needing a cup of tea. Make the most of it!

Play

For Lent Ben has given up being stupid and is trying to be more cultured (this includes not reading The Sun!) It was one of our goals for our second year of marriage to share some form of learning together. We thought originally we might tackle an interesting book together but after our trip to the jazz bar in Bath it's turned into seeking out things like music and plays.

From this season's Playhouse programme we thought the play Dai (Enough) looked like the most interesting. It was given rave reviews at the 2007 Fringe festival so we thought we'd go for it.

Set in a Tel Aviv cafe, it portrayed several different characters talking about their lives and views on the Israel/Palestine war in the moments before a suicide bomber blew up the cafe. It was acted and written by Iris Bahr who was amazing - to be on the stage for nearly 2 hours must have been an exhausting experience for her and it was a brilliant performance. There are some clips on her website here.