tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post6339730405695081023..comments2024-03-26T07:58:59.761+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: Munro and Gråbøl: the conquest of fearDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-76967663372746155762014-09-01T00:04:03.510+01:002014-09-01T00:04:03.510+01:00Re the possible not-anymore-UK, the constitutional...Re the possible not-anymore-UK, the constitutional issues are touched on <a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/24817901/scottish-referendum-yes-vote-to-independence-could-leave-australia-without-head-of-state-expert-says/" rel="nofollow">here</a>.wandererhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08196036534397389760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-87575203581668887652014-08-30T09:30:59.031+01:002014-08-30T09:30:59.031+01:00Curious to know, wanderer, in what precise ways it...Curious to know, wanderer, in what precise ways it's thought Scotland's independence will affect Oz?<br /><br />Re Breaking Bad, I don't buy the 'it could be anyone' stuff (partly because Walter White is such a compound of exceptional qualities that don't quite join up for me). It's great drama but doesn't ring entirely true. Fine if you accept the element of fantasy.<br /><br />But this writ-larger quality is an element of the American TV series. We've now started binge-watching Orange is the New Black, the women's prison semicomedy. Started off so convincingly, but already elements of overegged sentimentality and crudity have crept in. Still, at least it's not anodyne.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-60068461982603020512014-08-30T05:03:19.082+01:002014-08-30T05:03:19.082+01:00The dissolution (or whatever the correct terminolo...The dissolution (or whatever the correct terminology) of the UK would have significant constitutional consequences down here in our little outpost, those who understand these matters say.<br /><br />As for Breaking Bad, it took three episodes and I was hooked, lined, and sinkered to the point of binge viewing. I have no problem with apparent hyperbole making its points, ramming the massage home, and all in all I found it quite the modern moral tale (as Vince Gilligan intended - he was an absolute sell-out here at the Sydney Writers Festival) and the ending ? My verdict? - brilliant with Walter 'what-happens-when-a-good-man-goes-bad-and-it-could-be-anyone-anytime' White overtaken by his own karma and yet his final gesture was goodness (to save the Q and A: he loved Jesse). For further reading, see David and the Greeks two posts on.wandererhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08196036534397389760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-34239935180096208532014-08-27T13:46:37.734+01:002014-08-27T13:46:37.734+01:00Apologies, all, for long delayed publication of co...Apologies, all, for long delayed publication of comments. I've been away and the Google system is absurd in not only asking me for a long-defunct and forgotten phone number but not giving me any decent alternative route.<br /><br />John, you recommended Treme a couple of years back; we watched and loved it. Almost enough to want to go to New Orleans. Coincidentally, if predictably, Breaking Bad has just walked off with a raft of awards. I'm amused by some of the spinoffs promised.<br /><br />Lord Mansfield of Tralee, you are too, too kind. Yrs ae the Duc de Riviera.<br /><br />Sir David - 'modern in their way of thinking', indeed. I think this is possibly the only way history dramas can be convincingly done now. The alternative is stiff archaisms which fail to bring the characters to comprehensible life. As for the persistence of the unforeseen in the referundum, aye, more ground should have been laid. People go on about the heart and the head - the dreary Kirsty Wark picked up on the cliche very soon, how I wish I'd not watched Newsnight down in the country, and praise be to lack of telly access. You I'm sure have come to that divergence of your own accord.<br /><br />Catriona, I'm sure the vast majority will forgive you very easily.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-70638764951319902562014-08-26T08:45:44.796+01:002014-08-26T08:45:44.796+01:00Mea culpa - I've found my copy of Robert Silve...Mea culpa - I've found my copy of Robert Silver's play, and it's called 'The Bruce'. Apologies for misleading you all.Catrionanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-83114348338910094402014-08-23T00:29:40.983+01:002014-08-23T00:29:40.983+01:00Dear david,
Glory be not to the kings of Scotland...Dear david,<br />Glory be not to the kings of Scotland but to you and your Alamata of Edinburgh .<br /><br />Since Johnson, seldom have I read such perfect prose written ,not just by English gentleman but with added song of lilthe and lyre, the brachen and Sussex lawns .<br />What ever the result of the reverendum your writings shall unite the two kingdoms . Floret davidus.Liam mansfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07788263195389627235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-67493461969568609772014-08-22T08:34:27.228+01:002014-08-22T08:34:27.228+01:00David - you are aware that I object very strongly ...David - you are aware that I object very strongly in principle to plays and films about real people and events, but one must have a statue of limitations and Scotland at the time of the three Jameses is beyond that timing, so OK and these plays look pretty tough and valuable stuff in themselves. But modern I think in their way of thinking <br /><br />I often wonder on reading about that period in Scotland at what point the Stewarts became so hopeless. ( Mary Queen of Scots added the variant Stuart when she married the Dauphin, as the French found difficulty in pronouncing the original spelling.) From M Q o S to the Young Pretender they were incompetent in the role or pretended role of heads of government.<br /><br />The reason why the vote on Scottish independence should say No ( even if desirable from a cultural point of view) - indeed why there should not have been a referendum at all - is that NO ONE understands macro-economics and the economic consequences of a split cannot be judged. It would be a leap in the dark. And which currency Scotland would use is not a secondary point As for those who judge the economic outcome of independence favourably, one can only refer to Freud - that if the emotions are involved the intellect comes to the conclusions that the emotions require.David Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-20768925804398120612014-08-21T16:40:20.861+01:002014-08-21T16:40:20.861+01:00I agree about Breaking Bad it started well and wit...I agree about Breaking Bad it started well and with good script but quickly became gimmicky and contrived. You really must see the HBO series TREME; I guarantee that you will not be disappointed. Brilliant writing, acting and great music.<br />John Graham<br />EdinburghAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-18935801234281590532014-08-20T23:39:04.743+01:002014-08-20T23:39:04.743+01:00Yes, David - I saw Anne Boleyn when it came north ...Yes, David - I saw Anne Boleyn when it came north and enjoyed it. I felt it was a fairly sympathetic portrayal of James VI. I had to order the playscript, because the Festival Theatre ran out. <br />So we now have plays about all the Jameses, except James IV, to compete, or not, with Shakespeare's history plays, plus Sydney Goodsir Smith's The Wallace and Robert Silver's The Hert o Scotland, about the dying Bruce. What a drama season that would be!Catrionanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-46120808538843987442014-08-20T22:55:18.390+01:002014-08-20T22:55:18.390+01:00Interesting, Catriona. In a way there were quite a...Interesting, Catriona. In a way there were quite a few cliches which came across as a sop to the audience, Stoppard-like, but then cliches have a fair amount of truth about them and Munro put them into the mouths of Scots trying to explain the basics to outsiders.<br /><br />I wish the lighting had been more imaginative and, reading the text, I see that certain intended spaces weren't evoked at all. When 'windows' were opened, we just got the glare of lights and none of the atmosphere evoked in the words. They failed the beautiful week in December completely.<br /><br />A lady checking in her bag at the cloakroom (where each night three or two or one charming guide-dog labradors were left) mentioned the Assembly Rooms. I felt a lot got lost in the Festival Theatre. The Olivier should work better - somehow everything projects there. But some of the actors were too quiet.<br /><br />The puppet, of course, was a production stunt. The young(est) James is supposed to be played by a boy.<br /><br />The point about Margaret, surely, was that she'd come to Scotland at such a young age - like Joan and Mary - that she did have a deep understanding of its workings. Anyway, to paraphrase the lady herself, I LIKED this woman. <br /><br />I remember when Jamie the Saxt was staged in 2007 and friends praising it: wish I'd gone to see it.<br /><br />There's a fun evocation of James VI/I of England in Howard Brenton's Anne Boleyn, which is actually more about James. He was played by James Garnon,a brilliant young actor with a real talent for vigorous comedy who seems to have got stuck at the Globe.<br /><br />Elizabeth, yes, I think we were supposed to slightly bristle at Skylar's smugness (is that how you spell that toe-curling name?) to begin with, and then to shift between sympathy and repugnance (after all, she does egg Walter on to get rid of his sidekick). I could identify with the episode in the last series where she went into a deep depression, but then she came out of it with unrealistic speed. Her wavering then become increasingly implausible.<br /><br />Too often these American series, however well made, stretch credibility too far (mind you, some of ours do too, but I went along with most of the twists in Spooks). I've eavesdropped on a few episodes of House of Cards, which J has been voraciously consuming in a summer week at home, and I just didn't buy the volte-faces of the 'good' characters. The President's capitulation towards the end made no sense at all. Again a pity, because the acting - as in Breaking Bad - was superb.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-9223242027977091282014-08-20T20:04:55.134+01:002014-08-20T20:04:55.134+01:00David, my loyalty, even to fictional characters, o...David, my loyalty, even to fictional characters, often lasts long beyond being deserved. My initial compassion for Walter White, my sympathy for his early soft nature, unappreciated by so many around him, remained, while I sat (often fast forwarding) through so much horrifying behavior. I disliked Skylar from the start; were we meant to? There were reasons for persevering through the early episodes. We wanted our protagonist to succeed, to show up the non-believers. There was much for everyman to identify with. By the end of three seasons, even I couldn't find anything to like in Walter, nor feel curiosity about the details of how the story would end. I abandoned the show as too dark, to return for the highly recommended season four finale. Then, knowing that the series was ending, and being in a period of especially needing distraction, I watched season five. There's too much to be considered in judging a series as "best ever." At another time in my life, I wept during the final scene of Northern Exposure and missed the characters long afterwards. But I finished Breaking Bad's finale with the same relief I used to feel in school, when completing a book assignment I didn't like. Good writing and acting aren't enough to win me any more. Season three's character of the chemist Gale gave me hope, temporarily, that the story would take a new turn; that was when I looked for Walter's redemption. When it supposedly came at the series' end, I couldn't believe in it: he seemed, less to make a choice, than merely to do the only thing that was left. I'm glad to read your thoughts. The show was so celebrated here, it's reassuring to hear another view. -- ElizabethAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-9885392625213004872014-08-20T19:53:55.120+01:002014-08-20T19:53:55.120+01:00Hi David - I agree about the music and the product...Hi David - I agree about the music and the production. That style may well have been innovative back when 7:84 did The Cheviot, The Stag and the Black, Black Oil, but that was over forty years ago. My heart sank right at the beginning, when they ran on stage and did that stomping dance routine. And for all the colour that is mentioned in the plays and the big skies, it was awfy dull. We know that the Middle Ages were full of colour - it didn't suddenly arrive in the Renaissance, imported with a royal bride from Europe.<br />At the same time, I liked the staging - the echoes of ;Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis'. I could see it being performed in the Assembly Hall, as the Thrie Estaitis has been. (Note to EIF - it's a good few years since the last production.)<br />I felt that the puppet thing in 'James II' was messy and a distraction - it left Andrew Rothney standing around like a spare part for too much of the time. <br />Blythe Duff was a revelation and I was impressed by Gordon Kennedy. I agree that Balvenie was well-drawn - and well-acted by Peter Forbes; I liked his death-scene. Later, Daniel Cahill as James IV, wrapping himself in what looked like barbed wire, I found powerful.<br />However, as a Scot, I don't see much difference between Henry V telling us how to run the country and Margaret of Denmark. <br />Above all, I found the 'jokes' about the climate, the character, the food, wearisome. I agree with Joyce Macmillan that these are cliches 'that some hoped, a generation ago, never to see on Scottish stages again'.<br />Have you ever seen Robert Mclellan's 1937 play 'Jamie the Saxt', another Scots king who took a Danish wife and who had problems with unruly relatives - in his case, the Earl of Bothwell. There's a Michael Billington review of a 2007 production on the Guardian website. It would be interesting to be able to compare them. Catrionanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-74686604263082722572014-08-19T23:59:19.913+01:002014-08-19T23:59:19.913+01:00I'm glad the quotations had that effect: thoug...I'm glad the quotations had that effect: though I'd had the advantage of seeing/hearing them in action before I read through the play text I bought with alacrity, I thought they would come across as 'a powerful, direct plain' too.<br /><br />And amen to the next steps - I don't doubt that at least one will happen. In the meantime, I look forward to seeing how Wolf Hall works on TV. I wasn't especially anxious to see Mantel's novels as plays, though I know she was present in Stratford and had a huge effect (pinned them down to review in London, only to find the first night clashed with the Glyndebourne Rosenkavalier, and I couldn't miss that, could I?) Can't imagine Mark Rylance as Cromwell but then he is a great actor so the power of transformation and all that.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-67653167671781466742014-08-19T23:17:01.181+01:002014-08-19T23:17:01.181+01:00Oh, my do I ever hope I get a chance to see these ...Oh, my do I ever hope I get a chance to see these plays! The quotations you offer are tantalizing (while plain on the page, they're a powerful, direct plain, and I can only imagine how powerful to see and hear live). I certainly see the parallel to Birgitte/Sidse Babette Knudsen in Borgen. How glad we are you pointed us to that series! To your point on the James plays, "This is one to make film and television," I can only say, please, please, please.Susan Scheidhttp://prufrocksdilemma.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com