Poor King Lear at the National Theatre

The last time that I saw King Lear was in 1989 at the Old Vic with Eric Porter (famous as Soames in Forsyte Saga) as Lear. I had high hopes for this version with Simon Russell Beale and the heritage of the National Theatre behind it.That was enough for me to fork out £50 for a seat in the very centre of the Circle of the Olivier Theatre (A43).

I was greeted with the promising view of a dark, brooding and modern looking set with the sun being eclipsed as we took our seats.

Things went wrong very quickly.

It always takes a few minutes to get in to the lilt of Shakespeare's language but then things are normally fine. This time there were a couple of actors who I could hardly understand at all throughout the entire performance and as a result I missed large chunks of the drama and, more importantly, Shakespeare's poetic language.

I've seen enough Shakespeare to know that the fault was not mine and all the overheard conversations at half-time said the same thing. The couple next to me did not come back after the break.

With something wrong as fundamental as the diction there is little point in saying anything about the rest of the show. But I will just to remind myself later of what the other aspects of the performance were like.

The staging was very theatrical with lots of people, things and movement. Some of this I felt was unnecessary, e.g. the ring of tall grass that appeared, and I got the impression that it was there to impress the casual theatre goer rather than to highlight aspects of the drama that theatre regulars may have missed.

Some of the acting was very good and I had no complaints at all about Simon Russell Beale's Lear.

The second half was better and I think that was mostly due to the pace of the drama which was much slower as the various tragedies deepened and with the slower speech came better diction. On its own the second half was fine, even good, but it could not make up for the loss of the first half where all the dark seeds were sown.

Ham Fair 2014

Ham Fair is one of the big annual events locally and I always go to look at all the stalls from the local societies and to buy a few treats.

This year I also played a minor role for two of those local societies.

Ham Amenities Group (HAG) always runs a children's art show and competition. This year they extended it to include photographs which I was asked to judge because of my Ham Photos blog.

Two of the categories, pets and portraits, were easy to judge with a clear winner in each but the Ham Pond category was harder as most of the children, unsurprisingly, had chosen to take pictures of the swans and their cygnets. I discounted my favourite picture (of a dramatic swan) as it did not show much of the pond and chose one that did, as well as some birds climbing out of it.

Then later in the day I took my turn on the stall for Ham United Group (HUG). That's the stall on the far left. We were showcasing the range of projects that came under the broad HUG umbrella, some of which had grown sufficiently to warrant their own stalls within the Ham cluster.

The stall's gimmick was an apple press that we used to make fresh apple juice.which was very welcome on a hot day. HUG has planted some apple trees and the aim is to grow this in to a full community orchard and the apple press will get some serious use then.

Ham Fair is one of those events that confirms, if confirmation were needed, that Ham is a distinct community and it is because of that that I like living here so much.

BCSA "Get to Know You" Social (June 2014)

I had missed a couple of the monthly British Czech and Slovak Association (BCSA) Social Evenings because of work (a good reason for not working) so I was delighted to be able to get back there in June.

Even then working away in Reading meant that I did not get there until slightly after 7pm. When I am working in London I like to be there around 6:30pm because some people always come early and, being simplistic, it makes it a longer evening with more time for talking and drinking.

The Czech and Slovak Club was already lively when I got there and it was easy to slip in to the mood and the conversations.

The evening followed the usual pattern of conversations, Pilsner Urquell and Smazeny Syr. Th usual pattern was exactly what I was hoping for and it was another wonderfully relaxing, enjoyable and sociable evening. That is why the BCSA holds the Social Evenings and that is why I go whenever I can, even if I am working in somewhere like Reading.

Kingston upon Thames Society Committee: June 2014

June's Kingston upon Thames Society Committee Meeting had a lull-before-the-storm feel about it but I still managed to pick up quite a few actions.

Committee Roles

With the recent discussion with members on What Matters to Us? there needed to be some changes to the roles of some of the Committee members as we took on a slightly wider remit rather than just focusing on planning.

A small working party of just three people was set up to come back with suggestions and I was drafted on to this.

Tall buildings

Our Chairman gave feedback on a meeting she had attended recently on the growth of tall buildings in some parts of Central London. This was related to the London's Growing Up! exhibition that I had visited.

We had a short discussion on this, with no particular objective in mind other than to watch this space. I agreed to circulate details of the exhibition to Committee members so that they had the chance to see it before it closed.

Planning our year

Some months ago I had taken the action to propose a timetable for our Townscape Awards that gave sufficient time for full involvement of members and the Committee. When I got around to doing this I went somewhat further and tried to include all of our activities, e.g. Heritage Open Days and our AGM.

The draft that I had circulated had been generally well received apart from some readability issues due to the small font and the use of colours. The key point was hat it had to be readable when printed as some people still do that.

Protected buildings lists

I had circulated the various lists of protect buildings that I had got from RBK, and had chased RBK again for details of other lists.

The Old Post Office (TOPO)

Somehow TOPO had got some funding from RBK for a leaflet on their proposed community use of this protected building which as part of the large Ashdown Road redevelopment area. It was unclear how the new owners of the site felt about the proposal.

Crossrail 2

Crossrail 2 had recently issued a revised consultation notice. From the first consultation they seemed to favour the extended route that took in Kingston and the revised options being considered this time were on northern sections of the route.

Crossrail 2 would probably only be a slight improvement for Kingston but would be a significant improvement for some other areas. When other large rail schemes are considered, such as the recent extension of London Overground and the Thameslink Programme, then Kingston looks more isolated.

Counterfeit make a strong début at the Fox and Duck

This is a gig that I nearly missed, and that would have been a mistake.

I saw Toxica at the Fox and Duck last October and was reasonably impressed. Impressed enough to "like" them on Lemonrock and to put their return to the Fox and Duck in my Lemonrock calendar. Sadly this does not link to either of my main calendars (Google and Apple) so it slipped from my mind.

Then it looked as though I would be free on Saturday evening I checked Lemonrock to see what was on and was pleased to see that a Toxica gig was scheduled, then I was disappointed to see that it had been cancelled and finally I was pleased again to see that the replacement band, Counterfeit, had sprung out of Toxica.

This springing was the presence of Julia Kurzeja on lead guitar, and band leader,with a female lead singer, Jodie Curran. Completing the band were two men, Paul Read on bass and Ben Able on drums.

Counterfeit looked and sounded like a rock band should.

Their set had some of the cover-band favourites though it is fair to say that I have never heard Sweet Child of Mine played with the lead guitarist standing on a table in his/her bare feet. Julia was barefooted all evening.

There were some unusual songs too, like Cum on Feel the Noize, in a set that fizzed delightfully. So much so that I almost danced, and that takes some doing.

Julia's guitar gave a powerful lead to the band who responded emphatically with driving rhythms and strong vocals. I loved the noise that they made and loved them even more when they finished off with a rousing version of Whole Lotta Love.

So assured were they as a unit it was hard to believe that this was their first outing. I hope that there will be many more including a return to the Fox and Duck.