Tag: Sadlers Wells

311: living la vida locos

First of March! A Happy St David’s Day to all who mark the day, and those who don’t.

Thank you to the lovely people who reached out to me after last week’s post, and especially Alicia who brought me cookies. Oat & Raisin, in case you were wondering, which just happen to be my favourites.

This week has been better – there’s been the odd 4am wake up when my brain was convinced my alarm had gone off. It played Bowie’s Starman. I told it to be quiet and my Beloved informed me that it hadn’t actually gone off and now he was awake too. Ah well.

On Wednesday neighbour Sue and I went on an excellent evening out courtesy of Sadlers Wells’ occasional culture sector free tickets. They’re how we went to see Tutus a few weeks ago and Quadrophenia last summer. Our new site is next-door-but-a-couple to Sadlers Wells, so it’s very convenient for the office.

Sue and I met at Angel and wandered down to Banana Tree for a good pad Thai and a natter about the joys of parenting teens, prom dresses, being functional adults – that sort of thing.

The performance was The Opera Locos by Yllana. Described as a comedy opera where Puccini meets Elvis (via Mika, Whitney Houston and more), we really didn’t know what to expect. I know nothing about opera other than Terry Pratchett’s Maskerade.

Two and a half love stories, audience participation in the form of an opera masterclass and an unsuspecting love interest, much slapstick, flamenco, mugging to the audience and some gorgeous singing was what we got, and it was SO much fun. We giggled like idiots, had an ice cream in the interval (mint choc chip) and then I took Sue on a historic walk through my favourite bits of Clerkenwell on the way back to Farringdon. I didn’t show her the Clerk’s Well as it was dark and I can’t give away everything all at once, can I?

The only issue I had was the full face mask make-up that the performers were wearing – I am phobic about masks and dolls. Working at the Museum of Childhood was an exercise in aversion therapy which did not work.

We continued giggling all the way home on the train, which is not the usual response to the Central Line. Probably I should try  ‘proper’ opera (propera?) at some stage.

Other things making me happy this week

  • A long catch-up chat with an old friend on Saturday morning
  • Lunch with Thing 2, London sister and brother-in-law on Saturday at Hare and Tortoise
  • Reading a lot as my thumb is misbehaving and won’t let me crochet
  • Rediscovering the joy of reading out loud – though there really is a limit to the number of times one can read The Tiger Who Came To Tea with full cast of voices.
  • Bridgerton season 4, part 2. Oh Benedict, you fool.
  • Attending a Foley and animation workshop with Laura Copsey and Simon Hamlyn as part of our project with a local school
  • Coffee with ex-colleagues on Friday

This week I have a dinner out with Amanda, no interviews (hurray!) and some early nights planned.

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

The Tiger Who Came To Tea – Judith Kerr. On repeat.

House of Sky and Breath – Sarah J. Maas (Audible)

Ride or Die – Hailey Edwards

First Witches Club – Maisey Yates

A Brazen Curiosity – Lynn Messina

Kate Shugak Investigations 1-4 – Dana Stabenow

278: girls’ night out

On Tuesday Things 1 and 2 got the train into London and we had a grown-up girls’ night out. It’s the first time we’ve done this, and we had a most excellent evening in Islington.

They chose Nando’s for dinner and afterwards we walked up to New River Head where I smushed history into their brains whether they wanted any or not. I showed them the historic graffiti in Myddelton Passage, and Clerkenwell Green, and nice houses in old streets, and then we went to the ballet.

Sadlers Wells had sent an email out with free tickets for Pete Townshend’s Quadrophenia, A Mod Ballet and two colleagues had given it rave reviews after seeing it the previous week. I’ve never been to a ballet before, and neither have the girls, so we weren’t sure what to expect. We were in the stalls, so we had a good view (give or take a few tall people) and the girls were absolutely rapt from the first moment. To be fair, so was I. It was magical.

The set was minimal and whizzed on and off the stage in a surprisingly elegant fashion. The costumes by Paul Smith were sharp and the music – by Townshend’s wife Rachel Fuller – echoed The Who’s originals. The set was enhanced by gorgeous, atmospheric projections – condensation on diner windows, the sea at Brighton, dramatic city scenes. It’s a long time since I’ve seen the film but the story of Jimmy came through strongly. We did the evening properly, with a programme and ice creams in the interval, and I think the girls enjoyed the whole experience.

Thing 2 turned to me at the interval and said, ‘Mum, this is SO GOOD!’ and Thing 1 told me she LOVED it. High praise indeed. The length of the voice messages T2 was leaving for her friends afterwards was a dead giveaway, too, and I think they’d like to go again. I know I do! It was SO GOOD and I LOVED not just the ballet but a night out with my beautiful girls.

It’s been a very educational week all round, really. I’ve had two days in schools testing the new STEM x local history session. Chris, Toni and SJ have done four days – with Chris in Victorian kit as ‘Charles’ and Toni and SJ in hard hat and hi vis as ‘Emma’, our modern day engineer. We’ve been in classrooms and playgrounds, worked with 240 kids and and generally had an excellent time. It’s been so much fun watching the sessions develop – adding in new interactive sections and tweaking others. It’s definitely better in a large area like a playground or hall, especially when the 30 small people are being used to demonstrate the workings of a pump with three umbrellas and a lot of masking tape. I interviewed some of the kids at the end of one session and the message was that they loved the activeness and all the props, wanted the rest of the school to join in, and requested that we brought a person from the future in as well so they could compare that too. I promised I’d see what I could do…

The format we’re using – someone appearing from the past to compare and contrast similar projects with a modern engineer – is one that Chris and I have used successfully in the past at Museum of London Docklands when our modern engineer encountered Isambard Kingdom Brunel. On that occasion we compared the Thames Tunnel and the Thames Tideway project, and used the children to model the Greathead Shield and how to dig into sand safely. One of our more challenging hosts spoke to me afterwards and said ‘well, I get that Brunel was an actor, but how did you get a real engineer to come and do this?’. I took that as a win, and one teacher said that it was the best session they’d ever been to.

This time round we’re including illustrations – and bringing them to life with the pump activity – such as ‘Monster Soup’, No Fishing and No Swimming signs (communication without language), and a portrait of Hugh Myddelton and his excellent beard. There’s also umbrellas, ping pong balls, lengths of piping, beads, buckets, pinwheels and high vis jackets. There’s the story of the king falling into the frozen New River, Charles Dickens complaining that he pays for a large cistern but never has enough water for a bath, and – Chris, we missed one! The complaints from the people in Pall Mall when they found live eels in their pipes! We’re testing with some older children next week – I wonder whether they’ll ask such good questions?

Other things making me happy this week

  • A crochet project I can’t show you yet as it’s a surprise
  • A much-needed evening swim with Sue – the water was 26.4 and balmy, the ducks were flipping up and down feeding in the weeds and the little shoals of fish were zooming about in the shallows
  • Ice lollies.
  • Cally Fest last Sunday – it rained and it shined, we saw almost 300 people and a lot of cute dogs. This weekend its Whitecross Street Party, and we have a great activity planned. I’ve given strict instructions to the team to slather on the Factor 50 as it’s going to be HOT.
  • An excellent conversation with the black cab driver today about the New River – he grew up on Amwell Street and now lives in Enfield and runs along the New River Path every day.
  • Whitecross Street Party!

This week we have the second of our community access panel meetings, and I’m really looking forward to next weekend… and a couple of days off after 12 straights days of work.

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Blood Lines/Blood Pact/Blood Debt – Tanya Huff

Amongst Our Weapons/False Value – Ben Aaronovitch (Audible)

The Wild Life – John Lewis-Stempel