We have been infested with flies. It's like Hitchcock's The Birds, only with huge insects instead. We've so far managed to keep them in the sitting-room, but who knows how long that will last. I wonder where they're coming from...but then I haven't heard that mouse rummaging around in our ceiling this past week or so...

Despite the flies, it's been a very nice week indeed. On Tuesday we went to see Ivanov, starring Kenneth Branagh (yay!) and also personal favourites Kevin McNally and Malcolm Sinclair. It hit me during the interval that it was lovely to see a traditional ensemble play for once. They even had elaborate sets in parts! I guess I've seen too much modern, arty theatre lately. Seeing 18 people on stage isn't very usual anymore. Too expensive, you see. Oh, well. After the play, we stayed for the Q&A with the cast, including a surprise participant in (artistic) director Michael Grandage, who "could only stay a few minutes", but stayed for the full 25. Very interesting input from the cast about the play and Chekov in general (and no, Ken and Kev weren't there). It was especially interesting to hear that a couple of the actors (Ken and Kev, in fact) were a bit apprehensive when it comes to the audience having a tendency to laugh in some places were the general mood is supposed to be sombre. For the record, I noticed this myself and certainly did not feel like laughing.

On Wednesday I went to see Oedipus at the Olivier, starring Ralph Fiennes and almost-personal-favourite Jasper Britton. Also an ensemble play, with its 28-strong cast, but much more modern in its set design (basically just a huge door and a bench) than Ivanov. Apparently it was the first preview. Well, it was nice. Of course, knowing the story (roughly), it was really just a matter of "when will this guy know the whole truth", but it was captivating in a way. I have to admit I'm glad they didn't stretch it to last longer than it did, though. With an interval it would have been too long in my opinion. The story isn't that profound, even though I'm sure Fiennes had several bucketloads of tears to spare and could have gone on all night. The upside of the Olivier is the layout; no matter where you sit, the guy in front of you would have to be seven feet tall for you not to see anything. The downside is the acoustics and lack of microphones; a couple of the actors were very difficult to hear, especially Alan Howard, who played Teiresias and who has a rather important role in the play as he is one of the main catalysts to the story. He was almost mumbling in many places, and I could see others leaning forward trying to understand what the hell he was talking about. Oh, and next to me was what seemed to be a whole class of teenagers. The girl next to me took one look at the programme and said rather loudly "He looks like Voldemort." I hid my face. It didn't stop there, though. She kept looking at the pictures inside the programme and exclaimed repeatedly "It has to be Voldemort. But I don't get it." The girl next to her said "It's make-up." Just before the play started, the one next to me said "I just can't get my head around it." I guess she meant the CGI in the Harry Potter films where Fiennes basically has no nose. At this point I almost started laughing, all the while being worried poor Ralph could hear her as he was standing just behind the door in the middle of the stage, because if he did, he would probably be thinking "I studied at RADA. I have been with the RSC for years. I gave it my everything in Schindler's List, Spider and The Constant Gardener, and all she knows about me is that my nose didn't look like this in some fantasy movie..."

Anyway, having been a big fan of Branagh's and Fiennes's for about 15 years, it was great to finally see them on stage, if only to see with my own eyes that the critics haven't been wrong when they've lauded them. Not that I thought they were.

And then, to top it all, Philip Quast sneaked into Silent Witness for a couple of episodes this week! Yumsy.

Labels: kenneth branagh, personal, philip quast, ralph fiennes, theatre, TV