penelopesimpson

Janet, the P & P you refer to is regularly shown on the Drama channel. Tenko is great but now I am getting old I find it too harrowing!

South Bank Show Mayerling please. I don't know about supposedly 'slagging off' the BBC. I think they get a lot of comment because most people care a lot about it as an entity, and it has taken so many wrong steps over the past handful of years. Whilst it's remit is not necessarily to follow public opinion, it does need to remain in touch with the majority of its potential audience, the more so because it is publicly funded. It's wearying wokeness, its ability to inevitably back the wrong horse in matters of national importance, its ludicrously high salaries to staff, has left it vulnerable to its critics. Above all, it's tin-ear to criticism, whether justified or not, simply enrages people. It should stop relentlessly chasing the youth market and monopolising local radio, retrench and do what its good at which was, or used to be, making programmes for an audience whose values it understood. I call the ROH out when it takes the taxpayers shilling with one hand, whilst simultaneously preventing the public from purchasing tickets for high-profile events with the other. If there was no public funding involved, ROH could charge whatever it likes for Kaufmann and Netrebko and restrict tickets to Friends. The BBC is in difficult times but as another poster has said, this could be their moment. Whilst ITV are wittering about it being too dangerous for the dumbed-down duo that are Schofield and Willoughby to get out of bed, the BBC needs to step up and be there come rain or shine when the nation is in crisis mode.

Ooh, and how about complete series of LA Law which I loved? Am re-watching ER on Channel 4 catch-up at present.

Fonty, I watch Band of Brothers at least twice a year. You could take the boxset out from your library. Also enjoyed Das Boot, B of B is better. I don't think you would regret giving it a go. Just struck me that the BBC could re-show Fanny and Johnny Craddock programmes. Now I think that might make us cry with laughter!

The History Festival is just five miles away from where I live and when he was filming Wolf Hall nearby just six years ago, he came to give a talk on the filming of Band. It was standing room only even amongst a heavily over sixties audience. Every bit as charismatic as he is on screen, he told wonderful anecdotes of visiting Dick Winters at his home. He was, apparently, not a easy man until you convinced him that you were a good bloke. Lewis spoke to other survivors who always said that when they heard Dick Winters shout Follow Me,’ they felt totally confident. How wonderful to have such pure courage mixed with straightforward goodness.

Terrific, wasn’t it? And the way they set it against the background of what was going on in the world with appropriate soundtrack. Made me understand so much more why Vietnam happened and why America was on a hiding to nothing.

I have the Box Set of the first Forsyte Saga and it is truly marvellous. Not too expensive on EBay. One of the reasons it is so good is it’s length which allows so much more character exploration. I enjoyed the second one as well, but then Damian Lewis right up there with Jonas Kaufmann for me! May I also recommend Band of Brothers ( yes, Damian again) which for me is the best war series ever made. Deeply moving. Lastly, I discovered the PBS America channel the other day and they do amazing stuff. Strange that it took an American company to do the best exploration of the Cromwell years!

Great idea, Fonty. A serial shown about thirty years ago on the Beeb called The Ginger Tree starring Samantha Bond. Unusual story with an attractive contemplative quality about it For afternoons on the sofa with some chocolate, Howard’s Way. Would take us all back to the glitzy eighties and we could snigger at the hair and the shoulder pads! The complete Vietnam series from BBC4. Shown last year but so much to take in Between the Lines with Neil Pearson. Whilst being a snapshot in time, it stands up well.

Great post, Lizbie

Sorry to hear that, Bluebird. Sorry for you and in mourning for the Arts. Just took a look at ROH website. Tickets still on sale for all peformances other than tonight. Any thoughts, anyone?

Respect your view, MAX, but many of us in the UK prefer to chart our own course rather than follow diktats. Personally, I am allergic to the word forbidden whereas knowlege and persuasion work for me every time. A tad disconcerted by the idea that five people constitutes a meeting! We cannot blithely assume that 'the beautiful world of ballet' can be deep frozen, ready to be defrosted in its entirety just because we decide to emerge from our caves. Nothing political or medical, just that proportionality and perspective should be the name of the game.

Do you know, Rob, I have been thinking along the same lines. I've got 3 sets of Swan Lake, 2 sets of Dante as well as Cavalleria so it would represent a considerable loss but perhaps it might help in some small way. It may be embarrassing for ROH to suggest it to patrons - is there another way we could get the message across? I do, by the way, recognise that everbody's circumstances are different so this is not meant as virtue signalling or anything pushy.

Apologies. Didn't realise the subject was off limits. Thanks for pointing that out.

I have this vision that when we all wake up from the collective hysteria, the only people still standing will be Tesco and Amazon. I have no idea whether the measures being taken/proposed are correct or not, but my gut feel is there is some over-reaction going on and a sense of perspective has flown out of the window. I don't relish the idea of either myself or my friends and loved ones getting sick, but nor do I want to live in a world where all the small businesses and arts outlets that keep this and many other small towns wonderful places to live, have gone to the wall. In Dorset our medical centre has literally gone into fortress mode, whilst people working in the supermarkets are continuing as normal. As they are clear that they will not handle people with Coronavirus, we cant figure out quite what they will be doing. My area is full of retired elderly people who are concerned that they seem to have been abandoned. Like another poster, I have pretty much resigned myself to missing out on the April performances of Swan Lake that I have booked, although I live in hope that The Dante Project may go ahead. For myself, I would happily travel to London but both sets of neighbours are elderly and vulnerable and I can't risk infecting them or leaving them without someone to do the shopping. The London based authorities have made assumptions that everybody is on social media which is not the case - many have no broadband access, nor do they possess a mobile phone. As a country we have survived far worse than this and we will come through. But I am concerned that we seem to have gone soft and our bulldog spirit has become a whimper of victimhood.

That is, as you say, hugely depressing, the more so when there is no obvious answer. Personally I think there’s a lot of over reaction going on, but I understand the fear. Our local doctors surgery is refusing to make appointments for anything and has erected yellow barricades at the entrance.

IvyLin it’s hard to say. I thought he was actually pretty good but I was so overcome by the terrible set that he didn’t get my full attention. My verdict would have to be singing fine, judgement pretty suspect.

Magnificent pictures, Rob S

Yes, I was hoping that LS might have made some changes before he stepped back. I do not understand the Benno thing at all. For newcomers it is some times hard to work out who the Prince is, and the beefing up of Benno for no discernible reason, has diminished the Prince. Strange. Not keen on the ending, either, but can live with that more than Benno.

Has anyone noticed changes from the first run to this time round?

Perhaps, but laughter is always a better antidote. Sigh.

Thanks to everyone who has said they laughed at my review. I was on a 3hr journey home and had to get my annoyance out. I should have said just how much laughter there was in Act 2. I could see people’s shoulders shaking infront and hear laughter from behind. I should have twigged there was going to be a problem when I realised that the Director has rewritten some of the plot -presumably because there is no Mrs. Beethoven around to protest. I won’t spoil things ( ha, ha) but can say that in this version the jailers daughter early on suspects that Fidelio is not exactly marriage material. You have to admire the girl - with her father in the next room she doesn’t beat about the bush but unbuttons his flies for inspection. This, ladies and gentleman, is apparently all part of Mr. Kretzer’s deconstruction. I would love to ask the design team if they thought Act 2 Set worked. It looked bad enough from the stalls but on Twitter you can see that from the Ampitheatre it looked even more ridiculous. Hope to hear from anyone else who attends. Amused to see that today there were seats available for all performances.

And we thought it looked bad from the Stalls...

Agreed. And I cannot work out what he was trying to achieve by making this change.

Geoff - did you like the staging, would love your thoughts.

The reviews are better than expected. I think the Arts Desk one sums it up best - devoid of emotion. As we repeat ad nauseam, one man's meat and all that.... but I went to the opera yesterday to enjoy. I had no thought of being critical, was willing to suspend much belief in order to have a great afternoon. But should I really need to have absorbed every line of the programme before being able to remotely understand, let alone enjoy, what was going on? Statements like: 'His version of the libretto liberally changes the actions of the characters and adds new dialogue alongside extracts from plays on revolutionary themes by Büchner and Grillparzer. This is done in the name of “critical interrogation of the text.' just make me want to say, Oh P-lease...... Even if you accept the point of view the director has taken, it is still badly executed and just, well, hideously awful. I'll go with Broadway World: As it is, though, Fidelio is an expensive muddle redeemed by one unstoppable performance. Fidelio at the Royal Opera Hou