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Lizbie1

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Everything posted by Lizbie1

  1. Lizbie1
    If you’re using Chrome for Android have you tried enabling the “Force enable zoom” setting (under Settings / Accessibility, I think)? You should be able to zoom in or out then.
  2. Lizbie1
    I too liked the old website, but it wasn’t universally loved: a friend of mine had been complaining about it for ages (though he doesn’t find the new one an improvement). I’ve bored on about this in the past, but very often websites have to be replaced for reasons not obvious to the end consumer, such as licensing costs, difficulty of maintenance and security concerns. Very often even an expensive new website can justify the outlay within a year or two through cost savings on licences, hosting and the effort needed to prop up a site which has exceeded its shelf life. FWIW, my suspicion is that the problems we have seen over the last few years are a result of trying to do it on the cheap.
  3. Lizbie1
    Maybe choose “list view”? The pictures are still too big IMO for such a description, but at least it’s a step in the right direction. They could also make the “Tickets & events” header a lot smaller - it’s pointlessly large as things stand.
  4. Lizbie1
    Sorry, I obviously wasn’t clear: it was the Friends newsletter which gave the date of 14th May.
  5. Lizbie1
    14th May has been given as the date for the announcement in the Friends newsletter.
  6. Lizbie1
    I suppose the expectation of seeing an older Onegin is that the role has been seen as a vehicle for a star baritone, who would generally be in his late 30s or 40s at least. The story never really made sense to me until I saw the opera cast with (crucially) a young Onegin; since then it has become perhaps my favourite opera. I’m not generally in favour of “director’s casting” in opera, but I make an exception for Eugene Onegin.
  7. Lizbie1
    No, but WNO's recent I Puritani used them as its setting. I thought it a little confused but I did like it. It originated with NI Opera and the director (Annilese Miskimmon) is from Belfast so presumably certain aspects of the staging were authentic.
  8. Lizbie1
    You've forgotten Campbell
  9. Lizbie1
    Having just seen it, I'd up that to "perfunctory" and "self-absorbed" - treating Shklyarov as a lowly courtier. (No doubt that wasn't the intention.)
  10. Lizbie1
    Yes - that was my first thought too.
  11. Lizbie1
    No tricks - I just don't think that's a lot over the span of several years when every revival at the Royal Ballet is covered as a matter of course. And while much of BRB's recent programming hasn't inspired me to make the rather expensive trip, I don't think it's fair to say it's been so poor as to excuse the Times' neglect.
  12. Lizbie1
    The Times’ coverage of theatre and opera outside London is generally excellent, but it’s a different story for ballet. Hutera’s review of Victoria was a rare exception: BRB and NB generally have to wait until they visit Sadler’s Wells before they receive coverage in The Times, and I can’t recall the last time a dancer from either company was featured. I’d probably be less resentful if Craine hadn’t found the means to write about the Royal Ballet’s gala in Hull as well as reporting from Copenhagen and New York. I don’t disagree with the general drift of Craine’s reviews, I just find nothing in them to stimulate me.
  13. Lizbie1
    It’s not so much that I don’t trust critics, it’s that some can spend a whole review saying precisely nothing. I’ll name a name just to illustrate my point: Debra Craine (whose London-centricity annoys me besides) in The Times has never made me feel that I’ve learned or re-thought anything as a result of reading a review or interview she’s written, so I’ve given up. I think she knows her stuff and I don’t in general disagree with what she’s written: it’s just there’s no point reading it once you have a basic level of familiarity with the subject. I get that it’s written for a wider audience, but the retired writers Bruce mentions above managed to keep it interesting.
  14. Lizbie1
    Was it The Stage who wrote about this recently? Their conclusion was I think that this is pretty much a one-off case.
  15. Lizbie1
    Warning just issued via email: During the rehearsal process, we have re-evaluated Medusa as more suitable for a 12+ audience. The ballet is a stylised dance version of the Greek mythology theme of Medusa, containing moderate stylised physical threat and discreet sex references.
  16. Lizbie1
    I'm quite surprised about this - I thought Shakespeare was compulsory for GCSE English Literature?
  17. Lizbie1
    On reflection, I might have a useful thought after all! I do find myself clicking on fewer links these days and that's because I can't think of a national newspaper reviewer whose views interest me, now that Judith Mackrell and Luke Jennings have stopped reviewing regularly and many newspapers have cut coverage. I'm much more likely to click on links for sites such as Bachtrack, The Arts Desk, the Jewish Chronicle or DanceTabs or for coverage of e.g. Sarasota Ballet. Maybe others have given up on newspapers publishing reviews worth reading.
  18. Lizbie1
    It's interesting to read everyone's recollections of being exposed to the arts at primary school, but I think I should offer that when I was at primary school in the first half of the eighties, the closest we came to that was bland songs in school assembly, being sat in front of videotaped episodes of Music Time (which I - a supposedly musical child - hated) and "drama", which as far as I can remember was doing a bit of moving around in vest and pants to taped instructions. There were piano lessons (not very long ones) available at least, but they were very far from being pressed on us. I guess all I'm trying to say is that even then you couldn't rely on schools to evangelise for the arts - it was luck of the draw.
  19. Lizbie1
    I check nearly every day and catch up when I skip one - so I’m probably not well qualified to answer the question, but would like to say how very useful I find them.
  20. Lizbie1
    Agreed, and I find it very hard to take this prize seriously as a result.
  21. Lizbie1
    I find it baffling - verging on enraging - that nothing seems to have been done to resolve the brass section's shortcomings. Surely conductors must have complained to the management - and were I in the orchestra I'd be mightily hacked off as they definitely let the side down. I expect orchestras in certain parts of the world to have strengths and weaknesses, but there is no excuse for a London orchestra to have a weak brass section - it's shameful.
  22. Lizbie1
    I think the initial point made was that some dancers had been allocated three performances. As for accommodation: there are certain roles (Sylvia and Natalia in Month in the Country come immediately to mind) where perhaps only three dancers - usually senior principals - are cast in the main roles: perhaps that should be taken into consideration.
  23. Lizbie1
    But how many missed opportunities have there been since then, by which I mean full-length ballets in which they have both been cast in roles where there is significant partnering together? It’s a genuine question - I can think of Swan Lake but what else is there? I’m not trying to trip anyone up, I just wonder how much scope KO’H actually has to nurture these partnerships. Edited to say I forgot Bayadere and Don Q!
  24. Lizbie1
    Weren’t they also paired in Sleeping Beauty and Giselle?
  25. Lizbie1
    Reminder that public booking for the Akram Khan Giselle at Sadler's Wells in September opens tomorrow at 9am - tickets sold very quickly last time round IIRC.
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