Dracula #7PlaysIn7Days

Night two. 
A classic.

Big thanks to @@YorkshireLawMan for the picture!

So, we've all heard of Dracula. Haven't we? Yes... Of course. Vampire of all vampires. Swoops about pretending to be a bat. That guy.

Despite his well known status, and the fact that as a child we went on a family holiday to the flat where Dracula was actually written in Whitby... I don't know the story.

I don't think I've ever seen a faithful film adaptation. The only I can recall seeing any of is Dracula: Dead and Loving It, which as the comedy title suggests wasn't really a line for line recreations. Nor have I read the book. I have seen the ballet, performed by the excellent Northen Ballet but even then I had to ask my sister what was going on and the lack of words and prior knowledge meant I didn't really know who anyone was. (I had worked out who Dracula was... Point to me)!

I must admit, I entered into this with some concern. Not because I was unsure of the event like yesterday but because of the length. In total, the performance was 3 hours and as someone who had to get up at 6am this morning to get ready for work (and allow time to write this post!) the anticipation of being tired really cast a shadow over the show.

We started the show up in the dress circle, slightly over to the left. There was a swing placed to left of the stage which from our seats was difficult to see and to the couple sitting well over to the side was practically invisible. Just a small set dressing comment... A more interesting point was that the actors did not confine themselves to the stage. They often entered and exited through the stalls which certainly added an extra dimension to the performance. Again, whilst sitting in the circle this was slightly hard to see and was very confusing the first time the house lights came up to allow the actors to both see and be seen. Once we moved to the stalls for the second half we got more of the full effect, although having a half-crazed Renfield hovering behind us at one point was very unnerving? Although, I thought this was a clever feature, the lights coming in and off and the doors opening and closing was quite distracting for me. I like the lights to go down and to get absorbed in what is happening on stage rather than constantly getting pulled out.

The actors must be commended though for their performances. Aside from one or two fluffed lines they were very confident and managed to get the VAST quantity of speech out with great success. My favourite performance has to be that of Lucy. She had possessed and crazy totally down and I would not have the confidence to get up on stage in that very see through outfit. 

A special mention as well to Renfield who spent most of the play on stage, laying on what looked like a very uncomfortable set during any scenes that were not his. Good for you Renfield! Very professional.

Overall, my understanding is that it was a good telling of the story, faithful to the original but don't quote me on that. Maybe... Dracula just isn't the story for me. Or perhaps my modern day attention span, spoiled by social media, just couldn't process rhr long dramatic pauses. 

Until the next time...

Charlotte 

Full Circle #7PlaysIn7Days

Night One.
Full Circle.

I didn't know what to expect from this event really so first thing was first, buy a programme.
After being told that the programme was for the whole week (I politely said I knew) I took to investigating what was on offer.

The first thing I didn't realise was that this festival was some sort of completion or feedback event. The programme has a page in the back where you can score the plays and each night an independent adjudicator sits and makes notes which he feeds back to the performers after the show.

But enough of the nuts and bolts for now, on with the show!

Night one offered us an original play performed by the theatre group Jaba. The story centres around the two grandmothers of a young woman who is about to be married. Despite being best friends when they were younger, something happened in their past which has left them bitter and spiteful and unable to remain in a room together without disending into trading abusive insults. Evidently they had been avoiding each other as much as possible, but that this family event had forced them together and the feud was beginning to effect the rest of the family as well. As the story unfolds we watch as the mystery begins to unravel and finally find out what had actually happened... Or not happened as the case may be.

Combine this with the parents struggling with their own relationship faced with their daughter getting married and the differences they have in what they think makes for a good life and throw in a very camp next door neighbour and there is plenty going on to hold the viewers' interest. Plot lines were nicely woven together and although some twists were obvious well ahead of the reveal, the show offered plenty of good jokes and enough suspense to avoid boredom.

The actors themselves were very good, some better than others but all had their moments and it very much depended on which characters they were up against in my opinion as to how well they performed.

We did choose to hang around for the feedback as it isn't something you ever experience as a non-actor or drama student. The last time inexperienced something like that was back in high school so the educational element was an interesting addition. I am not sure it is something I will stay back for every night, apart from anything it makes bedtime later and I have to get up for work! However, it would be interesting for students and I would recommend this event as something drama students to attend.

Overall, a positive start to the run which has reassured me going forward. Let's see what happens on night two!

Pip pip,
Charlotte.

#7PlaysIn7Days

Starting today, I will be attending Wakefield Theatre Royal's week long Drama festival (I am unsure of it's official name) which I, affectionately, know of as #7PlaysIn7Days. Much like good oil' Ronseal that is what you get. One week, a different play every night.

  

I have known about this event for a couple of years now, but this is the first time of attending and I must admit to having mixed feelings about it.

First of all, I am excited. I love a good live show and would much rather see a play or musical than go to the cinema. In fact, upping my live theatre intake this is something that I am quite proud to have been able to achieve over the past couple of years with great thanks to The Boy for coming along. It is one part of my fantasy self that I have managed to achieve! And the prospect of cramming so many new shows in in such a shot space of time is very appealing. There are only two shows that I have heard of which makes the other 5 days nice and intriguing.

On the other hand though, I am a little... Concerned? Not for the shows particularly, if it's a bad show, it's a bad show. The first thing me and The Boy saw was a thing called the Three Penny Opera. Now we LOVED it, but the couple next to us were clearly unimpressed and failed to return for the second half. Their loss. But in my opinion, if it's a bad show, it's only a few hours out of your life and you'all probably get a good rant out of it in the office later anyway. No big shakes. My concern is my staying power. I am not a big socialiser, nor do I go 'out-out' that much. I like a set routine and bedtime and I've just done a trip to London where we saw not one but two performances in one day (reviews to follow soon!) which has left me a little tired. If only I liked coffee! This week at work is going to be tough. 

Overall though I am looking forward to it. It is certainly a very different way to spend a week and I look forward to posting my reviews on the shows here as the week progresses. 

Here's hoping I can stay awake!

Charlotte

2016: What have I been doing???

I decided 2016 was to be my selfish year. The year where I try my hardest to do what is best for me.

Not what I think other people want to do.

Not what they want me to do.

Not what I think I should be doing.

The things that are actually good for me.

 

I decided to take a break from blogging. I had been struggling with it and I found I couldn't think of much to I write about. Instead I would focus on making myself better, happier, healthier. To be less stressed and more positive was and is what is important.

 

I am a worrier and a bit of a stress head. And quite frankly it isn't good for me.

So the only thing I want to do in 2016 is work towards being a less stressed human. No goals. No specific things to achieve. Just that whatever I do, should be related to that theme.

 

The reason for not setting hard and fast targets and goals is that they are (for me at least) easy to miss. Easy to fail at. Which makes it very easy to jack the whole thing in and go back to how things were.

 

So in January I focused on having a good time. On enjoying myself and making the most of my time off. I had planned well for this as I had a weekend break and a week off to look forward to and frankly I think it spoiled me. Nothing like starting high but it's hard to keep up that level of awesomeness when you have other life commitments and a limited budget!

 

In February, I decided to take physical action regarding what was best for myself and try to resolve on longstanding skin condition around my eyes. It started out looking promising with a referral to a belpharitis specialist. However, two weeks of trailing a new eye care regime (which involved a rather expensive bottle of lotion) I was told it didn't seem to be belpharitis after all. Now I have to make an appointment to see my GP to try and get another diagnosis and a referral to see a dermatologist. All the while I get to have dry, flaky, scaly red skin around my eyes. Attractive.

 

March saw me hit a bit of a set back. At the end of February I started with a cough. And by the first of March I was off work sick. Several trips to the doctor gained no advantage except an interesting morning out to the hospital for a chest X-ray. Again, no result. Just a rotten old cough. I maintain that I think it is whooping cough but by the time I had a sample check it had been over three weeks which is apparently when the infection would have cleared up anyway. I was still coughing a bit but got myself back at the administrative coal face. While I was off work I did manage to sort through some clutter but nothing nothing like the amount I could've done had I not been so shattered, never mind.

 

April though is where things started to look up for me again. I started a second job, one day a week at a bakers as a trainee. Even though it's only the one day, it has been a real confidence boost for me. I've learned some new skills and have shown myself that I can do new things and take on new challenges without totally collapsing and failing.

An old friend of mine got married enough and was so kind, and generous in inviting myself and the boy along to the wedding. Seeing her and her new husband so happy was one of the most heart-warming things I think I've ever seen. Not only that, but it was such a well planned, beautiful day. No fuss (at least that I could see). No stress and worry. Just happy people having a good time. Just how life should be.

And... In a very abrupt turn of events... I'm buying a house. Well, to put it more accurately, we're buying a house. Me and the boy, together. Oo scary. I have no idea what I'm doing, and I'm sure he won't mind too much me saying I don't think he does either. It's very much a make it up as we go along thing and hope for the best. We have in no way got the keys yet but it's looking pretty positive. Things seem to be moving in the right direction at least.

Now May is nearly over too and still have so much swimming around in my head. So much I want to do. So much that I feel like I could change or do better but I feel positive that I'm doing well with 2016 so far. I just have to keep going and try to build on these foundations.

 

I hope to see you soon,

Charlotte