Christmas entertainment
Dec. 21st, 2015 02:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearWednesday 16 December - Mr Foote's Other Leg
Free tickets for the new show at the Haymarket - thanks, Corone!
This play tells the story of how the Royal Haymarket got its royal status, so it was particularly appropriate to be sitting in the very theatre for the performance (though apparently it's a different building from the original). I would say this was a pretty good play. The first half was funnier, but the second half was better. The cast were all very good - I liked all the characters, and some of it made me laugh out loud. The scene just before the interval was so effective as to be rather traumatic - but, overall, a good night out.
Friday 18 December - Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty
This is the third time I've seen this ballet (the first was on stage, the second was on TV) and I still love it. It's not a patch on Bourne's Swan Lake, but it's pretty much up there with my favourites of his other ballets. The leader of the fairies is my favourite character in the ballet, and I thought he was the best of the male dancers in this production. Aurora was also excellent. It was also a good night out, since fate rewarded my frugality. I usually pay top prices for a seat at the front of the circle, but I'm trying to spend less at the moment, so I thought I'd go for one of the cheapest tickets - front row of the upper circle, with a supposedly restricted view. My view was great - easily as good as my usual expensive seat - and it also meant that I could get a ticket next to mine for Simon H when he expressed an interest in joining me.
Saturday 19 December - Olympia Horse Show
Always a good day out, and no exception this year. The Shetland Pony Grand National is always a highlight, but I also really enjoyed the showjumping this year - there were some interesting courses, and a scoring system I hadn't come across before. The dog agility was great, and the household cavalry gave a very good musical ride performance.
Then there was Jean-Francois Pignon, who does a routine with a troupe of horses who are left to roam around the arena without any tack, and who do various things based on signals from him. The audience always goes nuts for this, and I have never understood it, as most of them are surely familiar with horses in some way - and it's obvious to me that all the horses absolutely hate Pignon. They spend the entire time with their ears flat against their heads and they flinch every time he goes near them - it's horrible. Just because I thought I must be mad (since he's been doing this act all over the world for years, and has been invited to Olympia multiple times), I did a brief search on the internet - and there are people who've been to training courses led by him, who report that he beats his horses. So, yeah...
Anyway, mum and I used his section of the performance as an opportunity to go to the loo and get more tea - and the rest of the afternoon was great!
Sunday 20 December - Nightmare Before Christmas
I got a box from The Spicery last week, which contained a recipe card and lots of packets of interesting spice mixes. So, yesterday, I bought all the ingredients and spent a happy couple of hours creating a very nice three course Indian meal for me and Dave. The Zabadi side dish and the rose and cardamon ice cream were by far the best bits, but it was all pretty good. Quite a lot more effort than Hello Fresh, but nice to do on occasion. Anyway, after the meal, we decided to watch a movie - and I picked Nightmare Before Christmas, since it's seasonal and it's been in my folder of movies to watch for some time. It was very short, and pretty weird - but I quite enjoyed it overall. The songs were fun, there were some lovely details along the way, and I liked Jack and Sally.
Free tickets for the new show at the Haymarket - thanks, Corone!
This play tells the story of how the Royal Haymarket got its royal status, so it was particularly appropriate to be sitting in the very theatre for the performance (though apparently it's a different building from the original). I would say this was a pretty good play. The first half was funnier, but the second half was better. The cast were all very good - I liked all the characters, and some of it made me laugh out loud. The scene just before the interval was so effective as to be rather traumatic - but, overall, a good night out.
Friday 18 December - Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty
This is the third time I've seen this ballet (the first was on stage, the second was on TV) and I still love it. It's not a patch on Bourne's Swan Lake, but it's pretty much up there with my favourites of his other ballets. The leader of the fairies is my favourite character in the ballet, and I thought he was the best of the male dancers in this production. Aurora was also excellent. It was also a good night out, since fate rewarded my frugality. I usually pay top prices for a seat at the front of the circle, but I'm trying to spend less at the moment, so I thought I'd go for one of the cheapest tickets - front row of the upper circle, with a supposedly restricted view. My view was great - easily as good as my usual expensive seat - and it also meant that I could get a ticket next to mine for Simon H when he expressed an interest in joining me.
Saturday 19 December - Olympia Horse Show
Always a good day out, and no exception this year. The Shetland Pony Grand National is always a highlight, but I also really enjoyed the showjumping this year - there were some interesting courses, and a scoring system I hadn't come across before. The dog agility was great, and the household cavalry gave a very good musical ride performance.
Then there was Jean-Francois Pignon, who does a routine with a troupe of horses who are left to roam around the arena without any tack, and who do various things based on signals from him. The audience always goes nuts for this, and I have never understood it, as most of them are surely familiar with horses in some way - and it's obvious to me that all the horses absolutely hate Pignon. They spend the entire time with their ears flat against their heads and they flinch every time he goes near them - it's horrible. Just because I thought I must be mad (since he's been doing this act all over the world for years, and has been invited to Olympia multiple times), I did a brief search on the internet - and there are people who've been to training courses led by him, who report that he beats his horses. So, yeah...
Anyway, mum and I used his section of the performance as an opportunity to go to the loo and get more tea - and the rest of the afternoon was great!
Sunday 20 December - Nightmare Before Christmas
I got a box from The Spicery last week, which contained a recipe card and lots of packets of interesting spice mixes. So, yesterday, I bought all the ingredients and spent a happy couple of hours creating a very nice three course Indian meal for me and Dave. The Zabadi side dish and the rose and cardamon ice cream were by far the best bits, but it was all pretty good. Quite a lot more effort than Hello Fresh, but nice to do on occasion. Anyway, after the meal, we decided to watch a movie - and I picked Nightmare Before Christmas, since it's seasonal and it's been in my folder of movies to watch for some time. It was very short, and pretty weird - but I quite enjoyed it overall. The songs were fun, there were some lovely details along the way, and I liked Jack and Sally.
