Stockholm and Swedish things

While I'm quite a fan of Sweden, perhaps a little biased by the men, it's been by accident more than planning a bit of a Swedish weekend starting off Saturday night with a trip to the Theatre to see, you guessed it Stockholm. I'd long forgotten the storyline from the subscription guide last year and hadn't read any reviews, in fact I'd forgotten the name of the play until Saturday. So when it began with a striking couple speaking of themselves in the third person followed by a host of unexpected twists and turns, I was hooked, totally captivated by the whole mix of colour, music, intensely physical choreography and developing story of a beautifully dysfunctional relationship. The sex scenes were really hot, even if they were straight. I was truly taken away into the story, which is for me what theatre is all about and I'd highly recommend it apart from the fact that Saturday night was the final performance. Oh and while there were Swedish themes - it was not actually Swedish.

Update: Stockholm will reappear at the Riverside Theatre in Parramatta from May 26 - 29th. Details here.

Which brings us to Sunday, and with rain descending we headed to the cinema to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I had heard it was good, but wasn't sure of detail. It continued the Swedish theme - a Swedish movie, subtitled in English, though I understand some Swedish which is useful yet distracting. The movie was totally gripping. Loved it, as disturbing as it was at times, I didn't want to miss a second. It was a little saddening to hear there are plans afoot to make a Hollywood version of it already... what's wrong with appreciating the original? Even if you have to read subtitles it's still extraordinary.

The Narcissist

Friday evening is theatre time. We're off to see The Narcissist playing at the Sydney Opera House. I'm running ahead of time for once and phone those who are coming to schedule meeting up for dinner. Five minutes later I'm stuck in traffic - bloody rugby semi-finals! So after ordering over the phone I finally arrive to my first course sitting waiting for me. Dinner is good I think - but we have so much to catch up on that the conversation is the main meal.

The stage is bright - there's loads of images of our main character - a lot camper in the artwork than he is in character. Actually - there are way too many images of this character and I feel like getting up there and decluttering. A barrage of one-liners make us laugh out loud, a lot, but the delivery seems a little forced and I know these are actors playing their characters, for the most part. I'm enjoying the play with its decidedly gay themes and unpredictability, but I have to work on it too. I'm a little tired from a restless night at the hospital, but mostly unrelated to work, so I don't want to have to work on my evening's entertainment. Mind you - it's not incredibly cerebral. Not even close really - but perhaps I'm too demanding in wanting seamlessness. I want to be completely absorbed, but I'm not quite. I could actually spend more time chatting with the people we've come with as I really like them and we never get enough time together. But afterwards we're all too tired from big work weeks to do coffee/dessert, and the chat on the walk along the harbour will have to do for now. 

A fun night out.

The play wasn't too bad either. 

Saturday 15-3-08

So The Frenchman and I head up to Sydney on Saturday afternoon. It's a fantastic day, a delayed summer, and I have no complaints. Heading away for Easter next weekend we make our way to Kent Street in the city which has all the outdoors stores you can think of (for the camping gear we need), and manage a park on the street right in the middle of them all (not an easy feat). Looking at the signs everywhere it seems it's sale time at ALL of these store, and the sales started yesterday! We've not done any research and had no idea, so there's more than a little bit of lucky floating around today. By the time we've looked in 3 stores we know what we want and know that at Kathmandu, everything we want is 50% off - think thermarest / sleeping bags and the like, and so we load everything into the car parked out front, while eating the party food they had at the counters for this event. The staff were working well in adversity (it was a jungle of people in there.)

Next stop the tennis where a friend is competing in a doubles final. They're down when we arrive, but as soon as we get there they win the 5 next games straight and then the match, and we're regarded as lucky charms. I think we might be asked to come again.

The day is too good to be hanging around the tennis court so we take off to the victor's favourite beach - which is Freshwater (and no the water's not fresh). Despite the waves being quite small, they're emminently catchable and we body surf until the sun goes home, spotting a stingray in the so so clear water along the way. Of course in doing all this we've canned dining out before the theatre we have tickets for and instead eat fish and chips sitting by the Opera House watching the world go by. The night is so balmy that I think we've chosen the better option, the fish was superb.

Vertical Hour is the play and I quite enjoy it - political , emotional, insightful, and despite one fake american accent is worth catching.

Home now - and a few butterflies for Sunday's race...

Need rest.

Riflemind

A Play by Andrew Upton (Cate Blanchett's husband)
Directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman

Someone has put a gun to the heads of the characters in Andrew Upton's new play. Unfortunately, no one pulled the trigger.

The most impressive feature of Saturday Night's performance at Sydney Theatre Company's Wharf 1 Theatre was the stage design - a gourmet kitchen and funky living space that I could quite easily transplant into my own home. The most compelling question I had at the end of the performance was "Where can I find those floorboards?".

The play centres around a once famous rock band 'Riflemind' now contemplating re-forming for a comeback tour, reliving the emotions of their rise and fall and pondering the future. Seems like an interesting topic, no?

No.

Now I did try to like it - we even stayed after interval (unlike our more sensible theatre buddies) though The Frenchman did indicate to me his pain at numerous points through the second act, when he wasn't sleeping. There seemed to me to be some interesting questions posed in the first act about the value of celebrity, the impact of the associated hedonistic lifestyle and the closeting of sexuality. The second act seemed to stumble past these questions. We were blasted with deafeningly loud bursts of rock music and intermittent strobe effects which were as frighteningly unexpected as they were inappropriate and so many Fuck You's that even The Frenchman was mortified.

Hugo Weaving played a boomingly unconvincing John, lead guitarist / vocalist / songwriter / recovering everythingaholic, though I've got to admit he has quite a stage presence. At times it seemed the actors weren't quite sure what they were doing with their lines, and there was such a mix of accents that I didn't quite know where we were supposed to be, nor quite how we got there. Oh, and the sex scene was entirely unconvincing on so many levels.

Perhaps the aim of the play was to tell us that being famous is in fact a terrible thing that destroys people. But I never got the sense that these people were really likeable in the first place.

There are loads of stars in this production - but not a lot of glitter.

Now, where can I find the interior designer?