As I have mentioned before I was fortunate enough to see the premier of The Pianist at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry earlier this year as part of the Manchester International Festival.
I am now on the Festival e - mailing list and those lovely people have sent me the latest newsletter today. In it they have announced that The Pianist will be broadcast on Radio 4.
If you do nothing else this year I would recommend you tune in, lie back in your comfy chair, relax, close your eyes and throughly enjoy the experience of this masterpiece.
Quoted from the Festival e - mail
Radio 4 will be broadcasting The Pianist which premiered at this year's Festival, on Saturday 20 October at 2.30pm – 3.30pm. The Pianist, based on the memoirs of Wladyslaw Spzilman, received outstanding reviews and is narrated by actor Peter Guinness, with the music of Chopin played by concert pianist Mikhail Rudy. 'A potent tale of triumph over tragedy…recommended'˜˜˜˜ The Times
Showing posts with label The Pianist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Pianist. Show all posts
Thursday, 11 October 2007
Thursday, 20 September 2007
i wonder?
En route to work on foot I try to vary my route.
No other reason than I try to delay the inevitable incarceration for 8 hours in an artificial environment! Although they all only take 15 minutes!
Here is a random whistle stop tour of my daily bit of Manchester.
Route 1.
Out the station, picking up a Metro News, past the Hilton hotel/ Beethan Tower.
(now this is one of the most unattractive buildings I have ever seen.. however it is beautiful inside and they do a great cappuccino) Crossing the road ahead of the flashing green man as I know the sequence of lights. Passing the flashy shops selling beds and flats that I would never ever be able to afford (not that I would ever want to buy a flat for £995,500 in the city centre).... past the Model shop
Popping into Sainsbury's for my 'desk lunch' and down to John Rylands then down the side street past the Magistrates court and into the office.
Route 2.
Out of the station across the bridge past the G Mex back entrance. Through the AMC cinema (& a quick look at the listings…..… ), down the steps back onto Deansgate. Past the John Rylands again. Past the Lap dancing place. Into Merv’s for a take away coffee and sausage butty for £1.99 (bargain) and into the office.
Route 3 (my favourite route)
Out the station, picking up a Metro News, past the Hilton hotel/ Beethan Tower. Crossing the road ahead of the flashing green man as I know the sequence of lights.
Down past the Ox on my reverse route home I have seen many times Craig Charles reading his Coronation Street script with a pint and a ciggy
Crossing over the road past the ‘blue post box’
to the Manchester Science and Industry Museum, which I love. This is where I saw ‘ The Pianist’ a few months ago. I have visited there many many times as my teen was growing up, it is free and there are loads of fun interactive things for kids, a train & plane museum and a mock up of Salford's Victorian sewers (lovely). I saw the Titanic Exhibition there, which was one of the best exhibitions I have seen. The most striking thing was a wall size slab of ice, which you could touch and it brought home just how cold that water would have been that night the Titanic sank.
So onwards down Great John Street past the Great John Street Hotel This is a great write up of it, have promised myself a stay there but it is so expensive … may just have to nip in for a cappuccino instead.
Opposite here is the Coronation Street set. There are usually a few die-hard fans in what ever the weather mingling at the gates cameras at the ready. Just mooching to work I see a few of them but don’t ask me their names (oh Kelly from the factory is one!… I am not an avid fan).
Then it is past the main Granada building. For some time now they had on the walls outside ‘Jeremy Kyle show queue this way’ & ‘ ‘Mastermind queue this way’. I so want to see both sets of audience there at the same time. Would it be shell suits and bling one side and corduroy jackets and intellectual types the other?
My final leg on this route is through the new Spinningfields development
I have watched the growth of this through my office window aver the past couple of years. I can’t believe that on what appeared to be a small patch of land such a mammoth creation has appeared. I have watched the apartments become occupied, many of which have chosen not to have curtains up at their windows (don’t they realize there is an office across the way) and tragically I have also seen a worker fall to his death from the scaffolding.
It is still not complete but it is a fantastic feat of engineering.
Tucked in between this extremely ultra modern 21st century development is the People’s History Museum. It is so close to work but have only been once. You can clock in at work on an old machine and make badges. It was great fun.
Then across the bridge that straddles the Irwell and in to the office.
I do try to mix routes 1, 2 & 3 for an even better eclectic mix
Thursday, 12 July 2007
An Evening to Remember
Manchester International Festival is currently in full swing and I had the foresight weeks and weeks ago to buy tickets for a performance being held at the Museum of Science and Industry.
Thank goodness for email as the kind organizers of the Festival sent me a reminder that I had indeed bought tickets.
Last week I had the absolute pleasure and delight to see The Pianist.
A live production of Wladyslaw Szpiliman’s harrowing story of German occupation in Warsaw during WWII staged by Neil Bartlett.
The setting was tremendous, the dark, dusty 1830’s warehouse within the Science Museum's site. On entering the warehouse we were ushered up the stairs in semi-darkness by staff with torches. The stage was not raised but in the middle of the seating at ground level and the only prop consisted of a marvelous grand piano standing proud under a spotlight no more than 13 feet from the front seated audience.
We were a small intimate audience of maybe 90 people.
Much polite chatter echoed around the warehouse as we waited for the performance to begin. Above the chatter harsh rain could be heard beating down on the roof of the warehouse that added to feeling of being somewhere totally alien, somewhere quite awesome outside of our modern, 21st century rat race lives.
Suddenly there was a deathly hush and the two performers entered one by one in the dark illuminated only by a subtle footlight that showed the particles of dust that lay in the air.
Firstly Peter Guinness, narrator, dresses in black slowly, silently walked to the piano and around it. Then Mikhail Rudy similarly walked slowly on set and seated himself at the piano. You could have heard a pin drop despite the steady relentless rain outside.
During the 90-minute performance, Peter Guinness became Szpiliman; his delivery was superb, his timing and execution of the story was breath taking. He walked around the ‘stage’ at one time standing so close to where I was seated I could have touched him.
The casting, in my book, was precisely right.
The narration was timely separated by the wonderful music of Chopin and Szpiliman’s own compositions unfalteringly played by Mikhail Rudy.
During the performance I took a time to watch the audience seated opposite me. Everyone, without exception, was rooted to their seats and hanging on every word spoken and every note played. I too was transfixed.
I have seen many theatre productions over the years, musicals (of many varieties), Shakespeare, ballet and so on, but this performance has to be the most unusual, awe inspiring, thought provoking piece of theatre I have ever seen. I would not have missed it for the world. I believe this may have been the first time the performance had been delivered in English and my utmost respect is extended to Neil Bartlett and his team for their professional interpretation of this most haunting account of Szpiliman’s survival. Thank you.
The performance ends on Sunday (as does the festival). If you are fortunate to be in Manchester and fortunate enough to get tickets I would strongly recommend you go. If you have tickets already…. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.
Thank goodness for email as the kind organizers of the Festival sent me a reminder that I had indeed bought tickets.
Last week I had the absolute pleasure and delight to see The Pianist.
A live production of Wladyslaw Szpiliman’s harrowing story of German occupation in Warsaw during WWII staged by Neil Bartlett.
The setting was tremendous, the dark, dusty 1830’s warehouse within the Science Museum's site. On entering the warehouse we were ushered up the stairs in semi-darkness by staff with torches. The stage was not raised but in the middle of the seating at ground level and the only prop consisted of a marvelous grand piano standing proud under a spotlight no more than 13 feet from the front seated audience.
We were a small intimate audience of maybe 90 people.
Much polite chatter echoed around the warehouse as we waited for the performance to begin. Above the chatter harsh rain could be heard beating down on the roof of the warehouse that added to feeling of being somewhere totally alien, somewhere quite awesome outside of our modern, 21st century rat race lives.
Suddenly there was a deathly hush and the two performers entered one by one in the dark illuminated only by a subtle footlight that showed the particles of dust that lay in the air.
Firstly Peter Guinness, narrator, dresses in black slowly, silently walked to the piano and around it. Then Mikhail Rudy similarly walked slowly on set and seated himself at the piano. You could have heard a pin drop despite the steady relentless rain outside.
During the 90-minute performance, Peter Guinness became Szpiliman; his delivery was superb, his timing and execution of the story was breath taking. He walked around the ‘stage’ at one time standing so close to where I was seated I could have touched him.
The casting, in my book, was precisely right.
The narration was timely separated by the wonderful music of Chopin and Szpiliman’s own compositions unfalteringly played by Mikhail Rudy.
During the performance I took a time to watch the audience seated opposite me. Everyone, without exception, was rooted to their seats and hanging on every word spoken and every note played. I too was transfixed.
I have seen many theatre productions over the years, musicals (of many varieties), Shakespeare, ballet and so on, but this performance has to be the most unusual, awe inspiring, thought provoking piece of theatre I have ever seen. I would not have missed it for the world. I believe this may have been the first time the performance had been delivered in English and my utmost respect is extended to Neil Bartlett and his team for their professional interpretation of this most haunting account of Szpiliman’s survival. Thank you.
The performance ends on Sunday (as does the festival). If you are fortunate to be in Manchester and fortunate enough to get tickets I would strongly recommend you go. If you have tickets already…. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.
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