Had a lovely evening out last night, at Oldham Coliseum to see Educating Rita - many of you will have heard of the film, but like me, have never seen the play. Miche and I have been to Oldham Coliseum a few times since she got her job at the college there, and have yet to see something that wasn't brilliant. This was no exception.
Created on a lovely set, depicting a typical, old school university professor's office, the action consists purely of interaction of the two cast members. Frank, a cynical, alcoholic, washed out professor, played by Steven Elliot with a quiet fierceness, but also genuine warmth, and the eponymous Rita - the sassy young hairdresser wanting to better herself. Scarlett Brookes is fantastic in this role, bringing a lightness of spirit and an enthusiasm to the room, that enraptured the audience, and immediately made the attraction that Frank felt feel real to all who were watching. Sparring with Frank through a combination of naive study comments, and witty banter ( all delivered in a wonderful scouse accent), it at times felt more like she was educating him in life, than he was teaching her about literature..
The show felt perfectly paced, with many laugh out loud moments, but also a real darkness underneath, with commentary on class and culture that seems as relevant today as it did when it was first produced in the early 80s. The dilemma that Frank feels as he sees Rita's "outsiders" view of poetry and literature disappear under weight of "notes from accepted experts", is a fascinating study of what makes something "good". A subjective view of "I liked it", or an objective view, "that the characterisation was interesting, and the sub-levels of the story made a valid point".
Objectively, I thought the show was beautifully acted, sympathetically directed, and appealed on many levels. Subjectively, it was brilliant - I loved it.
Educating Rita is on at the Oldham Coliseum until 31st October - it really is worth a watch.
http://www.coliseum.org.uk/plays/educating-rita/
Thursday, 22 October 2015
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Sport, Money and the Olympic Spirit
I've been blown away over the last 10 days by the London Olympics. I love sport. I love the excitement, the dedication, the joy, the pain. But fundamentally, I love seeing people get their just rewards for so much dedication. Listening to Geraint Thomas speak after he and his team mates smashed the Team pursuit world record and won Gold, he said how the team management had stopped them going out to a Rhiannon concert ( no - not on taste grounds), as it could interrupt their training. Now if that had been 2 weeks ago, then I wouldn't have flinched, but this was in November. People question why our cyclists are so good - well there is part of it - a commitment, to making small gains, wherever they can, because they believe that the end product is worth their blood, sweat and tears.
There have been a couple of other things, other that the success though, which have got me thinking about the differences in attitudes with some other sports people.
Exhibit 1 - Gareth Bale. Bale pulled out of the GB Olympic football team, because he was "injured", but miraculously became fit in time for Spurs' pre-season tour. Now, its his prerogative, but the idea that his club is more important than an Olympics is an interesting viewpoint, and cements my long held view, that Football should not be an Olympic sport. In fact, I've generally thought that a basic test for Olympic sports should be - is it the most important thing in the sport? So, on that basis, good bye to Tennis, Football, and they can also stop building the Golf course in Rio.
Exhibit 2 - Kevin Pietersen. Now, this isn't really about the Olympics, but it struck home to me far more, having watched so many athletes that care so much about performing for the nation, for the medal, and not just for the money. For all the posturing, 3 lions tattoos, and proclamations of love of playing for England. One can't help but feel that England Cricket is simply a means to end for KP. With the rise of the IPL, and other big money Twenty20 leagues, there are other means, now available to him, and these are easier paths. Without a nationalistic commitment, to believe in, and to feel that representing your country is the pinnacle of your career, it is easy to see why his mind is driven to other options.
But it does beg the question of motivation. You can clearly see, in these minority sports that we watch at the Olympics, people doing what they love. They are completely immersed in it - yes, it is also a job, thanks to lottery funding etc, but its not a glamorous lifestyle for most of them. You don't choose to be a triathlete, or a track cyclist, an open water swimmer or a sailor because of the riches to be made - you do it because you love it, and as the talent is there, and with the hard work, you become great, and possibly famous enough to make enough money out of endorsements to have a decent lifestyle. But what happens to the footballers, and the cricketers. They obviously got into it for the same reasons, but now, looking at some of them, it seems that the driver as they get more successful, is money, rather than sporting success, and that to me, is a massive shame.
Exhibit 1 - Gareth Bale. Bale pulled out of the GB Olympic football team, because he was "injured", but miraculously became fit in time for Spurs' pre-season tour. Now, its his prerogative, but the idea that his club is more important than an Olympics is an interesting viewpoint, and cements my long held view, that Football should not be an Olympic sport. In fact, I've generally thought that a basic test for Olympic sports should be - is it the most important thing in the sport? So, on that basis, good bye to Tennis, Football, and they can also stop building the Golf course in Rio.
Exhibit 2 - Kevin Pietersen. Now, this isn't really about the Olympics, but it struck home to me far more, having watched so many athletes that care so much about performing for the nation, for the medal, and not just for the money. For all the posturing, 3 lions tattoos, and proclamations of love of playing for England. One can't help but feel that England Cricket is simply a means to end for KP. With the rise of the IPL, and other big money Twenty20 leagues, there are other means, now available to him, and these are easier paths. Without a nationalistic commitment, to believe in, and to feel that representing your country is the pinnacle of your career, it is easy to see why his mind is driven to other options.
But it does beg the question of motivation. You can clearly see, in these minority sports that we watch at the Olympics, people doing what they love. They are completely immersed in it - yes, it is also a job, thanks to lottery funding etc, but its not a glamorous lifestyle for most of them. You don't choose to be a triathlete, or a track cyclist, an open water swimmer or a sailor because of the riches to be made - you do it because you love it, and as the talent is there, and with the hard work, you become great, and possibly famous enough to make enough money out of endorsements to have a decent lifestyle. But what happens to the footballers, and the cricketers. They obviously got into it for the same reasons, but now, looking at some of them, it seems that the driver as they get more successful, is money, rather than sporting success, and that to me, is a massive shame.
Friday, 27 January 2012
to blog or not to blog, that is the question
I've been wondering whether to re-invent this blog... I used to write it when I was away with work, but that is not happening much anymore. However, I'm off to finland next week, so I came back to it. I've noticed the reading list, and given how much I am still reading, I think I might use this again, but as a review site for the stuff I am reading, watching and listening... will see how it goes.
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
An Open Letter to the Manchester Evening News
Dear Sir,
I read with interest the nominations for the BBC Sports Personality of the year show, which is to be broadcast from the Greater Manchester region later this year. As always, there are a number of differing views on who should have been included on the shortlist provided by the BBC. Spending some time looking through the nominations of the "great and good" expert journalists, ad a Manchester resident, I was dismayed to view the list provided by your publication. The Manchester Evening News serves a region which is famous for its love of sport, and is a home to a huge variety of sports, and yet you managed to only represent 4 sports in your list of 10 nominations. Despite the hosting of a huge variety of sports; Manchester the national centres for squash and cycling, and Salford having regularly hosted World class triathlon to name just a few, you managed to ignore all sports apart from golf, cricket, football and a token swimmer... More worryingly, it appears that you haven't quite understood that this award traditionally goes to a British sportsperson, there being an Overseas Personality also awarded.
Leaving aside the nationality issue, the nomination of 4 footballers from the 2 Manchester teams, and 2 cricketers from Lancashire, does smack of localism, which as the BBC spotlight turns onto the Greater Manchester area, is surely something that should be avoided, when for years, the London centric focus of the mass media has been harshly criticised by many people outside.
I would be hugely interested to know how you came up with these suggestions, and more importantly, when you study them as part of national submissions, whether you are embarrassed by the clear show of ignorance which these shambolic nominations demonstrate.
Yours sincerely,
Andy Gould
I read with interest the nominations for the BBC Sports Personality of the year show, which is to be broadcast from the Greater Manchester region later this year. As always, there are a number of differing views on who should have been included on the shortlist provided by the BBC. Spending some time looking through the nominations of the "great and good" expert journalists, ad a Manchester resident, I was dismayed to view the list provided by your publication. The Manchester Evening News serves a region which is famous for its love of sport, and is a home to a huge variety of sports, and yet you managed to only represent 4 sports in your list of 10 nominations. Despite the hosting of a huge variety of sports; Manchester the national centres for squash and cycling, and Salford having regularly hosted World class triathlon to name just a few, you managed to ignore all sports apart from golf, cricket, football and a token swimmer... More worryingly, it appears that you haven't quite understood that this award traditionally goes to a British sportsperson, there being an Overseas Personality also awarded.
Leaving aside the nationality issue, the nomination of 4 footballers from the 2 Manchester teams, and 2 cricketers from Lancashire, does smack of localism, which as the BBC spotlight turns onto the Greater Manchester area, is surely something that should be avoided, when for years, the London centric focus of the mass media has been harshly criticised by many people outside.
I would be hugely interested to know how you came up with these suggestions, and more importantly, when you study them as part of national submissions, whether you are embarrassed by the clear show of ignorance which these shambolic nominations demonstrate.
Yours sincerely,
Andy Gould
Monday, 11 July 2011
Customer service..... hmmmm
Its not often I feel obliged to blog, this is more an observation than a rant. I, and I would imagine a number of other people, spend a good proportion of my working life, trying to keep customers and clients happy. One of the main ways of doing this, is ensuring good communication. Now, as far as I am concerned, good communication, doesn't mean making a lot of noise, it means imparting useful information when it is available, or explaining why information can't be given if it's not available. Part of that "useful information" is often about managing expectations. If I'm not going to deliver something by a particular date, then I won't tell my client that it'll be there, even if that's what they'd ultimately like, because when that date comes, they'll be more than a bit annoyed.
Where is he going with this, I hear you ask. Well, I have had a Motorola Defy, for about 6 months. When I bought it, it had Android 2.1 on it, but with a promise of an update to 2.2 ( froyo) to come. I was never particularly worried about this update, but at the end of june, TMobile decided to tweet this: "Good News to all our Motorola Defy wielding customers, Android 2.2(Froyo) will start rolling out beginning of july". Excellent! So I keep checking for updates, but nothing appears... its now 11th July - which I think you can stop calling the beginning of july, and today, I decided to follow TMObileUKHelp on twitter, which is being inundated with questions along the lines of "where's my update". The standard response is " sorry, we don't know when its going to arrive". So, if TMobile don't know when the update is going to arrive, why did they shout about it? Surely, there was no conceivable benefit to that message. In fact, for the sake of a couple of days, why not hold off completely, and then tweet " Here it is!" then everyone would be happy.
Interesting idea of customer service...
Where is he going with this, I hear you ask. Well, I have had a Motorola Defy, for about 6 months. When I bought it, it had Android 2.1 on it, but with a promise of an update to 2.2 ( froyo) to come. I was never particularly worried about this update, but at the end of june, TMobile decided to tweet this: "Good News to all our Motorola Defy wielding customers, Android 2.2(Froyo) will start rolling out beginning of july". Excellent! So I keep checking for updates, but nothing appears... its now 11th July - which I think you can stop calling the beginning of july, and today, I decided to follow TMObileUKHelp on twitter, which is being inundated with questions along the lines of "where's my update". The standard response is " sorry, we don't know when its going to arrive". So, if TMobile don't know when the update is going to arrive, why did they shout about it? Surely, there was no conceivable benefit to that message. In fact, for the sake of a couple of days, why not hold off completely, and then tweet " Here it is!" then everyone would be happy.
Interesting idea of customer service...
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Fireflies @ The Lowry
Went to see a cracking new play at the Lowry last night. Kevin Fegan's Fireflies has got a tremendous script; a poignant, powerful message is interwoven with moments of genuine comedy, all played out by a cast of two, Naomi Radcliffe and Paul Simpson, at a relentless pace which leaves the audience almost breathless.
The action focusses around two main characters, Leigh, a single mum, and Nelson, a taxi driver. Whilst the story begins and ends with Leigh ordering a taxi which Nelson is driving, the intervening 80 minutes sees the two tell their own stories, portraying life on a less than desirable estate with a grim reality, but also with their own brand of often, it has to be said, coarse humour.
The focus moves neatly from one character and story to another, with all the characters played by the two cast members, augmented by a constant stream of video which is projected onto the set like a cinema. Sometimes adding background, sometimes providing characters for the main cast to directly interact with, this multimedia experiences takes nothing away from teh two actors, who, you feel could probably bring this play to life in an empty room.
Flitting around each other in almost perpetual motion, its easy to see where Fireflies gets its title, even without the direct references in the script. Even when not officially on stage, the cast can be seen hovering at the side, taking it in, as the stories are told, and you do get the feeling that this play is almost as much for the two of them, as it is for the audience. Almost like a sneak peak on a burgeoning realtionship.
Fireflies is brilliant experience. Go and see it - its on until the end of october at the Lowry
http://www.thelowry.com/WhatsOn/EventDetail.aspx?EventId=3750
The action focusses around two main characters, Leigh, a single mum, and Nelson, a taxi driver. Whilst the story begins and ends with Leigh ordering a taxi which Nelson is driving, the intervening 80 minutes sees the two tell their own stories, portraying life on a less than desirable estate with a grim reality, but also with their own brand of often, it has to be said, coarse humour.
The focus moves neatly from one character and story to another, with all the characters played by the two cast members, augmented by a constant stream of video which is projected onto the set like a cinema. Sometimes adding background, sometimes providing characters for the main cast to directly interact with, this multimedia experiences takes nothing away from teh two actors, who, you feel could probably bring this play to life in an empty room.
Flitting around each other in almost perpetual motion, its easy to see where Fireflies gets its title, even without the direct references in the script. Even when not officially on stage, the cast can be seen hovering at the side, taking it in, as the stories are told, and you do get the feeling that this play is almost as much for the two of them, as it is for the audience. Almost like a sneak peak on a burgeoning realtionship.
Fireflies is brilliant experience. Go and see it - its on until the end of october at the Lowry
http://www.thelowry.com/WhatsOn/EventDetail.aspx?EventId=3750
Monday, 23 March 2009
a capital weekend
Had a wonderful weekend in Stockholm with Miche, we met up on friday afternoon in the central station, she having flown from Manchester to Arlanda, and then got the express train in, and me having got a bonus first class train from LInkoping ( it was cheaper than 2nd class - wahts that all about). Unfortunately it was one of the tilting trains, and as I didn't have a window to look out of, I ended up feeling pretty travel sick.
I'd booked us a hotel in Alvik, about 10 mintes from the city centre on the metro. We went straight there, and then went for a walk around the lake next to the hotel, we had perfect blue skies, and it actually felt like spring was trying to break through - was the first day that I've been here that there actually felt like some warmth in the sun. We followed up witha coffee and cake in another of Stockholms fab coffee emporiums.
In the early evening, we decided to head into Gamla Stan for something to eat, had alittle wander roud, and ended up eating at the first bistro that we had found. Was run by an argetinian chap, and was really nice. simple, but good food, and a cracking bottle of wine.
Saturday, we went everywhere - started off with a wander around gamla stan, then went over into Sodermalm ( i took miche to a shop that I'd bee with R&V which we all thought she would like - and she did! Therre was a little exhibition on there, an artist who created her stuff with embrodiery and material - quite cool), where we stopped for a coffee. Stopped off at the viewing platform at Katarinahissen, for some photos, before dropping down in the lift, and catching a boat over to the Moderna Museet. I'd enjoyed it last time, so we went back, as I thought miche would enjoy it.
Finally got a light lunch after this, and then went for another trek around, before stopping for a beer in a bar on the "Nobel" square in gamla stan, and then getting a lovely pizza from a little restaurant there.
part two tomorrow.
I finished off a book that Miche had got me for xmas Killing the Beasts, by Chris Simms. Its based in manchester, around the time of the commonwealth games, so has a lot of local interest for me. it had a good plot too, an interesting exploration of schizophrenia, but ultimately, something about it didn't quite hang together properly for me. Can't put my finger on it, but guess it just wasn't as polished as some of the books I've read whilst out here.
I'd booked us a hotel in Alvik, about 10 mintes from the city centre on the metro. We went straight there, and then went for a walk around the lake next to the hotel, we had perfect blue skies, and it actually felt like spring was trying to break through - was the first day that I've been here that there actually felt like some warmth in the sun. We followed up witha coffee and cake in another of Stockholms fab coffee emporiums.
In the early evening, we decided to head into Gamla Stan for something to eat, had alittle wander roud, and ended up eating at the first bistro that we had found. Was run by an argetinian chap, and was really nice. simple, but good food, and a cracking bottle of wine.
Saturday, we went everywhere - started off with a wander around gamla stan, then went over into Sodermalm ( i took miche to a shop that I'd bee with R&V which we all thought she would like - and she did! Therre was a little exhibition on there, an artist who created her stuff with embrodiery and material - quite cool), where we stopped for a coffee. Stopped off at the viewing platform at Katarinahissen, for some photos, before dropping down in the lift, and catching a boat over to the Moderna Museet. I'd enjoyed it last time, so we went back, as I thought miche would enjoy it.
Finally got a light lunch after this, and then went for another trek around, before stopping for a beer in a bar on the "Nobel" square in gamla stan, and then getting a lovely pizza from a little restaurant there.
part two tomorrow.
I finished off a book that Miche had got me for xmas Killing the Beasts, by Chris Simms. Its based in manchester, around the time of the commonwealth games, so has a lot of local interest for me. it had a good plot too, an interesting exploration of schizophrenia, but ultimately, something about it didn't quite hang together properly for me. Can't put my finger on it, but guess it just wasn't as polished as some of the books I've read whilst out here.
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