Pantomime

Vanna here.

Yesterday afternoon, Alex and I went to a pantomime! I had never been to (or heard of) one, so I was going in having no idea what to expect.

AND I LOVED IT!

It was a comical musical, basically. The humor was very slap-stick and geared towards children, but it was enjoyable for the adult audience as well. I normally hate forced humor or any type of comedy, it makes me frown in disgust more than smile; if it is written in a script and rehearsed, it isn’t funny to me.
But I was pleasantly surprised with how easily I was sucked in to the humor of the show.

As all theater experiences go, we had a large group of young children on a field trip behind us (two rows worth!) (4, 5, 6, and 7 yr). I was unhappy at this to start (the chair kicking didn’t help), but once the show started I was glad they were there. Children always have dramatized reactions to jokes and thrills, so it helped me feel engulfed into the atmosphere.

We went to the Theatre Royal, Newcastle Upon Tyne to see Jack and the Beanstalk.

WITH AMAZING 3D SPECIAL EFFECTS! Actually, I was really impressed with the 3D – I even had the urged to stick my hand out and push the image away (scary spiders!) like you see in advertisements.

The story was very well put together, and there was never a dull or bland moment throughout the entire show. I was able to understand the actors accents while talking and singing, so that was an added bonus. The Geordie accent is very very hard to understand when you are not from the area. The only disappointment I had was that I didn’t fully get the jokes that were made, as they were geared towards the area (which I obviously am not from..so they went over my head). But even with that, I still really enjoyed the show.
I thought the actors were brilliant and the amount of theatrics they put in were outstanding.

There was a lot of audience interaction (one woman even had popcorn thrown upon her… I was so glad it wasn’t me) which kept the show lively. We even helped Jack battle the giant by throwing “stottie cakes” at him. I wasn’t originally given any to throw, only the children, but because they were all behind me I was hit in the back of the head with most of them, giving me a chance to throw them and defeat the giant!

We weren’t able to take pictures during the show, so here are some pictures I stole off the website:

the cow, Moo Moo, was my favorite character

Princess Apricot and the Queen

the tall man in yellow was the “town idiot” and was Alex’s favorite character

pie throwing – kids LOVED it

every story needs a fairy godmother

As the norm with pantomimes, men play the female characters

the giants main man… he actually scared me when I first saw him. I wasn’t expecting the villain to be so creepy when there were children in the audience!

The finale

 

So yeah, I really enjoyed the show. Next year they will be doing Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, which I would love to see if we were in the country.

After the show we caught the train to Durham and ate at Chiquitos (Mexican restaurant) and had a delicious meal! Alex also managed to have 6 alcoholic drinks, so he was a bit giggly the walk home. It was our second time going to the place, and I wish we could go back a few more times before we leave the country.
I had a beautiful peach daiquiri, which was the best drink I have ever consumed in my life!
Click here for their website so you can see their deliciousness for yourselves.

That’s about all I have to say for now, I guess.

Lumiere Festival, Pantomimes And Under The Dome (The Finale!)

Very good news, good news and something of a disappointment; that’s how I’d describe the things in my title. But that’s pretty vague, so allow me to give you the details.

Lumiere Durham

Well, looks like I managed to spell ‘Lumiere’ right first time, which I feel is something of an achievement, albeit a very small one (but hey, they all count!).

Anyway, Lumiere Durham is a very popular lights festival that transforms Durham city centre into a magical light display for, uh, art and celebration (I’ve linked you to the official website if you want more information). It’s a four-day event, from the 14th to the 17th of November, and I’m going to be working there (woo!), telling people where to go, and generally trying to keep order. It isn’t a long-term job (obviously) but it’ll bring in a bit of money and get me outside for a few days (working from 2pm to 12am, so it’s going to be cold…good thing I’ve got my new winter coat!), which I feel is important as I’m suffering from that enjoyable condition known as writer’s block (urgh). And I should get to see the lights in their full glory, so that’s a bonus.

I’ve got my training tomorrow and then I’ll be good to go. Exercise, fresh air, money…yeah I’m excited. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to blog, but I’ll let you know how it goes (when I can).

Vanna’s First Pantomime

As pantomimes (wikipedia does the job so I don’t have to) are not really an American thing, this Christmas represents Vanna’s last chance to see one until…well, who knows? It’s going to be a couple of years at least before Vanna will be back in the UK, so I decided it was very important to put ‘seeing a pantomime’ on our To Do List.

Initially we were planning on just going to watch the pantomime at the Durham Gala, but my dad persuaded me against it. Though it would be nice to go to the evening show and then go home when it was all dark and everything felt Christmassy (you know what I mean? No? Just pretend), we should really plump for the full ‘experience’, and go to the Theatre Royal in Newcastle instead.

So yesterday I bought our tickets for a show on Thursday 9th January, at 2pm. It’s a bit more expensive than the Gala (twice the price in fact, but who can put a price on love? Ugh…) but I’m confident it’ll be worth it, especially as we have seats in the Grand Circle. Oh yeah. Second row as well, so we should have a good view (the seats are why we’re going in January; ideally we’d go before Christmas, but all the good seats are gone…you have to book fast when it comes to pantos).

I wanted to go in the evening, but as I didn’t want to sleep in the train station afterwards (good chance we’d miss the last train), the afternoon showing was more ideal. I’m told that the matinee is just as good though, and this way we’ll have time to explore Newcastle and have a meal after the show…so yeah, excited for this too. Hopefully Vanna will enjoy it, but who knows? It’s not going to be like anything else she’s ever see. BUT it’s another experience for us, and I’m sure she’ll get a good story out of it.

Under The Dome Finale…Why Bother?

Under The Dome had just started to win me over, it really had. Sure, it’s not as good as the book, and sure, the plots related to the dome were unbelievably stupid (the monarch will be crowned storyline was especially cheesy), but it was beginning to get good in other ways; there was suspense, drama and most importantly, I didn’t know how it was going to end (a feelingI wouldn’t have had if the show followed the book). So when it got to the finale, I was pretty excited to see what would happen.

*sigh*

Now, I know there is a second season next year so it wasn’t going to end perfectly…but it was awful. Such an anti climax. It was dumb, unconvincing, and didn’t really encourage me to watch the next season. I still will mind, because, well, I have to see what happens (and I’m a sadist). I think Sue (our control in the group as she hadn’t read the book before) enjoyed it more, but me and my dad weren’t keen at all. 3/10 for the episode (I gather it isn’t the only finale to disappoint recently either, so least UTD is good company), maybe a 6/10 for the season. But bleh. What a disappointment.

The rest of my news was good though, even if Stephen King’s decision-making wasn’t. So that’s something.

Alex