14 January 2019. The tragedy of King Richard the Second at the Almeida.

Frankly, I booked this because the lead role was to be played by Simon Russell-Beale. While he validated the choice, the direction by Joe Hill-Gibbins did not really work for me. The 'set' consisted of a dark metallic cage; the actors threw buckets of 'blood', soil and water so that the stage ended up as something of a quagmire; some actors played more than one part; and the text had been severely pruned to 100 minutes. The play itself and the fine speeches struck me as deserving more.

9 January 2019. I'm not running at the National Theatre

This new David Hare play charted the trajectory of a doctor who was also a member of the Labour Party from her student days to the decision to run a Labour Party leader. It was told in flashbacks and flash forwards, starting from an announcement that she would not be standing and ending with the later contrary announcement that she would be. We went back to her student days with Jack and a long scene when they split up. Later, he reappears in her life as he is a Labour Party stalwart and she a single-issue (saving her NHS hospital) MP. The flame rekindles momentarily but by now he is married with children.
I found it all interesting enough to sit and watch and Sian Brooke's playing of the MP ws excellent. However, the takeaways rather eluded me and I suspect it will all be distinctly forgotten by the end of the year if not before.

4 January 2019. Les Patineurs, Winter Dreams and The Concert at the ROH

This was a pleasant enough evening - but one that didn't do much for me really. Les Patineurs was the best of the trio in my opinion. It is half an hour of dancers creating the world of ice-skaters - with a series of different characters from the a nervous pair through to the amazing soloist -Marcelino Sambe. The whole piece, choreographed by Ashton, was a pleasure to watch - combining great dancing with an amusing unfolding of the events. All against a lovely set of the skating rink, with some snow falling towards the end. Next, we had Winter Dreams, a ballet that originated as a piece by Macmillan for Darcey Bussell and Irek Mukhamedov. The problem is he extended it and it is all a bit tedious. It is based around Chekhov's Three Sisters which is an interesting enough story. However, it is all conducted in such a gloomy light that it is difficult to get enthused as one couple after another dance in pairs and groups. It paradoxically never quite got going for me while lasting far too long. Unusually, the set itself just seemed dreary. So all we ended up with was the air of gloom but not a lot else. Finally, we had The Concert which many people loved but I watched rather stony-faced. It is a bit of slapstick based around people at a Chopin recital. I didn't really see the point of it. The dancers are deliberately making mistakes and messing about and the story didn't honestly bother me.