Last night we were part of a theatrical experience when we went to a preview of The Jungle at the Young Vic. This is theatre as you've never seen it before. The Young Vic was converted into the Afghan restaurant in the middle of the Calais Jungle famously reviewed by Sunday Times food critic AA Gill. The audience was seated at tables which formed the stage upon which the players performed.
We were lucky to be at the table where much of the action played out and were a matter of centimetres away from the cast. This new play covers the development of the refugee camp into a community and follows it to its ruthless destruction by the French authorities. We joined in clapping to exuberant music and dance from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa, we heard the Muslim call to prayer, the Christian hymns and the tragic tales of some of the boat people.
To say that we were totally immersed in the action would be an understatement as some in the audience were given plates of food as the drama in the restaurant unfolded (Marion got a chickpea dish).
Along with the multinational refugees including the outstanding Ben Turner as restaurant owner Salar, were British volunteers, a drunken Geordie builder, a young public school type played brilliantly by Alex Lawther (who you will have seen as Tibby in Howards End and who was outstanding in Goodbye, Christopher Robin - certainly a star of the future), a do-gooding young woman, a foul mouthed older female volunteer and an ineffectual male jobsworth. All were trying to help but all were, in their own way, refugees themselves.
We started and finished with the eviction of the refugees and we were left bereft as Safi, played beautifully by Anmar Haj Ahmad, ended the play with a brief but poignant monologue.
I can't praise this production enough. The outstanding cast received a thoroughly deserved standing ovation.
If I had one Christmas wish it would be that Nigel Farage be made to attend every performance holding a copy of that bloody poster.
We got to London in the morning for some Christmas shopping at Westfield and then went to Tate Modern for a couple of hours before the play began. There are certainly some eye catching installations.
These two particularly fired our imagination.
We haven't been to the cinema as often as usual (although we did see the wonderful The Killing Of A Sacred Deer recently) but nowadays we have so much available at home. This week we watched Mudbound on Netflix. Netflix goes from strength to strength with its own productions.
In my opinion this amazing movie about racial inequality set in Mississippi during WWII is the film of the year and I expect to see Jason Mitchell in the running for a best supporting actor Oscar and the film and director Dee Rees in the running for Best Film and best director awards.
We went to Snape Maltings for a few Christmas decorations. Somebody had been having fun with the mug display.
We didn't need any new decorations for Marion's second tree which is adorned with special items from the last forty years and topped with the amazing Father Christmas (now lacking an arm) made at nursery by one of our kids.
This Raymond Biggs Snowman mobile is another blast from the past.
An icy blast hit us here in Suffolk today so we went to see how Framlingham Castle looked.
It really was a winter wonderland. But I don't think that there will be much around in the morning.
If you are a regular blog reader you will know that I do a lot of metal detecting. I like to thank the farmers for allowing me to carry out this wonderful hobby and, in 2015, I produced a book on Photobox to let them know what I found on their fields. It was very well received and I've just done another covering 2016-2017. Copies have just arrived.
Some of the 60 pages.
And possibly the most important page for anybody thinking of taking up the hobby.
With winter in full flow I've not had many opportunities to detect this week but did manage a couple of hours. Here's a few of the bits that turned up.
Egyptian head badge. Probably Victorian
Medieval cut quarter penny
Medieval cut half penny.
Christmas is fast approaching. If I don't get the chance to blog again, Merry Christmas to one and all. And if I do get to blog again, I'll say it again.
