I am not in with the in crowd.
I am not an American Express credit card holder.
I really thought that if the tickets to see Lady Gaga went on sale today then that is what it would mean.
I was SO wrong.
All sold out.
I really do think that if you camped out on the street to buy the tickets then you deserve one, but pre sales to American Express card holders....STINKS
The comic masterpiece by Noel Coward The man
Private Lives
February 22nd-25th, 2012
McAulay Studio Theatre, Wanchai, Hong Kong Website
Adam Harris, Director and Elyot Chase and much much more
Noel Coward (1899-1971) wrote Private Lives What Wikipedia says over the course of just four days while recovering from illness at the Peace Hotel in Shanghai.
(Tenuous Hong Kong link) He typed up his final manuscript while staying at the Peninsula Hotel in Kowloon.
After a provincial tour the play had its London opening at the Phoenix Theatre on 24th September, 1930 with Coward himself as Elyot and Gertrude Lawrence as Amanda. Victor was played by a very young Laurence Olivier.
In this satire the affectations and polite manners of the upper crust in the 1930s are exposed, and ultimately shattered, by giving the audience an intimate glimpse of life behind closed doors. It shows that the human condition has no class boundaries so the horrors of domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse and the inevitable breakdown of a relationship is just as pathetic for the upper classes as it is for the participants of a Jeremy Kyle talk show. I am quite sure that the twists and turns of Elyot and Amanda's relationship have been used in every soap opera from Coronation Street to Dallas.
The farcical sequence of events the four main characters are subjected to are comedic, but just like a member of a Jeremy Kyle audience, squirmingly uncomfortable to witness. Snorting cocaine, face slapping, drink slinging and bottle breaking are there to shock and seduce.
The close proximity of the audience to the cast in the McAuley Studio creates an intimate feel. To witness a drama performance in this way makes the experience highly engaging. Watching Elyot and Amanda being intimate on their sofa, as if at home, almost made me want to avert my eyes. Were we eves-dropping, spying on them? Were we supposed to be there so involved in the sexual tension? Seeing them relaxing, guard down in night wear, a smidgen away from nakedness?
It was particularly enjoyable to see Adam Harris in his pyjamas and especially thrilling to see him with such a dapper, slicked-back, hair cut. He is captivating to watch and, when dressed, his costume was elegant and stylish. Surely the driving force in this production.
Who on earth dressed Amanda? The opening scene featured a very flimsy black full length petticoat which was badly made and ill-fitting. She left the scene to 'slip on a dress' and entered with an even worse cream shiny number, again flimsy, badly made and ill-fitting but this time the zip had broken. I know it is easy to get things made in Hong Kong - so why not get something substantial that fits? The awful dresses would probably not have been so noticeable if it hadn't been for the dreadful nylon wig which had a greeny, yellow tinge and in no way could have been mistaken for real hair - forget the wig go with your real hair!
The character of Sibyl was truly annoying. She was meant to be irritating, spoilt, immature and asian. She succeeded.
Private Lives produced and directed by the irrepressible and dapper Adam Harris, the George Clooney of Hong Kong, was an excellent and brave production. I highly recommend going to see future performances or productions where Adam is involved.
Coming soon Vincent, a one-man show about the artist Vincent van Gogh in May
This production is currently on in London DV8 Physical Theatre National Theatre, South Bank
"It is very, very easy not to be offended by a book.
You just have to shut it."
Salman Rushdie
I watched in awe as DV8, the physical theatre company from England, delivered a very powerful message about free speech, Islam and multiculturalism in the west. Whilst contorting themselves around doorways, upside down - in fact many different positions and speeds, I felt totally refreshed after listening to their message which was utterly correct. I almost I forgot I was in conservative Hong Kong. The performance was 1hr 20m with no intermission and I had no concept of the time, it held my attention throughout.
I am now contemplating changing my teaching technique to incorporate physical movements such as drinking tea while sat on the back of a large male colleague who manipulates me around his body or standing on my head to put on a pair of trousers - all movements and positions will be designed to keep my audience enthralled and I will not miss a queue or even trip slightly as my lesson is delivered and, essentially, my students will remember it once they leave the room.
My only criticism is that it is so rare to have the opportunity to see such a high standard of contemporary physical theatre in Hong Kong and I want more. (stamping of foot)
Exhibition - 20th April - 31st May 2011 10am - 8pm
Venue - ArtisTree 1/F Cornwall House, TaiKoo Place FREE ADMISSION
Nearest MTR Quarry Bay
This History behind the man
This exhibition is a well thought out informative history of one of Hong Kong's most loved graffiti artists. Long before Banksy had even cut his first stencil Tsang Tsou-choi was using traditional Chinese calligraphy, with ink and a paint brush, to write his message on public spaces for the world to read. Of course being unable to read Chinese the message, up until now, has been lost on me.
Royal Blood
Now that the exhibition has enlightened me I know that he thought himself the rightful royal ruler of the Kowloon peninsula and his messages demanded he should be given total rule of all of Kowloon. He objected to Elizabeth 1 being the colonial ruler so his first messages were addressed to her. After the handover things didn't go quite as he expected and so he had to continue painting his messages for all to see. After 1997 they were aimed at the Chinese government and he continued to claim that he was in fact the King of Kowloon. He was still waiting for tax to be paid to him from Donald Tsang upon his death. Tsang never replied to his tax demand which was painted on a wall in Kowloon!
It is estimated that over 51 years of scribbling in 80 locations over Hong Kong he generated 55,845 pieces of work and used 1,170 litres of ink.
The Exhibition
The rooms are darkened with well lit exhibits not only of his work, of which there is miles, but of various artifacts from his life that have been preserved for posterity. Some quite mundane memorabilia such as old felt tip pens and empty ink bottles claimed to belong to the King. G.O.D. now uses some of his ideas and sells them as trendy items in their shops. They have an alarm clock and a t-shirt adorned with the Kings calligraphy, now hot fashion items. Buy now while stocks last!
Space Invader
During his lifetime his fame spread around the world and he was visited by Space Invader - graffiti artist , a famous American graffiti artist who placed one of his tile designs on the wall of the old folks home where he lived. This has now been removed and is carefully displayed. I am reliably informed this is worth thousands these days.
Local Talent
Students from local schools have used King Kowloon as inspiration for their own work and this is also on display and well worth a look. Who says Hong Kong students cannot be creative?
Is it real?
I am a proud mother, I don't deny it. So have a look at my daughter's latest homework assignment. She was asked to make a music video for her Media Studies course. Click on the link and it will take you to You Tube where you can watch the video and listen to the music. She borrowed two gorilla costumes from a children's party company then was filmed 'at large' in Hong Kong. My daughter is the one wearing the scarf - otherwise she is unrecognizable!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGF8VULVSP4
Social Experiment
But I just have to comment on the social significance of this moment in time. Where else in the world could you parade around on the streets of a busy 'world' city in a gorilla suit and not be acknowledged unless, of course, you jumped in front of people and scared the life out of them. I think this says a lot about the compliance and inverted politeness, which may be misconstrued as aloofness, of Hong Kong people. They just want and expect things to be safe and to run on schedule, to be expected and routine. When, unusually, two people in gorilla costumes board the MTR their reaction is either "Ignore" "look down" "pretend it is not happening " or to whip out their mobile phone and take a picture of it preferably with the standard two fingered peace sign. This features in EVERY photograph ever taken by people from Hong Kong - if they don't do that particular pose then the photograph just gets deleted and lost forever.
Hello! Who the **** is Kitty?
often imagine Hong Kongers looking through their photograph albums looking at pictures of themselves in the same pose at various times of the year, all photos taken in shopping malls with some sort of Hello Kitty or Mini Mouse theme going on in the background. How dull!
Cheese or Cheers?
Actually there are a few more standard 'take a photograph with me" poses. As well as the two fingered peace sign there is the tongue out and sticking up to one side pose, this is borderline porn star but because of the naivety in this city it passes off as cute (some would say - but not me) and then there is the finger poked in the cheek pose while at the same time making a screwing motion with said finger, oh and obviously, the grin has to be unnaturally large and cheesy (or is that cheersy - saying 'Cheese' while having your photograph taken has been lost in translation and becomes 'Cheers'.
Dog Clothes
Oh and how could I forget photographs taken while posing but with the added interest of a dog dressed in clothes. Come to Sai Kung on a Sunday afternoon and see this for yourself.
Tourist Reaction
Significantly the Western tourists on Nathan Road were the only ones to embrace the fun in the situation and have some sort of concept about how to react. These people may possibly have travelledto other 'world' cities such as Paris or Barcelona or London and seen street theatre or just plain old busking. They know it's for fun, they are on holiday and up for a good time. Their reaction is different from the residents.
When I decide to do my Masters in Sociology I shall use this empirical evidence as the corner stone of my research.
Elton now
Elton John performed in Hong Kong on 20th May and I witnessed it. A jolly good showman he is too.
Elton then
At almost 1am (Yes I know, shocking isn't it?) I got into bed - this was a TUESDAY night with work the next day. Horror of horrors I broke my routine and didn't have my Ovaltine before I was tucked up with a good book (reading glasses compulsory these days) by 10pm. It must be a sign of old age that going out to see a 61 year old perform, him seated at his piano and me seated for 90% of the time, apart from Crocodile Rock, obviously, had a dramatic affect. I was tired for 2 days after the event and it wasn't as if I was on the Chardonnay.
Bay City Rollers
My experience of gigs has really changed over the years and it all started with the Bay City Rollers in 1974. When I got older and the Bay City Rollers became so uncool I melted their LPs on the fire and for years denied ever even liking them. I truly wanted to have been ultra cool and been able to tell stories of the time I went to see David Bowie at Newcastle City Hall in 1974. My attempt at getting a ticket involved saving up the ticket money and buying a postal order, for the value of five pounds I think, from the Post Office. Dutifully sending it off to the City Hall only to have it returned it a week later stamped 'Sold Out'. Newcastle was over an hour away on the bus and I couldn't afford the bus fare and the ticket. Life is cruel sometimes.
The Globe Theatre Stockton on Tees
I have since got over the shame of The Rollers gig and can now recount proudly how I spent the whole time screaming from the circle balcony "Eric!" and dropping to my knees in a pre pubescent fake faint every time I imagined he glanced up at me. No one else near by - ME! And how when the gig was over me and my mates were involved in a kerfuffle outside the stage door at The Globe Theater, Stockton-on-Tees behind a line of policemen who did a sterling job at keeping us back by linking their arms and squashing us against the wall until we screamed even more.
I got home exhausted but thrilled by the experience and told my parents how fantastic it was and how much I screamed for Eric. They laughed themselves silly about it for weeks and took the mickey out of me mercilessly!
1974 was a good year
I also saw Alvin Stardust and David Essex at the same venue circa November 1974 and have the ticket stubs somewhere to prove it.
Alvin Stardust David Essex
Gary Glitter
As luck would have it I was also a big Gary Glitter fan and have seen him five times. Those gigs have involved being squashed up against the stage at St. George's Hall in Bradford trying not to spill my drink avoiding other people's mad dancing, fag ends and spilt beer while three lads sitting on each other's shoulders looked like they would topple over on to the crowd at any minute. Health and safety wasn't an issue. Nowadays I just keep quiet about those Christmas concerts as old Gazza is locked up safely somewhere in Cambodia.
Peter Noon Lonnie Donagan
My first LP was The Hits of Lonnie Donegan and my first single was Herman's Hermits Something is Happening. I was so misguided.
Sex Pistols Johnny Rotten
Rock Garden Middlesborough
My brother was much cooler than me. In the late 70's he was a punk and went off to see unknown bands at The Rock Gardens in Middlesborough with his inky black hair and his PVC trousers. He saw Debbie Harry, The Buzzcocks and the Sex Pistols to name a few, and came home smelling of beer and fags with remnants of spit on his t-shirt. His record collection is now worth something while my Osmonds and Steeleye Span LPs have been wrapped in brown paper and disposed of years ago.
Gigs for Oldies
Gigs these days are so much more orderly. No pushing to get to the front, hardly any screaming and certainly no smoking. You can get home smelling almost fresh out of the shower after a well ordered night out. Or - is it just that the last few people I have seen have all been over 60 in Hong Kong. I must write a note to myself to go and see someone at least younger than me and in the charts now.
After a quick search I find that young slip of a thing - Madonna has been number one for a few weeks...
Grappas
On Friday night I went to see Georgie Fame. This was a last minute decision. I didn’t even see it advertised but found out about it by word of mouth. What a fantastic night it was! At a guess I would say Georgie Fame is now in his middle 60’s. I wouldn’t have recognized him in the street. He was old and grey. But the voice is just the same. The venue was intimate, Grappas in Central, and he talked a lot in between numbers telling stories about The Flamingo Club and the greats he has played with over the years. I just loved it. During the break Fred shared a urinal with him. Impressed aren’t you. I told you it was intimate!
Don't Panic
Then on Saturday night I had another musical experience. Fred sang with his new band. 114°East in The Wanch in Wan Chai. For those of you who know the history of Fred’s musical career you all know that he can sing, he does sing, he has sang many, many times. But since we have been in Hong Kong he has not done much of this. They did one set which included Lady Madonna, Tainted Love and Come up and See Me ending with, you’ve guessed it, Mustang Sally (Ride Sally Ride) The place was a rockin, as they say. The resident band, Don’t Panic, then did their bit as they do most weekends. It was a great night, lots of fun with opportunities to shimmy. The Wanch is a small bar; there is just not enough room for a fully fledged jive!
Two very different musical experiences, both great fun. Although my ears are still ringing. Is it my age?
The photos are John, Rock God and lead singer of Don’t Panic. And Old Georgie Fame. I have trailed my files and cannot find one picture of Fred singing. Watch this space…
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