Now, after more than a year of preparation and no shortage of complications-two injured stars, one of whom had to drop out a delayed opening a nightly rally, held in front of the theatre, to protest the casting, as Bernardo, of Amar Ramasar (a New York City Ballet principal who was fired from and then reinstated to that company after sharing nude photos of a colleague), a foreseeable controversy that the producers have responded to in stiff, baffled fashion-van Hove’s “West Side Story” has at last opened (at the Broadway). When it was announced that he would be taking on “ West Side Story,” among the most beloved and fraught of American musicals, the buzz began. Van Hove is celebrated for his austere, violent, video-heavy stagings, which attempt to reveal the hidden layers of classic texts. The avant period is over he is simply part of the garde, influential and much imitated, not least by himself. The Belgian director Ivo van Hove is invariably referred to as “avant-garde,” but, considering that he has spent more than two decades making theatre in this country, including three recent productions on Broadway, that thorny honorific no longer really fits.
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You’ll be asked to move around, to look, to listen, to crouch, duck, and peek. To walk through these rooms is like being a child on a movie set. You’ll need to book in advance and the cost is between £13.50 and £16.50. Followed up by a slightly boozy lunch with a dear friend, it was a somewhat perfect midweek afternoon (but it’s not that kind of blog post) and just the light to get me out of my rut. Last Thursday, after a fairly family-focused few weeks (read: exhausted, burned out, could not see the cherubs in my children), I had the unexpected pleasure of a preview tour of the Adventures in Moominland exhibition now on at the Southbank Centre. But you’ve got to try and find a light and climb out. Once in a while though, everyone gets into a rut. Londoners are spoiled for choice for things to do with our primary school-aged children. He then berates Ophelia, telling her off sarcastically and venomously, with the refrain, “Get thee to a nunnery,” or in other words, “Go become a nun to control your lust.” After this tirade, Hamlet exists, leaving Ophelia in shambles.Ĭlaudius and Polonius step out of their hiding place. Hamlet replies caustically, questioning Ophelia’s honesty. After a short conversation she attempts to return some of the remembrances that Hamlet gave when courting her. Hamlet enters and delivers the most famous speech in literature, beginning, “To be or not to be.” After this long meditation on the nature of being and death, Hamlet catches sight of Ophelia. They instruct Ophelia to pretend that she is simply reading a book and withdraw behind a tapestry. Polonius and Claudius then begin their plan to loose Ophelia on Hamlet and mark their encounter, hoping to find the root of his madness. They do mention, however, that Hamlet was very enthusiastic about the players’ performance that night, which prompts Claudius to agree to attend the play. The two reply that they have not been able to find its cause. Claudius asks Rosencrantz and Guildenstern what they have learned about Hamlet’s malady. An entourage consisting of the king and queen, Polonius and Ophelia, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern enters to begin the Act. In her spare time, she is a bit of an illustration nerd, loves to roller skate, read, and toy with writing. She looks for inspiration everywhere and often finds it in bookstores and thrift stores, looking in vintage children's books and animation, and even in a garden or two. She hasn't met a craft she doesn't love-sewing is one of her favorite hobbies. She works both digitally and traditionally, often combining the two. Lynn Gaines has been making art for years and is still in love with making it! Born and raised in Ohio, she currently works for American Greetings, but also loves making art for children's books and kids-related products. A native of Cleveland, she lives in Chicago with her husband and two highly energetic children. She believes that one of the greatest lessons we can pass on to our kids is that differences are for celebrating, and that we have more in common than we ever imagined. She loves using the written word to honor a child's imagination and is on a mission to help adults tap into the wonder they felt as children. Clothilde Ewing started her work life as a lifeguard, but she has spent most of her career telling people's stories as a journalist (CBS News), television producer ( The Oprah Winfrey Show), and communications professional. From Westphalia to El Dorado, Candide just never stops moving, usually because he’s on the run from someone or something. The sheer number of locations that Candide travels to is perhaps my favourite aspect of the story. There’s a lot going on in this story and it’s fantastic. Voltaire also specifically mocks Leibniz and his ideas of optimism throughout the entire novella. Voltaire packs so much into this short novella, ridiculing all organised religion, theologians, governments, war, armies, and philosophers. Thanks to Project Gutenberg, you can read an English translation of Candide for free. I’m not sure how different it is to the Penguin edition but, hey, it’s free! As he and his various companions roam over the world, an outrageous series of disasters befall them – earthquakes, syphilis, a brush with the Inquisition, murder – sorely testing the young hero’s optimism. But when his love for the Baron’s rosy-cheeked daughter is discovered, Candide is cast out to make his own fortune. Summary: Brought up in the household of a German Baron, Candide is an open-minded young man whose tutor, Pangloss, has instilled in him the belief, inspired by Leibniz, that ‘all is for the best in this, the best of all possible worlds’. Marriage, work, conflict, survival, death – a whole life, you might say.Ī Whole Life is the kind of book where you could describe the whole plot, and (with a couple of exceptions) it really wouldn’t matter that much. As the twentieth century rolls on, and technology and war intrude into the calm of the isolated village, we get to see how his life unfolds over decades. However, life is destined to be rather unkind to poor Andreas, and he is soon to learn that however much you suffer, there’s always more pain just around the corner. Eventually, he meets Marie, a newcomer to the village, and through this blossoming romance, Andreas appears to be headed towards a happily ever after. Although his time working on the farm leaves him with a limp, a souvenir of a particularly nasty beating, by the time he’s a teenager, he’s big and strong enough to set out on his own, making a living for himself through various forms of manual labour. Wrap up – it’s *very* cold out there at times…Įin ganzes Leben (A Whole Life) by Robert SeethalerĮnglish-language edition from Picador, translated by Charlotte CollinsĪndreas Egger arrives in a small mountain village as a young child after the death of his mother and is taken under the care (to use the word loosely) of his abusive uncle. We’re off to the mountains to see how a man has spent his life, one characterised by brief moments of happiness and a lot of suffering. After a long and arduous trek taking us to Africa, Asia, South America and Europe, we finish our Man Booker International Prize journey today with one last trip. The voices belong to the things in his house-a sneaker, a broken Christmas ornament, a piece of wilted lettuce. One year after the death of his beloved musician father, thirteen-year-old Benny Oh begins to hear voices. “If you’ve lost your way with fiction over the last year or two, let The Book of Form and Emptiness light your way home.” -David Mitchell, Booker Prize-finalist author of Cloud AtlasĪ boy who hears the voices of objects all around him a mother drowning in her possessions and a Book that might hold the secret to saving them both-the brilliantly inventive new novel from the Booker Prize-finalist Ruth Ozeki “Inventive, vivid, and propelled by a sense of wonder.” - TIME “No one writes like Ruth Ozeki-a triumph.” -Matt Haig, New York Times bestselling author of The Midnight Library “Bit Players”-the opening movement in a trio of tales that continues with “3-adica” and “Instantiation”-posits a world in which cheaply generated software beings are exploited for the basest commercial purposes. The book opens with “Learning to be Me,” about a society in which the organic human brain can be replaced by a miraculous piece of technology called “the jewel,” a “mock brain” that confers, among other things, a kind of immortality on its recipients. The Best of Greg Egan contains twenty stories and novellas arranged in chronological order, and each of them is a brilliantly conceived, painstakingly developed gem. All these ideas and more find their way into this generous and illuminating collection, the clear product of a man who is both a master storyteller and a rigorous, exploratory thinker. In a career spanning more than thirty years, he has produced a steady stream of novels and stories that address a wide range of scientific and philosophical concerns: artificial intelligence, higher mathematics, science vs religion, the nature of consciousness, and the impact of technology on the human personality. Greg Egan is arguably Australia’s greatest living science fiction writer. ***** This is the true first edition, first printing (with "FIRST EDITION" stated on the copyright page, and with no later printings listed). Inscribed by Silverstein on front free endpaper. In original unclipped ($14.95) dust jacket. Original dark grey cloth, stamped in gilt. The poet was unbothered, saying: "I think if you're a creative person, you should just go about your business, do your work and not care about how it's received." 8.75'' X 7''. Winner of the 1984 William Allen White Children's Book Award, A LIGHT IN THE ATTIC was the occasional target of censorship for, allegedly, encouraging children to break dishes ("How Not To Have To Dry The Dishes") and threaten to die of broken hearts in order to get their way ("Little Abigail and the Beautiful Pony"). Silverstein's assured style and strength of personality enabled him to pull off the rare trick of writing more than one classic - classics not only inflicted on children by nostalgic parents, but loved by children themselves. Silverstein's illustrated verses, combining his singular voice and instinct for whimsy with the slightest, mostly buried hint of a mean streak. Inscribed later printing of Silverstein's beloved second collection of children's poetry. The Great Pursuit (Eurona Duology #2) –.Frankly, I’m gonna need all 31 days to get in as much reading as possible! The first round of new releases won’t be out until next week, but I likeĪnd it’s not kind of me to have forgotten an entire month, especially since there are so many interesting books being released this month. Which is why this didn’t get posted on the first per usual. Suffice to say, I didn’t really realize it was a new month until yesterday, Kentucky weather certainly doesn’t help either we had summertime temperatures everyday last week, and I was ready to bust out the flip flops!Īnd to make things worse, all the stores have had their Easter displays up since Valentine’s Day, so then my brain thinks it should already be April. It’s only missing a few days, but it seems like one second it’s January and the next it’s March. I sometimes forget how short a month February is. |