where you post about shows and museums and stuff you have seen.

*waits to hear about hamlet and more so, Monkey*

We went to the Babylon exhibition too! Hamlet was ace! Monkey was ace, but I did not like it as much as Hamlet!

from my 'blog':

Hamlet was awesome. The lad who took over from Tennant was amazing. A very different Hamlet from Tennant I imagine - definately went for the depression angle, not as manic as he can be played, and by the time I saw it he'd had time to bed in an' that. Patrick Stewart was amazing too, as was the guy playing Petronius who was very sweet and funny so it was a real shame when he... well, I won't spoil it for you.

Monkey was also awesome! It had acrobats and people spinning five plates in each hand while DOING ACROBATICS! Spectacular, I think is the word. Most of the sets were actually quite minimalist but there was so much colour and so much going on that it seemed very full.

Babylon is where I can get my geek on. Really intereting as a subject, and in terms of aesthetic design very good. The layout however led to a lot of bottlenecks, and in some places it was impossible to have more than two people reading the text at a time. Also, it's grouped in sections, each in their own area (interlocked areas, linear flow system) but the main introductory peice in each was in the middle rather than at the entrance. So unless you double back a lot, it's not a very logical order. I estimate I read about 1/3 of what I would normally have read had I been in there on my own. British Museum! You know how busy these things get! Maybe plan for it a little bit? If I'd done it I'd either have gone for a big room so that people could see where everything was and move easily between areas to avoid bottlenecks and mean visitors can cover all the areas by using them when they're less busy, or a far looser linear design. I mean, every time, British Museum! All the tickets are always sold out!

did monkey actually tell the story, or was it just pretty?

i need to do something cultural, before easter...*ponders*

it told lots of little stories! Basically they met new people and fought them and then they met new new people! and then there was an ending! and we had to clap for AGES

hahaha!

yes, that sounds like the story journey to the west

Monkey did as best as it could to sort of summarise some of the stories from the original tale, start to finish. It took specific tales and did them as 'acts' or scenes - the underwater scene, the spider lady, the skeleton demon, the fire fan.. There was a lot of emphasis on the characterisation of Monkey and to a lesser extent Pigsy, Sandy and Tripitaka. The acrobatics and martial arts were SIMPLY INCREDIBLE. These people are insanely fit and fast and flexible, whoo.

one lady sat on her head!

Her foot! ON HER HIP!

::blinks::

i could not do that *nods*

I'm from Pennsyltucky, the only culture we have is in yoghurt. Or cheese...

Okay, I know what a Hamlet is, but all these references to a Monkey and Babylon (the ancient city? the TV show?) are confusing me. Please explain what you're all babbling about.

Monkey is an opera in Chinese and Babylon is ... about Babylon!

I'm wondering whether to take kidlet to the Doctor Who Exhibition in Earls Court before it closes on Tuesday. Anyone been? Is it worth the effort?

I also saw Hamlet, Monkey and Babylon!

Hamlet was fantastic, I had never seen a live performance of it. And later after the show, there was this director's Q&A which Psi, his friend, Mark and I all went to and Patrick Stewart answered my question! (We went to a different performance than Domi). I asked what aspects of performing in Stratford and London were different and which one they liked performing better.

Babylon was interesting. I learned things! It's usually taught as the bit before Greece got important so not so much in depth. There was lots of cuneiform script! Which is bitchin'!

Monkey was interesting from a total newbie perspective. I had not seen the tv show or read the book so I didn't know really what to expect. It wasn't exactly theatre, opera or acrobatics but a combintation of all three. Very purty. I liked the martial arts bits! Someone had a Quando!