duke o' york
It don't mean a thing....
I probably shouldn't have used the word gig in the title as this thread isn't really about that sort of thing so please don't corrupt it with tales of when you went to see Motorhead at Donnington or The Backstreet Boys at Madison Square Garden. I'm trying to keep this vaguely intelligent. Anyway:
Last week I went with my girlfriend to a poetry reading by Seamus Heaney at Leeds University. He only spoke for an hour, but it was spellbinding stuff, as befits a Nobel Laureate. He gave readings from a wide range of his work, and punctuated the poetry with little anecdotes and explanations of each. Maybe it was because Mr Heaney was such a nice person and had none of the "star quality" so detestible in many literary heavyweights, or maybe it was the quality of the readings and poetry, but we both had a very pleasant evening. It was difficult not to imagine oneself as onew of the auditors when Dickens gave a reading of the latest chapter of David Copperfield or some such.
Last September we both went to the RSC at Stratford to watch their modern-dress production of Hamlet and it was a wonderful occasion. Despite the massed ranks of schoolchildren dragged there against their will for exam study, the atmosphere was respectful and the although the production did not introduce anything too innovative, the cast were excellent and it proved that the story written 400 years ago to which everyone knows the plot can still be gripping, fascinating entertainment.
I want those fanatics interested to tell of similar evenings they have spent, whether at a poetry reading or at the theatre or opera or ballet.
Last week I went with my girlfriend to a poetry reading by Seamus Heaney at Leeds University. He only spoke for an hour, but it was spellbinding stuff, as befits a Nobel Laureate. He gave readings from a wide range of his work, and punctuated the poetry with little anecdotes and explanations of each. Maybe it was because Mr Heaney was such a nice person and had none of the "star quality" so detestible in many literary heavyweights, or maybe it was the quality of the readings and poetry, but we both had a very pleasant evening. It was difficult not to imagine oneself as onew of the auditors when Dickens gave a reading of the latest chapter of David Copperfield or some such.
Last September we both went to the RSC at Stratford to watch their modern-dress production of Hamlet and it was a wonderful occasion. Despite the massed ranks of schoolchildren dragged there against their will for exam study, the atmosphere was respectful and the although the production did not introduce anything too innovative, the cast were excellent and it proved that the story written 400 years ago to which everyone knows the plot can still be gripping, fascinating entertainment.
I want those fanatics interested to tell of similar evenings they have spent, whether at a poetry reading or at the theatre or opera or ballet.
