Theatre: Waiting for God.......

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Jeffrey Holland and Nichola McAuliffe star in this premiere stage production of the BAFTA Best Comedy Series nominated Waiting For God, which delighted TV audiences across several BBC series in the 1990s. This all-new script is penned by the sitcom's creator Michael Aitkens.

All the favourite characters from the original series are reimagined by the cast of nine for 2017, facing the challenges that come with growing old disgracefully in the era of the silver surfer. At Bayview Retirement Village, battle-axe extraordinaire Diana Trent conspires with new resident Tom Ballard to give the conniving manager his comeuppance through a hilarious conspiracy with unexpectedly heart-warming results.

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Hilariously funny and I'd highly recommend it

😂😂😂

Theatre: The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart........

Venture across the wintry Scottish Borders for Eastern Angles’s next spring tour show – The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart by David Greig.

Follow Prudencia – an academic on her way to attend a conference in Kelso. As snow starts to fall, she begins a mystical adventure of self-discovery accompanied by plenty of folky musical moments. The strange and beautiful Scottish tale is told by four mischievous storytellers. Sometimes they speak in boombastic rhyming verse, sometimes through beguiling traditional folk songs, which will set your toes tapping and your heart racing!

Originally produced by National Theatre of Scotland in 2011, Eastern Angles' production will tour across the East from 15th March starting at the John Peel Centre in Stowmarket.

Part live folk-gig, part folk tale, part barn-storming comedy - David Greig’s modern play will thrill and haunt in equal measure.

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"Strange" definitely,  "beautiful" hmm not that I could see.

Really not sure what to say about this one which I saw with Daughter and R. My first comment as we left the lovely small Sir John Mills Theatre was "Well they all worked really hard, didn't they?" Daughter laughed saying "I just knew you'd say that". Well I do like to start with a positive lol.

Just four performers and their musicianship and voices were really good. The Scottish folk singing was entertaining but the actual story was weird and got quite surreal in places. There were some clever uses of the limited space and the rhyming word play was quite funny in a few places, but for a script that was so weird it went on far too long.
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Hope you don't mind.......

This is one of those times when I don't really need to write down all about today's lovely walk through a park I've never been to before, or say about Daughter's early message invite to join her and O on this lovely sunny day. "I'll come get you, pack yourself some lunch, we are meeting our friend there" she said.

So after the inevitable what-shall-I-wear debate, not knowing if sunshine means warm or not we set off and arrived after our friend had already had time to buy and drink her first cuppa. Lovely hugs as I hadn't seen her for some time. Lots to chat about, fun in the maze, finding the panda, O setting riddles and wanting passwords, picnic in the play area and baby ducks in the pond but no photos.

Of course I don't need to write it here as our friend is my blog-buddy so she knows it all already!
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May Challenge......

On facebook I'm in a crafting group and someone has come up with the idea of setting a monthly challenge.

The first challenge for May is to "make your version of this card".

It seems the majority of crafters in this group are card makers that watch the crafting channels and buy the equipment they sell, use dies and mangle type machines for cutting, stamps and embossing tools and other fancy gadgets.
I don't make cards like that. I rarely make cards at all.

I do craft though and wanted to join in the monthly challenge mainly to show my support for someone trying to add a little fun to the group.
So my version of that card became a bag!

Theatre: Northanger Abbey.........

A Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds Production, on tour.
A delightful stage version of Jane Austen’s earliest novel

Catherine Morland loves a good novel and the more ‘horrid’ it is the better.
At 17, she is taken by her aunt to Bath where she encounters the social whirl denied her at home. When Catherine accepts an invitation to the Tilney’s country seat at Northanger Abbey, lurid images from her favourite gothic novel Mysteries of Udolpho threaten to overwhelm her. However, all misunderstandings are eventually resolved and, as in all the best Jane Austen novels, the young heroine finally gets her man…

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A brilliant performance we thoroughly enjoyed, my friend applauded standing!
The leads were amazing, especial Eva Feiler who gave us the wonderful Catherine, funny, naive, fanciful, polite, caring and a little forthright all in one. And she was very ably supported by the other seven actors who had to swap around to cover many more characters.

My only criticism is of the use of dry smoke (or whatever it's called) which I absolutely hate. Unless there is need to walk through thick fog hiding Jack the Ripper, or misty graveyard to be confronted by zombies, which this play didn't, then I don't think it adds to the atmosphere and for us in the very front row it rolls off the stage at face level!
But of course that is a totally personal thing which I'm sure didn't spoil this for anybody else, they probably didn't even notice it.
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Yin and yang.......

Don't know why I'm not getting here much just now, unless it's a theatre trip which I tend to do straight away. Good if I'm busy and not fitting blogging in but bad if I don't feel there's anything worth blogging about.

We bought a new mattress, we really needed it! I hate shopping and researching and choosing, then my friend happened to say they'd bought a new mattress, really good price and it had very good reviews, so I said to send me the link and I bought the same. It's thicker so higher than the last one so I have to do a bit of a Fosbury Flop to get onto it and when new it did smell a bit but that soon went.......and it's really comfortable. We got new pillows too and because I must be sleeping differently I'm guessing that's why I'm dreaming more than I ever did, which is neither a good or bad.

While knitting the end came off a fairly new circular needle, so I contacted the seller and asked for a replacement. Not knowing how long it would take and wanting emergency spares I also did a next day delivery for a really cheap set of bamboo circular needles. The bamboo ones arrived and they were sooooo smelly I didn't want to use them like that, so I washed them in perfumed liquid soap and hung them to dry over a towel to catch the drips......then I couldn't unplug the sink! Had to stay like that all day till Hubby got home. Hubby fixed the sink but by which time the whole bathroom smelt like the cords on the bamboo needles, so they got thrown onto the garden table to be left outside for a couple of days. Now two weeks later they have finally lost most of the pong! Actually the metal replacement came only a day later so knitting commenced.

In January we ordered a four piece leather suite (more horrid choosing and decision making) and in April they were ready to be delivered. Daughter now has two pieces of our original suite, but only after Hubby and Daughter manhandled (womanhandled) them out of ours into a borrowed van and into hers (needing to remove and replace porch patio doors), then took her discarded sofa and arm chair out to go to the tip, although halfway there he remembered that our tip now stays closed on a Wednesday so that became Thursdays job before the van had to go back. And while our lounge was relatively empty it was carpet cleaning time. We sat like newlyweds on the one remaining two seater sofa for the following week. The new suite (what is it with very smelly new stuff?) is brown so most of the old blue cushions looked wrong, so with my trusty sewing machine, an upcycled knitted jacket and a piece of material which had been in my stash for years we have new cushions (for free)

Yesterday was a fun celebration for an old friend's 80th birthday. We were honored to be included with mostly family and a few very close friends!
Tomorrow is the funeral for a very old friend. At the crematorium we are honored to be included with mostly family and a few very close friends!
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Theatre: Tommy........

The New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich in co-production with Ramps on the Moon.

Music and Lyrics by Pete Townshend
Book by Pete Townshend and Des McAnuff
Additional Music and Lyrics by John Entwistle and Keith Moon

Based on the iconic 1969 concept album, The Who's TOMMY is the multi-award winning epic rock musical written by Pete Townshend.

With a cast of 22 performers and musicians, this is the story of the pinball-playing boy which has entertained and intrigued audiences for more than 40 years. A one-of-a-kind theatrical event!

Tommy will feature a creative use of audio description, captioning and British Sign Language interpretation which will enhance the experience for everyone. It is the second touring production made in association with Ramps on the Moon – a consortium of theatres across the UK that are committed to driving change in their organisations. For more information, visit www.rampsonthemoon.co.uk


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Wow the music was constant rock-n-roll and loud and so was the story. Great musicians and some wonderful voices. Tragic and thought provoking story enough at times to make me cry a little. This was written in my era and I can't believe I've not seen it before.

This performance had the most amazing cast of mostly disabled actors and for Tommy to be played by a deaf actor made the story of the "deaf, dumb and blind kid" all the more poignant.

I thought it was amazing, although I have to say the two friends I went with almost left at the interval because it was such a barrage on all your senses but they were glad they stayed till the end.
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Theatre: Silver Lining.........

An English Touring Theatre and Rose Theatre Kingston co-production
     On one dark and stormy night in the upper day room of the Silver Retirement Home, five elderly ladies are trading stories of their remarkable lives. With the storm floods rising and no rescue team in sight, the ladies are faced with the sudden realisation that in order to survive they are going to have to do what they have done for their entire lives – do it themselves!
     Silver Lining is the hilarious new comedy by writer, actor, presenter and political activist Sandi Toksvig. Starring Sheila Reid, Joanna Monro, Amanda Walker, Rachel Davies and Maggie McCarthy. It tells the tale of five extraordinary yet forgotten women, who come together one treacherous night to recreate The Great Escape – senior citizen style!

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This was hilariously brilliant. The script was brilliant because it rang true of cantankerous old people (scary as I head towards it), the cast as you can see are all much loved very talented actresses we've all seen on tv. My only criticism is I found the young actress who arrived as a carer was very shouty but I'm sure she will improve by working alongside such seasoned performers. Totally recommend this if it comes your way. 
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Theatre: Bang Bang......

A Made in Colchester production
     “You know, some husbands pretend to love hunting, but when they leave home they set their sights on other prey.”
     In a brand new adaption by John Cleese, Georges Feydeau’s hysterical farce Bang Bang erupts onto the stage in our first Made in Colchester production of 2017.
     Leontine, a respectable lady of high society, is in danger of being hoodwinked by her husband Duchotel. When Duchotel goes hunting, his prey is not four-legged animals!
     While he is away (“bang bang!”), back at home his lifelong friend comes calling – and he’s on the hunt too. Will Leontine get caught in his sights, or instead set a trap of her own?
      Saucy secrets unravel as the devilish Duchotel finds himself snared in a door-slamming, trouser-dropping, lover-hiding, balcony-climbing night of chaos set in the stylish apartments of Paris.

     John Cleese collaborates with the Mercury Theatre Colchester to bring this rarely performed comedy classic to the stage, directed by veteran of theatre, television and radio, Nicky Henson.
     Banish the winter blues and join us for a sizzling summer evening in France!
Based on a translation of Georges Feydeau’s Monsieur Chasse!

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What a lovely surprise visit to the theatre. Daughter phoned to say she had theatre tickets she'd only got today for today and she was taking R and had a spare ticket, was I free, and I was yaay!

I do like farce if it's done well and mostly this was done well. It was well cast apart from the doctor who got a bit shouty a few times. Loved the maid but didn't like her little stint as a policeman. The costumes were all lovely. The funny snappy typical hiding running around farce bits were really good but actually the script was far too wordy and slowed the action down so some of it took too long to get to the funny snappy bits you knew were coming.

Guess I'm being over critical as I've seen so many great farce, but overall we did all enjoy it and all the more for a sudden extra night at the theatre.
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Another mixed bag......

More delay in adding to this, probably as each thing isn't newsy enough for its own post and not many photos to pad things out, but actually when I think back quite a bit has been going on.

Eventually cleared all the washing from before and during our holiday, haven't done much of the ironing though as I'm very good at finding alternative employment, even to the point of completely defrosting the freezer rather than plug the iron in, did need it though, and Daughter, O and R arrived just as I'd started that job so understandably it took longer as I kept stopping to chat.

My niece and her new man had an engagement party which was noisy disco fun with lots of dancing. Hubby and I took Daughter and O so just the one car. Unfortunately many family members couldn't make it but it was lovely seeing the ones that could. My brother took this opportunity to tell me that he was now separated from his wife, he said that they have now settled into an amicable friendship. The next day I messaged them both with my support.

Hubby has had lots of SERV (blood runners) charity meetings. He has also bought both a new car and a new bike

Well he is getting his pension now so guess it's another late mid-life crisis hahaha. 

After picking up the car we had a lovely run out to Southwold for some lunch. 

I've had another craft day at Acorn Village. Each time we attend we add just £2 each to the kitty tin and this time we saw what to donate it to as the recent Storm Doris had done some irreparable damage to the cover of their polytunnel, hopefully our donation will get them a little nearer replacing it. 

We've had all our usual social stuff, eating out with friends, hubby ten pin bowling and I'm filling up the diary with future meet ups with friends too. At this rate we will never catch up with all the tv we've recorded! 

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