Music: Bellowhead live at Lichfield Cathedral

Bellowhead

There was a definite buzz in the air upon entering Lichfield Cathedral for Bellowhead’s sold out show. The rear of the Cathedral had been transformed into a perfect performance space for a spectacle I’m sure had never been seen before in Lichfield!

The cathedral proved to be a perfect setting for the band, with the lighting creating a dramatic atmosphere to match the bands huge and lively sound, that hit the roof and carried round the cathedral with such funky force that from the moment this 11 piece folk band rocked onto the stage, toes were tapping, heads were nodding and hands were clapping along. Indeed, by the interval some people at the back were already dancing!

It is not often that a folk band is popular, but the sheer enthusiasm and love of music that Bellowhead show, topped off nicely with Jon Boden’s vocals, could win anyone over. This was quite simply; fun music and people of all ages loved it. It wasn’t long into the second half before men, women and children were jigging down the aisles to the front and creating a hopping, dancing, jumping and clapping cathedral moshpit!

They proved themselves to not be all upbeat tunes with my personal favourite of the night, ‘Amsterdam’ which was beautifully sung and executed, leaving had everyone holding their breath in awe of the whole band.

 Definite crowd favourite however, was the finale (although they obliged the demanding crowd two encores) ‘London Town’ which had everyone singing along to the chorus and joining in the dance moves.

This is a band that is set to become live music legends. What also helps is that they are simply so likeable, dancing together onstage, adding in small moments of banter between songs and yet still staying so musically tight and faultless.

Even if you are not a regular listener of folk music, I urge you to go and see a Bellowhead show because it’ll be one of the best gigs and most fun you have and if you are a fan of folk, and haven’t yet seen them, where have you been?!?

Rating: 5/5 stars

Theatre Workshop Review: RSC Page to Stage

Page to Stage- Actors Masterclass

Anyone else may have been disheartened by the small group that arrived at Wade Street Church for the Actors Masterclass, but not Alix Manning who had travelled from the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford to put us through our paces and breathe new life into Shakespeare texts. Full of life and interested in hearing about all our individual backgrounds (Shakespeare based or not) it was hard not to immediately warm to her.

I have to admit, 20 minutes in when we had warmed up and were reading the prologue from Romeo and Juliet; exploring the mechanics of iambic pentameter I was worried. Was this going to be just like any other Shakespeare workshop? I was happily proved wrong.

The next hour and a half was an extremely enjoyable and highly interesting workshop in which we delved into Hamlet’s grief, experimented with atmosphere and thrashed out a verbal boxing match between Kate and Petrucchio of Taming of the Shrew. The workshop worked in really getting you involved in the language of Shakespeare and being able to perform it, whether you were a fan or not. Indeed, one participant freely admitted at the start of the session she did not like or understand Shakespeare, but by the end of the two hours was readily offering her own interpretations and performing to the whole group. Which I believe just goes to show, Shakespeare was meant to be seen and not read.

 The smallness of the group worked to our advantage as we all got to show and discuss each other’s take on every part, emphasising Manning’s strong-held idea ‘there is no right or wrong way to interpret Shakespeare’. However, it would have been great to have a slightly larger group purely for variety.

This is the third year these workshops have been run at the Lichfield Festival and they plan to return next year, I highly recommend them for all Shakespeare enthusiasts alike, and also to those who struggle with Shakespeare, you will not be disappointed and will leave the session enlightened.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Theatre/Film Review: Mark Kermode

09/7/12

Lichfield Garrick

Mark Kermode

The Good, The Bad and The Multiplex

If, like me, (to I’m sure, the horror of many in the room) you had never heard of Mark Kermode previously and had only for the sake of research read his Wikipedia page, you may have felt slightly daunted and intimidated before entering the show. Indeed, I expected to be told every opinion I’d ever had on film was wrong and should be burned. But this was not the case.

Mark Kermode opened the show with an anecdote- about two people he had met here before the show- immediately giving a sense of inclusion that continued throughout the 70 minutes we got to enjoy his company. It was clear that a majority of the audience were long-time fans, many of which were spotted clutching his book (he did a signing afterward), adding to the unified feeling in the room, although every so often the phrase “as you probably know” was overused.

The main themes of Kermode’s talk centred around the (in his view, unfortunate) rise of 3D cinema and how he believes cinema can be returned back to its glory days. While immensely funny, “we can make films good…or pointy”, it was also highly educational, explaining how old 3D cinema is and how unpopular it has always been, this is clearly a man who knows his stuff and who put his points across with such charm and justification you found it hard to argue with him and simply joined the waves of heads nodding along in agreement. Even his slightly more controversial ideas, such as simultaneous release of films on all platforms in order to eradicate piracy were so well put across you couldn’t really fault the idea and Kermode kept the pace light throughout, dotting his opinions with amusing anecdotes so at no time did you feel attacked or left out.

While at times it did feel as though Kermode was indulging his own ego slightly in quoting Danny Dyer’s belief Kermode as a critic has damaged Dyer’s career, you could forgive him for it due to his own amusement at the idea. He also, in his defence, explained well how critics have very little influence over box office takings and stated the ironic fact that if a critic pans a film, people will go and see it for themselves to see how bad it really is!

He concluded his talk in a moment of seriousness concisely and with real balance of opinion (although they’re wrong and we’re right) expressing his true wish for cinema to go back to a theatrical experience it used to be in order to attract back those driven away from theatres. And though, at this point it did feel like a very well-rehearsed essay, I would have given him top marks for it.

Kermode then moved onto audience questions, which allowed for the variety of topics that may have felt lacking in the main talk to be discussed, such as the future of the British Film Industry and physical special effects V.S CGI, the opinions expressed of which I am happy to admit changed a few of my own. Kermode also gladly indulged an audience member by reading out a Facebook page intended to raise awareness to restore The Regal Cinema in Lichfield and we all got to say hello to Jason Issacs.  

Overall it was a highly enjoyable evening, and every audience member came out gabbling furiously about some film topic or another. Kermode’s work was done; he’d made us all talk about film.

Rating: 4 ½ / 5 Stars