I have loved new technology, especially the satellite transmission of global cultural events.
Somehow I had known that something fabulous was happening in the world, but the penny didn’t drop for me until Catherine took her children to see Englebert Humperkinck’s Hansel and Gretel. The story was produced with an intense political undertone, gas ovens and all. At the intermission someone asked Catherine if she really thought her children should be there.
Now that the production was going to go in that direction is something Catherine wouldn’t have known until she got there. Afterall, it was Hansel and Gretel. To go to the point, Catherine told me that I should be going to the operas, and she should not go with her children. So that is when I really started to look at the operas and go to them. It is not often that one of my kids speaks up like that.
That feeling was cemented when I went to London and stayed with Wyona and Greg in their flat. Wyona is a big consumer of live entertainment. She is also a good shopper -- finding the best price. I saw that the lowest price she could get was still about twice as much as the tickets to the HD Live events. Everything was cheaper to see in Calgary. And I was saving the cost of the air flight.
I don’t know how I added the HD National Theatre to my life. I am a big reader of posters. When I see a trailer at the movie theatre for an upcoming event, I find a piece of paper to write the date on and get that into my pocket. I read the sandwich boards in the foyer – ones that advertize unusual series that are coming to the theatre. I pick up promotional material that is at the door of the movie itself. And by now I had taken a film class called The Film Festival – not a class I would have chosen, but it just worked into my schedule and counted for credit.
I could extrapolate from what I learned in that class to see that all of these events, though it seemed to me were linked culturally, all were promoted by different companies and unrelated. So I took care to watched for all of the series: Dance, Gallery, National Theatre, Anime, and lately I have added French National Theatre. It comes with English subtitles.
Concerning "The Ballet Series", the only leaps and jumps I had learned to love were those done during basketball games. I understand the beauty of that ballet. But for the regular ballet, I have had to read about what to watch for, having no tools and no natural ability to figure out why the people in the audience are clapping.
"The Gallery Series" are so much like going to art exhibitions, without the aching feet or the mental exhaustion that comes from staying all day and delving down into an exhibition, reading every plate that accompanies each art piece. Because I don’t sketch or paint I don’t think of myself as having any experience with art. My first year of university included an entry level art class, complete with hundreds of slides to identify on a test, and a unit where I learned there were architectural terms associated with buildings. I don’t know there would be a sublime life-type pay off for a class that I took when I was still in my teens, just filling in requirements at school. The Gallery Series is the one event where I give myself full permission to go to sleep. The music is soothing, the movement from room to room is hypnotic and the dialogue is intense. I have decided that even if I only see half, and sleep for the other half, I will consider that to be the whole.
I only added going to the "French National Theatre HD Series" a couple of years ago. I see plays that I might not see otherwise, Moliere for example. Another pleasure is that occasionally I hear French words or phrases that I recognized. Now there was a first-year university class that didn’t have much pay-off. French 200. And then nothing more that was French until I got to go visit Mary and Catherine in Quebec. Sometimes I think about studying French with more intensity. I have an interest. I wonder where I am going to fit that in.
Duncan loves "Anime", so when I am in Victoria, I go to that series with him.
I know why all of the above, bundled together under the words “high definition transmission” has reach this list of memorable life experiences.
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| ... Hansel and Gretel -- the reviewers called it deliciously dark ... |
Now that the production was going to go in that direction is something Catherine wouldn’t have known until she got there. Afterall, it was Hansel and Gretel. To go to the point, Catherine told me that I should be going to the operas, and she should not go with her children. So that is when I really started to look at the operas and go to them. It is not often that one of my kids speaks up like that.
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| ... Janet, Rebecca, Arta and Duncan at a series concert ... |
I don’t know how I added the HD National Theatre to my life. I am a big reader of posters. When I see a trailer at the movie theatre for an upcoming event, I find a piece of paper to write the date on and get that into my pocket. I read the sandwich boards in the foyer – ones that advertize unusual series that are coming to the theatre. I pick up promotional material that is at the door of the movie itself. And by now I had taken a film class called The Film Festival – not a class I would have chosen, but it just worked into my schedule and counted for credit.
I could extrapolate from what I learned in that class to see that all of these events, though it seemed to me were linked culturally, all were promoted by different companies and unrelated. So I took care to watched for all of the series: Dance, Gallery, National Theatre, Anime, and lately I have added French National Theatre. It comes with English subtitles.
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| Russian ballet star Nikolay Tsiskaridze performs during a dress rehearsal of "Carmen - solo" ballet by French choreographer Roland Petit |
"The Gallery Series" are so much like going to art exhibitions, without the aching feet or the mental exhaustion that comes from staying all day and delving down into an exhibition, reading every plate that accompanies each art piece. Because I don’t sketch or paint I don’t think of myself as having any experience with art. My first year of university included an entry level art class, complete with hundreds of slides to identify on a test, and a unit where I learned there were architectural terms associated with buildings. I don’t know there would be a sublime life-type pay off for a class that I took when I was still in my teens, just filling in requirements at school. The Gallery Series is the one event where I give myself full permission to go to sleep. The music is soothing, the movement from room to room is hypnotic and the dialogue is intense. I have decided that even if I only see half, and sleep for the other half, I will consider that to be the whole.
I only added going to the "French National Theatre HD Series" a couple of years ago. I see plays that I might not see otherwise, Moliere for example. Another pleasure is that occasionally I hear French words or phrases that I recognized. Now there was a first-year university class that didn’t have much pay-off. French 200. And then nothing more that was French until I got to go visit Mary and Catherine in Quebec. Sometimes I think about studying French with more intensity. I have an interest. I wonder where I am going to fit that in.
Duncan loves "Anime", so when I am in Victoria, I go to that series with him.
I know why all of the above, bundled together under the words “high definition transmission” has reach this list of memorable life experiences.
it makes me so happy to be watching these things in Victoria, and know you are likely watching in Calgary. Thanks for introducing us to theatre. It is such a huge piece of the happiness in my life.
ReplyDeleteWhen all is said and done, it is the theatre I like best. Though all of it is theatre, really. I just have to learn how to read it as such. When I am watching each day during this social isolation, I am pretty sure that some of my loved ones are joining in as well. A gift now -- all of this streaming makes me feel connected to others.
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