Portrait

haven’t been keeping a record as often as i would’ve liked to over the last two days, so here goes…

the day before yesterday : we watched madagascar. it was fabulous, i loved every minute of it. another film in the line of animated movies following the trend set by shrek many years ago, some of the humour is really cheeky and more for adults than for little children, but the visuals were pleasing for anyone of any age. i loved all four characters, but developed a soft spot for the melman, the giraffe whose a hypochondriac. i thought he was just hilarious, and david schwimmer was just the perfect voice. the voice cast was also really appropriate and well chosen. overall, it was absoloutely lovable. after that, we went to the shakespeare globe theatre and watched a produtcion of a winter’s tale standing the yard. the globe is really nice, the top is open, and the weather is increasingly warming up since of late, and its been rebuilt in a really authentic way. apparently the original globe theatre, which burned down with the great fire of london was not too far away from the location of the reconstructed globe theatre. the produtcion was also really great. of course it had to be, right? the acting was super, and the second half especially was really funny. since the yard is really just below the stage and everyone is standing, the actors get really close to the audience in the yard. they talk to you, and ask you to hold things for them etc. one girl even got serenaded by one of the musicians. it was simply the best rendition of shakespeare i’ve ever seen. duh. next (this was a busy day) we went to the sadler’s wells theatre to watch these two guys, akram khan and sidi larbi, present the world premier of their piece together, zero degrees. they’re two dancers, both bought up in muslim families, both lived in england most of their lives. akram khan is essentially indian, and sidi larbi was of mixed parentage, but caucasian. this is the first time they’ve choreographed and danced together, and it was nothing short of mindblowing. world famous nitin sawhney composed an original score for this show, and he was actually the only famous name on the cast. but i guess that’ll all change. the two guys were amazing. i have seriously, honestly never seen such amazing dancing. forget anything that has ever been staged in colombo, forget shannon raymond, or the oosha garten of ballet, or yoshita or kevin or whoever. forget, even the bolshoi ballet that performed in colombo about two years ago. these two guys were absoloutely fantastic. the choreography, the dancing, the sets, the music, everything was just fabulous. i cant stop thinking about it. it must have taken so much time and hard work to produce such precision as they did. they used some really interesting concepts, it was so…profound. philosophical. it wasnt just dancing. it was just the two of them on stage, dancing for more than an hour, and two life size plaster cast dummies. that was it. no fancy backdrops, no fancy costumes, no change of items, no fill-ins by other performers. it was just them, and the two dummies, and the musicians behind the screen. anyway, just being at sadlers wells was nice, even though it has been heavily recontructed and modernized. that was the stage on which ballerinas like margot fonteyn and moira shearer were born, after all. i suppose akram khan and sidi larbi proved that, even now, that stage is bearing witness to fantastic young dancers with so many new ideas and so much creativity. i’m so glad we went. it was really a once in a lifetime performance.

yesterday : ammi and i went on the london eye. i thought it was hilarious, how tourist-y we were being. but it was definitely worth it. the sky was clear, and the day was nice, so the view was really great. its some 400 odd feet from the ground. you could see all of london’s landmark buildings and towers. after that, we took a boat from westminister to greenwich. we had lunch, went up to the international date line and the royal observatory, (actually i went, ammi sat under a tree and acted old and tired at the bottom of the hill), and took a boat back to westminister. the boat rides were really nice. its nice just being on the water. interestingly, most of the historically valuable and beautiful buildings in london are mostly by the river thames, on the bank or almost so. you can see pretty much everything on either side once you’re on the river. greenwich was full of tourists, but i was guessing it’s very village like if you took all the tourists away. then we went to leicester square, and watched mr and mrs smith at the odeon. finally! it was great, i loved it. i love the humour, and the action, and also that it’s about a little more than it lets on. part of it is about the dynamics of their relationship, and about the honesty (or lack of it), and how their marraige stales because they have to keep up this big facade to each other. i like how they get a lot more comfortable and loved up once they discover what each other really do. i think brad pitt and angelina jolie are a great match for that film. he is actually quite delicious looking. i also like the fact that she is as violent to him as he is to her. she’s so smooth, and suave and comes across as the smarter one at times. and he deals with that. under all the action, and the fast paced story, i think its actually about marraige and the stuff between men and women and how so many couples get into that routine of just ‘ hi honey. what’s for dinner?’ and stop having an actual relationship. but if 0ne doesnt want to delve that deep into it, its also just a great watch in terms of the comedy, action and speed.

anyway, we have tickets to the phantom of the opera tonight…and tomorrow we leave at about 11 am. i’ve had more than a great time, but i think i’m cool with coming back home now…