sunshine and showers at Wimbledon

Rain delayed play seems to be a feared descriptor of life at Wimbledon. This year it was held off until day 4, where it followed a wonderful afternoon of bright and warm sunshine. I was welcomed to the first match by the Aussie fans singing Advance Australia Fair, and impressed by the number of spectators who knew the words. I was happy that Sam Stosur walked over the Russian Olga Puchkova in 2 straight sets. Then I joined Steph for lunch in the self service Conservatory Kitchen before we took our sets at F 112 and 113 at level 2 on Court 1. It was good to see Serena Williams again and this time she was challenged by the strong hitting and risk taking French woman, Caroline Garcia. She won over the crowd and really played her heart out, although she could only reach 110mph in her serves compared to Serena's 123mph! While she fought hard, Serena took 2 straight sets; 6-3 and 6-2.

Next it was time to appreciate a hard hitting men's game. French no 9 Richard Gasquet was up against Japanese Go Soeda at no 129. Initially, Gasquet seemed to cruise through with his powerful slices and spins. We were confident enough to escape and enjoy Rose champagne with strawberries. But when we returned, Go was racing ahead, spurred on by calls of Go Go! He even won a tie-breaker. So the final set was an interesting one, where we saw Gasquet take the lead, throw it away and finally regain it! The boys finished as the drops of rain fell steadily.

Sadly, the covers came out, to remain for the rest of the day...

great theatre in Oxford - Dancing at Lughnasa

Sadly, I have neither seen the movie, nor read the book. However, I did thoroughly enjoy the play, by Brian Friel at Oxford Playhouse. Dancing at Lughnasa, written in 1990, is set in Ireland's County Donegal in August 1936 in the fictional town of Ballybeg, during the Celtic autumn festival of Lughnasa. It is a memory play told from the point of view of the adult Michael Evans, during the summer in his aunts' cottage when he was 7 years old. The play describes a bitter harvest for the Mundy sisters, a time where dreams and realities are evaluated against the harsh Catholic expectations of the time. The five Mundy sisters are all unmarried and orphaned. They are supported by the eldest sister Kate, a school teacher. Agnes and Rose knit gloves to be sold in town, to earn a little extra money for the household. Maggie and Christina, Michael's mother keep the house. The elder brother Jack, previously the heroic missionary in Africa returns home unwell in body and somewhat lapsed in morals... Michael's charming nomadic father circles the house, attempting to lure Christina, who seems a bit wiser now. While it is clear that the bubble is about to burst, we are thankful that we only hear it from Michael's memory.

Summer in February...just another dream

Sad that a period artistic true story can be so trite. We were transported back to the beautiful and rugged Cornish coastline near Lamorna and indulged with great costumes from pre-war middle class creatives. Florence Carter-Wood (Emily Browning) arrives at the artist colony to escape her wealthy and over-protective father. She plays a waif who engages the attentions of both the sensible and charming soldier Gilbert Evans (Dan Stevens) and his best friend, the impulsive and talented artist AJ Munnings (Dominic Cooper). At first, it seems that she is smart enough to impress her father and develop her own artistic skills. Then suddenly, we see her make her choice, act like a total naive and ignorant victim, and systematically destroy the lives of those around her as she travels down her road of self-indulgent stupidity... I ended up feeling for the estranged husband and am thankful that he enjoyed an illustrious career regardless of her machinations...

Henning knows best: Henning Wehn at the Old Fire Station

another German in Oxford claiming he knows best! But although Henning has lived in London for over 10 years, he still wears a Bavarian cardigan, and he speaks with a strong and recognisable accent...and his honesty is disarming - so observant of culture and customs, always questioning in ways that the locals cannot grasp. I totally enjoyed the journey through critical absurdity as I can stand outside both cultures he was comparing. It was so good to laugh and recognise my own insights being confirmed. At the end of the day, I am choosing to live here for now, in full knowledge of how things could be very different!

a german play in Oxford, The Woman from before

It seems that Roland Schimmelpfennig is the most popular comtemporary German playwright. While this play opened in Vienna in 2004, this year it was oxford students who shared it in the very intimate Burton Taylor studio. There were only 5 rows of us, as the audience, in front of the almost packed up house of Frank and Claudia. After 19 years of marriage they were moving somewhere with their son Andi, who was rather ambivalent about leaving his girlfriend Tina. So it was inevitable that something big was going to happen. This was physically and psychologically embodied in Romy, Frank's first love. She claimed that he "swore to me that you'll always love me" and she was back to extract his promise. This play was sombre and seemed to take us to the worst possible scenario, becoming darker and more complicated with each scene. It really does not pay to dream of a way out of tedious everyday relationships...

loved Populaire, a French romantic comedy

Not sure I was ready for the many typing competitions we watched, but I was happy to be transported back to the fashions of late 1950's in France. The country girl, 21-year-old Rose wanted more than her planned engagement to the village mechanic. She set off to become a secretary, with hopes of falling for her boss and escaping her past. Thankfully she could type fast and it seems that her boss, Louis needed her to win for his own reasons... Although they fall for each other, he cannot accept her, for a whole set of personal inadequacies, so we see her decide to compete for her own challenge. Of course there is a happy ending and as it takes place in America, the French indulge us with a very American ending, which at first is a little annoying, but later I realised it was a comedic tool...

Ellen Gallagher confronts race in AxME at Tate Modern

In age we are contemporaries, but Ellen grew up as a child of a black African father and an Irish Catholic mother in Providence, Rhode Island. She seems to be an extremely commited and prolific politely activist artist. I was impressed at how she had cut out the eyes of hundreds of black women's faces in large collage grids and added yellow plasticine as hair, as if she could transform race with just a few artistic adjustments. She seemed to work in series with large numbers repeating a similar message. Thick lips and large eyes are common iconographs, which reappear regularly throughout her works. I recognised issues of racial and sexual inequality...but sadly, despite her huge influence in contemporary American art, this exhibition did not help the viewer to get to know the artist behind the work and to appreciate some of her key messages...

Saloua Raouda Choucair at Tate Modern

Saloua was born in Beirut in 1916 and she is an abstract artist who is inspired by Islamic art and architecture. Her work is remarkable in colour, shape and texture. Her paintings are multi-layered, with simple colour combinations and simple repetitive shapes. She creates sculptures with metal, wire and glass which are simple but stunning. Perhaps her most interesting sculptures are titled Poems,as they are modular towers of unique wooden shapes, which can be stacked in different combinations. I am sorry that we were not able to interact with them and create our own poetic towers...