Anywhere Theatre Festival Review: 1066: The Bayeux Brought to Life

If you’ve ever taken an interest in European history or secretly enjoyed history at school or perhaps you have children you want to get interested in that huge general topic, take yourself to Small Crown Production’s 1066: The Bayeux Tapestry Brought to Life, performed in the Collector’s Cafe at the Queensland Museum.

Some context: the Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth nearly 70 metres in length that tells with beautiful detail the story of Harold Earl of Essex and Duke William of Normandy, who were both at one time designated heirs to the crown of England. When King Edward the Confessor died in 1066, Harold was proclaimed King, inciting the Norman invasion of England which culminated in the Battle of Hastings. William (known to history as William the Conqueror) triumphed and was crowned King, beginning the Norman occupation of England. 

 

1066: The Bayeux Tapestry Brought to Life opens where the tapestry begins, with events years prior to the final battle. First up we meet Harold Earl of Essex, a great warrior devoted to England, who having successfully quelled uprisings in Wales has been charged by King Edward to travel to Normandy and inform Duke William that he (William) is the chosen heir to the crown of England. Not a pleasant task for a man who thought he would be named so himself. Both men were skilled soldiers and politicians and the show sets up their differences in personality and perspective and how they came to believe that they were the rightful heir to the throne of England.

Small Crown Productions have done a tremendous job of fitting a complex story with a cast of thousands in to one hour and a cast of seven. They are helped by the ingenious shifting scenery which could be taken apart to construct keeps, ships and castles. I was not the only audience member who when watching the cast yell heave to and construct the ships for the invasion, wanted to leap up and lend a hand. Simple block-coloured costumes helped the audience identify the key players as each cast member played several roles on both sides of the feud.

The cast were clearly enjoying themselves and worked hard to deliver the story in all its’ dramatic glory. James Trigg, who portrayed Harold, has the square jaw, beard and booming voice evocative of a youthful Henry VIII and a great seriousness of purpose, which contrasted well to the more jovial but equally determined William, played by Silvan Rus. The team behind the show, lighting, sounds, animation, costuming and of course the Director Paul Adams, have also done a tremendous job on all the important minutiae the made the performance so enjoyable.

If you want to brush up on the tale before the performance, there is a scroll explaining the events and key scenes from the tapestry for you to peruse.  The scroll also pointed out key characters and pieces of scenery that would be appearing in the production.

Small Crown Production’s 1066: The Bayeux Tapestry Brought to Life is a dramatic piece of history brought to life with great enthusiasm. Educational and enjoyable, it is an excellent original production.

Review of 1066: The Bayeux Brought to Life, presented as part of the 2013 Anywhere Theatre Festival.

Tickets can be purchased through the Anywhere Theatre Festival website or at the door.  

See also the Small Crown Productions website or follow them on Twitter. 

Book review: Civilization by Niall Ferguson

How did it come to pass that a tiny percentage of the world's population came to dominate global culture and the global economy for half a millennium? That is the big question posed by Niall Ferguson in Civilization: the West and the Rest. How did this dominance become so universal and accepted? And as the world changes and new global powers arise, where and when did this supremacy start to fall apart?

No one can argue that 'the West', itself a hugely outdated term, is in trouble. Capitalism, that great builder of wealth and power, has stumbled and with it caused great economic hardship in those countries so dependant on free-market free-spending to circulate and grow national wealth. America is in trouble, the Eurozone is in trouble and though here in Australia we sit smugly proud having braved the worst and come out seemingly on top, we are none the less hugely dependant on the uncertain fates of our economic treaty buddies and former colonists.

Where we are fortunate is that our proximity to Asia has caused us to form close economic ties with countries such as Indonesia, China and Japan. China is our largest two-way trading partner, Japan number two. In 2010, 7 of Australia's top 10 trading partners were Asian countries. Countries that an 18thCentury traveller would have viewed as undeveloped are booming and with that boom comes the power of money to spend and goods to sell.

No one can argue that global economic supremacy is drifting away from Europe and its (former) colonies to China, India and even parts of Africa, where economic development may have lagged behind 'first world' countries, but in a tortoise vs hare race, the Asian tortoises are now equipped with jet packs and rocket launchers prepared to overtake the US, Australia and Germany within decades.

Bowing out of the conversation

Last weekend I was enjoying a bit of bodice-ripping drama in the form of a re-discovered DVD of the BBC production ‘Charles II’. Amongst the betrayals, the beheading and the superfluousness of sex I noticed one thing in particular.

It was in one conversation that really brought it home to me. History buffs may know that King Charles was married to the Portuguese Princess Catherine of Braganza. Unfortunately, despite siring dozens of children with his harem of mistresses, their marriage remained childless.

Charles and Catherine, played by Rufus Sewell and Shirley Henderson.

Book review: The Churchills by Mary S. Lovell

While in Maleny over the Easter weekend I wandered into Rosetta Bookshop and as per usual I bought a few books, including The Churchills by Mary S. Lovell.

I bought the book not from any great desire to read about the Churchills but because I have read and enjoyed almost all of Lovell's previous biographies. Choosing slightly off-centre but nevertheless fascinating subjects, Lovell tells the personal sagas eruditely, striking just the right balance between private detail and drama and insight into the world in which they lived and shaped.

When I first picked up the book I thought it would span a greater number of generations than it does. Though starting with John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough and builder of the family seat Blenheim Palace (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site), the action then skips a century or two to the grandfather of Winston Churchill, around whom the majority of the story revolves. 

The family pile: Blenheim Palace. 

Not that there isn't enough going on in the three generations centred around Winston. His mother was the first of the 'dollar princesses' – the flood of wealthy American heiresses who married into the British aristocracy in the 19thC, bringing dowries to prop up the money-poor Barons, Dukes and Earls in exchange for a title and respectability they could never find back home. In just four generations we learn of innumerable affairs, divorces, illnesses and of course, the huge personality of Winston Churchill and the incredibly journey of his life. 

 'Sunny' Marlborough, 9th Duke and his Duchess, Consuelo Vanderbilt, the most famous of the 'Dollar Princesses' whose money saved Blenheim Palace.

This is not a political biography, it is not a war biography. Lovell's focus from page 1 is the private lives of these tumultuous people. Aside from Winston, people who really stood out for me were his mother Jennie, beautiful and charismatic, who made a rare happy marriage and who moved at the epi-centre of British Society for decades and also Winston's son Randolph, intensely unlike-able on the page despite the author's assurances that he could have great person charm in life.

Winston and Clementine Churchill.

Sitting on my bookshelves right now are biographies on The Mitford Girls – six sisters who exemplified the political spectrum of the 20thC from Nazism, Fascism, Communism to the very peak of the British aristocracy; Beryl Markham, pioneering aviatrix, racing horse trainer, explosive personality and the first person to fly from England to America; Jane Digby, 19^thC aristocratic wife who ended her life as the wife of a Bedouin Sheikh in the sands of Syria; and finally Bess of Hardwick, independent landowner and the first Duchess of Devonshire who built Chatworth and was the second most powerful woman in Tudor England aside from Queen Elizabeth. I recommend all of these biographies because they are well researched yet easy to read and genuinely fascinating. 

The Churchills is a great read and a intriguing look into a history-making family. 

Five for Friday no.13

Brisbane has our own 100% local online shoe store. I'm so proud!

Zombies, Run! There is an app you can buy that makes running … fun … shudder … by making it an interactive game in which as soon as you step out of your door you're running from the zombies and fighting for your life. Sounds cool but it's not enough to convert me: I don't run.

Who doesn't love a good bookshelf or beautiful library website? I know I do, even though they fill me with bitter seething envy. So, bookshelf site!


A short history of the Calendar. For those of you who weren't in the know.



Slow motion ballet. Two dancers from the Staatsballett Berlin slowed to 1000 frames per second accompanied by Radiohead's Everything in Its Right Place.