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Measure for Measure

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RSC, Swan Theatre, Stratford

Measure for Measure was one of those Shakespeare plays that I knew of, but knew nothing about. Having read up on it a bit it looked like a story which I was going to enjoy. It certainly was. The 'indecent proposal' plot and the arguments between church and state seemed to agree with my liberal atheistic tendencies.

The cast was excellent. Two TV faces were on stage, Raymond Coulthard (James in Hotel Babylon) who played Duke Vincentio / Friar and did a very good job complete with magic tricks. The other was Bruce Alexander (Superintendant Mullet in A Touch of Frost) who made a very compassionate Provost with a cockney accent. The comedic characters were well played with some 'audience participation' and improvisation it made this black comedy very enjoyable.

The only irritant was Isabella (Jodie McNee) who over acted and became one of Shakespeare's unintentional whiny women. (There was a striking similarity between this whiny woman and Juliet of the other whiny woman play where she tops herself because of Romeo).

Overall, with its S&M theme (I kid you not) and its great cast (except McNee) it was a very enjoyable night out. Oh, and I spotted Esther Rantzen in the restaurant. Beat that!

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Filed under  //   Shakespeare  
Posted December 30, 2011
 

Christmas in Wales

So, off to Wales we went to escape the usual surroundings and try something different. We made a visit to the Welsh Highand Railway so the kids could meet Santa and painted pottery at Piggery Pottery, which as always was good fun. We had a nice Christmas lunch at a very nice hotel and I had plenty of walks along the very windswept beach at Criccieth with the dogs. We made a visit to Anglsey to visit Pili Palas, famous for its butterflys, but they were all on holiday or something. We had a drive through Snowdonia and had a quick trip down to Harlech. Overall it was very enjoyable.

Filed under  //   Dog Walking   Family   Photography   Trains   Travel  
Posted December 29, 2011
 

Hipstamatic Wales

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Criccieth Castle, Criccieth beach and the Cambrian Line. The railway was closed at the time so no chance of getting squashed by a train, but it surprised me that a footpath leads you along the track for a short stretch!

Filed under  //   Dog Walking   Family   Photography   Trains   Travel  
Posted December 28, 2011
 

Supernova explosion gives a glimpse of how ingredients for life are created

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via guardian.co.uk

The spectacular explosion of a star in a distant galaxy (left, above) has given astronomers a rare glimpse of how supernovae blast the basic ingredients for life into the cosmos.

Scientists captured images of the colossal detonation in the Pinwheel galaxy (right, above) 21m light years away within hours of the burst of light from the explosion reaching Earth.

The supernova, called SN2011fe, was the result of a thermonuclear explosion that tore the parent star apart, converting carbon and oxygen into heavier elements, such as nickel, in the process.

The first observations of the supernova were made by the Liverpool Telescope at La Palma in the Canary islands and followed within hours by the Shane Telescope at Lick Observatory in California and the Keck I Telescope on Mauna Kea.

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Filed under  //   Space  
Posted December 15, 2011