My day was defined by the late nature of my
swim. It seems really petty, but when
you are used to a routine, any deviation from it is irritating – especially when
your general living is determined by the dictates of a pandemic.
We are
now in Phase 3 of the measures that we are supposed to be taking. No one really knows what they are exactly,
but we feel that we are getting closer to the New Normal, which in turn means
that we are freer to do what we used to do, but we are also more worried by the
fact that the progression towards this New Normal is being driven by economics
and not by an reasoned, scientific rationale.
There
are still deaths and new people being infected.
We have not real idea of the true extent of the virus in the population
and we do not have adequate test and trace measures, but, what the hell, the
sun is shining (generally) and people need a little vitamin D to bolster their
immunity levels so, so, so.
In the
UK the latest U-turn of a government prone to reversals (in all senses of the
word) concerns the mobile app that that man Johnson told us would be “world
beating” or some equally meaningless burble that is about all he can manage
these days. The app has now been
rejected as if it had never existed. The
app that was an essential part of the uniquely English way of dealing with the
virus is no longer apt. It is a dead
app. It has never been. And of course, people continue to die!
We went out to our favourite restaurant this
evening to have the tapas that they do so well.
We were able to eat inside, indeed we were able to eat at ‘our’ table,
but the feeling was not quite as it was.
A selection of tables around us were bedecked with striped tape to
ensure that the tables ‘un-taped’ were the regulation distance apart. It made the interior of the restaurant look
more like a crime scene than an elegant place to eat. But the food was well up to standard and if
you didn’t look too closely you were able to kid yourself that this was just
another evening meal in a decent restaurant.
We even
went to a fairly newly established ice cream shop where we always have a good
conversation with the owner. He is now
trying to make a going concern of a place that is trying to make economic sense
from an Easter and Summer season compressed into two short months. The ice cream was excellent, and I enjoyed it
while I could!
The NT Live production this evening was Small
Island adapted by Helen Edmundson from the novel by Andrea Levy. The direction by Rufus Norris using the set
by Katrina Lindsay was elegantly seductive.
The movement around the set and the unpretentious coups de theatre were
a joy. The use of film, music and actors
was a delight to watch. There was a
tautness about the dynamics on stage which constantly delighted.
From
time to time I found myself wondering about the basic narrative and there was
an element of the over-contrived in the way that disparate elements were linked. It was stagey in a completely satisfying way,
but I sometimes found the very slickness of the narrative a tad condescending.
The
acting was excellent and there was a real sense of ensemble in the performance.
Although the play deals with harsh reality and some sickening prejudice,
it is at heart a feel-good production and, although ‘loved’ is the final word
of the play, there is also a sense in which the ‘solution’ to the various
strands of the story line of the play are not so easily explained or coped with
by a single positive emotion.
But,
perhaps that is the point that the play is making: the play is historical and
the attitudes it portrays are not those of 2020. Yes, racism is still a glaring element in our
daily news with the resonance of “I can’t breathe” reverberating around the
world.
The
Black Lives Matter movement is not looking for the ‘salvation’ of a single
person, it is arguing that systemic prejudice must be tackled by systemic
change: causes need our attention, not merely ameliorating the problems on the
end results.
An
engaging play which certainly worked with the live audience and gave some pause
for thought for the viewers too.
I urge
you to watch it for free while you have the chance!
Tomorrow another odd start for my swim, I must
remember to check when I have to get up before (that is the key) I let my head
touch my pillow!
