Sea changes

Full fathom five, thy father lies, Of his bones are coral made,
Those are pearls that were his eyes, Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change, into something rich and strange,
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell, Ding-dong.
Hark! now I hear them, ding-dong, bell.
William Shakespeare: The Tempest

I hadn't heard this expression for many a year. Then three times within the last week it occurred.
Odd, because I have recently started a E. J. Howard novel "The Sea Change".

Book Review: Eric Clapton The Autobiography

An Icon. A Legend. God of Blues and of Guitar. Loved by so many!

I didn't realise he was and is a recovering alcoholic and of cocaine, but I'm not surprised, even though then, it was the days of sex 'n drugs 'n rock 'n roll!  He endured much therapy before recognising and accepting his inner happiness in the position of a family man with Melia and their three daughters and he has an older daughter.  Sadly, his young son died accidentally. His song 'Tears in Heaven' reflects upon that loss.
Eric was shy, insecure, with many obsessions/addictions and was fortunate that from his music he had an excellent income to supply those desires. A lonely soul finding it difficult to sometimes integrate behind the mask of who he thought he was. Yet it was his public persona that endeared him to so many: a brilliant musician, a perfectionist, an idealist, a modest man.  He confesses to anger and disagreeable attitudes which cost him dear and momentarily lowered his status in my eyes (because I can't handle anger!)  but by the time I'd finished reading his memoir, he was raised again to the Wonderful Man that I love for his music and for the perceptive and intuitive person whom I see and hear when he sings the lyrics of his songs and those written by others.  Goodness knows how his women/wives coped or didn't cope with his absences as well as his addictions.  I like to think that perhaps they were forgiving and some not without personal issues because no matter how rich we are, we are all the same: we are human!
I admire Eric Clapton for writing about his personal and professional life in intimate detail.  I can feel him sitting next to me TELLING his story.  Of course, it is history how he inveigled Pattie Boyd to be his lover and how George Harrison agreed.  It is a Story of Unrequited Love.  He recounts his personal and professional self discovery and his absorption with The Blues.   He shows his struggles and redemption.  He says he needed to be good at other things than being a musician.  It was a revelation when he was asked "Who are you?', whilst receiving therapy and being on withdrawal from alcohol and drugs. Later in the book, page 282, he describes how he was confronted with the statement; "Tell me who you are" and found it a struggle to do so.
(I haven't been an alcoholic though I have to my shame known the edge, the precipice. I suppose I am one because giving up the glass or two of wine on a daily basis seems an impossibility for me, although Rooibus tea really helps! It's a small treat. A small blessing at my age! In my own self discovery I have held back from drowning in any form of alcoholic bliss, which is escape.   Maybe everyone has to, at some stage, CHALLENGE the question of WHO we are and WHAT we are and how we fit into the world.  It is human and normal but brings us up sharp to realise we have much to be thankful for.)
I loved and enjoyed reading about The Yardbirds, Cream, Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce, Derek and the Dominoes, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and many other musicians. In the 70s I saw Ginger Baker play live.  It seemed rather strange for me to be reading about an era in the late 1960s, when I wasn't allowed to go to the music clubs mentioned in Eric's well-scripted, frank, soul bearing, spirited, painfully joyous life story.
I've always wanted to meet him... and if I did I would go very weak at the knees! I can play "Layla", "Wonderful Tonight", "I Shot the Sheriff", and all the rest ALL DAY, EVERY DAY but I don't because there is so much lovely music in the world.
"Unplugged" 1992  is one of my favourite albums - but hey, they are all favourites!
 Eric demonstrates his love, compassion, dedication.  I'm glad his life has become a happier one and of course, Luck has been his Lady despite the ordeals.  
A true Legend. A true Icon in Musical History.

I borrowed this book from a friend and need to return it!

Book Review: East of the Sun

This was a 2013 Summer birthday gift from my daughter.  I like the fact that she often gives new and recycled gifts. I suspect it is a book I left at my daughter's house some years ago and now it has been returned to me! It's a good read - perhaps a little lightweight - yet intriguing.  I enjoyed it whilst my brain was disconnected from my foot after the bunion op last October. It was just right for curling up on the settee,  spying the flames of the woodburner as I peeped out from the duvet!
Julia Gregson in 2008 published East of the Sun which is set in Autumn 1928.
The author researched real events and characters from Indian history. She learned about Indian Calvary regiments having heard about The Fishing Fleet.  Young women travelled to India from UK for 'the Season' to become married or to search for a husband.  Gregson recounts 'the party life' of  bored British women East of the Sun.  The main character acts as an inexperienced chaperone in order to reduce her own ticket to India. She escorts two giddy young women, one to be wed, the other to be a bridesmaid, and an obnoxional, young boy with OCD, expelled from a boarding school.  Viva is naive with her romance and childhood memories, still in personal denial now that her parents are deceased. Whilst exorcising her memories, she discovers that her parents were not necessarily the ogres she thought they were... Ah, this rings a resonance with me and it should with my offspring, one of whom, knows not what it is like to be a parent.  Hope and secrets, truths and lies, good and bad conduct interact to eventually produce a form of freedom for each character.

L'Ancien Theatre in Chatellerault: 6

The Peristyle is used as a foyer.

1967 the theatre was deemed to be outside of the cultural life of Chatellerault and any project to renew it was too onerous. 
1973 there was an order for it to be closed because of the danger of fire.
1977 The Maire confirmed it was going to be destroyed. An association to save it was led by Michel Bidron. it has been a long process but I am so very glad the theatre has been conserved and is classed as a Historic Monument de France. Thank you to all those who had faith!
And now....please go to the theatre as part of the audience or have a guided tour.  Treat yourself!
There is a depth to this theatre that I have not been able to relate or reproduce in these postings nor yet uncovered. Over to you!

PS If I am able to read / translate / discover more important facts I will update my blog with new postings! 

L'Ancien Theatre in Chatellerault: 5

These photos are of a maquette on display.

And some other lovely decorative features:

L'Ancien Theatre in Chatellerault: 4

The sets, curtain and allegorical ceiling paintings are the artistry of Emile Vernon, from the École des Beaux-Arts, Tours, France. This is a reproduction of the main curtain which has two oculi to espy if the audience are ready for the show!  It depicts the Henri IV bridge over La Vienne river between Chatellerault and Chateauneuf.  I wonder if all the original has been kept and if so, where? I hope examples of the other artefacts are in storage somewhere.

 This blog shows his paintings in their original state - untouched! Thank you to the blogger!

SPRINGTIME COMETH
Evidently the cranes went over yesterday but I didn't see them! 

L'Ancien Theatre in Chatellerault: 3

I am very fond of this theatre and have been a member of "Les Amis" for several years, offering my humble support for the rescue of this unique building.  It was dilapidated and at its worst when a friend and I had a guided tour. Earlier this week I was rapturous and so happy to see it looking exquisitely beautiful when I attended the AGM.

I don't think my level of French would withstand a performance but maybe if I can find an event that hasn't yet sold out I would love to dress in my finery and be chaperoned as part of the audience, as part of the theatre that the actors may or may not see when all the lights are shining upon THEM.  I would be in the dark in more ways than one!   I would be with the Godesses of Thalia and Mesopmene in Paradise!

You could read: 
http://www.ville-chatellerault.fr/grands-projets/ancien-theatre

L'Ancien Theatre in Chatellerault: 2

 These are images from the electronic presentation available to view in the 'peristyle' / foyer.

1495 Les Minimes positioned outside of the walled moated town of Chatellerault.

The Moat has long since been filled, but how or why or when I do not know!  In this 1495 engraving one can see the churches of St Jacques, the 10th century Roman church and St Jean the Evangelist. I find it Fascinating, the more I look. And when was the wall taken down?

The cheapest seats in the Gods are called Paradise.

The chapel window still exists but is bricked up.

Des baies géminées  can be seen here.

By now those who buy the cheapest seats go to the chicken run! 

Le gril is machinery which controls the raising and lowering of the sets 'de scene'.  I think it is fantastic that these were preserved and now restored.

2014

If you wish to hear in French then go to here

L'Ancien Theatre in Chatellerault: 1

  In future it will be called Theatre Blossac.
L'Ancien refers to the 'former' not 'ancient' theatre.
Now, re-instated it is situated on the Boulevard Blossac.

HOWEVER, it has been restored exquisitely, ambitiously and impeccably. 

It is a working theatre in the Italianate Style.
I recommend everyone to have a guided tour. 

HISTORY:
1495: A theatre was built in the chapel of the Convent of Minimes.
1791: It was purchased by the town council.
1804:  A wooden tower was destroyed.  I don't know which tower is referred to. The wood was recycled to build a simple amphitheatre with apx 400 seats to host meetings and Republican ceremonies.  It was organised by a charitable company whose aims were to "bring relief to poverty, promote the arts and provide residents with pleasant relaxation which would improve their morals." 
(Maybe the translation means morale!) 
1814: It was decided that a new theatre was required for the town.
1839 to 1844: A small neo-classical Italian theatre was built by Michel Delage, who was a mason in Châtellerault, according to designs by Louis Renaudet.
1860: It became a Municipal Theatre. I think it was called La Redoute because until recently that was the name of the hall in front of the concealed theatre and the hall upstairs.  "The cultural space now includes a theatre (in the nave of the old church), a peristyle attached to the front of the church and, upstairs, a fireplace and the room dedicated to La Redoute meetings concerts and balls." 
1899: The theatre was extended to seat apx 600 in the audience. The simple brown, blue and yellow decor was transformed with rich paintings, sculptures and embellishments of red and gold.  The sets, the curtain and the allegorical ceiling paintings and murals are the work of Emile Vernon, of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Tours.  
Émile Vernon, was born in 1872 and died in 1919. He was a student at the School of Fine Arts in Tours, France and received the premier prize for drawing in 1888.  He was taught and influenced by William Bouguereau and Auguste Truphème at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.   In 1898, he participated in the Exhibition of Fine Arts and Decorative Arts in Tours.  He exhibited regularly until 1913, with portraits, landscapes and floral paintings.  He excelled in watercolour paintings of women and children in bright colours and bucolic scenery, and was well known for the portrait of Mrs.Vernon, Under the Lamp.
1945 to 1958:  although there were performances the building began to degrade becoming dangerous.
2012: Restoration began to replicate the Italianate theatre of 1899.  The foundations, roof, walls, stairway, plumbing, electricity, et cetera have all been updated according to current building regulations. Paintings and decorations have been restored: curtains, dressing rooms, benches, seats and theatre boxes, chairs in the balconies, the proscenium, cornices, friezes and IN FACT everything has all been replaced and or restored.  The machinery which operates the theatrical screens and sets has also been upgraded.In addition, a lift has been installed.  
Two stone muses, Thalia and Melopmene were returned to the facade of the theatre.
In Grecian Mythology the Muses were the inspirational goddesses of knowledge, of the arts, of music, song and dance and all were the source of inspiration to poets in the court of Zeus.  In very ancient times there were three Muses, but later there were nine.  
Each inspirational Muse received a name and spheres of responsibility or attributes:-

Calliope (epic poetry) 
Clio (history)
Erato (love and erotic poetry)
Euterpe (lyric poetry)
Melopmene (tragedy)
Thalia (comedy)
Polyhymnia (religious hymns)
Terpsichore (choral song and dance)
Urania (astronomy)

2013: The theatre was re-opened.  It has cost 5.85 million euros to restore.  The Heritage Foundation supported the restoration of the theatre. The work was overseen by Millet Key, an International firm associated with Arnaud de Saint-Jouan, Chief Architect of Historic Monuments. 25 companies were involved.

See next posting for more photographs.

Book Review: Coastliners

I read this 12 years ago when it was first published ... the copy is in my attic.
Q: Why not on a bookshelf?  A: I don't have one as my previous house had an inbuilt library!
A friend bought this copy from a UK charity shop!  Unfortunately, it was a slow and tedious read both readings, however, this time, I would wake in the middle of the night to read a few more chapters and came to enjoy the book.
Today is Saturday but I post this to my blog on Sunday yet moved the posting to Thursday!
I don't know why I am so exhausted.  I was reading before and after sleeping under the duvet, on the settee, in front of the fire. Unusual for me! I think it was a combination of Friday, a headache, THE RAIN, the desire for change and for the pile of chores to disappear!
There are more than enough reviews and it best to go to Joanne Harris' website for all you wish to know.  It's about insiders/outsiders and pessimism/optimism. The frailty of human life which is dependent upon age, employment, lifestyle.  It is about birth/death and how LIFE struggles on, despite all that occurs...well, until we die!  The thread in the story is the belief that if something departs or is lost it will return.  It's a bit of a cliffhanger ... suddenly the tale ends and one wonders.
I have read the 2nd,3rd,4th 5th of her published books. I think I stopped buying when I realised there was a pattern.  I own THE FRENCH KITCHEN which I rather like!
I miss the sea...but probably would not wish to be near the angry 'hungry dog' on the west and south of the British Isles.

Book Review - The Constant Gardener

The Constant Gardener

This is my first reading of any John le Carré novel. A friend has lent it to me. I am pleased because I heard the radio serialization some while ago and enjoyed it.  At first, I found it a bit boring but there were exciting moments and I know I was absorbed because I would wake in the middle of the night and continue reading! There were terrifying moments, violence and conspiracy for the characters and the reader.  It made one think. The answers were not all evident.

Tessa had been gruesomely murdered in Kenya but where was the doctor she was with when trying to expose the drug company and others involved with the corruption. The fictional pharmaceutical company exploit a drug to cure or kill, to profit under the guise of helping the poor! Justin her older husband enjoyed growing lilies and other flowers especially for her. Had she betrayed or been disloyal to her husband or protected him? He, a diplomat at the British High Commission began a personal odyssey to find her killers and the motive.  He risks his own life for justice and revenge after he was interviewed as a suspected murderer.  He accomplishes his task as well as discovering the depths of his love for a woman who he had little time to fully love.

It is a crime thriller full of subtle betrayal, divided loyalty, bribery and corruption and Capitalism.  Recommended reading.

The market and the library

The mediathèque above Les Halles indoor food market is open on market days I believe!  I had a browse and it is very sumptuous and spacious with a reasonably good selection of English novels to borrow. I didn't gather sufficient courage to do so! Will try to get to my village library which is open on Monday and Saturday mornings to see what selection they have. I might even try to donate books to them!

Book Review - On the Road

The reader is on an epic journey alongside Jack Kerouac.  However at the end, one can say "wow" and "phwew" and be relieved that it is ended. Also be somewhat saddened that such a brilliant, descriptive, experiential writer died at the age of 47, because of alcohol abuse.  In this novel there are many accounts of drugs, alcohol and jazz, for then it was not rock'n'roll!  Hi (high) ... man! The literary journey, eloquently and elegantly describes 'beat' people in all its contextual meanings, landscapes, people, men and women and all that went on between!  He was part of The Beat Generation.  It changed attitudes and history!  Interesting!

Evidently, the first draft of this novel was written in three weeks in 1951 whilst the author was living with his second wife in Manhattan, New York.  It was typed on a one hundred and twenty foot continuous scroll of sheets of tracing paper cut to size and taped together.  It was without margins or paragraph breaks.   Later, Kerouac revised the text, deleting sections which in the 1950s were considered pornographic. He added other storyline tales.

The particular book I read was found in a stored box of books. I had unwittingly acquired it, but as it really belongs to my friend, it can now be returned!  It's one of those books that I am  often reluctant to read... browned pages... however, I thought I ought to read this classic! Glad that I did!

I haven't ever been to America.  Sometimes I think I might like to go. I have a friend as well as a second cousin and his family who live in the north.   I would love to see certain places like New York, the Grand Canyons and places where rock culture began and maybe any French speaking towns.

Book Review - And The Mountains Echoed

 And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

I loved this book because after reading the words,
my mind echoed with thoughts about the rights and wrongs that happen in human life.
How well can any of us do as parents?
How, sometimes unintentionally, we make mistakes
in order to please others
or to force events
or push and pull
in order to survive.

I will read the book again.

Q: Why did I choose this book?

A: Because it was timely. Because I enjoyed "The Kite Runner" but missed his second novel : A Thousand Splendid Suns
Q: How did I choose this book?
A:  At the airport. I liked the blurb on the back cover. I was fascinated by the 13th century Rumi poetry at the front of the book "Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing there is a field. I'll meet you there." 
Q: What did I like about the book?
A: It was about families, loss, love, sacrifice, -  in different situations out of necessity, accident or death, because of courageous or difficult decisions made.  It was about attachment, belonging, 'having roots' and being homeless. It was about poverty and the inverse.  It was about rejection and abandonment.  It was about secrets, deceptions and accepting truths. It was about dishonesty and honesty. It was about perseverance and the quest for knowledge. It showed how ageing can be entrapment for others and by abandoning the one who abandoned, one can cast off a heavy load. It was scary, provocative, sad, joyful.  It contains so many elements about real life that I found it very emotional. It forced me to question the motives of characters in the narrative as well as people in reality.  Out of anguish, angst and torment comes liberty and a freedom to live, and to love anew with family that hadn't been known in life.  When one doesn't know where the tale is going, the echoes and mirrors become suddenly clear.  When the sun goes down in the valley, the moon will rise elsewhere. When the eagle soars in the mountains he can look down and see clearly the smallest mouse. A truly beautiful narrative.
Q: Was there anything I didn't like?
A: I don't always read titles of chapters so was taken aback when the story wasn't chronological...I had to start again and pay more attention to titles which told me the time frame, characters, plot and events.
Q: Anything else?
A: It made me think about regret partuclarly childhood and becoming aged, how children don't always know so how can they appreciate parental sacrifice and suffering. It made me think more about the waste of life that can occur to so many because of poverty or the loss of one's partner, or the loss of a parent or the one who loses a child or a sibling. It made me think about the suffering we have as children or as adults or both!  It made me think more about the frailty and absurdity of life and how one's journey through the mountains is paved for us... it is designated for us by a Power so Great.
Q: What is there to be prepared for?
A: The international twists.  Make sure a handkerchief is at the ready!

Cinema

Ooooh Chatellerault has been showing THE GREAT GATSBY. On Thursday I discovered that Version Originale was being shown that evening....... so I had to re-organise my day, needing not to arrive too early, needing to do diy shopping before 7pm, supermarket shopping before 8pm and then park.  It was quite strange to walk through the town alone at 11pm!

I loved the film.

I don't have television so am excited by visual techniques.

Cinematography knows no bounds! To begin with, it was a bit of a blast, fantastically imaginative, almost Titanic in concept and ambience and after that thought I remembered that DiCaprio was in the film!  Once I'd got over my surprise, oohs and aahs, in order to cope with the visual grandeur I decided to indulge in the Fantasy, forget about the story, and enjoy every single amazing visual, aural thing.  In fact, a couple of times I found myself chuckling aloud!  I was absorbed in the plot and technowizardryscenery, but after the credits there was some really good music to focus on. During the film it was sometimes quite a jolt to hear modern music whilst viewing Roaring Twenties. I was the last in the cinema waiting to see what the music titles were.  I loved the colours, the sets, the debauchery, the decadence, the obscene opulence as well as the morals being portrayed.

Above all there were lessons to remind me of REALITY.
(It's been a whole week of shifting thoughts and emotions! At last, internal change!) 

It's been a long while since I read the novel so at this moment in my life, it was salutary to hear the dialogue that we can't move ahead without letting go of the past, that we can't live LIFE if looking in the rear view mirror! The past can't be recaptured and we must try to learn from it! That resonated!

(My daughter said 3 years ago, "the past is not the future".  It has taken some time to come to terms with the fact that I CAN CONTROL (to a certain extent :) MY FUTURE!)

I think the film captures the illusion and reality that are sometimes present in our daily lives. Things might not be what they seem. One has to look for Truth in the unknown and known. One can have dreams and ambitions but should try to understand that they can't always be achieved. In order to strive to the future and hope for better things, we have to let go. (I've got an attic of stuff to let go!!!!)  Nothing is perfect and if we try too hard we might fall and fail.  Of course money doesn't buy happiness, so be content with what one has without being greedy for materialistic pleasures.  If Love is put on a pedestal then when Love falls will there be anyone to catch Love?
Money Can't Buy Me LOVE.

That sort of thing! 
Yes, a very thought provoking film if you abandon yourself to the experience! IT WAS FUN! :)

Prelude à L'après-midi d'un faune

At the concert I recently attended where two pianists played a transcription of the orchestral piece Prelude à L'après-midi d'un faune by Claude Debussy 1862-1918), a French Impressionistic composer, we also, beforehand, listened to the poem of Stephane Mallarmé (1842-1898) L'après-midi d'un faune (1865/7) which had inspired that music.  This poem is about a faun who whilst alone in woodlands plays his pan-pipes.  Interested in the nymphs and naiads, he follows them, eventually sadly realising that he is rejected, so returns to dream of them whilst asleep.
Whilst the poem was read aloud we watched the following video of Nureyev performing the choreography by Nijinsky who performed the ballet in 1912 which had been inspired by the poetry and the music.

 

Then of course there was the new modern version by dearest Freddie Mercury of Queen when in 1984 he dances the role of the faun, supported by the Royal Ballet, as he sings I want to Break Free.  

Wonderful History of The Arts!

A lot of controversy over the years!

September 2010

In September 2010 I started to try to think differently, to take one step at a time - 'pas a pas'.
I found a quote in Labyrinth by Kate Mosse. which seemed to identify purpose.   
As I can't locate the quote I'll have to read the book again and when it is found I will post it here!

I began to enjoy 'le chaleur' et l'ombre' - the heat and the shade in different parts of the house and garden - at least 29 degrees celsius. It makes me feel HUMAN and NORMAL.  I watch the harvest coming in and see the bare, exposed fields with the crows or rooks cawing cavernously, making me nervous about Winter.  

Restless in France was having to think positively and optimistically for Autumn was yet to come and she who loves colours, smells, mists and moistiness enjoys October.  She has a lot to plan even when planning makes little difference.