I WROTE in my most recent column about some of the reasons why theatre is so necessary (April 1): it feeds the entertainment industry, it acts as a communal meeting place and it helps us to understand ourselves and the world around us. Now, however, we have to find substitutes. What is startling is how quickly companies have responded to the current crisis by making their work available online; from Shakespeare’s Globe in London to the Schaubühne in Berlin, a huge range of productions is available.
This raises the question of whether a screening of a play can ever be more than second best. I vividly remember being despatched to a cinema in Chelsea to watch the first ever NT Live broadcast, in June 2009, when Nicholas Hytner’s production of Phèdre, starring Helen Mirren and Dominic Cooper, was shown in 73 cinemas in the UK and 200 around the world.
As I came out, I bumped into a well-known director who said: ‘Michael, that was better than it was in the theatre, wasn’t it?’ I hesitantly agreed that there was a certain advantage to seeing the actors in close-up in a chamber play by Racine filled with claustrophobic passion.
These days, I tend to go to live screenings of work from the Metropolitan Opera in New York or our own Royal Opera House and I’ve often thought of my director friend’s remark. The screenings give one access to work that, for reasons of distance or cost, one would not otherwise get to see.
Denne historien er fra April 15, 2020-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra April 15, 2020-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
