Arts Diary: Will Marriott
Last week we reported that Alan Ayckbourn's latest play would be going to New York. Even then we were fairly confident we'd be reporting the following update.
My Wonderful Day is a huge success in the Big Apple.
The play premiered in Scarborough in October, and when we saw it we were certain we'd witnessed another monster hit in play number 73 from Sir Alan. The Americans agree.
The New York Times called it a "charming, rueful new comedy"; the Wall Street Journal said it was "One of the strongest productions that I've seen on or Off Broadway in recent seasons. If you miss it, you'll regret it – a lot,"; Variety said it was a "sublime production" and Theatermania sums it up simply: "My Wonderful Play!"
You'll get a chance to see just how good it is when it goes on tour in spring next year.
Back in October, the Bront Parsonage Museum issued an invitation to anyone who thought they might own artefacts relating to the Bronts or historic Haworth to come to a "Brontana surgery". There have been all sorts of discoveries as local people came forward with their treasures.
Several items are being investigated, including a jam pan which is believed to have been included in the sale which took place in Haworth after Patrick Bront's death in 1861.
The museum has been able to compile a record of Bront-related material in private hands, including an 1834 Haworth rate book and a collection of Haworth church hymn sheets.
Three bound volumes of the Family Economist which belonged to Martha's sister, Tabitha, who also assisted with domestic work at the Parsonage, were kindly donated to the museum and will go on display at the Parsonage next year.
Lost all hope of a white Christmas this year? Why not opt for a green one instead? The creative team behind the West Yorkshire Playhouse's Christmas show, Cinderella, are making a special effort to re-use and recycle materials for the set and props.
Cinderella makes clever use of five different specially-designed rat puppets – Ears, Teeth, Tails, Whiskers and Claws – who have been created by West Yorkshire Playhouse's props team out of re-used items such as fabric conditioner bottles, egg boxes, old tights and painted salad servers.
Set designer Barney George counts The Wombles among his design influences. "My view is that in the world of the rat characters they use discarded stuff," he said.
"The line from The Wombles springs to mind: 'making good use of the things that they find, things that the everyday folk leave behind'. We are exploring the idea of re-usable objects and having lots of fun along the way!"
WHEN film maker Bruno Wollheim embarked on a documentary about David Hockney and his work more than three years ago, it was the start of a rollercoaster ride dictated by the mood of the artist. Using only a hand-held camera and never being sure when Hockney would pull the plug on filming, Wollheim shot 100 hours of the quicksilver Bradfordian without knowing who would broadcast it.
The BBC's Alan Yentob and his arts series Imagine finally came to the rescue, and the film David Hockney: A Bigger Picture, was shown on BBC1 in June this year.
At some point Wollheim may, we suppose, donate part or all of the raw footage to a major archive, but in the meantime a stunning stocking filler for any art-lover is an extended version of the film on a 115-minute DVD – including the bonus of four short films on the making of the documentary. The DVD, by Coluga Pictures, is out now.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Tuesday 22 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 9 C to 23 C
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Sunny spells
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
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