Opening Eyes

Victoria and Albert Museum. 

Yes I’ve been before, but the great thing about museums like this is that you will probably never see everything. There are so many nooks and crannies and things you miss the first time that you see the second, third, maybe even fourth time you go peruse the maze-like halls. Unfortunately this time round the fashion exhibit was not open due to their renovating and condensing it with the textile exhibit. But they still have a kick ass theatre and performance exhibit.  But the thing I was so surprised about because I hadn’t ever seen it before was the Plaster Cast wing! Yeah it doesn’t sound like much but in reality it’s mind boggling! They took casts of huge monuments of Roman and Flemish antiquity and put them back together in the museum in London! They even have Michelangelo’s David! I am still trying to work out how they do something like this. How and when exactly do they make these casts? Do they just go up to the museum that houses David and say, “ excuse me, but we’re with the V&A and we would very much like to take a plaster cast of David here. Yes we know he is one of the most famous works of sculpture in the western world but we’d like a copy. Thanks ever so much.” How does that just happen?! Maybe someone can explain it to me someday. Regardless it was very cool to see. 

All around beautiful day today. Broke out the flip-flops, turned out to be a bad idea having not worn them in about 9 months. Oh well. Too late now.

On to the play! Re-charge at the Soho Theatre.

Wow. I feel like that’s my reaction to a lot of these shows (of course probably you would have the same reaction had you seen them too), but this one especially is warranted a “wow” reaction. Re-Charge is a series of three one-act plays all of them pretty heavy dramas dealing with institutionalization and crime in a strange way. The first sees an older woman who is just told her daughter has died (committed suicide) in an institution (jail? Mental Hospital? Psych ward of a jail?). The play works backwards and we see how the daughter ended up where she was and how her relationship with her mother was the way it was. It was both heartbreaking and eye opening to the fact that we should never take for granted or neglect those we love and care for/about. Even if you disagree with a path they have chosen it is important to not give up hope on them.

The second, (deserving yet another wow) follows a young man (played by a woman) who has dreams of becoming a footballer and his group/gang of friends (also all played by women) and how they treat each other and others around them. The first boy takes off his hoody to change characters to the young sister of the boy. She takes the sweatshirt and twists it in a certain way and holds it like a baby, her brother’s, she is caring for it while he is out at practice. As the play progresses all but the young boy is transformed into a female character. Through the process of getting there his sister is raped by her supposed boyfriend (and the ring leader of the gang) and another member of the group. She becomes pregnant. Once the three girls are changed they form their own gang in hopes of taking back their power over anyone who has wronged them, including the boy who impregnated the sister.  The boy meanwhile is continuing his footballing but eventually meets with the blade of the gang leader and his leg is sliced, leading to the idea that he won’t play football anymore, at least anytime soon.

The third focuses on two women in a prison and a young writer who is studying them for a new book. One woman doesn’t speak, she can speak, she just doesn’t. She does however speak directly to the audience (it’s sort of her internal monologue really). We find out how both these women feel about being in prison and their lives leading up to the event, though only one of the events is mentioned and not in great detail. The play touches on a variety of topics, abuse, perversion, self-mutilation, and longing. The older of the two women (the one who didn’t talk) also had such a marvelous tone of voice that made everything easy to listen to, no matter how harsh the topic.

An eye opening day historically and artistically.

Tomorrow: Chocolate festival? Portobello Road? Who knows!