Month of culture
Oct. 31st, 2013 08:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rich_jackoOctober has been a fairly culture-intensive month, or at least the second half has.
First up was a theatre trip on the 16th to see The Company's hilarious tongue-in-cheek take on 'The Dunwich Horror'. The Company are always at their best when they do comedy, and this was no exception. So much so that I insisted roleplaying be abandoned the following Sunday so that we could play Arkham Horror instead.
Next on my calendar was the first of four Off the Shelf lectures I went to: Simon Singh revealing 'The Mathematical Secrets of the Simpsons'. This was an entertaining look at the Simpsons makers' mathematical backgrounds and many of the maths-based references and in-jokes that appear in the show. Plus taxi numbers in Futurama.
On the 23rd was my second theatre trip, to see 'The Winter's Tale' at the Crucible. This was a Shakespeare play I knew nothing about (apart from the immortal stage direction: "Exit, pursued by a bear"), so it was a thrill to watch all its many twists and turns and outright silliness.
The 24th was a day to learn more about local small industry and sample its wares, at the Steel City Beer Festival. Okay, that one's a bit of a stretch.
Then came a triple dose of local history with three Off the Shelf events on consecutive days:
Firstly, last Saturday I went to 'Sheffield in Tudor and Stuart Times' with David Templeman (from the Friends of Manor Lodge). This focussed on everyday life and lesser-known parts of the 17th Century town rather than just the more famous Sheffield Castle and Manor Lodge. I learned a lot, although from the audience I did feel as if I was in a WI meeting at times.
On Sunday I hiked up to the Cholera Monument (which I'd somehow never been to before, despite living in Sheffield for the last 17 years) for 'The Sheffield Ghost Walk' by Loose Theatre. It was a very windy day, especially up on Park Hill. This made it quite hard to hear the actors at times, but they struggled on valiantly and put in a convincing performance what life was like during the Cholera epidemic of 1832.
Finally, on Monday I went to see Roy Hattersley talk about 'The Devonshires'. The rest of the audience seemed better informed than me, but I certainly learned a lot about our local nobility and the parts they played in national history over the centuries. Despite his claim that, as an egalitarian socialist, he'd sooner be rid of the lot of them, Roy had an obvious affection for his subject and gave a very informal and fun lecture.
This evening I will be eating takeaway and watching Ghostbusters.
First up was a theatre trip on the 16th to see The Company's hilarious tongue-in-cheek take on 'The Dunwich Horror'. The Company are always at their best when they do comedy, and this was no exception. So much so that I insisted roleplaying be abandoned the following Sunday so that we could play Arkham Horror instead.
Next on my calendar was the first of four Off the Shelf lectures I went to: Simon Singh revealing 'The Mathematical Secrets of the Simpsons'. This was an entertaining look at the Simpsons makers' mathematical backgrounds and many of the maths-based references and in-jokes that appear in the show. Plus taxi numbers in Futurama.
On the 23rd was my second theatre trip, to see 'The Winter's Tale' at the Crucible. This was a Shakespeare play I knew nothing about (apart from the immortal stage direction: "Exit, pursued by a bear"), so it was a thrill to watch all its many twists and turns and outright silliness.
The 24th was a day to learn more about local small industry and sample its wares, at the Steel City Beer Festival. Okay, that one's a bit of a stretch.
Then came a triple dose of local history with three Off the Shelf events on consecutive days:
Firstly, last Saturday I went to 'Sheffield in Tudor and Stuart Times' with David Templeman (from the Friends of Manor Lodge). This focussed on everyday life and lesser-known parts of the 17th Century town rather than just the more famous Sheffield Castle and Manor Lodge. I learned a lot, although from the audience I did feel as if I was in a WI meeting at times.
On Sunday I hiked up to the Cholera Monument (which I'd somehow never been to before, despite living in Sheffield for the last 17 years) for 'The Sheffield Ghost Walk' by Loose Theatre. It was a very windy day, especially up on Park Hill. This made it quite hard to hear the actors at times, but they struggled on valiantly and put in a convincing performance what life was like during the Cholera epidemic of 1832.
Finally, on Monday I went to see Roy Hattersley talk about 'The Devonshires'. The rest of the audience seemed better informed than me, but I certainly learned a lot about our local nobility and the parts they played in national history over the centuries. Despite his claim that, as an egalitarian socialist, he'd sooner be rid of the lot of them, Roy had an obvious affection for his subject and gave a very informal and fun lecture.
This evening I will be eating takeaway and watching Ghostbusters.
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no subject
Date: 2013-11-01 12:49 am (UTC)Slow down - chew your food.
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Date: 2013-11-01 07:32 am (UTC)I'd like to say we were all eating a magnificent feast at the same time, but unfortunately ours hadn't turned up by that bit.