Little Storping-in-the-Swuff

More political theatre tonight!

The play was highly entertaining. Beckett’s tramps become backbench Labour MPs, to whom Beckett is Secretary of State (for Gloom). They wait for Gordo, voting on Tonzzo’s increasingly absurd criminal justice bills.

Yesterday morning, whilst listening to the Today programme, I heard a feature on the production “Waiting for Gordo” to which listeners had contributed. “Funny”, I though, “that sounds exactly like Matthew”, a friend who appeared in Two Gentlemen of Verona when it went on to Cornwall. I hadn’t realised that the play was on at The Little.

I found myself sitting next to the playwright, Richard Heller (interviewed for Today last week). He was somewhat disturbed to find the political contributions he had received from radio listeners was more or less equally matched by the existential despair.

Sadly, although the play was mentioned in the Telegraph, The Independent and Newsnight as well as Today the audience was in the low 20s. Still, it was very well received, especially the speeches delivered by Lackey (a superb performance by Two Gentlemen’s Speed, Adam Macrae) culled (and reedited) from the words of the real-life Tonzzo and Gordo.

To London’s Old Vic, yesterday, to see the incredibly talented Kevin Spacey in Richard II.

I didn’t get up yesterday planning to see this, but a colleague taking a group of students had a spare ticket. There was some drama on the train up when a drunk engaged with some of the students (it’s never dull with the performing arts department) but my colleague diffused the situation with impressive ease.

The production itself was excellent. I saw the Mark Rylance production when it was shown live on BBC4 and thought it wonderful. Last night’s production used huge plasma screens to display newsreel footage of the action on stage with a wonderfully simple set that featured a debating chamber oak panelled waiting rooms remniscent of the houses of parliament in a simply furnished, large, modern-looking space. The combination of this superb design with equally first rate lighting conveyed the sense of New Labour slickness contrasting with the trappings of an ancient consitutional system (”traditional values in a modern setting”). This clever exploration of the distance between the image of a monarch and the failings of a man all too aware of that image seemed particularly appropriate in the week of the Labour party conference. The only critisicm I had was of Act 5 Scene II, which felt a little like an episode of a sitcom “Life with the Yorks”. Kevin Spacey was captivating as the slight but powerful King, as was Ben Miles as collected, vengeful Bolingbroke.

The students even stayed awake thoughout.

Elgato have updated their EyeTV software to version 1.8.3. As well as close integration with the excellent new Toast 7 there is now official support for DVB Digital radio.

This is great news in the UK where the radio transmissions on Freeview are higher quality than those on DAB Digital Radio, especially since the release of the nifty EyeTV for DTT a low cost portable DVB receiver that draws its power from the Mac’s USB port.

Sadly for me, both Toast 7 and EyeTV want a G4 minimum, so until I upgrade the G3 I can only sit here and salivate.

Yay! Storage quadrupled to 1Gb and Backup 3.0 for .Mac members. But what are these groups of which Apple speaks?

To the theatre with friends, tonight, to see Stoppard’s The Real Thing. Interesting musings on knowledge and fidelity, but not his funniest play, although it had its moments, and Tom Conti is entertaining.

There are plays within the play, and Stoppard sometimes chooses to make us guess whether a scene is supposed to be real. My friends managed, through the interval and after the show, to demonstrate the similarity between their relationship and those on stage nicely to blur for me the distinction between fiction and reality. Walking home, their performance allowed me to forget I had left the theatre.

…said Alan Rusbridger in yesterday’s “Collectors’ Edition” (my friends giggled at this) of the Guardian - the last ever broadsheet.

From tomorrow it switches to the new “European” midi format and we had a taster in yesterday’s edition too. First impressions are good, it looks like it will be much more wieldy (I think that’s what I mean) and the new half-Berliner G2 section will be an especially handy size for journeying with.

However, I do have reservations.
- Don’t like the new masthead (Guardian with a small G…please, no)
- Why does it have to be all colour? Is this kind to the environment?
- It’s not just me who finds the new font a bit too “Independent-ey”.

The “Collectors’ Edition” indicates how seriously the Guardian staff are taking themselves, but when you consider the logistics of this particular format change, you can see why they might be getting quite excited. We’ll still be getting basically the same product with slightly different packaging. But they have to make changes to the way they do pretty much everything to be ready for printing on their new MAN Roland presses, a process covered throughout the day by Victor Keegan over at the new Editors’ Weblog.

And here’s tomorrow’s front page.

So, what do we think?

Hurrah! Finally, a release date for the PAL version of the Muppet Show season 1 DVD set!

It’s not just me that want one of these then. If they’re good enough for our elected representatives they must be worth having!

I feel a little guilty at the pleasant evening I’m having here at Lewes when the Minack Webcams are showing this:

This is partly because they need the good weather more than I, and partly because I’m taking it for granted - were I doing the show, I’d be glancing at the sky every two minutes.

On the other hand, the sheen the rain gives the stone and the reflection of the lights make the place look absolutely gorgeous.

The rain can add to a show: on the last night of Lear two years ago we had torrential rain during the storm scene. Half the audience left at the interval, but half the audience stayed (and the weather passed off on cue) and although it may be uncomfortable in the cold and wet perched on a stone seat in a cliff top theatre, it was undeniably good drama.

I’m having trouble following the 7th Apple Media Event (macrumors aren’t covering it live this time) but I’ve picked up iTunes 5 has been announced, with the ability to sort playlists into folders. This is excellent - I imagine it will work like iPhoto 5’s albums in folders, but how will it appear on the iPod?

Meanwhile, I haven’t read anything about the phone yet (so long rumoured it’s become a legend), but it looks good.

Update: The iPod nano, to replace the iPod mini, is being announced. Smaller than a mini but with a clickwheel and a colour screen that can display photos, this is something that I want!

Update: The Apple Store is back up. A 2GB Nano can be had for £139. It does look incredibly cool…