Michael Winterbottom's new film, Trishna, is a modern re-telling of Thomas Hardy's tragic novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles. It is set in India and stars Slumdog Millionaire's Freida Pinto as the heroine of the title.
Some mixed reviews on IMDb (although there are only 4 so far!). You can view the UK cinema trailer here.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
National Theatre Live
I can't recommend this enough!
Britain's National Theatre regularly holds screenings around the world of theatre productions currently on in London. This weekend will be the screening of The Comedy of Errors with Lenny Henry playing the main character and one of my favourite British actresses, Claudie Blakley. This production had rave reviews from the Daily Mail as well as The Guardian. A chance to get a prime theatre seat at less than prime prices! It's $25 for Palace Club holders or $27 for adults. See the NT Live website for details of your nearest cinema. The National Theatre's official The Comedy of Errors website has links to the trailer and other resources.
They also have a Resources page relating to other current and past productions, as well as the opportunity to purchase Digital Programmes of NT Live productions.
The National Theatre has been doing an excellent job in selecting its most entertaining, challenging and thought-provoking productions to share with us (many of which have been recently nominated for prestigious Olivier Awards), including:
NT Live is one of a number of exciting digital initiatives allowing people around the world access to performances and exhibitions they may not otherwise be able to see unless prepared to travel. Other similar schemes include The Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD and the recent screening of a walk-through of the "Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan" exhibition from the National Gallery, London (which, sadly, I missed).
Britain's National Theatre regularly holds screenings around the world of theatre productions currently on in London. This weekend will be the screening of The Comedy of Errors with Lenny Henry playing the main character and one of my favourite British actresses, Claudie Blakley. This production had rave reviews from the Daily Mail as well as The Guardian. A chance to get a prime theatre seat at less than prime prices! It's $25 for Palace Club holders or $27 for adults. See the NT Live website for details of your nearest cinema. The National Theatre's official The Comedy of Errors website has links to the trailer and other resources.
They also have a Resources page relating to other current and past productions, as well as the opportunity to purchase Digital Programmes of NT Live productions.
The National Theatre has been doing an excellent job in selecting its most entertaining, challenging and thought-provoking productions to share with us (many of which have been recently nominated for prestigious Olivier Awards), including:
- A new adaptation of Frankenstein by Nick Dear, in which Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch alternated the roles of the Doctor and the Monster on successive evenings, highlighting the duality of the characters
- The crowd-pleasing modern take on commedia dell'arte and the classic gender-bending mistaken identity Shakespearesque scenario - One Man, Two Guvnors
- The imaginative The Collaborators by Trainspotting writer John Hodge, which creatively re-creates 1930s Moscow and the interactions between dissident playwright Mikahil Bulgakov and Joseph Stalin, for whom he has been asked to write a celebratory play or see his friends "disappear"
NT Live is one of a number of exciting digital initiatives allowing people around the world access to performances and exhibitions they may not otherwise be able to see unless prepared to travel. Other similar schemes include The Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD and the recent screening of a walk-through of the "Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan" exhibition from the National Gallery, London (which, sadly, I missed).
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
BBC "On this Day"
I hope the BBC wins lots of awards for their websites, because they make for fantastic resources. Check out BBC Bitesize if you haven't already. It's a shame, though, that we can't access the TV programs on BBC iPlayer (however apparently we can access the radio programs).
Another fantastic BBC site I just stumbled across is their "On this Day" page, which is great for teaching history because it lists some significant historical events for that particular day. For example, March 13, 1996, was the day of the terrible Dunblane massacre, and the day in 1961 on which 5 Britons were tried for allegedly passing secrets to the Russians (McCarthyism? The Crucible?). You can even get it RSSd to your desktop for easy access.
Obviously as you can see the events are quite Anglo-centric, but interesting, nevertheless. Could make for good classroom discussion, especially considering so many of what we consider to be historically significant events happened before this current lot of students was even born.
Another fantastic BBC site I just stumbled across is their "On this Day" page, which is great for teaching history because it lists some significant historical events for that particular day. For example, March 13, 1996, was the day of the terrible Dunblane massacre, and the day in 1961 on which 5 Britons were tried for allegedly passing secrets to the Russians (McCarthyism? The Crucible?). You can even get it RSSd to your desktop for easy access.
Obviously as you can see the events are quite Anglo-centric, but interesting, nevertheless. Could make for good classroom discussion, especially considering so many of what we consider to be historically significant events happened before this current lot of students was even born.
Monday, March 12, 2012
"Reader, I...did not marry him"?
A new competition by Britain's The Times newspaper which which should appeal to feminist literary critics everywhere - "What Jane did next".
This competition allows you to re-write the ending of this novel by editing the most famous line (read "understatement") of the novel: "Reader, I married him". The challenge is to do it as a tweet, i.e. in 140 characters or less. This is a bit like the website "Summarise a Novel in 25 Words" (warning: some undesirable language on this site!). You could, for example, decide that Jane in fact does not marry Rochester, or that she decides to run away and start her life again, a wealthy woman, or...?
First prize is a night in Yorkshire staying in "the room of Amos Ingham, Charlotte and Patrick Brontë’s physician". Runners up receive a copy of the most recent Jane Eyre DVD. Sadly, this competition is only open to residents of the UK or Republic of Ireland!
This competition allows you to re-write the ending of this novel by editing the most famous line (read "understatement") of the novel: "Reader, I married him". The challenge is to do it as a tweet, i.e. in 140 characters or less. This is a bit like the website "Summarise a Novel in 25 Words" (warning: some undesirable language on this site!). You could, for example, decide that Jane in fact does not marry Rochester, or that she decides to run away and start her life again, a wealthy woman, or...?
First prize is a night in Yorkshire staying in "the room of Amos Ingham, Charlotte and Patrick Brontë’s physician". Runners up receive a copy of the most recent Jane Eyre DVD. Sadly, this competition is only open to residents of the UK or Republic of Ireland!
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