I went to see Faustus last night at the Powerhouse (great venue up here for theatre and live music http://www.brisbanepowerhouse.org/). I was excited in anticipation and a little let down at the completion which was a shame. The last time I saw John Bell was some years ago now as King Lear - a mighty performance and production - and so I was expecting something along those lines this time around as well. My review is that there were glimpses of that same brilliance but that perhaps his strengths now lie in developing up companies/actors to continue on the good Shakesperian work that he is/was so known and respected for. It could also have been that the play was a Michael Gow script - not my favourite playwright - and I found the text quite confusing to follow. It'd move quickly from "thesbian language" to Latin to modern slang, and all the while you were trying to understand this interpretation of the story. While I had a vague notion of the story/mythology of Faustus of being about "selling your soul to the devil", I was hoping for a bit more fire and brimstone, where what was presented was kindling and weak sulphur.
The costuming however, particularly the paper mache masks, were excellent and I went home to have nightmares about falling into a fire of eternal damnation for some transgression or other, and, where the masks reappeared bigger and more terrifying than they were on stage. So even though the play wasn't fabulous, it was all part of getting out and about amongst the Brisbane nightlife which was good, and, something that I'd really like to do more of.
I went with a colleague from work (well I dragged her along really) and we had dinner at "Watt Restaurant and Bar" - quite delicious if you need somewhere to go pre, post or instead of some "kulcha" http://www.trippaswhitegroup.com.au/our-venues/Watt-Restaurant-+-Bar/10. Afterwards we sat on the banks of the Brisbane river, had hot chocolates and capuccinos and semi dissected the play, but mostly chatted about nursing in various forms. The changing nature of it, where she had done her training (she's a little older than me and is hospital trained), how to get away from it when one's not at work - ironic I know. I'm relearning how to listen to people and how tap into getting them to talk more about their own lives/experiences. People are pretty interesting when you get them started. I hope to be a catalyst to those types of discussions and find that it's a fine balance between disclosure of self and asking the right questions about the other party. I'm not fabulous at it, but will keep working on it.
I think that's about it today. I was going to (and started doing ) a bit of marking, but my head is definitely not in the right space to comment on whether the 4 nursing actions that one might implement for Mr Anderson with angina, are right or wrong. I think I'll go home and cook.
Hope everything is travelling well in your respective worlds!
All my love,
Naomi
