It was the Stratford week

Well this year for Ferragosto and the 2000 Anniversary of the death of the first Roman Emperor Augustus on 19 Aug, 14 AD in Nola we went to Stratford, Ontario, the Canadian home of the Shakespeare Festival. The Festival was established by Tom Patterson, a local fellow who had no background in theatre simply an idea for a festival. Quite the success story in Canadian Culture when you think of the tens of thousands of people who attend the festival and all the great names of the English Theatre who played at the Festival each year.

Stratford is a small town of about 30,000 people, established in 1832 as a settlement. The name of the town came from the owner of the first local Inn-Tavern, his establishment was called the Shakespeare and the head of the town settlement thought let's make a word association and call this little settlement Stratford. At the time it was a simple settlement infested with deer, a woody marsh. It grew to become an international centre of fine furniture making until the collapse of the furniture market in the early 1960's with the last manufacturer closing in 1980.  Stratford was also a major railway hub until the late 1970's, trains from all over North America crossed through the town. A very elegant Prairie Style railway station is still in use, though much of the traffic nowadays is freight trains and only four passenger trains daily.

 The imposing Stratford City Hall

Stratford today is a picture perfect South West Ontario town about 90 minutes West of Toronto on HWY 8. The town has kept all of its 19th century architecture and presents an aesthetically pleasing look. It is also a very wealthy town by the number of large patrician homes dotting its quiet leafy streets. In the middle of town is Lake Victoria, an artificial creation done with a water control dam. The lake is populated with ducks and Royal Swans and on both sides gardens and flower beds.

We met again this year our friends from Pumpkinville, Arizona AKA Phoenix. I learned that Pumpkinville was the original name. We had a wonderful time with them and they are a delight to travel with it was the second time we had vacationed together.

Dr. Spo is my favorite psychiatrist and shirt maker, quite the combination, he has talent and a very different career in fashion if ever he decides to branch out. DAW is Mister Theatre, his knowledge is impressive, he works as a volunteer in the milieu and is a very regular theatre goer.
Combine that with Will who also has very much the same interests and bingo, much good conversations.

We saw 5 different plays this year, my least favourite was King John by Shakespeare, again for me often it is the language which is the obstacle, English is not my first language and Shakespeare convoluted way of saying things has the effect of putting me off. The director was Tim Carroll and King John was Tom McCamus.

On the other hand we saw a Restoration play by George Farquhar (1677-1707) The Beaux Stratagem, very well written, funny, and modern in its outlook. This is the period of Charles II, James II and Queen Anne in England. The play is described as a satire with sympathy on marriage and divorce, I enjoyed this play for its elegance and style. The director was Antoni Cimolino and Colm Feore and Mike Shara played the two main characters.

Mother Courage by Bertolt Bretch with a translation by David Edgar. It is a different translation than the one most people are use to and I preferred it. What a timeless play, the story told still ring true today in our world of globalization and conflicts. The play left me with sadness at the end for Mother Courage and her children. Martha Henry was the director and Seana McKenna was Mother Courage.

The two other plays we saw were Alice through the Looking-Glass a play written by Canadian James Reaney who was born just outside Stratford in 1926. The play is based on Lewis Carroll's story.
The technical effects were highly entertaining and innovative, fast paced and much fun.

Crazy for you, the musical was billed as the new Gershwin musical, the music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin and the book written by Ken Ludwig. The Director was Donna Feore and the title role of Bobby Child was played by Josh Franklin, Bela Zangler by Tom Rooney, Polly Baker by Natalie Daradich. High energy and incredible dance numbers with that wonderful Gershwin music.

Stratford Festival Hall

We also attended a talk by Prof Paul Prescott of Warwick University on Sam Wannamaker who was the instigator for the rebuilding of the Globe Theatre building in London.  An interesting talk which exposed some myths about Wannamaker. One being that he was not a life long devotee to the work of the Bard, he came very late to it. In the end I had the impression that Wannamaker wanted a project which would cement his name for posterity, an ego thing perhaps. At any rate the talk debunked the American myth bandied about on Wannamaker's ambitions for the Globe and his devotion to Shakespeare.

A renovation project

When we lived in Rome just a block away from our home was the Villa Torlonia, a great park which once was the summer home of the Princely Torlonia Family. The Torlonia family originally came from the Auvergne in France, bakers who had a contract to supply daily all the bread for the army of Napoleon Bonaparte. When the French Emperor invaded Italy he needed bread for his troops and le boulanger Marin deTorlonie supplied the bread. You can well imagined that he became very rich, very quickly, he had about one hundred thousand mouths to feed daily.

Marin de Torlonie changed his name to the more Italian sounding Marino Torlonia became a cloth merchant and banker in Rome, he was a clever fellow and he became Pope Pius VII banker who in turn bestowed upon him Nobility titles, making him Duke of Bracciano.

By 1860 when Garibaldi and Cavour united all of Italy into one single Kingdom the Torlonia family rivalled in wealth the Prince of Savoy now King of Italy.

Giovanni Torlonia son of Marino was now also Prince of Civitella Cesi and Duke of Poli e Guadangnolo. He married a rich German heiress and went on to build his summer home Villa Torlonia on Via Nomentana just a few yards outside the Porta Pia gate in what was then considered the countryside.

He also accumulated several other Palaces which the family still owns to this day, among them the
Torlonia-Giraud Palazzo on Via della Conciliazione which is the street leading to St-Peter's Basilica.
The Nunez-Torlonia Palazzo on Via Bocca di Leone, the Villa Albani on Viale Regina Margherita.

The Torlonia family married well, with branches in the Royal Family of Spain, Prince Alessandro Torlonia married the Infanta Beatriz of Spain. The current Prince is also a Gentleman of the Papal Court, the correct title is Prince Assistant to the Papal Throne. An honour shared with Prince Marcantonio Colonna.

Main gate entrance to Villa Torlonia on Via Nomentana

When visiting Rome, the Villa Torlonia on Via Nomentana is worth a stop and a visit. It is famous for other reasons, it was between 1923 and 1943 the principal residence of Il Duce Benito Mussolini and his family. The Torlonia were prominent Fascists and the Prince rented out his palace and the park to the Duce for the annual symbolic sum of 1 Lira.

The Palazzo where Mussolini lived until 1943.

At the fall of Mussolini in July 1943 which was orchestrated by his son-in-law Count Ciano, the park and the palace of the Villa Torlonia where quickly abandoned has the population of Rome vented its anger by looting and burning the buildings. The ruins were used by the British Army for a few years. Then the park itself was simply open to the public, it was in a very sorry state, the buildings some were left with only charred remains and the great park was simply left unattended until 1998 when the city of Rome decided that it could no longer tolerate the situation. Prince Torlonia was convinced to give the property to the City since he did not wish to restore it himself. The complex sits in a fashionable area of Rome and it was decided to rehabilitate the whole by stages given the astronomical cost of re-building and cleaning it all.

The house of the Owls which is situated a few yards away from the Palace

From the beginning it was decided that the project was to show how a great Princely family lived in Rome in the mid-19th century. First the park was rehabilitate with new trees and flower beds, the various faux antique temples were cleaned and made safe. Then the library building was restored to house various exhibits of artists. The old stables were made into administrative buildings and the old Citrus tree hot house which has is built in a medieval style was turned into a restaurant and day care centre. The main house which was the residence of Il Duce was totally restored in the original baroque style in vogue when the Torlonia lived there before 1923. Only the bedroom of Mussolini and his wife is furnished. By 2007 the park was a very pleasant place to walk and sit quietly. The House of the Owls was also restored and re-opened.

What remained to be rebuilt was the old exotic plants hot house built in an ornate Moorish style at the bottom of the park and the great theatre. For both buildings funds from the European Union were secured given the complexity of the work at hand.

The theatre in ruins prior to the start of the restauration and re-building in 2007.

I remember both buildings in 2007 has being nothing more than a few dirty half demolished walls overtaken by weeds and plants. The theatre building was a wedding gift of Prince Alessandro Torlonia to his bride Princess Teresa Colonna. Building started in 1841 and only completed in 1874 it was only used once in 1905. The princess is buried in front of the theatre in the great column with her Urn sitting at the top. The original frescos where done by Constantino Brumidi who painted the frescos of the Capitol in Washington D.C.

the theatre restored 2014

The work on the theatre was very slow and laborious, the interior was richly decorated and the various artisans and artists had to reproduce what had existed in 1874. Using drawings, sketches and documentation on the building. The same for the Moorish Green House, which is a pastiche of what an Islamic style building would look like, remembering that at one time the Oriental style of decoration was very much all the rage in Europe.

 the semi-circular glass gallery facing south and used as an indoor garden 

 the amphitheatre area 

The side corridors leading to the amphitheatre, decorated in Roman Imperial style

The ballroom in the Palazzo. 

By looking at those pictures of the restoration work, you can appreciate the incredible work and craftsmanship that went into re-building those buildings in the park of Villa Torlonia.

Below are the photos of the Moorish Green House at the bottom of the garden of the great park. Like all great houses, there was a need to have fresh flowers and citrus trees in quantity, lemon, orange, lime, pomegranate, flowering trees of all kinds and palms. In the warm months they would be scattered all around the park but in the colder months they would be brought to this building. The roof is all glass and the walls are coloured glass.  This is quite a large building and the lavish decorations show that the owners could afford the best. By 2007 the building was a ruin, very little survived and it was difficult to imagine that it could be brought back to life. But as the pictures show, it was completely restored.

Front of the Moorish House  

Side wall of the Moorish style green house.

Dateline London

Centre looking towards Trafalgar Square.

We arrived in London for a short 48 hour stay before our return to Canada. Wish it could have been longer, London offers so much in terms of exhibits in its museums, Daumier presently at the Royal Academy, Elizabethan Portraits at the National Gallery and a very special exhibit until 24 November at Houghton Hall of all the fantastic collection of paintings Sir Robert Walpole sold to Catherine II the Great of Russia, the painting have been at the Hermitage ever since. This is the first time since the 18th century that the collection has return for a special show in England. http://www.houghtonhall.com

There is also lots of theatre and at this time Christmas shopping with beautiful window displays. I went to visit Liberty the great department store for the first time, I had never been there, the building alone is a marvel of wood timber construction.

 Liberty department store on Great Marlborough street, London

inside the store all timber framed

We managed to have dinner in two wonderful restaurants, one was ZEDEL Brasserie http://www.brasseriezedel.com in the former Regent Palace Hotel at 20 Sherwood street by Piccadilly Circus. The public rooms have been restored as they were when the hotel first opened in 1900, it is a very faithful restoration based on notes and photographs of the public rooms, lots of gold leaf, marble and beautiful wood paneling. The Regent Palace hotel is gone the rest of the building is use for offices.

The other was a wonderful fish and seafood restaurant which opened in 1896, J. Sheekey on Saint-Martin's Court, near Leicester Square, www.j-sheekey.co.uk . This was a suggestion by our friend David N. who always has nice suggestions to make when we come through London. He and J. are in the know when it comes to exhibits, plays, opera or whatever is of interest, their suggestions are the best.  The Oyster bar is very elegant with a wonderful menu and great wine list and the other room is the restaurant proper with a different menu. The fish is probably the best in London without a doubt according to critics. 

 J.Sheekey Restaurant 

J.Sheekey Oyster Bar

 Zedel Entrance hall 

Zedel Brasserie 

We also saw a play at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, One man two govners by Richard Bean,     based on a the play of Carlo Goldoni, hilarious, crude, rude and highly entertaining vaudeville. The music by Grant Olding, the title role was played by Owain Arthur, who was excellent in this role.

I have not laughed this hard in a long time, there is some audience participation in the play and I am amazed to see how people are very willing to laugh hard at other people's embarrassing moments, you laugh because better them than me on stage. 

The story is very simple but the rendition makes it all the more entertaining, quite a few good lines. In this version the play is set in Brighton and it's 1963. The principal role of the play is Arlechino or Francis is this case, not too smart and easily confused but he knows how to take advantage of any situation while trying to serve two masters.

What I did notice is how in Canada we are dying of Political Correctness, at the theatre they will warn you in advance by way of a poster that what you are about to see has smoking, bad language, nudity and whatever. In London, you are an adult, you made a choice and you are respected for that, the play we saw had, bad language, crude remarks, smoking, no warning, you know what you are going to see since you bought a ticket and read the synopsis. No member of the public died as a result. Looking at the program, I saw an advert for another play by the National Theatre and the warning at the bottom said; Bad language, lots of bling and a fake tan, I think we should tried that approach with the Ottawa crowd.

During the play, the characters make predictions of what will happen one day, say in 20 years time (1983), one character says I predict that Britain will have a women PM and we will have no more wars and a caring and just society where the poor will not be forgotten, a reference to Margaret Thatcher who despite being a women did not turn out to be much different from previous male PM.  Putting the lie to all that Feminist propaganda which did not turn out to be true.

London remains a fascinating city, it is full of energy and I found it to be much cleaner than Paris who has a sorry look these days. We came out of the theatre at 10pm to find the streets hoping with crowds of people, bars and restaurants are full, very often in the case of Pubs spilling out unto the streets where you can see dozens of people having a drink. Another line from the show is about Pubs, we forget that Pubs only sold drinks and chips until very recently. In the play the character learns that the Pub around the corner is now a ''Pub serving Food'' He says ''Think of that a Pub with Food what a novel idea''.  

The subway is crowded, main subway station shops are open until midnight, serving food and drinks. There is lots of trafic and people on the streets, not bad for a Tuesday night.

Shopping is always a pleasure, so many nice things on display and so much choice, products you do not necessarily find in Canada. I also love Heathrow Airport though it seems to be in a perpetual state of construction. I cannot remember once in the last 35 years that I have been through Heathrow that something is not under construction.

What I really like about the Airport is the Duty Free Shopping, real bargains and so many products. This time around found a Single Malt Scotch which is not available in stores, they have tasting stations to entice you to buy and sales people who promote products and can talk about it. I also got some of my favourite shower soap Molton Brown, a bottle of Moët & Chandon Champagne 2004 Grande Cuvée and a beautiful Plum Pudding for Xmas. They also have many beautiful shops like BULGARI and Hermes. Many restaurants and bars for a varied clientele, not everyone wants a packaged sandwich.  One bar serves a selection of Caviar, smoke salmon and Champagne just the sort of picker-upper you need before a flight. It is very different from any other airport I have been through in all my years, Heathrow has that special something, it's not just Starbucks or tacky souvenirs. Everything is there to entice you to buy a luxury item.

 Talisker Dark Storm Scotch not available in stores.

 Vintage 2004 a very good year

 A favourite soap of mine Molton Brown

For our Xmas dinner

We also discovered another way to get to the airport. We were going to use the Express Train from Paddinton Station but then our friend C. suggested we take this Limousine service called London Airport Cars, it is cheaper than the train and just as fast. We saved, being two persons, 30 Pounds, nothing to sneeze at and we did not have to carry our luggage, we had too much luggage for this 23 day trip. http://www.londonairportcar.co.uk

The weather in London was very nice, we were expecting rain, this according to the weather map but I have learned with time that London being close to the sea, the weather changes very quickly, sometime surprinsingly so, when we arrived in late afternoon, the sky was gray, then the next morning beautiful sunshine and blue sky though with a cold wind. Before our departure again cloudy and gray but by the time we got to Heathrow around 11am, it was sunshine and blue sky. As we took off we flew over Windsor Castle and got a good look at the park and Castle. 

So this is how our 35 Anniversary celebration trip ends. Very memorable what shall we do for our 40th?

Theatre Festival Ottawa

Ottawa with the summer season approaching has several Theatre Festivals. You are not at a lost in the City if you want to go to a play. We have an amateur theatre which is 100 years old, The Ottawa Little Theatre on King Edward. The comedian Rich Little started with them. There are other venues, with professional actors like the National Arts Centre which offers one season of English theatre and one season of French theatre, different plays and different audiences. The Great Canadian Theatre Company known as GCTC also offers great plays and we have season tickets with them. Then there are all the other groups which come to town from all over Canada. We also have comedy clubs. The scene is rather full. I have not mentioned the musical scene but on that score we also have numerous festivals for all taste.

A few days ago we went to see a play by the Toronto Video Cabaret which is part of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival. www.magneticnorthfestival.ca

The Video Cabaret presents plays on the history of Canada and it is set up as if the stage was a video screen with lighting providing sharp angles like a video screen presentation would. The play was entitled The War of 1812 based on The History of the Village of the Small Huts.
This is apparently what the word Canada (Kanata) means in Native language.

The plot shows all sides USA, Canadians with the British in the background and the Natives, some of the characters are seen in a better light like General Brock or Tecumseh, others in the role history gave them. The story plot is described this way: After 3 years of bloodshed on land and lake, the Yankees have burned York (Toronto), the Yorkees have burned Washington, and everyone has burned the Natives. Peace is signed in 1814 and nothing has changed between Canada and the USA but the Natives lose all their lands south of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

It was very entertaining and we enjoyed it immensely. The play was presented in the Arts Court which is the 1870 seat of the Court of Justice of the City of Ottawa and the counties. Many years ago the building which is quite large and made of massive stone work was converted into a theatre venue, on any given evening 3 to 4 events are going on. The Saw Gallery is also located there. The Prison Yard at the back is where the last public hanging in Canada, that of James Patrick Whelan took place in 1868 in front of a crowd of 5000 people. The yard is open and mostly used as a parking lot. He was accused of murdering Thomas D'Arcy McGee, a politician, Father of Canadian Confederation and a friend of Prime Minister, Sir John A. MacDonald.

  

The pleasure of seeing her again

We went to the theatre to see a play by our great and prolific Canadian playwright Michel Tremblay, born in Montreal in 1942. Currently the Canada on stage Festival is running in Ottawa. Magnetic North is putting on a series of Canadian plays. For the pleasure of seeing her again is staged by the Western Canada Theatre Company of Kamloops, British Columbia. The actors are Lorne Cardinal and Margo Kane, both Natives of the Cree Nation.

The play is a good English translation, the original Encore une fois si vous permettez, was written in French like all 28 plays by Tremblay. It is a tribute to his mother who did not live to see his enormous success as a playwright. The plays spans 10 years in the authors life from age 10 to 20. It is a series of conversations in flashback the author has with his since deceased mother Nana. Lorne Cardinal is the narrator regaling us with tales about his mother a born storyteller with a love of exaggeration. Margo Kane is Nana, she exasperates the son she so much loves and is the inspiration for his art.

It is a very funny play and brought back memories of my own mother. The play takes place in my native Montreal on the Plateau Mont-Royal neighbourhood and many of the stories resonate with me because they are more or less the same period I grew up in and in a neighbourhood I knew. Tremblay mother says things my own mother would say. In many ways Tremblay is saying that mothers often have a greater impact on their children than a father. Also that mothers because of the many hats they wear at home and outside have more complex, more interesting lives.

I think of my mother who is now 83 years old and confined to a long term care facility. For the last 14 years she has been suffering from Alzheimer. A well educated women, who trained to be a school teacher, who had many professions during her lifetime and was a mother to 3 children and a spouse.
Involved in numerous activities on the social scene from 1960 to 1995. She loved to read and was interested by many topics, social, political, cultural. She had a sharp mind and was very good at reading people and analyzing situations. In Ottawa she was the Social Secretary of the Speaker of the House of Commons in Parliament, a job she loved. It put her in daily contact with many politicians and their spouses. She also managed the Office and because of the position of the Speaker in Parliament, she was the one to do a lot of behind the scene work on bringing people together or solving problems between parties. She could be very diplomatic in difficult situations.

She was also of that generation which took marriage vows seriously and followed a husband who changed jobs often. I do not think that she was always happy with these moves from city to city, from one continent to another. We kids followed changing schools very often, even in the middle of the school year in some cases. It was always about my father's career and Mom would always be the one explaining it all to us kids. She was the best at putting a positive look on any situation. She was always the one organising everything and making sure we would all land on our feet. Every transition was smooth thanks to her, no matter what.

I think she made a lot of sacrifices, she once told me after 30 years of marriage to my father, that looking at all her friends and acquaintances, they were the only one of their group still married, everyone else had divorced or separated. It is not easy but you do what you have to do and what is best for the children. We, the children, always came first, she did her best to give us a good education, maintain our interest in books, reading, the theatre, arts and culture. She valued a good penmanship, she wrote beautifully and she wanted us to also have a good penmanship, to her this was a sign of good education. I remember once when I was 7 years old, she took me to the ballet, she thought it would be a good experience. She was always trying to open our horizons to new experiences. Later when I was 12  she arranged for me to go to weekend theatre school, I did this until I was 16. Our teachers were well known professional actors, I did get small roles in television and in the theatre. It was certainly another world outside of regular school. My mother believed in us kids expanding our minds.

In 1969 she won a radio contest and the prize was a trip to Ireland, she thought while we are in Europe might as well go to France and England too. So we all went and I remember that trip to this day, our first ever outside of North America. During the trip she would try to maintain our interest in what we were seeing, explaining to us about cities and sights we visited.

She was also a good cook and showed me, the eldest, how to prepare simple meals. She would cook from scratch, never processed or frozen or packaged foods, no pizza boxes. Emphasis on fresh vegetables and fruits. My parents had many almost nightly social engagements tied to political events or tourism industry between 1966 and 1976 in Montreal and Toronto. I often had to look after my younger siblings and cook for them.

She was also the pillar of our family, when things did not go well, she was the one staying calm and taking charge. She knew what to do, her mind was practical and logical. Always a good head for numbers and math, she was very proud of that, luckily she was in charge of the family budget.

So many memories of a lifetime, this is why I am pained to see her now in this diminished capacity, a shadow of herself, a silent shadow.

I remember when in 1999 she came with my father to visit us in Warsaw, I was unaware that anything was wrong at the time, but already she was showing signs of confusion and distress. She would say things that did not make much sense.
She would say that she was tired or stressed.  She knew that it was the first stages of Alzheimer, the specialist had told her. I know now that she was very afraid of what would come. During their stay in Warsaw she got lost for a few hours in our neighbourhood and when she finally came home she told us a strange story of how everyone she encountered spoke to her in French, including the young Polish fellow who was a police guard across the street.  I remember asking her who she had met on the street, I was wondering how could all these Polish people speak to her in French.
It took some months for me to get the full story about her health problems.

It has been fourteen long and painful years of a sunset that does not appear to end. This play by Tremblay brought back a lot of memories of that Montreal of my childhood and of my mother's life.

The Garrick Club, London and Lord Frederic Leighton's House

I was invited to the Garrick Club in London steps away from Leicester Sq. in the theatre district. This is the Club of theatre people and it is also one of the most prestigious Clubs in London. The walls are covered with portrait paintings of famous actors and countless mementos which belonged to all these great theatre people. An old fashion club with lots of sterling silverware, leather chairs and the air of exclusivity. Only men can be members at the Garrick Club though women can come as guests. Exactly what a men's club should be. Even the toilets are in the old style with soaps and cologne, clothes brushes and fresh towels, a wonderful place.
The bar prepares perfect cocktails and one only needs to ring the bell for the waiter to come and refresh drinks. It is as if time stood still, it has a large variety of wines and champagnes, the way bars use to be.

The Club is named after David Garrick (1717-1779) the most famous actor of 18 century England. His father had immigrated to England from France and the family name was originally Garrigue.  Garrick became director of the Drury Lane Theatre in 1749 and remained there for 30 years. He is buried in Westminster Abbey in the Poets corner. There are so many famous actors names associated with this Club that your head is spinning a real who's who.

To become a member one must be proposed by other members and it can take up to 7 years. The selection is said to be done on the basis that '' It would be better that ten unobjectionable men should be excluded than one terrible bore should be admitted''  

When you enter you see the porter first who will greet you, if you go up the great staircase to the bar you will be greeted by the barman and the waiter. All the staff know the members and in turn the members know the staff. Once you have entered the portico of this great club you have passed the threshold into a world of old charm, traditions and civility.


Earlier I went to see the private house of Frederic Lord Leighton at 12 Holland Park Rd. he was the most famous artist of his day very much into the Arts and Crafts movement. He died in 1896 and the house is a reflection of a man of taste in late Victorian era. A real gem of a place and well worth a visit. Born into a wealthy family, his father was a physician to Queen Victoria and his grandfather had been a Court physician to the Tsar of Russia. Leighton was an intimate of the British Royal Family. This meant that he could devote his life to painting and traveling. The became the President of the Royal Academy of Arts in London and upon his death the house and contents were put up for sale, Leighton had promised a sum of money to the Academy but it was not readily available. So though the house is quite large, it only has one bedroom and could not be sold. The contents paintings and furnishing were dispersed at auction by Christie's. However in the last 100 years much of it has been given back to the museum or bought back and you can now see what the house was like when Leighton lived there.

Though is style of painting today may seem passé it is still beautiful and gives us, moderns, a glimpse into another world and how people lived. He has his mausoleum in St-Paul Cathedral next to General Gordon of Khartoum.

Frederic Lord Leighton, self-portrait

Acme and Septimus

Daedalus and Icarus

Euripides in English

Went to the Seat of the European Union in England, Europe House on Smith Sq near the Palace of Westminster to see a special cultural event, it was the presentation of the play Paris Alexandros by Euripides. Written some 2500 years ago, when theatre was being invented by the Greeks. It is part of a trilogy of plays written at a time when Athens was expanding its empire into greater Greece meaning Sicily and Southern Italy. The most famous of the trilogy is the play The Trojan Women, the two others were lost, Paris Alexandros is only partially complete. Nonetheless it is a fascinating story that of Paris who meets 3 Goddesses and makes a bad choice angering the powerful Athena Goddess protector of Troy and giving himself to lust by going with Artemis the Goddess of Sparta. There he will meet the most beautiful women of Sparta, Helen, kidnap her and seal the fate of his city Troy.
Paris is a bad boy and has many faults and Cassandra his sister will try in vain to warn their parents King Priam and Queen Hekabe of the dangers of Paris, of the fulfilment of the prophecy to no avail, calling for his death to avoid the Trojan wars.

The group Dionysia (AOD) composed of famous names of the British Theatre present such plays to school groups in order to foster a love of theatre, in this case ancient theatre.
This is a great group, you can visit their web site at: www.actorsofdionysus.com

Lady Lucy French, whose grandfather Field Marshall Sir John French created the version of the British Poppy we wear at this time of the year in England and in Canada in Remembrance of all our War Dead (1914-1918), also provided important support as did the Hellenic Foundation and the Embassy of Greece.

Such evenings in London are especially nice, got to meet and speak with actress Fenella Fielding and actor Nigel Anthony, Joseph Wickes, Tamsin Shasha. Also met author David Stuttard who was instrumental in putting this recreated play together.

Europe House, seat of the European Union Office in London on Smith Sq. near Parliament.

From Smith Square you can see the towers of Westminster Abbey

The Church of St-John on Smith Square in London, today used as a concert hall.

Homes on Smith Square dating from 1726. Expensive real estate given the prestige of the proximity to Westminster Palace and Abbey.

The Victoria Tower of Westminster Palace.