The Lion King – an explosion of colour

Hakuna Matata :) 

Before someone cuts off my fingers because I have taken too long to type this review on The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre in London, here it is. I have had very mixed feelings about writing this blog about my feelings on the musical version of The Lion King because I have only ever heard very good things about it; and although I enjoyed it and there are elements of it that were wondrous it just did not match Wicked for me.

Now let me explain that statement. The Lion King on stage is brilliant, beautiful and it is clear why it won awards for best costumes. It is amazing to watch something you have seen in an animated format brought to life on stage. It must be particularly hard on the actors because everyone (well maybe only almost everyone) has some measuring stick to judge you against when they sit to watch the musical. One of the first things you have to admire was that they stayed true to the plot and script as much as was possible, but it also meant that very little was a surprise when it came to the script except the few changes that kept you awake.

There is no way to describe how the use of colour, stage, costumes, entrances and exits and the theatre in general brought this musical to life. The cast were throughout the theatre at various stages of the production making the audience feel more involved in what was happening. At some points in time you had no idea where to look because there was something happening in the aisles, something on the stage or something on the level above you that you needed to see.

To illustrate my point, another thing that made my experience even more enthralling was that I went to a matinee show near the end of the school term so you can imagine the number of children in the theatre. At the very beginning of the production when the noise level was really high I figured it would settle eventually but they seemed to be taking too long even in my estimation so I looked back to see what was keeping them that buzzed and there was this elephant meandering down the aisle. I felt like a child in my own reaction; I believe my mouth dropped open and then I settled into a huge smile. Throughout the production you could not stop admiring how the cast embodied the animals they were representing, they were lithe, accurate (is that the right word?), just beautiful. You cannot fault the production when it comes to this; it was just amazing. It takes talent and creativity to figure out what the costumes would look like and how they would be moved in the first place, but it also took talent, creativity and style just to make the use of them so believable and captivating.

Similar to the costumes was the stage; the stampede scene was brilliant, how they did that on stage was just remarkable. The stage’s rises and falls, movement and flexibility for the various elements that they had to portray rose to the challenge and in some cases exceeded your expectations for what could be done with stage. It is important at this point to remind my readers that I am still a baby in the musical world so my feelings could be influenced by the novelty of the whole thing for me.

However, the singing and music although very good just did not touch Wicked’s for me, and you would imagine as a singer that that particular element would be more important to me. That being said, for me, Rafiki was the highlight of the show when it came to this aspect of the production, with her powerful voice and commanding presence; her character and her singing were excellent!!!

Also of note for me were the drums, African dance and those little elements that reminded me of home which not only added to the authenticity of the production but made me feel happy. It was also great to see cast members from not only Barbados but Jamaica and St. Vincent, woohoo!!!!

Another great experience under my belt! Another reason to smile! Another dream realised!!

A Fun & Interesting Experience - Magna Carta

I recently had the pleasure of a short trip to give me a little break and enjoy the musical, The Lion King, in London. However this blog is not about the Lion King; I will post that next time. Today, I believe it is fitting that I start with my first activity while in London - viewing the exhibition which has been put together to celebrate the 800^th anniversary of the Magna Carta.

Now honestly, History was never one of my strong points. I remember History at CXC (O level examinations run by the Caribbean Examinations Council); more accurately I remember that I sat the examination. I honestly remember little else, it was a choice between that and Geography and I thought I would fare better with History ... Ah Well :) I should however point out that I did enjoy my History classes and do not regret doing it, I had a dynamic and interesting teacher who was so passionate about the topic that he inspired you to be interested and do well. I passed so he had to be pretty damn good.

So I set off to see this exhibition because I figured I wasn’t staying too far from the British Library and it would kill some time. I would see some statues and stuff, look at some material on this thing I knew nothing about and be out in a couple of minutes. Well maybe going in with such low expectations was a good thing and then maybe again it could be said that the British Museum put me firmly in my place. I was wowed! I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition for so many reasons, that I had to buy a book to make notes so that the old memory would get them all in the blog.

First, the exhibition started with a short video which ran every couple minutes and gave you a synopsis of what was to come and an overview of what the Magna Carta was, which naturally leads to one of my favourite parts of the exhibition. It was not just an exhibition of old documents and stuff, it included video, historical documents and books, cartoons or sketches, teeth and a thumb bone (I am still trying to get over this), interviews with modern leaders and experts in the area of law and history, pottery, figurines, a teapot, advertisements, posters, paintings, speeches, swords, presentations.  Oh my goodness it was such a mix of media and ways to learn that it reminded me of putting together an effective class for students who all learn differently, it hit all the notes necessary for auditory and visual learners although you really couldn’t touch anything for obvious reasons you still felt very connected.

I was very impressed with how the exhibition was put together in that it started with a history of King John: you found out who he was, something about the times he lived and what led to the development of the Magna Carta, and were taken right through to the recent uses of the Magna Carta and what it means to current users and some influential people. Not being too keen on History (or so I thought) the fluidity (best word I could think of) of the presentation of materials and information was excellent, natural as it little by little developed your interest in the topic and keep that interest to the end. However, by the end of the exhibition, what felt like a comfortable hour and a half or so I was a little overwhelmed with so much information but it was certainly a good overwhelmed.

Another thing that stood out but had nothing to do with the exhibition really was the frequent use of an F for S in older documentation for instance the US Bill of Rights heading spelt Congress Congrefs. I noticed this again at the British Museum the following day it makes for interesting reading of documents if you try to understand what they were saying. It was also fun trying to muddle through the other spellings and writings of other documentation. Although honestly, I think I was just so happy to get to documentation that was in English so I could read and understand it rather than read the notes and look at the pictures on the side that I would have noticed anything, lol.

Finally, in a separate exhibition area, there was an embroidery piece by Cornelia Parker based on the Wikipedia page about the Magna Carta. This piece was embroidered by a number of persons throughout the justice system as well as members of the Embroiderer’s Guild (such as the picture on the left). This meant that like Wikipedia the embroidery was completed by many so the piece consisted of the thoughts of many and was embroidered by many who are impacted by the Magna Carta. What an interesting concept …

Another time where I learned something about myself, my environment and interestingly history, excellent!  I think the lesson I learned (again) was not to dismiss things before I experience them (well some things); as they may surprise me. 

Travel does NOT love me...

I am sick and tired of being sick and tired 

~ Fannie Lou Hamer ~

Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all people cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try to understand each other, we may even become friends. 

~ Maya Angelou ~

Now back to why traveling doesn’t love me. First, I really do not have fond memories of flying. It has gotten better with time, but I was the child on the flights with the ear problem.  So all my trips start with a little routine— purchase gum (I am really not a gum fan), try not to get any water stuck in my ears and a lot of prayer and hopes that I am near the front of the plane because the further back I go the worse it is. This routine used to involve exhausting myself before the flight so that I could sleep the entire time, but that has slowly changed…I too love my sleep. Sigh…Travel does not love me.

Now, on top of the ear thing, I seem to be the person who no matter how hard she tries, ends up with the stomach ailment. That one fool who spends at least one night becoming intimate with a foreign toilet…Stupse!!! What’s worse, for the first time in a little while I managed to leave my ‘home’ country without any medication, no Paracetemols, no Pepto Bismol, no vitamins, nothing!!! So here I was, again, but with no medication whatsoever… Sigh. Despite this set back I was intent on making sure that I did not miss any of the sightseeing or ruin any plans. I was not coming all this way, managing the flight (successfully I might add, well, with minimal ear issues) and not seeing what I had planned to see, upset stomach or no upset stomach. So even if it meant adult pampers I was going to see this through. Travel and I really don’t agree.

Not being able to use yeast as some fungus makes life difficult on a normal day… no pizza, no bread, no mushrooms, and no to some cheeses. I however draw the line at the cheese; it’s bad enough that I walk past bakeries and pizzerias where the smell makes me want to float in on it like a cartoon character, but you can’t take my cheese away from me… well, not yet. But imagine being in a country where almost every meal involves bread and the locals say to you “If you don’t eat bread you will never be full.” It was torturous trying to find anything to eat sometimes especially when the special tummy usually dictates bread, biscuits or bland foods and sprite or ginger tea to settle your stomach.

Bland foods certainly do not exist in the vocabulary of the Turkish, or so it seemed to me. Everything is tasty, spicy and rich in vegetables and never, I mean NEVER have I seen so many tomatoes consumed in my life, so bland was largely out. Bread was already out, so here I am on a great trip, enjoying great sights and nibbling constantly on pretzel sticks…STUPSE!!!!  Ginger tea…what’s that? In a country where tea is a staple, you have it at the end of every meal, in between meals and it is constantly offered to you by everyone, you would think that ginger tea wouldn’t be that hard to come by; but largely, the Turkish enjoy good Turkish and Arabic teas and ginger tea I never saw. You know when you ask someone a question and they give you that huh look? That is what I got when I asked about ginger tea, so I was left with Sprite or clear soda (I don’t like soda). Sigh… Pretzel sticks & Sprite… how frigging delightful…I love to travel honestly, but travel really really does NOT love me.  

A Well Deserved Break

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.

~ Mark Twain ~

Before the madness that is summer school at UWI and just after the review of that first chapter, I took a little break in Turkey.  Being on this side of the world makes it so much easier to visit all of the places that you hear about and sometimes can only sit and dream about visiting when you live on a tight budget. And although my primary objective is that of this PhD, I LOVE to travel. But let’s face it, traveling does not love me (more on that later).

Now I know what some of you are thinking, Turkey? Of all the places to visit Tara; why Turkey?  Honestly it wasn’t on my original list; my original list had on all the expected places (the ones you always hear about) France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland etc. … but my list is also flexible, and not based on enough research. So when offered the opportunity to visit Turkey, I said yes. From day two of my trip, I never regretted my decision – and please note day 1 is not included only because it was such a long travel day, with flying and then being on the road for about 7 hours.

Day 2, however, was much more relaxed and different. It was the day I spent in the market of Gaziantep (I will try to get all the spellings right). Luckily for me it was a weekday so as much as it was busy, it was not crowded and I got to enjoy a lot of what made it unique and beautiful without butting into too many people. The colour of dried fruits hanging above stalls, the colour and variety of spices and sweets, watching craftsmen create intricate patterns on copper, the friendliness of the shop owners who never hesitated to offer Turkish tea or coffee in addition to visiting the kitchen museum and enjoying my lunch and ice cream made for a great day.

Day 2: Gaziantep 

Day 3, although a relaxing morning, was again lost due to traveling to the next destination. Day 4 was glorious!!! Not the waking up at 3: 30 in the morning and walking up Mount Nemrut… thank goodness that a lot of it was driven and that there was a path for most of the rest of the journey, and certainly not the fact that I was back to wearing a jacket, but watching the sun rise from Mount Nemrut was magnificent. I left singing (as usual but in my head) the India Arie song: God is real, and the negro spiritual My Lawd what a Mawning… you know how you find those songs that just hit all the right notes and resonate with how you are feeling? From there it was the Euphrates River: cold, blue, beautiful and a photo opportunity of the Ataturk Baraji which is a dam based in the same river. Next, Urfa, where I visited the pool of Abraham, where it is believed that Abraham landed in the fire and the flames which turned to water and the wood to fish. The location and fish are still protected to this day and the only thing I regret is how busy it was that day, but I need to accept that it is not all about me and that I am not the only one who wants to enjoy or appreciate such a significant landmark.

Day 4: Nemrut, Ataturk Baraji & Urfa

Day 5 in the late evening, we visited the beautiful area of Cappadocia, where I honestly did not know where to look. Everywhere I turned there was a gorgeous view. Now I know there are a lot of explanations for why the area looks the way it does: volcanic eruptions, erosions of wind and rain etc., but that is not what I thought when I looked at it. The technicalities are definitely not what I saw, just the wonder, the beauty and all of the hotels and houses being made to match the natural layout and look of the area made me feel like I had walked onto the Flintstones set. So you can imagine that I was singing the theme song in my head for hours. It really was a beautiful stop and it definitely was touristy area, with some things, including a church I visited in the Zemi Valley, that are UNESCO heritage sites as well as good hiking areas.

Day 5: Cappadocia

The last few days in Istanbul were a lot quieter, not uneventful, but quiet and please do not think that Istanbul is in anyway a quiet town.  It felt like driving from the country to the city; know the difference? You hear car horns far more often, there are a lot more people, the Burger Kings, Starbucks and McDonalds are more prevalent and goodness knows that taxi drivers the world over just do not change. But those days were quiet largely because I was just tired and I felt like I had already seen so much. The Grand Bazaar, the sweet corn, the fish, the clothes, and the art were all so much to take in and just capped off what was an excellent holiday. I don’t often get to feel like a tourist, and although the country was not on my very poorly defined original list of places to visit, I thoroughly enjoyed that element of my trip.