Tartuffe

I confess to not having read Molière since my secondary school, and I know I’d have liked it much better if we’d had the Northumberland Theatre Company’s adaptation to study instead of the original. Not sure what was going to expect me yesterday evening in the little theatre/old fashion cinema house in the small town next to my village, I entered the venue prepared to be surprised. And I really was. Positively.

Tartuffe is a hilarious and outrageous classic. He is a roguish imposter who worms his way into the orderly household of prosperous yet naive merchant Orgon. He sets out to marry the daughter, seduce the wife, imprison Orgon and get his hands on the family fortune.



NTC give Tartuffe’s exposure of hypocrisy a daft, no-nonsense, north of England feel, fused with the physicality of Commedia dell’Arte and flooded with a sunshine that really warms.
The ensemble of seven actors is continuously involved as eavesdroppers and gossips when they’re not whisking off a mask to revert to a major part. Synchronised moves, gestures and responses give a corporate feel of everyone being in this together

The play descends almost into farce in the second half, with trousers round ankles and spies under tables. The pace is faster too with all the plot complexities out of the way, galloping to a triumphant climax. It was a very entertaining night out in a community venue, all the more reason to question the loss of NTC’s entire Arts Council funding from next April. I really hope they survive.

Silent Sunday

I have to admit, I was fairly surprised to see how this two hours’ film achieved what many TV miniseries just barely managed - the element of belief! Mia Wasikowska is just perfect as Jane Eyre! Age appropriate, she is believable as the innocent eighteen year old governess who has seen little of the world, but emulates the courage, conviction and righteousness of greater and more experienced women. Michael Fassbender did what no previous actor filling the shoes of Edward Rochester could do - make him pitiable and yet so adorable and charming!

In this version of Jane Eyre you actually see the difference between Jane and Rochester - physical, intellectual, social, and emotional - and the two lead actors do a convincing job of making us see why these two unlikely lovers should fall in love, and their ultimate reconciliation echoes the truth of that love which surmounted those difficulties, made them aware of their faults, brought them together as equals, and promised a happy future life.

I was delighted to see that minor characters were not overlooked, and were given their proper share of importance. Amelia Clarkson plays a very convincing Jane Eyre as a child and a special mention should go to Judi Dench as Alice Fairfax, whose terrific performance threatens to overshadow the two leads.

Every detail in this film pertaining to the era in which the story takes place has been meticulously observed. From sets to costumes to background score – it is excellent! Even Thornfield appears alive and enigmatic! Some Bronte’s purists would probably detest the movie for everything that makes it superior to other adaptations, but with Bronte’s, you either hate or love them passionately. I fall into the latter category with regard to this film.

Slipped disc?

I’m in agony. Since I’ve come back from Italy I have experience back pain but since last Sunday it got worse. I actually felt my back going and I was stuck while loading the dishwasher. My GP thinks it's a 'slipped disc'. Although this term is commonly used, this type of injury is more accurately described by the terms 'prolapsed disc' or 'herniated disc'. The back pain from this type of injury is caused when the disc bulges or ruptures and the internal material presses on a nerve or the spinal cord, I do not know how the doctor managed to diagnose that without any scans, unless he's got x-ray vision, but I suppose I have to trust him for the moment as the symptoms seem correct. I’ve been prescribed anti-inflammatory tablets, painkillers and referred to the Backpain Clinic at the hospital. But in the meanwhile the pain is excruciating and I can hardly, walk, sit or even sleep. How much I do hate aging!

50 years of Amnesty International

"Open your newspaper any day of the week and you will find the news that somewhere in the world someone is imprisoned, tortured or killed because his/her opinions or religion are unacceptable to his/her government." So began an article published on May 28, 1961 on the London newspaper The Observer, written by the London lawyer Peter Benenson after hearing that two Portuguese students had been sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for raising their glasses in a toast to freedom. "The newspaper readers feel a sickening sense of impotence. But if these feelings of disgust all over the world could be united into a common action, something effective could be done. "

Started with this article and based on the campaign for forgotten prisoners that followed, Amnesty International was created in 1961.

Since then and for all these 50 years, many campaigns have followed, for the forgotten prisoners, against the death penalty, to the more current " I demand dignity." There are many actions, and many results obtained in half a century of work.

Hundreds of thousands of people have found freedom, or have had their lives saved thanks to an appeal. Several international standards, such as the UN Optional Protocol on Child Soldiers and the Convention on Enforced Disappearances have been developed with the help of Amnesty International. Amnesty International’s mobilization has opened the way for establishing the International Criminal Court.

Years of intense campaigns, together with prestigious allies, have prompted the UN to commit to a treaty regulating the arms trade, to prevent falling into the hands of regimes that violate human rights. While country after country, the world decided to put an end to executions, Amnesty International has been the focus of the coalition that convinced the UN to approve a global moratorium on the death penalty.

Together with the campaigns, including many mobilizations, from world tour Human Rights Now! in 1988, with artists like Peter Gabriel, Sting and Bruce Springsteen to Palamnesty set up by the Italian Section in 1998 opposite the headquarters of the UN Diplomatic Conference on the International Criminal Court.

However, words such as poverty, insecurity, deprivation, exclusion, discrimination, violence, torture, death penalty, arbitrary detention, unfair trials are still current. Until they become obsolete words, Amnesty International will continue to call on governments to respect human rights, to end the violations.