Carol (lady at work) managed to get hold of some Marks and Spencer's PERCY PIGS!!! for me and Karl (another British friend at work) after we expressed our sadness at their absence from these shores. Carol is from Essex originally but has lived in Australia for 20 years and is now an Australian citizen, and I think she was a bit excited to try these revered sweets!
Australians call all sweets "lollies" it seems. Absolutely no distinction made between actual lollies, on sticks, and those that lie stickless. They also seem to delight in calling chewing gum "chewie", which makes it sound more like a child's plaything than a substance nonchalently rolled in the mouths of rockstars and naughty schoolchildren. One night we were on the train and this drunk girl kept going "does anyone have chewwwiiieeee?", as if forlornly calling for a lost puppy.
In tonight's cultural review:
Theatre
We went to see the Sydney Theatre Company's production of The War of the Roses cycle, quite a while ago now actually. The War of the Roses is a modern adaptation of eight of Shakespeare's history plays (see if I get this right: Richard II; Henry IV Parts 1 & 2; Henry V; Henry VI Parts 1-3; Richard III). The total production is 8 hours long and we saw it spread over two nights in a very hot week in January, when it was rather pleasant to spend the evenings in a cool. air-conditioned theatre. It was an impressive production, the set design was amazing (and it rained golden glitter over the whole stage for about an hour in the first part), and Cate Blanchett was brilliant as Richard II. Her voice is so strong, she really suits being on the stage. The guy that played Falstaff was also really good, it must have been fun to play him. I am fond of the Falstaff character.
The intricacies of the plot are quite difficult to follow, especially as it is obviously condensed considerably from 8 plays into effectively 2 and all happens quite fast, but essentially most people either get killed, go mad, or both.
Unrelatedly, we went back to the Sydney Theatre Co. a week or so later for a Sunday afternoon tribute to Harold Pinter. Cate Blanchett, Robert Menzies, and two other actors performed monologues and sketches from his works. It was really good, and made me realise that I am seriously under-read in the Pinter department. This must be rectified promptly.
What with all that and Benjamin Button the week before, and am quite all Cate Blanchett-ed out. She is a great actor though, and it really shows on the stage.
Opera
We saw Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci for 'Opera in the Domain 2009'. I like Italian operas, they are like crazy little episodes of Eastenders, everything happens! It was free, and fun to sit out in the park.
We didn't really know anything about it until we turned up, so we weren't very prepared. Next time we'll organise picnic blankets and wine and nibbles - there were people there with quite posh looking spreads for their supper!
There's the stage once it got dark.
Film
Finally saw Slumdog Millionaire on Tuesday. I won't bother faffing on since you've all seen it by now I'm sure, but it really is so good, really uplifting. After the film we went to Kammandhenu on King Street for some Indian/Sri Lankan/Malaysian delights. I have been training myself to eat spicier food lately (I am a firm believer that you can train yourself to like most tastes) as it was becoming a bit embarrassing being frightened of asian restaurant menus, and am really starting to enjoy it. And we got Mango Lassi to drink....mmmm lassi.
In tonight's weather:
It has pretty much rained since February 10th. There have been a few nice days, but it's been cloudy, drizzles a lot in the morning and hasn't been that warm. Oh well, I'm glad to see it's not just England that gets dodgy summers!
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