Prince of the Pagodas - Coliseum

I hadn't heard of this ballet before but was hooked in by the striking stripy salamander costume.

The story is only ok. Evil step mum takes charge, prince 'dies' but has actually been turned into a salamander and banished. Evil step mum tries to force princess to marry against her will. Salamander comes to the rescue - princess and salamander travel to pagoda land via the elements (air, water, fire, earth). Salamander tells his story. Princess realises he is her brother and they go home to defeat evil step mum.

Visually though it was so gorgeous. Beautiful dancing. Striking sets and costumes.
The elements were my favourite, particularly air and water. Japanese demons. Seahorses. Giant lush flowers.

I also loved the end, where all is joyful. The people are dressed in pastel blues and pinks and the royalty in bright orange. Mmmm colour combination and dances with umbrellas.

Károly Reich

Stumbled across this Hungarian illustrator while in Budapest this week and love the innocence of these drawings. So simple and sweet and fantastic.

Links:

Károly Reich

Kindertransport

I've seen this play before perhaps 7 or 8 years ago. And that production was ok but this one had me weeping throughout.

I forget that the Kindertransport is not a commonly known bit of history. I know about it because it is my history. The Kindertransport evacuated thousands of German and Austrian Jewish children just before the second world war. This took them from their families but saved their lives. My Granny and her sister were two of those children and my Granny has published 3 diaries chronicling her experiences as a refugee, her new life in England and her crazy love life as she grows up. I feel so lucky to have such a detailed window into her past. Plus she is awesome.

The play is more about mother/daughter relationships than the holocaust and I think this is shown wonderfully as well as showing how the holocaust tore families apart and the harm done to those who survived. It breaks my heart that war is still tearing families apart today. 

In the play, past/present/memories/fears all overlap. You see layers of life and how it interconnects emotions and relationships. I believed these characters had real affection and history and that's probably why my eyes wouldn't stop leaking. 

One story is of Eva, a German Jewish child evacuated to Manchester and taken in by Lil who cares for her as her own. Eva learns English and prepares for her parents to arrive. Eva's parents intended to join her in England as soon as they could but 'war breaks promises' and she finally has to accept she will not see them again and starts a new life.

Second story is of adult Eva who has changed her name to Evelyn and denies her past. Her daughter is preparing to leave home when she discovers a box containing proof of Evelyn's past as Eva. She feels betrayed at not knowing her real history or real family and that she has been so closed off. Evelyn doesn't want to remember who she was and all the pain of her childhood. She want to be an English woman.

Third story is Evelyn's memories and internal torment. Her mother survived the war and came for her but Evelyn had grown up with a different mother and didn't want to go with her. She feels guilty for losing who she was. She turned away from Judaism, her real name, her childhood, her real family. 

These stories are interwoven beautifully and interspersed with terrifying visions of the ratcatcher from Eva's childhood storybook.

I saw this production at Derby Theatre but it was only there a few days and ends today. It will be touring though and I hope if anyone reading this is interested, they manage to catch a performance.

Links:

Kindertransport - A Hall & Childs Production

My Darling Diary by Ingrid Jacoby

Kindertransport - wiki

Peter Pan illustrations by Anne Grahame Johnstone

These are my favourite Peter Pan illustrations and this was my childhood copy of Peter Pan. It was abridged (boo) and I didn't actually read proper Peter Pan until I was grown up. Likewise with Little Women.

These pictures are so pretty though and so magical. I love the clothes made of leaves and Tinkerbell's fancy little house with cobweb curtains. Happy sigh.

Once upon a Beast - 4 - Gender

Click the image (illustration by Gemmie Payton) to visit my e-magazine - telling stories on a theme - issue 4 is Gender.

tales from outer suburbia - shaun tan

I think this is more a book for adults than children, but we sell it from the children's section at work. It's a beautiful illustrated book with odd disjointed little stories mixing imagination with suburban life.

http://www.shauntan.net/

Telling Tales @ V&A

Lasting Void - Julia Lohmann

Can you hear what I hear - Kelly McCallum

Perished Bench - Studio Job

Moulded Mole Slippers - Niels Van Eijk

I loved this one! How storytelling influences design...it's like they set it up for my personal enjoyment! And I'll probably go multiple times as it is free. It had 3 gorgeous sections, Forest, Castle, Heaven/Hell all beautifully set up and you can see some of my favourite pieces above. Which I suddenly realise are all dead animal related. Intriguing.

It's the second time I've posted about Julia Lohmann's work. I really like it. She uses her work to make a point, and can use or concern something found to be repulsive and yet her work is so elegant and beautiful.

Once upon a time...Artists and Storytelling @ Somerset House

Interesting little exhibition with two parts. First is old childhood story illustrations, second is artists storytelling, illustrations and films. I liked Oskar Kokoschka's artist illustrations best. He makes a story from where he was in his life, like a storybook diary. I guess this is what I do so is probably why I'm drawn to it. But I also like the drawing and colours. Picture above is from The Dreaming Youths by Oskar Kokoschka.

All I found a shame is that it would have been lovely to have some books to actually look through. A little picturebook corner. But maybe that's just me.

15 books

Note 15 books that have made their mark on you and will always stick with you, for whatever reason.

These are mostly childhood books...Anyone read any of these and love them like I do? What are your important books?

2001 A Space Odyssey

Watched this with my dad...barely paying attention at first...but by the end I really liked it...despite not really understanding. I like stories with human versus robot where the robot is going wrong because of the way it thinks. Like I, Robot (book not film).

Kuniyoshi @ RA

Caught this on Saturday :) Good. Times. Delicious detailed woodblock prints of epic battles. Many with oversized animals :D

Part of the joy was definitely the descriptions that went with the prints, telling the storys. Example: "He disappeared beneath the sea and reappeared moments later with a crocodile under each arm. An unprecedented feat."

The picture at the top shows a bird that thinks it has landed on a nice branch but in fact, unfortunately, it has landed on giant lobster whisker!

Yay!

Sinister storytelling + beautiful prints = <3

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Ok so if this isn't genius, what is? P&P spliced with zombie action! With illustrations!? Extreme joy! I need it.

Interiors @ Lyric Hammersmith

A few weeks ago I went to Lyric Hammersmith and saw Interiors. It was eggs. It was set up like you were watching through the windows into a house, and you couldn't hear what the characters were saying, just hints and observations from the narrator, who was another secret watcher. And there were lights/projection over the outside the house to look look like wind and snow and stars :)

Here's the official blurb:

Behind a window, in a cosy room, a group of friends
sit down for a meal. The food is being cooked;
the lamps are on, everyone is happy. Talk begins
and soon stories unfold around the table, stories
about the living and the dead, about missing
necklaces and what happens when people get hungry.

Outside someone is watching.

Vanishing Point return to the Lyric with this major
international collaboration following their sell-out hit
Subway. Utterly hypnotic, Interiors is about sounds,
silence, and the darkness outside the window. This production is inspired by the Nobel prize-winner
Maurice Maeterlinck’s astonishing play, Interior.

Cheek to Cheek

My friend Frances who dances has done this lovely lovely dance film :) I love the use of shadow and reflection and the blend of happiness with melancholy. It's about loneliness and memories but it feels uplifting to me :) Good times.

Alan Aldridge @ Design Museum

Yay colours :) I liked his animal illustrations very much. Best room was set up with big cut out animal figures. I wish I could do such detailed colourful illustrations.

Brian Dettmer

Mmmmm book art.

Étienne-Jules Marey

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne-Jules_Marey

Hiraki Sawa

Domestic/Fantasy! That's what i'm trying to do! :D

http://www.jamescohan.com/artists/hiraki-sawa/video/hiraki-sawa-views-of-hako-2007/

Su Blackwell

Su Blackwell's work is so beautiful and so exactly what I love - storytelling and books come alive. I went to a talk last night with Su Blackwell and the editor of Crafts magazine at Borders. Her work is all based on stories and fragility. Stuff she said that I liked: "books going back to trees" and " half this world half book world".

Yuki Atae

While in Japan I saw an exhibition of Yuki Atae's creepy pretty dolls. They don't smile because smiles are fleeting. Because they are made to look real. There was a lovely scene of people on a train. And fantasy creatures feasting on cucumbers. Fragments of story.