Exit pursued by another bear

It's a sad fact that some readers of this blog have disagreed with some of my comments on here, the most notable when being when I pointed out that that 'Chinese' Gordon of Khartoum was a religious nutcase; a statement of the bleeding obvious that nevertheless prompted more than one god-botherer to take their bat home. It's also a fact that the writer of this blog often disagrees with what he writes himself; it not all being meant to be taken entirely seriously. However, today I can say with some certainty that even should this blog last another twenty years I shall never post a less controversial opinion than the one that follows: Judi Dench can act a bit.

I have been to see the live broadcast of Kenneth Branagh's production of The Winters Tale; a play incidentally that I had quite happily lived for almost sixty years without seeing, but which I have now seen twice in a couple of months. It was an excellent production - the play itself is a touch ho hum if truth be told - but as good as Sir Ken himself was as Leontes and as fine as the rest of the cast performed, it was Dame Judi as Paulina who stole the show. She was simply wonderful.

It was the first time that I had been to a live theatre transmission to a cinema and I was most impressed by the technical aspects: the sound was clear, the stage effects (including the bear) and lighting came across perfectly and the camera angles and close ups were very well chosen. There will be a live showing of  Branagh's company performing Romeo and Juliet next summer and I recommend it. If you needed any further incentive the elder Miss Epictetus - an increasingly fervent Shakespeare enthusiast and my accompanist for the evening -  tells me that it will be starring 'the really fit bloke from Game of Thrones'.