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Saturday 4th April 2020

6341/19261

I am very thankful to the people trying to provide relief from the weird and unpleasant situation we have found ourselves in. Obviously no one else has the vision to provide stone clearing (if you ignore Bryan Bramble, which you should) or self-playing snooker, but lots of comedians are finding ways to ply their trade, and though theatres are shut and ensemble pieces are not really possible, there has been some generosity in putting up shows from the past.
This afternoon we watched a 1999 version of Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dream Coat featuring the 42 year old Donny Osmond as the boy dreamer. It’s a very enjoyable show and a good production, though surprisingly camply raunchy too with a lot of skin tight costumes and Osmond basically performing in his pants. The songs are great and the cast are funny: Patrick Clancy as Issachar was a particular hit with my daughter and myself, showing the value of being able to pull properly funny faces. 
I don’t quite know how, but I knew pretty much all the words to the songs - I do recall us singing some of the tunes in music lessons at Fairlands Middle School. My best friend Phil Fry got to be the Pharaoh and did a good Elvis impression and got laughs. I was jealous and a bit baffled as I don’t think I really knew who Elvis was, but I knew that I wanted to do that part. But why do I know all the words to stuff like One More Angel in Heaven or Canaan Days? I must have sat down and learned them in my childhood and anyone who heard me give a pretty perfect rendition of the Big John Little John theme tune will know that my retention of crap from the 1970s is remarkably good.
But it’s not just some people’s bums on display that make this great viewing for adults too- the songs are witty and Maria Friedman does a good job of taking the job seriously and taking the piss at the same time. You will also enjoy Christopher Biggins’  incomprehensible choice to play the Baker as if he is from Somerset (though the accent takes you on quite a world tour - and yes, that is me saying that) and there’s a stellar cast including Richard Attenborough and Joan Collins. 
Later we watched the first half of One Man, Two Governors given out free by the National Theatre, though I bunged them £20 for their generosity and I hope everyone else who could afford to did the same. It was date night for me and my wife and we drank an expensive looking bottle of red wine that we’ve had for so long that I can’t even remember where I got it (but it had an individual limited edition number on it, so it’s got to be good)and I had a gin and tonic and a beer. We were too sleepy to get to the second half of the play, which is another advantage of watching theatre at home.
It’s the school holidays now and so we don’t have to panic too much about doing lessons for a fortnight and it’s strange to say that as annoying and upsetting as the lockdown is that the positives are (at the moment) outweighing the negatives for us. I’ve lost tonnes of work and possibly accommodation money for Edinburgh, but I haven’t lost any actual people (I am painfully aware that that could easily change and almost certainly will) and although being with my family all the time is exhausting and stressful, it’s also brilliant and rewarding. It’s like we’re all the stars of a rubbish Jim Carrey film and are beginning to realise that family is more important than work. To be honest I’d rather just watch Liar Liar again if given the choice.


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