Terence Rattigan's Flare Path is currently showing at the Royal Haymarket. The cast is well chose n and performances are excellent. I'm interested in the messages hidden in the play especially when looked at from our current perspective. It's from a time when the world was much more black and white and gender roles were clearly defined.
As per my subtitle I thought the message of the play was clear, that woman should support their husbands through difficult times and stand by their side. Yes Rattigan was gay and the sergeant master nicknamed Gloria who stays behind with the woman to wait for the returning soldiers is our token gay and maybe he plays that bridge between the straight woman and their husbands, the one who has access to both worlds.
Men are portrayed as emotionally vulnerable and need of care and attention during the time of the war.
The famous actor Peter played by James Purefoy enters the stage as the perfect dream man fresh from Hollywood, but as the play develops he systematically becomes the tragic figure. The one who is missing out from the here and now. His masks falls and he confesses that he is desperate and leaves the hotel alone. Again the message is clear, frivolous fun lifestyles end in tears.
The play portrays a society with a greater sense of cohesion and focus. The characters have made peace with the fact that they had to adopt their lives to a new situation.
Patricia played by Sienna Miller is dressed like the perfect housewife as portrayed in the typical post war advertisements and she is torn between doing what is right and what feels right. Good triumphs over evil.
One can't help but think of the idea of the big society that's being flaunted around by the new government.
People should become more directly active in solving societies problems and depend less on handouts and others to resolve their issues for them.
The only problem with that equation is that , the second world war was being fought against a known enemy from outside. The current mess we're all in was created within this society.
http://www.london-theatreland.co.uk/theatres/theatre-royal-haymarket/flare-path-cast-creative.php
Monday, April 11, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
City Visions 1910-2010
City Visions 1910-2010Link to the exhibition
http://www.designforlondon.gov.uk/what-we-do/all/city-visions-19102010-exhibition/
This exhibition celebrates the birth of urban design . It is the centenary of " General town Planning Exhibition" in Berlin which had grand masterplans for Berlin, Paris, London and Chicago. The earlier plans with wide boulevards and monumental civic buildings are in stark contrast with the more humble and politically sensitive approach of contemporary urban design.
The planning and execution of cities involve political will and invariably make or break the careers of those involved .It is no coincidence that this event also celebrates the endorsement of Design for London by Boris Johnson thereby securing it's survival.
The elephant in the room is the century between the two exhibitions.
Everyone present at this exhibition was aware that London and Berlin had both been bombed to bits by each other and many of the problems that still exist in these cities can be traced back to those very destructive years, the lack of proper housing and scars left by hastily replacing what had been destroyed left scars that both cities are still trying to heal.
It is also a subtle confirmation of the role Germany is taking within the EU as important form giver and decision maker of the way Europe should be heading. The term soft power springs to mind.
This is a positive way of looking into the future and defining the discipline of urban design as a craft that spans beyond historical timeframes. The cities we inhabit today were build for very different people with different needs and agendas, yet we can exist within and rebuild on the remnants left behind.
The beautiful diagrams created by the likes of Ebenezar Howard give us simplistic solutions on how cities should work .As seductive and simplistic as these diagrams are , the implementation of them often lead to the destruction of existing systems.
The challenge with modern urban design is to create those clear simple diagrams to explain the complex issues that lie behind them. an example that I found fascinated was the design for the new Berlin airport, it showed an airport that formed part of an urban context, with the main entrance at the end of a linear axis, similar to the way a station was traditionally located within cities. Once seen it clear that the obvious solution to integrating airports into cities is to design them as a component of a larger a multi functional urban landscape.
This is clearly a bow to the Tempelhof airport since closed , it sat on a similar axis , but the association with Albert Speer and his patron have always kept the diciples silent.
tPanels mounted on scaffolding props are displayed in an empty commercial space which forms part of the mixed use Dalston Square development. On the way to the exhibition one walks past shops that have been standing empty for at least a year , this serves as a reminder that the active street frontages so loved by urban designers and sketched by artist being full of trendy people sipping lattes takes years to materialise if ever.
http://www.designforlondon.gov.uk/what-we-do/all/city-visions-19102010-exhibition/
This exhibition celebrates the birth of urban design . It is the centenary of " General town Planning Exhibition" in Berlin which had grand masterplans for Berlin, Paris, London and Chicago. The earlier plans with wide boulevards and monumental civic buildings are in stark contrast with the more humble and politically sensitive approach of contemporary urban design.
The planning and execution of cities involve political will and invariably make or break the careers of those involved .It is no coincidence that this event also celebrates the endorsement of Design for London by Boris Johnson thereby securing it's survival.
The elephant in the room is the century between the two exhibitions.
Everyone present at this exhibition was aware that London and Berlin had both been bombed to bits by each other and many of the problems that still exist in these cities can be traced back to those very destructive years, the lack of proper housing and scars left by hastily replacing what had been destroyed left scars that both cities are still trying to heal.
It is also a subtle confirmation of the role Germany is taking within the EU as important form giver and decision maker of the way Europe should be heading. The term soft power springs to mind.
This is a positive way of looking into the future and defining the discipline of urban design as a craft that spans beyond historical timeframes. The cities we inhabit today were build for very different people with different needs and agendas, yet we can exist within and rebuild on the remnants left behind.
The beautiful diagrams created by the likes of Ebenezar Howard give us simplistic solutions on how cities should work .As seductive and simplistic as these diagrams are , the implementation of them often lead to the destruction of existing systems.
The challenge with modern urban design is to create those clear simple diagrams to explain the complex issues that lie behind them. an example that I found fascinated was the design for the new Berlin airport, it showed an airport that formed part of an urban context, with the main entrance at the end of a linear axis, similar to the way a station was traditionally located within cities. Once seen it clear that the obvious solution to integrating airports into cities is to design them as a component of a larger a multi functional urban landscape.
This is clearly a bow to the Tempelhof airport since closed , it sat on a similar axis , but the association with Albert Speer and his patron have always kept the diciples silent.
tPanels mounted on scaffolding props are displayed in an empty commercial space which forms part of the mixed use Dalston Square development. On the way to the exhibition one walks past shops that have been standing empty for at least a year , this serves as a reminder that the active street frontages so loved by urban designers and sketched by artist being full of trendy people sipping lattes takes years to materialise if ever.
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