Oberon's Grove: Staying Home

Aside from a quick trip to get pizza for Saturday's lunch and a walk on Sunday morning (the better to allow Wei to sleep in) we stayed home all weekend. I love staying home.

There were tennis matches on one of the few TV stations where we get decent reception. These were the finals of the Sony Ericsson Classic in Key Biscayne. On Saturday, Justine Henin pulverized Serena Williams with a 6-0 first set and Henin had two match points in the second set. And then there was one of those bizarre tennis turn-arounds: Henin fell apart and Serena started firing off winners. Serena won the title. On Sunday, an excellent match between the Argentine Guillermo Canas and the 19-year-old boy wonder from Serbia, Novak Djokovic. Canas has recently come back from a 15-month suspension for using a 'banned diuretic' (doesn't that sound ominous?) and has had the distinction of beating the #1 Roger Federer twice in the past fortnight and thus incurring Wei's displeasure: Wei hates to see Fedi lose. Djokovic, whose style is a bit like Federer's, won the match in straight sets but it was not easy. One game in the second set lasted 20 minutes! Canas, hampered by a hamstring injury, played powerfully and relentlessly. The match ended on a fine note as the players fell into a genuine embrace at the net; in their trophy speeches they very kindly paid homage to one another.

Both evenings we spent watching the HBO series ELIZABETH I. In 2006, Helen Mirren scored major career successes by playing both of England's Queen Elizabeths. As Good Queen Bess, Mirren gave us the human side of the monarch. She and Jeremy Irons (Leicester) are such accomplished actors, giving every scene a feeling of naturalness. Hugh Dancy was very well-cast as Essex, the pretty boy who captures the aging Queen's heart but turns out to be quite heartless himself. As so often in these historical dramas, lesser characters become scene-stealing players and here we had tremendous performances from Patrick Malahide (as Walsingham, nemesis of Mary Stuart), Ian McDiarmid as Burghley, and Toby Jones as Elizabeth's 'pygmy' Lord Cecil. Jeremie Covillault is probably ten times handsomer than the real Duc D'Anjou ever thought of being. The film was shot in Lithuania (!) and looks quite impressive if somewhat artsy at times; there are also some neat cyber-historical effects. On the debit side, historical realism is ignored as Elizabeth is shown sneaking into Fortheringay to chat with Mary, Queen of Scots; we are also led to believe that Elizabeth met with James VI of Scotland (who succeeded her) and that Leicester died in Elizabeth's arms. More disturbing to me is the graphic depiction of torture and execution; rather than merely indicating the fall of the ax in the bungled beheading of the Stuart Queen, we are force-fed the whole ghastly scene. Likewise the torturing and deaths of traitors are mercilessly depicted. It's revolting to think that, 400 years after this savage period of history, torture is still being used - and being used by our own paranoid leadership. (I use the word 'leadership' ironically). Anyway, the second disc of the series was more absorbing than the first. Excellent as Mirren and Cate Blanchett have been, the Elizabeth Tudor who most convincingly holds the throne remains Glenda Jackson (hurrah!) in ELIZABETH R.

On a totally different note, I was skipping the Met broadcast of EGYPTIAN HELEN (see 'Horrid Helena' further down the blog) but listening instead to some random things. I pulled out an old cassette of John Harbison's 'Mirabai Songs' with Dawn Upshaw and was fascinated by the allure and mystery of the settings. Mirabai was a 16th century Indian poetess who, at the age of 27, refused the ritual act of suttee (perishing on the funeral pyre of her deceased husband) and left her family to wander the land singing poems to Krishna as a street performer. Harbison set some of her poetry in English, using a magical chamber instrumentation which beautifully underlines the ecstatic lyricism of Upshaw's singing. {When you click on the Mirabai link, you will be taken to 'Muses' and will need to scroll down to read about Mirabai; lots of other great reading at 'Muses' as well.}

While Wei was cooking I was reading; I have four books going currently. David Leddick's amusing and touching MILLIONAIRE OF LOVE is the story of an older man obsessed with a younger man and is told from both points of view. The title is drawn from Quentin Crisp: "Do not give your love to one of those millionaires of love. Give it to someone who really needs it." Love is also the underlying theme of Anita Brookner's HOTEL DU LAC in which the English writer Edith Hope, escaping from romantic entanglements at home, flees to the Swiss lakeside hotel where she meets Mr. Neville. Neville has unusual ideas about love and marriage and tries to sway Edith to his view. Edith says: "I am not a romantic. I am a domestic animal. I do not sigh and yearn for extravagant displays of passion, for the grand affair, the world well lost for love. I know all that and I know it leaves you lonely. No, what I crave is the simplicity of routine...my idea of absolute happiness is to sit in a hot garden all day, reading or writing, utterly safe in the knowledge that the person I love will come home to me in the evening. Every evening." She sounds just like me.

Congratulations to Matt whose blog RANTING DETAILS is celebrating its first anniversary. I'm hoping to find some postings about ABT's coming new production of SLEEPING BEAUTY there soon, from a dancer's perspective. Also, if you have not been to the NYC Ballet site lately check out Kristin Sloan's video diary of their upcoming ROMEO & JULIET. Kristin is doing remarkable work bringing us the insider view. In her latest installment, we see an out-of-retirement Jock Soto preparing the role of Capulet opposite Darci Kistler as his Lady. You can link to NYCB and to Kristin's pioneering dance blog, The Winger, also from the right-hand column.

Finally, a note to Georgina Pazcoguin: Love the red shoes!