Yesterday morning’s Ancient World Breakfast Club (AWBC) talk was given by Dr Aggeliki Kompoholi who teaches at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
She was a jolly good sport because, as only a very few AWBC members (not me) speak Greek, she gave her lecture in English. She got her message across but her expertise and the finer details were lost in translation. Fortunately there was time for quite a long Q & A session at the end. With the assistance of a translator she brought her talk to life.
Her subject was “Ancient Greek Music: The Lyre of Classical Antiquity”. This is all a digression, so I will try and get to the point, her point, namely that music was part and parcel of life in Ancient Greece. It still is and inter alia in palliative care. She will explore this theme today in a workshop, Harmony & Healthy Life – From Ancient Greece to Modern Europe. Alan Bennett recognises this in his new play Allelujah! I was struck by this because I saw the play on Thursday evening only twelve hours before the AWBC.
Bennett likes institutions and from the Grammar School setting of The History Boys he fast-forwards to the other end of life – the geriatric ward in an NHS Hospital in the West Riding of Yorkshire; where else, this is Alan Bennett-land. There are a dozen patients and Nurse Pinkney, played by Nicola Hughes, encourages them to sing and dance. The Greeks would approve.
The play has an over-long sprawling first half but comes into focus after the interval. It will be shown “live” in cinemas on 1st November so you may be able to form your own opinion. It was being filmed on Thursday night. I have become accustomed to unobtrusive cameras. The last time I saw such big beasts was on Grandstand and, more recently, when Les Troyens was being filmed at the Châtelet in Paris.
There were six of them occupying all the centre stalls at the Bridge Theatre. To digress, it was a pleasure to be in a brand-new theatre with good public spaces, good acoustics and excellent sightlines. I have always been curious about the notes cameramen have on flip-pads and my curiosity was satisfied by my host who took this picture.
Like the score for a symphony – no sign of “take break for bacon butty”. What do you mean you’ve never heard of Grandstand or seen the iconic BBC cameras? Here’s everything you need to know. At the end of this Primer you will be an expert and unable to forget the theme tune.