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The Flying Lovers Of Vitebsk

We've been down to the big city of birth again, to be reminded about why I don't live there any more - the good reasons to go are are good friends, two gorgeous grand daughters and family I miss seeing, but no lambs, no hares, and quite a lot of noisy traffic!!!

Yes it is great to spend time with old good friends and see the family - albeit 20 minutes with my ever busy son - but I find myself feeling quite comfortable with not actually living there anymore and that is made easier by the fact we now live so much nearer anyway.  its only about an hour down the dreaded A1 but very doable.... so I can now have the best of both worlds!

We caught up briefly with people I haven't seen since before Christmas and then the main event (apart from seeing grand daughters) a West Yorkshire Playhouse visit to see Kneehigh theatre present ''The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk'' an interesting play about Marc and Bella Chagall and their  lives in Russia through the revolution.  It was very enjoyable but I felt it was very different from other Kneehigh productions I have seen.

I found the story engaging,  I am a fan of Chagalls paintings. The works and life were cleverly interpreted using lots of colour, dancing and movement and stunning vocals and music.  It is essentially a love story set within back ground of the Russian revolution so there are serious moments and I know the play won loads of accolades and awards, but for me there seemed less of the quirkiness and humour Kneehigh still manage to inject into even the grimmer moments of history.

This is not to say I didn't enjoy it - quite the opposite I thought it was beautiful and evocative and I loved the flowing movements and the music was fabulous but it was just different to what I expected - not a bad thing keeps me on my toes and makes me look forward to what might happen next!!

Kneehigh - a Cornish based company have a touring 'tent' Asylum which this year is going to be at the Lost Gardens of Heligan .  We went the year (in fact by chance the very week) they opened it and were treated to fabulous night out, tasty food, local beer, excellent surroundings and a brilliant show ''The Red Shoes''.  They are selling this years performance as a festival of pandemonium which I think sounds really promising - I will be investigating out summer plans and hope to be able to join in the fun and make a long over due visit to some good friends who live in that neck of the woods.
http://www.kneehigh.co.uk/page/the_asylum_kneehigh.php

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