Johnblog

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is an absurdist, existentialist tragicomedy by Tom Stoppard we went to see at Sydney Theatre. (Cate Blanchett refers to it as Ros and Gil, so that’s good enough for me).

Major themes of the play include existentialism, free will vs. determinism, the search for value, and the impossibility of certainty. Despite all that hi-falutin nonsense, it’s bloody funny.

Ros and Gil are two minor characters in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and a little knowledge of Hamlet helps the audience to figure out what’s going on.

The actors were terrific – “superstar comedian/musician” Tim Minchin and Toby Schmitz. This was top class theatre, a very enjoyable evening. It was good to see lots of young people in the audience on this Friday evening. We quite often go to matinees and the seats there are filled with people even older than us.

Tim Minchin made the leap from singer to actor seemingly without any problems at all.

We went along to the launch of a book by Jenny Tabakoff, a friend and fellow journalist from the Sydney Morning Herald days. The book’s on a scary topic.

Disaster strikes. A ship goes down, a plane crashes, a party of travellers is cut off.  But when the panic and confusion subside and the dead are counted, the survivors must find a way to keep surviving. And in desperation, unconstrained by law or conventional authority, the tactics they resort to can be both horrifying and ultimately self-destructive.

I haven’t read it yet, but it sounds like fun! There was an amusing chat at the launch from Eric Campbell, a well-known ABC foreign correspondent which included a few tips on how to survive a disaster. (Hint: it’s never women and children first!). The authors gave us a few more insights into the depths of human behaviour. More details on the publisher’s website.

There were drinks and nibbles and a few former Herald colleagues to chat with.

The launch was at Gleebooks in Glebe, a place I hadn’t been to for years. We went along with our neighbours  Paula and Dean. (Paula knows Jenny Tabakoff from Jan’s book club). We had a meal after at a lovely little Himalayan restaurant. Glebe Point Road is wall-to-wall restaurants, so plenty of choice.

PS: Check out my latest YouTube video on how to apply scale rivets to a1/4-scale model Spitfire. It’s fascinating and clocked up 90 views in less than a day!