The girls of slender means at the theatre

My blip shows the stage at the end of the theatrical production of The girls of slender means by Muriel Spark. Since we read and discussed the novella in February 2018, we decided to treat the visit to the theatre as a book group outing. The seven of us who could make it (i.e all but ArcLight, who had a work commitment) met for supper first at Bentoya. The food there was fine, but the staff forgot one order and poor Melissa had to wait ages for her meal. 

I enjoyed the play, particularly in terms of the staging and use of colour. Those of us who read the book in 2018 were able to remember the mood of the work, but struggled to recall the detail of the story. I think that forgetting the plot and the ending worked in our favour: this provided an element of surprise when watching the play. I also managed to suppress any internal dialogue over whether or not the theatrical interpretation was faithful to the book. My only criticisms were that a couple of actors didn't project their voices sufficiently enough to be heard distinctly in the circle (I know that I am not deaf because I had my hearing checked just a few weeks ago), and the costumes for the 1945 scenes gave the impression that the girls' means were not quite as 'slender' as one might imagine from the book. I also found it odd that the audience laughed at certain times. At first I thought that I had misheard the dialogue on stage, but Christine agreed with me that the lines in question simply weren't that funny or witty.

The trip to the theatre was Chapter 3 of a rather sociable day. I spent Chapter 1 in Stockbridge at my gym friend Ali's house this morning. Normally we chat in the swimming pool, and when walking to and from the gym along the Water of Leith. Since I have been unable to exercise for almost two weeks due to my neck trauma, we had a lot catching up to do. Chapter 2 was tea/coffee and scones with nadinepierce this afternoon. She called in on us before heading up to town for a private view.

Also today I helped Mummy hazelh sort through her summer clothes. Unlike me, she has never undertaken six-monthly wardrobe audits. Between us we halved the pile of warm weather garments that I held back on 24th December last year. If I can find a second pair of dark linen trousers for her, I think that Mummy hazelh will be well set up for the summer months.

As for the neck ache, it's still in evidence, but (at last) well controlled by the drugs. 

Exercise today: walking (20,615 steps).