#11012014

Dr Abdul Basit- Jalan Menuju Mahabbah Allah – 11-01-2014

Jalan Menuju Mahabbah Allah – Menyaksikan Limbahan Nikmat Allah Zahir dan Batin.

Masjid Kg Huda, Kota Bharu,Kelantan. Video Rating: 5 / 5

I feel like perhaps leaving these two days to now has been a mistake, because my memory of each is a touch fuzzy, oops.  That may just be because the days themselves were fairly slow?

November 1st, the folks I'm staying with were going to a Halloween party, and I had a standing invite to tag along, but I wasn't sure if I'd want to travel after going to the theatre.  Instead, I took the day for relaxing and helping finish Halloween costumes (well, not much costume-finishing on my part, so much as blogging and trying to work on fic and laughing at Archer), then dressed for the theatre and headed out.

The show was King Charles III, by Mike Bartlett and directed by Rupert Goold, moved fairly recently to Wyndam's from the Almeida, and it was very good.  I was a bit worried I would miss a lot of the cultural references because it's very British-politics oriented, but I found it wasn't too difficult (and the programme is full of helpful articles and charts to help Americans who might be lost, haha.  The play was very good--very clever--and bore a strong resemblance to Shakespeare, as of course all of the reviews have said.  Even despite the iambic pentameter and foreign subject, I found the play really deftly written and charming, with a surprisingly tender take on the royals while at the same time sending them up for being disconnected from the people and unable to take care of themselves.  The touch of Diana's ghost--I haven't yet decided if it was the funniest joke or if it was actually poignant under the silliness.  There was marvelous use of light and sound in the show, as well--Elizabeth II's funeral at the beginning was absolutely striking and gave me chills.

The next morning I had plans to go to the Flower Market, but it was raining, and I realized that if I waited to go to Dennis Severs' house today there was a more special presentation.  I was thinking that I'd spend the rest of the day in, but managed to stumble across a showing of Lilting happening down in Clapham and decided not to waste the entire day.  

The showing was happening in a small cinema called Whirled Cinema, which was an amazing, unusual experience--more of a cinema club, really.  The cinema was so small and cozy, tucked out of the way under the railway, down a back alley and up a discreet flight of steps that can only be accessed if you've got a membership card or been buzzed up.  The cinema only seats 60 and there's a small bar at the back for snacks and drinks.  The staff was charming and very sweet, and I'd definitely become a full-time member if I lived, you know, not 4000 miles away from it.  The film, of course, was lush and gorgeous and the ache of it didn't fully hit me until this morning, when I lay around feeling sad and droopy and melancholy a bit.