who was a late replacement for the injured Gerard Le Feuvre. After the interval the MKCO were joined by the Milton Keynes Music Service Symphony Orchestra for a joint performance of the overture 'The Italian Girl in Algiers' by Rossini. With nearly 100 players on the stage it looked and sounded amazing: the playing was incredibly tight and precise and my only disappointment was that (with one notable exception) all the woodwind solos were taken by the professional players rather than the local youngsters. Before they completed the concert with Haydn's 'Symphony No. 103 - Drum Roll', I was pleased to see MKCO take on something a little out of the ordinary with the strange, atmospheric 'Nostalgia' by Takemitsu - a tribute to the Russian film director Andreimarch is shattered by the devastating onslaught of the heart-wrenching final movement (particularly when the marathon third movement has left you feeling like you'll never be able to play another note!).

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

'Rafta, Rafta ...' by Ayub Khan-Din

4 March 2008

I very much enjoyed the National Theatre production of 'Rafta, Rafta ...' by Ayub Khan-Din which we saw at Milton Keynes Theatre last Saturday. It was based on the 1953 play 'All in Good Time' by Bill Naughton (which was filmed as 'The Family Way' with Hywel Bennett and John Mills) but updated to focus on an Indian family in modern day Bolton. A young couple, unable to afford their own home, start their married life sharing the groom's parents' small terraced house. The original plot worked remarkably