Peter and the Wolf @ Tobacco Factory

I remember the timbre of oboe thanks to Peter and the Wolf. Sergei Prokofiev had the excellent idea to educate children to identify properly instruments such as oboe, clarinet, flute and bassoon by identifying them with the duck, cat, bird and Peter's grandfather in the story. He intended to cultivate the musical tastes in children from the first years of school and yet, it is an excellent piece of music for grown-ups. Now, every time I listen to the sound of the oboe, I see a duck. And every time I listen to the sound of the clarinet, I see a cat... It is that powerful what Prokofiev has done in me.

When I saw that there will be a live performance of storytelling about Peter and the Wolf and other "wild" musical tales, I got very excited. Storyteller Martin Maudsley will be performing a brand-new show that translates the enduring brilliance of Prokofiev's masterpiece into a thrilling interaction between classical music and spoken word storytelling. Even though the instruments will be different to the original ones, I am sure it will be a very beautifully performed imagery show called Little Wolf Gang. Eddy Jay will be playing the accordion, David Adams the bassoon and Fiona Barrow the violin.

Little Wolf Gang will be performed at the Tobacco Factory Theatre from 29th-31st January at 7.30pm (plus the 2.30pm matinee session on Saturday). Tickets are £9 (£7 concessions) and can be bought online on here.  

And if you don't want to go or tickets are sold out, you can always listen to Prokofiev's original version:

MORE INFORMATION

Tobacco Factory Website:
http://www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/detail/peter_and_the_wolf_and_other_wild_musical_tales/

Wolf! Wolf! Wolf!

Who has never heard the story of a shepherd boy repeatedly tricking nearby villagers into thinking a wolf is coming to attack his flock, and when a wolf actually does appear, villagers do not trust the boy's cries for help, and the flock gets destroyed?

It doesn't mean that I was a liar when I was a child, but I've heard that story coming from my parents more than once. Perhaps, that is what avoided me from being a liar. And old portuguese proverb says "liars are caught faster than people with a limp". Do you lie like a rug on fire? In a research conducted by the University of Massachusetts, where two strangers were asked to talk for 10 minutes, they identified subjects told an average of 2.92 false things in this time. 

The summer open air theatre has return to Bristol Old Vic with the "The Boy Who Cried Wolf!" adapted by Michael Morpurgo and many other tales including "The Sun and the Wind" and my favourite "The Tortoise and the Hare". The decoration in the stage, smart outfits converting actors into a tortoise, sun, wind or a bear, and catchy songs are some of my highlights. Enjoying good outdoor theatre while having a Ginger Beer is a very nice way to finish the day after a hard work day. Tickets are worth £22 full price (£20 concessions) but if you are fast enough to get one of the 50 first tickets for each show, it will cost you just £10! And I can say it is worth every penny. 

Bristol Old Vic Website: http://www.bristololdvic.org.uk/wolf.html