Friday, October 17, 2008

Waxed, pampered and Berkoff'd

Very glad Friday came around after a hectic few days at work.
Well, my first short story has been submitted to the class of 15 students and tutor. Next week it will be discussed in the class. It will be interesting to get objective feedback; so far it has only been read by a handful of close friends.


This morning I went to the gym and then onto the spa to use up my voucher on some serious pre-holiday pampering that consisted of shaping, tinting, waxing and polishing -sounds like a car groom, but for my eyebrows, legs and toes!

Tonight after scoffing a juicy steak, baked potato and salad we went to the theatre to see Steven Berkoff.

You need a good feed to see Berkoff , I found - it can be quite draining.

He is in Auckland for 2 days performing his self-penned "Tell Tale Heart" and "Dog". His plays are full of energy, aggression (and quite a bit of swearing) and black humour - great stuff. I've seen 'East', 'Greek', 'West', 'Decadence', 'Kvetch', and his version of 'Metamorphosis'. Most were by the Auckland Theatre Company. All good, and tonight was the first time seeing the man himself.

The first character was a Dickensian madman who stepped us through in minute macabre detail how he had killed and dismembered his neighbour - an old man with one vulture eye. Black and hilarious.

The second was an East-end skinhead with a slobbery vicious dog - the audience was asked to pat the imaginary beast - which morphed in and out of the skinhead character so smoothly that you could not tell them apart except the dog spoke with its tongue flicking in and out. Half the audience looked stunned as some of the acts depicted with the dog were quite gross.

Brilliant!

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