Monday, 2 June 2014



There was just time on Friday to drive through Knole Park, which is like stepping into a time warp. So easy to imagine Henry VIII out deer-hunting ...

I was accompanied by someone who was there on the day in 1967 when the Beatles filmed Strawberry Fields Forever in the park.

It must be 30 years since I visited the house and I had forgotten how very beautiful it is, so I've promised myself to go back when I have time to go inside. (Rachel caught the atmosphere here.)



It put me in the mood for Bring Up the Bodies that evening, part 2 of the RSC's five and a half hour Hilary Mantel marathon. I was hoping to book to see both parts on the same day ... I'm so glad I didn't. The Aldwych theatre has the most bum-crunchingly uncomfortable seats in London.

So I saw Wolf Hall on Tuesday, and Bring Up the Bodies on Friday. It is absolutely riveting from start to finish, every bit as good as every 5* review promised ...

But still not quite as good as Hilary Mantel's superb book.

Stiff knees and aching bottom notwithstanding, I would happily sit through it again. But I read Wolf Hall twice, too.

I'm hoping that when Vol 3 is published, the RSC will finish what they've begun ...
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4 comments:

  1. Cosy Books5 June 2014 at 19:53

    Five and a half hours is definitely a marathon and despite how much fun it sounds I would need a full buffet dinner during the intermission! Two plays in one week, Mary, you lucky thing.

    We saw 'Belle' at the cinema last Friday and the woman next to me must have had a wonky hip. The moaning and groaning as she shifted...poor thing.

    And while you're here...have you received the Persephone Biannually yet?

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  2. mary5 June 2014 at 20:43

    That came a good few weeks ago, Darlene.

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  3. Sue Foster8 June 2014 at 11:36

    I saw them both on the same day and was mesmerised. Brilliant. I wandered round Temple in the interval and had dinner and to be honest was less uncomfortable in the second play than the first, I must have acclimatised

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  4. mary8 June 2014 at 16:03

    It must have been a brilliant total-immersion experience, Sue - and I agree that part 2 was less uncomfortable, whether that was a better seat in the stalls or knowing what I was in for, I'm not sure. London theatres aren't designed for comfort!

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