What’s on our shelves: A summer of Superman, Shakespeare, the Salt Path and secret courtiers…

Board game: Courtisans designed by Romaric Galonnier and Anthony Perone

Published by Catch Up Games.

In Courtisans, you are manipulating the court – influencing which of the great families are in favour and which are in disgrace. You’ll win points depending on: whether you have fulfilled your secret objectives, plus how many cards you have of families in favour minus any cards of families in disgrace.

On your turn, you must use all three cards in your hand: you keep one for yourself (these will count towards points at the end), give one card to another player (!) and place the last one at the queen’s table (this is how you influence which families are in favour or disgrace). Straightforward, right? Well, your secret objective may be for the Hare family to end in favour; but another player’s may be for that same family to be in disgrace… Or your family members could be assassinated – or the queen’s judgement secretly influenced by spies!

All in all, a quick game, good fun – especially with four or five players.

Aude Charillon, Customer Services Consultant – Open Fifth

Theatre season!

I promised I wouldn’t contribute to this month’s WOOSH after hogging too much of last month’s, but in the interest of balancing the columns…

Anna Karenina, adapted by Phillip Breen.

Chichester Festival Theatre, Chichester, 26 June

I read Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (version translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky) back in March after booking tickets to see this performance, and I loved it! From the iconic opening line (“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”) and its rich cast of characters and social commentary, we follow [spoilers] Anna Karenina barrelling towards tragedy and Konstantin Levin meandering towards contentment.

Natalie Dormer was excellent in her portrayal of the intense Anna Karenina and the performance was engaging from the outset. The simple staging and musical ensemble on-stage throughout felt appropriate and allowed focus to remain on the characters, although as I was seated to the side of the rounded stage, there was a carriage box that obstructed much of the view for much of the play. I don’t think it dug deep enough into the characters and stories, but how could you fit all of that into an evening? Characters spoke their thoughts aloud in pithy quips that would have been explored at depth across many pages in the book. And the decision to have characters and violins giving short, discordant screams throughout seemed unnecessary (at least to my ears).

A Midsummer’s Night Dream, performed by The Petersfield Shakespeare Festival

Wyld’s Farm, Liss, 19 July

Eilish found this event and I did no prior research, expecting only an am-dram production at a farm. The performance was excellent and the location within the South Downs beautiful. We had so much fun and the adaption was a great mix of tradition with modern touches. The eight-person cast, all playing two or three roles, were all full of character, but a special shout-out to Spin Glancy (Lysander / Francis Flute / Peaseblossom) who was just fantastic. The performance took place on top of a hill surrounded by woods with little staging, and a well-timed cameo from a burst of rain which appeared as the intermission started and exited as we were to resume our seats. We’ll definitely be looking out for next year’s show!

4.48 Psychosis, directed by James Macdonald, co-production with the Royal Shakespeare Company

The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, 25 July

This production of Sarah Kane’s play comes 25 years after its debut, with a return of the original cast and creative team. This play is a brutal exploration of depression, which Kane experienced, and is a bleak, confronting 70-minutes with no intermission; heed the content warnings. I came away thinking that the discourse around mental health has changed a lot in 25 years and I wonder if it perhaps had a greater impact at its debut than now.

Lauren Purton, Marketing Executive – Open Fifth

Film: Superman directed by James Gunn

Claimed by some that this is the “Too Woke Superman” well I personally LOVE that a certain country and its supporters got terribly offended by the background story that our Supe gets embroiled in with his old fashioned Truth and Justice. Why get so het up if there are no parallels? So extra points for this film for doing some seriously good moral work in the current climate. 

Superdog is also splendid of course. I didn’t mind most of the characters, they were OK but Nathon Fillion and Edi Gathegi really stood out. Sometimes poignant scenes were a bit deflated by comedy in the background, which I thought was a shame and the film was diminished a little by its lack of a full spectrum of emotion. Considering the real jump to more old fashioned, perhaps verging on “twee” Superman, I am almost glad it wasn’t Mr Cavill in the role. Film itself 5/10, for irritating nasty pieces of work 6!

Sam Goldsmith, Business Development Manager – Open Fifth

An update from Helen’s ‘To be finished’ shelf

I wasn’t going to contribute this month as I felt that I hadn’t read or listened to anything interesting but between being bullied into contributing and reminding myself that it’s fine to be boring sometimes, here goes.

I discovered Sophie Irwin’s regency books, A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting and got an early copy of How to Lose a Lord in Ten Days, both of which I LOVED. She needs to write more and quickly so I can devour them too.

I read the last of Juno Dawson’s HMRC (Her Majesty’s Royal Coven) books, Human Rites. A really good end to a great series.

I read A Bookshop of One’s Own by Jane Cholmeley, her memoir of setting up the Silver Moon women’s bookshop on Charing Cross Road, London with Sue Butterworth. An interesting read that has given me a list of other interesting reads.

I listened to Rebecca Yarros’s The Things We Leave Unfinished which was hilarious for all the wrong reasons. There were two narrators who clearly hadn’t consulted each other or done any research on English accents so not only did they give the same character different accents but they seemed to think that an English accent is a combination of all English accents in one. Oh, and the father was apparently an aristocrat who sounded like a hard man from Eastenders. I guessed the twist about half way though which always disappoints me.

Still haven’t finished A Street of Crocodiles…

Helen Symington, Sales Executive – Open Fifth

Board game: In the Footsteps of Darwin by “Sorry We are French”, a branch of Hachette Games

This game is for 2-5 players aged 8+ and is a nice quick game of between 30 and 45 minutes.

You follow Darwin in the Beagle as Naturalists, 20 years after his original expedition and keen to help him finish his book – as you travel you research and publish on the animals you see by collecting the animal tile and placing it on your board. The aim of the game is to collect points by publishing, exploring and befriending other notable peoples. Your scores are multiplied by scoring bonuses you pick up as you go along.

The game is fun, laid-back and was voted favourite game during a Lakes holiday where the 5 of us (all with very different game preferences) played 10 games. So high praise indeed!

Sam Goldsmith, Business Development Manager – Open Fifth

Film: The Salt Path, directed by Marianne Elliott

As the South West Coast Path goes past our front door, we decided to get our tickets to see this film back in May. This was before all the chaos broke out over the book by Raynor Winn on which it is based! I had to book early as all the showings were sold out in Bridport. Having read and been inspired by the book I have been left somewhat dismayed by the revelations that have appeared in The Observer. Maybe this isn’t the place to comment on that, both sides of the story have been heard. I suspect there is truth on all sides of the narrative. 

We actually did wonder whether to cancel our booking. In fact, we did wonder whether the film would be pulled after the allegations came out! In the end we decided that Number 9 Films had bought the rights for the book in good faith. Of course they could only base the film on the material they had secured the rights for. And, as a child of the 80s, it stars Gillian Anderson. What’s not to like! Of course, she made her name in the X Files but is the most wonderful actress on both stage and screen. Of course, for my wife, it was Jason Isaacs! Need I say more! Another incredibly versatile actor. 

Anyhow, we went to our favourite cinema, the Electric Palace in Bridport. Dating from 1926 and built by the local brewing company (Palmers), it was one of the first theatres in the country to have electricity (hence the name!). The cinema did not appear sold out (despite me buying one of the last seats) so maybe some no-shows? It was certainly filled with plenty of “salted” local people!

I would say the film itself is “fine”. The two lead characters were excellent in their roles but the film itself contained more hiking, trekking and walking than the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy! Maybe that isn’t a surprise in itself. You do come out humming the scenery and, honestly, the scenery is one of the highlights. It feels like nothing else much happens aside from bumping into a few eccentric characters along the way. We noticed a continuity error at one point when the streets of Lyme Regis were shown, to then walk down to a harbour in Cornwall(?). Maybe that’s a niche local quibble?

As the 2 hours are up, the film abruptly ends with a message on the screen telling us she went on to write a book and I was left wondering “what happened to the rest of the book?!” I guess it was just too much more walking! I was left wondering whether my mind had been tainted by the news headlines but I think, in fact, it is hard to capture the true long and gruelling story in film. Particularly under the weather conditions you can get on that coast path. We’ve all been camping but to live like that for months on end really is something completely different. The back story wasn’t fully explained and the film felt like it was jumping around a lot at the beginning. I’m not sure it really reflected the narrative of the book, which explained how homelessness can come to you at any age and in any circumstances. Anyhow, if you love the South West Coast Path (like me!) I would say go and see it. Or… alternatively, go and walk it, even better!

Jonathan Field, Co-Founder and Managing Director – Open Fifth

Book: Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff (part 2 of the 3 part series)

Daylight has failed, and vampire armies wage war against humanity in the endless night; a war that humanity is losing. The last Silversaint continues his memoir whilst trapped in the clutches of a Vampire Lord.

Well part two does not disappoint, in fact I think I enjoyed this even more than Empire of the Vampire. The characters are known to me now and my investment is deep! Also a BRILLIANT twist at the end of this one that for a change I did not see coming.

Looking forward to the last in the series, due out, hopefully soon.

(See the June WOOSH for a review of part 1!)

Sam Goldsmith, Business Development Manager – Open Fifth