They have the striking, semi-abstract quality of paper sculpture They are also beautifully lit by Wolfgang Gobbel. It’s directed and designed by Tom Cairns and, in fairness, is good-looking in a way that serves the piece well. THE chairman of Yorkshire Water, who famously washes in an egg cup, would be dismayed to know that no new production at his own local Opera North passes muster these days without soaking half the cast and, potentially, a good number of the orchestra in his precious commodity The Jenufa that opened on Wednesday is no exception. And although there’s every excuse for it, in that Jenufa takes place beside a mill whose turning wheel is represented in the score, I can’t help feeling that David Freeman Memorial Water Features are becoming something of a fetish on the Leeds stage
Not that this Jenufa is done by Freeman. Never discuss religion, politics, vivisection, PC, cycling lanes, China, date rape, gender roles, positive discrimination, consumer power, nuclear power, black power, travellers’ rights….. I eat veal.”Never discuss religion or politics,” used to be the golden rule of civilised conversation I propose a change to reflect the times.
And if he knew me I believe he would agree we should never socialise together. He cares little for issues of gender- or racial- equality .. but is a committed vegetarian. “With your views on abortion,” she explained, “she didn’t think it would be right to sit at the same table as you.”Don’t laugh For me, it’s Alan Clark. Environmentalists give themselves pole position because they are saving the world and, without them, all is lost.
And New Age spiritualists think it’s all lost anyway and they’re saving our souls for the great hunting ground in the sky. Put them together, add a few drinks too many and a long evening, and you have the ingredients for combustion.In an American TV film He Said/She Said, screened recently, a woman explains why her sister didn’t turn up to meet her fiance. Human-rights activists believe people matter more than animals but that cuts no ice with animal-lovers. (Note: neither of them, it seems, care about tuna).Political reformists consider themselves to be looking at the bigger picture and everyone else to be merely tinkering.
That’s because they are the guardians of creatures who are small, often fluffy, and unable to safeguard their own rights. Like old-fashioned crusaders, the sword of self-righteousness in our hand, we battle for the souls of dinner-party guests and the moral higher ground.People who care about animals think they are the rightful occupiers of the moral high ground. And that’s where vegetarians at loggerheads with human-rights activists come in. Unfortunately it isn’t so – because it is the nature of crusades to convert. Children and cancer research I know attract a lot of concern and so I reckon someone else is taking care of those. Veal calves and donkey sanctuaries? Well, I wish all animals could live a life of liberty and dignity but I’m afraid I’m not going to go out and demonstrate for it.
