I'm going to jump about a bit here and tell you more about the consultancy work I've been doing in the next entry. I want to say a few words about events elsewhere in the first instance.
Saturday 25 January saw Ross and I attending the last matinée in the London run of the Adventures in Motion Pictures production of Swan Lake. William Kemp danced the Swan and Scott Ambler danced the Prince. Even after a mere 25 days of this year of grace 1997, I think I can say without hesitation that this will end up being on the list of most exciting events of 1997.
The sight of William Kemp dressed in black leather in the third act was
worth the price of admission alone.
But the whole piece was a supremely
confident re-take on the whole Swan Lake thang. And I loved the swans.
OK they were all beautiful boys and I'll allow for this colouring my
view. However, the strutting macho posturing of the second act was just
fabby and the metamorphosis into savage hissing harpies in the final
tableau was a masterstroke.
The internal politics of the piece was beastly, I'll concede. The women were either empty bimbos (to be laughed at, used as a plot device and then callously disposed of) or scheming manipulative vamps. And the idea of the tortured gay man who can never find lasting love and must always die to find true satisfaction is a myth I don't want to buy into. However, I must also admit that I capitulated in the theatre and cried my little heart out at the end. Well, a little wallow in sentimentality doesn't harm every now and again.
After the show, it was a quick turn around and off to Matthew's for a dinner party. Neither Ross nor I had met Matthew before. I've sort of chatted to him through uk.glb. However, he's Sean's bloke - I think that's fair to say though there hasn't been an official announcement yet.
Matthew put on a sumptuous repast and the company provided excellent conversation. I met John from uk.glb for the first time and he seems as larger than life in the flesh as he does on the group. Jon (Peanuts) was there also and seemed much less fraught than when I crossed his path last summer. I should also mention that, on first impressions, I like Matthew a lot.
Actually, the dinner party was in a way an informal celebration of Ross's and my first six months together although we didn't say anything about this at the time.
As you'll read in the next entry, Ross and I have not seen a lot of each other recently. It's been useful just to see how much I miss him when we're not together.
Whilst I was away, I got some heebie jeebies about the age difference and how he could do better than me and how could someone as attractive as him see anything in me and what did other people think when they saw us together - all utter tosh, of course, but it's the way my mind goes at times. Anyhow, we'd been short of condoms and KY before I left. When I returned for this weekend in the middle of my course giving, there was a fresh supply bought in from Tesco's. I guess Ross was telling me all I need to know.
And you'll be pleased to hear that his efforts were not in vain.