When I was a preteen, I loved reading. I couldn’t get enough of it. I basically had Jacquline Wilson books on a drip. Then, when I was 11, I became very ill with ME. I spent three years in bed, unable to go to school or do much because of intense fatigue and pain. I tried to read, but my brain couldn’t make the words make sense or my eyes were too exhausted to focus. When I recovered a little, I started reading again - but the love (and attention span, because while I did get much better, I’m sitting here 17 years later still very much an ME sufferer) I once had for it had gone. I tried to read so many different genres, and occasionally I would find a book that captured my attention. The Lovely Bones, The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets (anything by Eva Rice actually), Phillipa Gregory’s Tudor and Plantagenet books and the odd “chick lit beach read” book are the only things in about ten years that I can remember reading. I would buy endless books, determined that this would be the book...
(Picture from unclevanyaplay.com ) Tickets are now on sale for the January 2020 production of Uncle Vanya, a new adaptation by Conor McPherson, directed by Ian Rickson. The production has so far only announced the casting of Toby Jones (Uncle Vanya) and Richard Armitage (Astrov). So I must confess something - I have no idea what it is about. Zilch. I'm a massive theatre fan but I'm mainly into musicals so I've never seen Uncle Vanya. I could look it up, but I'd rather go in completely fresh (and how often does that happen when a play is 120 years old..?). Here's the synopsis from the website (linked above) In the heat of summer, Sonya and her Uncle Vanya ( Toby Jones ) while away their days on a crumbling estate deep in the countryside, visited occasionally only by the local doctor Astrov ( Richard Armitage ). However, when Sonya’s father suddenly returns with his beautiful new wife declaring that he intends to sell the house, the polite facades cru...