Lockdown Creativity #4

It's approaching the end of Lockdown Week 8 in the UK.  The restrictions here are easing, a little obscurely perhaps, but distance learning continues for now.  Which brings me straight to my first suggestion for a hit of Lockdown Creativity, and the reason why I'm hitting publish on this post on a Thursday rather than a Friday (as over the last three weeks).

(Note: if you can't see the embedded videos, I've attached a link at the bottom of each paragraph)

The English National Ballet have put together a temporary and free programme of online masterclasses (click here to access those) which in themselves - if dance is your thing - are worth checking out.   However, the reason I'm publishing this week's Lockdown Creativity list a day early is so that if you have the time and inclination, you can check out their Wednesday Watch Party before it is taken offline tomorrow.  Each week they are putting a performance from their archives online where it can be viewed for free for 48 hours.  This week it's the strange, other-worldly and ethereal 'Fantastic Beings'.  Well worth a watch, and if you miss this week's don't worry - there should be another performance available next Wednesday.

Click here for link if you can't see the embedded video

For something a little less highbrow, take a look at Andrew Cottar's zoom meeting with his two labradors.  If you've not already come across them Olive & Mabel have become Lockdown internet stars since this all started, due mainly to Andrew's inspired racing commentary of his dogs' behaviours.  This one's a little different, but still hilarious.

Click here for link if you can't see the embedded video

Finally, three weeks ago I mentioned ITV's series of 4 short plays 'Isolation Stories' and how much I was looking forward to them.  Whilst they can't (yet) be viewed online, if you're interested in the challenges presented by producing new tv content during Lockdown, here's a fascinating insight into that from the BFI, also filmed in isolation.  Artists commenting on art, as art imitates life...

Click here for link if you can't see the embedded video

For more posts on Lockdown Life, click here

Lockdown Creativity

Remember when Lockdown started, a zillion years ago, and everybody was like 'oh, I'm going to be SO productive' - myself included? 

I had visions of boxes first taped up 10 years ago and which stayed that way for 3 moves (2 of them international) finally being unearthed and disposed of.  Then, the garden was going to look lovely.  I thought maybe I might bake some bread.  And of course I was going to get back to The Great Work - the one that's been sitting in a folder since last July, temporarily shelved due to, in no particular order; school holidays, renovations, recalcitrant children, travel, sickness and the interference of every-day life.

Well.  The garden does look rather lovely, but that's because it's spring rather than anything I've done to it. As for the rest?  Not so much.  My creativity and productivity appear to have fallen off the edge of a cliff, lost in a fog of homeschooling, constant low-level worry about what the future holds (on a macro and micro scale), menu-planning, and debating when it's acceptable to have the first quarantini of the day...

But there are others out there who seem less affected than me and who - luckily for the rest of us - have embraced the creative opportunities this situation presents.  I thought I would list a few of them here, in case you're interested. 

https://www.ancientmarinerbigread.com/readings :  The Ancient Mariner, split into sections and read by such luminaries as Jeremy Irons, Jeanette Winterson, Hilary Mantel, Willem Dafoe - the list goes on.  What a way to breathe life and relevance into this extraordinary poem.

Isolation Stories on ITV from 4th May on.  Read this Guardian piece to see how a series can be conceived and filmed in lockdown - completely looking forward to this one.

Then, this wondrous piece from the dancers at L'Opera de Paris will lift your heart

And finally, this.  Because, dancing cockatoos.

You're welcome.