Great Britain -

02 Aug

A brilliant new comedy!

11144458_10206104639629084_2260183535306907241_o London is the theatre capital of the world so it’s a privilege to live here for someone who loves to see new plays. Last night I was lucky enough to witness a preview of a brand new comedy, The Lost Art of Lost Art. It’s a dark comedy about art theft, inspired by the past thefts of The Scream and the Mona Lisa. Molly and Lee think they’re masters of the craft. They’ve done the hard bit and ‘The Scream’ is hanging on their safe-house wall. It’s worth over £74million… if only they could sell it! The play asks questions like: How far would you go for money and is art nothing more than a price tag?

Two of the talents are Icelandic. Álfrún Gísladóttir produces and also plays one of the thieves, and Sara Hjördís Blöndal is the set and costume designer and also manages the stage. The production is the winner of the 2015 Scottish Daily Mail Award and is on its way to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It’s directed by Lucy Atkinson, who was kind enough to talk to me before the show started. I asked her how she got involved.

The show last night went really well. The writing is good, the tempo was spot on, visually it was genuinely convincing and there was a lot of laughter, so the audience obviously liked the comedy. I wish them well at Edinburgh and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for those talented and clever kids.

Cast:
Lee – Jamie Finn
Molly – Alfrun Gisladottir
Norman – Baker Mukasa
Nancy – Anna Crichlow

Producer: Alfrun Gisladottir (Raspberry Tart Ltd.)
Writer: James Hamilton
Director: Lucy Atkinson
Designer: Sara Hjordis Blondal
Stage Manager: Sara Hjordis Blondal & Stefanie Munck
Lighting designer: Jack Channer

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27 Jul

Celebrating Dame Helen Mirren!

I adore Dame Helen Mirren! She’s one of my favourite actresses and simply a great role model as well. She stands out for her incredible versatility as an actress, she’s feisty, very intelligent, has a great sense of humour and is never afraid to get her opinions across.

Yesterday Helen Mirren turned 70 and in her honour I have chosen a few clips from her career to show you. Enjoy!

When she talked about Caligula she was spot on!

Jane Tennison is still my favourite detective.

And finally a recent interview where she talks about the theatre, her career, her parents and more. It’s very good.

26 Jul

Stuff Brits Like

51QGr-P7A2L._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_ One of the things I like most about living here is the British humour. Brits are specialists at making fun of themselves and that I absolutely love.

Stuff Brits Like: A guide to What’s Great about Great Britain is a new book by author Fraser McAlpine. The introduction of the book says it ‘celebrates why we like puns and pedantry, decorum and drawing willies on things, Trainspotting and Downton Abbey, apologizing needlessly (sorry) and cocking a snook. We cheer both the underdog and the bad guy, we adore melancholy types like Morrissey and grumpy Eeyore… and we love being told off by scolds.’

It didn’t surprise me one bit to read that the Queen was regarded as the most iconic Brit and that tea is the nation’s favourite drink. A bit more unexpected was that the Sunday roast and Curry beat Fish and chips in the competition of the favourite British dish.

Some of the British traditions rub off on you. After three years I find myself apologizing needlessly a lot more than before. So much in fact that when I’m visiting Iceland my friends sometimes look at me as if I’ve turned into a an elf or a troll. I still don’t understand the love Brits have for boybands, soap operas and marmite though.

21 Jul

Two Doors Down

If you happen to be in London, there’s this little coffee shop in Kentish Town I highly recommend. Two Doors Down opened only a year ago but has become very popular since and was recently chosen the best new coffee shop by the Coffee Stop UK awards. I’ve been a regular almost from the first day.

I love the combination of the best flat white you can possibly get and chatting to the owners, Rich and Klara, in a truly cosy atmosphere. I’ve talked to other guests quite often as well because, somehow, they make everyone feel like home. They’ll probably even remember what you like! The food’s also really good, f.ex. the toasted sourdough with fresh avocado, tabasco, lemon and cracked pepper or the homemade quail egg sausage rolls.

To be able to create and maintain an ambience like that in a coffee shop is pretty magical.

Website

Address: 73 Kentish Town Road, NW1 8NY

16 Jul

Emma Thompson outdoing herself?

In my humble opinion, UK cinema is the best in the world and most of my favourite TV-series are also from here. This morning I watched an interview with actor Robert Carlyle (Trainspotting, The Full Monty) where he talked about the first feature he directs. I simply can’t wait to see it. It’s called The Legend of Barney Thomson and Carlyle plays the lead himself. The other leading role is in the capable hands of Emma Thompson and I cracked up more than once when I watched the trailer. The movie is coming to theatres here in the UK on the 24th. Looking forward to this one!

11 Jul

Life in a Fishbowl

When the sun is shining bright, on one of the most beautiful Saturdays of the summer, going to a Film Festival is perhaps not what most people choose to do. Let alone to watch a pretty bleak Nordic film. A few film enthusiasts did so anyway to watch Baldvin Zophoniasson’s second feature, Life in a Fishbowl at the East End Film Festival.

The film follows three very different characters offering a cross section of society after the financial crash in Iceland 2008. A kind-hearted single mother takes on a demeaning career to stay afloat and protect her child; a dishevelled drifter drinks in order to forget his past; and an ambitious businessman wrestles with his conscience in the face of corporate fraud.

I talked to some audience members after the screening and they all liked the film. A few talked about how gripping it was and one said she wanted to marry Móri. Most of the people were eager to run out and bask in the sunshine but I managed to get an interview with Tim Evans, who was kind enough to sit down with me and share his thoughts on the film.

10 Jul

London in the Roaring Twenties

A few days back I posted a video of Reykjavik back in 1926. Now it’s time for London films from the same period.

The BFI has a whole lot of footage from each and every decade since filming began. For those living in the UK it’s easy to get lost for hours watching the captivating regional clips now available on BFI player. Britain on Film makes it easy to explore films with the help of a Film map. Brilliant idea! Unfortunately, due to rights restrictions, they can only make BFI Player available in the UK for now.

However, BFI has a Youtube Channel with a lot of accessible footage.

Now, this film from London’s Screen Archives is lovely.

And this footage from nightlife in the twenties always makes me smile.

Finally, London after dark. The old ladies in the end of the video are so amusing!

09 Jul

Tube romance

11713776_10205937902860769_2331837453524767084_o It’s complete chaos in the capital due to a tube strike. All major lines are completely closed, making this the first total shutdown in 13 years. The bus queues are endless.

Fortunately it will be over by midnight.

I love the London Underground. For an Icelander, not used to this luxury, it’s so brilliant to be able to get from one part of the city to another so easily and in such short time. It can be madness during rush hour but apart from that it’s splendid.

However, I’ve never thought about the London Underground as a replacement for Tinder or whatever people use these days to find love. Apparently one can find romance on the tube, or so they say on ITV, where they also list top stations to find singles.

Wonder if commuters will find love in the chaos today!

06 Jul

A Song for Jenny

Programme Name: A Song For Jenny - TX: n/a - Episode: n/a (No. 1) - Picture Shows: Julie Nicholson (EMILY WATSON) - (C) BBC - Photographer: Nicola Dove

Last night I watched the film A Song For Jenny on BBC1. Even now my eyes water when I think about scenes from the movie. It’s heartbreaking to watch but worth it. A Song for Jenny is based on a book by Julie Nicholson, a mother who lost her daughter during the 7/7 attacks in 2005. The book was adapted for television by the Irish playwright Frank McGuinness and Brian Percival directs. It’s very well written and directed. It’s often said that storytelling is all in the details and this screenplay is a proof of that. Emily Watson gives an incredible performance as Julie, one you’ll never forget.

Julie is struggling to accept her daughter’s death in the suicide bombing at The Edgware Road tube station. As viewers, we can feel the raw emotions through Watson’s performance, the anguish, the devastating wait for the worst news possible. Then the death of hope, the anger and the hatred, but also the complicated and mixed feelings when she tries to honour her daughter by letting go of the hatred, failing at first.

In this interview with The Express, Emily Watson talks about how she met Julie ahead of filming; ‘Julie was amazingly generous. She is a natural storyteller and has a sense of the poetic, despite her own grief,’ says Emily. ‘I asked her a lot of really direct questions and she answered them completely. Although she kind of lost her faith, she came through it and chose life and love and not hatred.’

If Watson will not take home a lot of awards during next awards season, I’ll be surprised. It’s not often we see acting on this level, not even in England.

A Song for Jenny is one of the most powerful explorations of grief I’ve ever seen.

download

02 Jul

Strange days

11415470_10205826143266849_1252669487698795569_o The internet didn’t melt away yesterday, nor did I. However, roads melted as the mercury clocked 36.7C, the highest in July since records began in the mid 1870s. The hotspot was Heathrow. Very fitting.

This has been a sad and strange week over here. In the sweltering heat yesterday the first bodies of the victims killed by a gunman in Friday’s beach attack in Tunisia were flown back to the UK. Most of the victims were from here; it hasn’t been confirmed yet but it’s likely that 30 of 38 victims were British.

It has been agonising to listen to the survivors speak about their ordeal. It brings back memories of the 2011 Norway attacks when Anders Breivik killed 77 people. Like then, people under attack in Tunisia tried to play dead as the gunman passed and many of them were calling home from hideaways to say goodbyes to their loved ones. At the same time it’s moving to hear how people would selflessly put them self in danger while helping the injured and some even died protecting those they loved.

All of this is affecting the nation even more due to the fact that next week marks the 10 year anniversary of the 7/7 terrorist attack. The stories from those who survived back then blend in with the stories from last Friday.

Meanwhile, news from Iceland about earthquakes and a possible volcano eruption near Reykjavik are scaring the living daylights out of me. For some reason news like that affect me more when I’m over here than when I lived in Iceland.

I guess all we can do is try to enjoy each day, each moment. One never knows.