Skip to content
Priptona's Simple Minds Space

Priptona's Simple Minds Space

May contain a heavy dose of Jim Kerr

  • Home
  • About me/this blog
  • Contact me
  • Search/history (archive)
  • Sons/Sister celebration
  • Vlog posts
  • Upcoming Gigs
  • Toggle search form

A Night With Don Juan…

Posted on May 16, 2017 By Priptona No Comments on A Night With Don Juan…

Yesterday’s London juant was a good one. The weather started out quite appallingly. I got lost when I arrived in London (I really don’t do well with traversing London on my own!)…but once I got my bearings and made ot to my first “port of call”, it turned into a lovely night.

First off the bat yesterday was a visit to the Royal Academy for a viewing of the America: After The Fall exhibition. It was quite a small exhibit, with only some 30 paintings on display, including two Edward Hopper’s, several Grant Wood’s and a selection from various other artists, including Joe Jones, an artist I had not previously heard of, but was moved by his amazing compositions. One painting of his in particular had a real emotional impact. It depicted the lynching of a female by the KKK. It was striking. It’s called “American Justice”. I would like to hope that the title was meant to be taken with full irony…for there is absolutely nothing “just” about the imagery of the painting.

There was also one by Philip Guston called Bombardment – it seemed SSOO…foretelling. It was painted in 1937, yet it shows what went on in WWII in amazing detail.


Another one I really loved looking at was one by Helen Lundeberg called Double Portrait Of The Artist In Time (what a title!).

My favourite Grant Wood’s were The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere and Death on Ridge Road. I got much more from them than American Gothic, but I was glad to also see such an iconic vision of modern art.

Of the two Edward Hopper’s on display, it was Gas that I liked most of the two. There was something about seeing it with my own eyes that impacted more. How…remote and lonely it felt…and the colour and tone was beautiful. A perfect capture of the very end of dusk on a spring day. That aspect of it was striking. The light…or the dimness of it…it was just captured so beautifully by Hopper. I fell in love with that one. I will have to see Nighthawks again to see whether I like it as much as Gas. (Yes…I was a bad girl and took a sneaky pic of it.)


Both the Grant Wood’s that I liked and the Philip Guston were oil on masonite. Showing how little I actually know about art, I was unfamiliar with this medium (the masonite) and must look into it!

There was even a Jackson Pollock on display I liked! And I’m never usually one for Pollock. 

It was a good, concise exhibition. A small collection, but they pack a collective punch! 

And…onto Don Juan In Soho. I made it down to the Wyndham’s Theatre by 5.30pm. Two hours to kill before show time. I had already used up a bit of time, going to Primark to secure me an inflatable doughnut. Something I won’t probably use now.


I took a walk through Leicester Square…had a drink and a bite to eat…people watched around where the main bit of Leicester Square is. Had a reccie of the Wyndham’s and looked to see where the stage door was…just in case I felt I might be bolshy enough to try and meet David afterwards.



The play itself is wickedly funny, perverse and very dark. The modern Don Juan could not be any more removed from Tennant himself, as a person, from what I can tell (being the son of a Church of Scotland minister). I lost count the number of times he said c***! His poor dad must have been shamefaced in heaven! 

As the quote on the outside of the theatre says (delivered by chauffeur and “friend” of Don Juan, Stan)…we are not MEANT to be charmed by him…oh, but you are. Well, I was! And I wished for that hedonism. To…fuck for the sake of fucking. To just…do as one likes and be damned the consequences! But, alas, that is not me. It never has been and never will be. As Don Juan describes himself, “I am a c***”…but he is a lovable one. 

So, yes…it was very rude, very risqué, but very, very funny, with an underlying message. 

I enjoyed it immensely. 

I managed to leave the theatre quite quickly. Having done so, and with it being quite early still (only 9.40pm), I decided to wait at the stage door for my chance. Roughly 30 minutes later, David appears. When he got towards me, we had a slightly awkward but fun exchange. He was more than happy to pose for the selfie with me. David Tennant, you are a scholar and a gentleman. Thank you! I shall treasure it always, as I will my signed ticket.



It was a good day 🙂

And, as the review from the Radio Times says…it was fabulously filthy!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window) Telegram
  • Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon

Like this:

Like Loading...
review, rock Tags:america after the fall, daavid tennant, don juan in soho, exhibition, london, royal academy, theatre, wyndham's theatre

Post navigation

Previous Post: Time To “Get Real”
Next Post: Tweekly FM Stats – May 16th

Related Posts

Getting Twiggy With It! photography
SIMPLE MINDS announce arena dates for November 2015 gigs
And Then…He Posts… jim kerr
The Tavistock Terrors charlie burchill
Gig Day! rock
A Small World & Say My Name! Gigs Four and Five – London Palladium and Bristol jim kerr

Leave a commentCancel reply

SEARCH THE BLOG

Blog Archive

Upcoming Gigs

Current Month

Other Posts

  • The Word(y) Girl June 24, 2025
  • Selling Some Stuff From My Collection June 22, 2025
  • Release Date for Kerr/Burchill Memoir Our Secrets Are The Same June 18, 2025
  • Monday Is 1981 Day – New Weekly Theme: First up – In The Garden: Eurythmics June 16, 2025
  • Young Stud In Berlin 1982 (Jim Kerr Interviewed on Countdown – July 1982) June 13, 2025
  • X Doesn’t Always Mark The Spot… June 9, 2025
  • Bucket List Gig – 50 Years In The Waiting June 8, 2025
  • Jim Kerr on What’s On Scotland STV on Friday Night 06/06/2025 June 7, 2025

Recent Comments

  • Scott on Young Stud In Berlin 1982 (Jim Kerr Interviewed on Countdown – July 1982)
  • Scott on X Doesn’t Always Mark The Spot…
  • Priptona on X Doesn’t Always Mark The Spot…
  • Scott on X Doesn’t Always Mark The Spot…
  • Scott on True Grit and Rocket Science
  • John on Why I Love…Careful In Career
  • Priptona on Oz Tunes
  • Scott on A Spin Of Nostalgia
  • Scott on Oz Tunes
  • Scott on Oz Tunes

Tags

1979 1980 1981 1982 1984 2017 2018 2019 2020 2022 acoustic tour australia bbc beautiful brian mcgee catherine anne davies charlie burchill cherisse osei derek forbes facebook fan art ged grimes gif gif bomb gigs interview jim kerr live london lyric of the day mel gaynor mmm new gold dream sarah brown shrine art simple minds simpleminds sons and fascination stats the anchoress thoughts tweekly fm virginia turbett walk between worlds? YouTube

Copyright © 2024 Priptona Weird - Simple Minds Space.

Powered by PressBook Masonry Dark

 

Loading Comments...
 

    X
    %d