27 Bree Street, McGregor
Wahnfried is a home in McGregor purchased by Michael and Freddie with the intention of it being used for the benefit of the Village, now and in the future. Our vision is that the house will act as a venue for cultural events - live music, recorded music, films and other ‘sympathetic’ activities which take place in our Village. The Moroccan inspired house with its double volume ‘salon’ and excellent acoustics is furnished with an 1873 Bechstein grand piano, comfortable chairs and a quality film projector system which shows films in high definition and the latest surround sound. Musical events are held most Sundays and films are shown weekly throughout the year.
Poetry films 2016
Friday’s
Film 3.00 pm: NOSTALGHIA 1983 (in Italian
with English sub-titles) 120 mins
Nostalghia is director Andrei Tarkovsky's
enigmatic work about a Russian poet who, trapped by his fame and an unhappy
marriage, seeks out his cultural past in Italy. Here he meets a local mystic
who sets him a challenging task. The film is filled with a series of mysterious
and extraordinary images and as in all of Tarkovsky’s films, nature, the
elements of fire and water, music, paintings and poetry all play a major role. Nostalghia won the Grand Prix de
Creation and the International Critics Prize at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival. “Spectacular,
astonishing, the nearest to Poetry that cinema can ever aspire” Financial Times
Saturdays Film 3.00 pm: L’ALLEGRO,
IL PENSEROSO ed IL MODERATO 2014 97 mins
Choreographer
Mark Morris' signature work comes to DVD and Blu-ray for the first time. Set to
Handel's 1740 oratorio based on Milton's pastoral poems, this performance by
the Mark Morris Dance Group was filmed live in performance in 2014 at the
Teatro Real in Madrid with the Teatro Real Orchestra and Chorus and 4 soloists
conducted by Jane Glover.
"Masterpiece
isn't a word to be thrown around lightly, but there's no denying that Mark
Morris's "L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato" is thrillingly
that." - Gia Kourlas, New York Times
"The
entire spectacle represents one of those rare theatrical occasions by which
those present measure their lives." - The Times Literary Supplement
(London)
"L'Allegro
is a brilliant fusion of music, choreography, dancing and theatrical whimsy
that reaches from Handel's era to the present in a quite wonderful way...a joy
in every respect, a masterpiece of the twentieth century." - Chicago
Tribune
Sundays
Film 3.00 pm: THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 132mins
Polly Findlay directs this live performance of Shakespeare's problematic
comedy is here reclassified as, if not a tragedy, at least a melancholy
examination of the human condition by the Royal Shakespeare Company, recorded
in May 2015 at their theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. This is a modern,
minimalist and thought-provoking staging of The Merchant of Venice which
examines the themes of racism, homosexuality and women’s independence. This
play is very well conceived, cast and acted and features some superb scenes and
hilarious cameos. The tone is set by Antonio's first line: "In sooth I
know not why I am so sad." whose lovelorn merchant is at the heart of
Polly Findlay's modern-dress production, knows very well why. Alone on stage,
he is a lost soul yearning for Bassanio who he later kisses with natural
familiarity. The trial scene – Antonio screaming in terror, the stage awash
with banknotes – is thrilling as Portia realises what her apparently romantic
marriage really means. The cast includes Makram Khoury as Shylock, Nadia Albina
as Nerissa, Scarlett Brookes as Jessica, Jamie Ballard as Antonio and Patsy
Ferran as Portia.
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