Family and friends Sunday

After breakfast we walked to St Catherine's for the Parish Eucharist. Altogether there were about forty adults and fifteen children present, with a dozen of them in the choir. 

After an early snack lunch we drove to the Millennium Centre for the performance of a new work commissioned by WNO called 'Migrations' in 2020, to commemorate the voyage of the Pilgrim Fathers to America. An opera meditating on a theme, that touched upon several different stories, rather than a single story line throughout. We were joined by our friend Chris, as we had a spare ticket, since Owain forgot we had invited him to come with us.

Through a series of operatic 'vignettes', for want of a better word, it presented the stories of other migrants. A black slave from the Caribbean brought to Bristol in the 18th century, a group of Cree Native Americans whose lands had been invaded by oil companies. a group of Indian doctors recruited to work in Britain in the 1960s, a diverse group of language learners in an English class, and most engagingly a flock of birds, represented a a dozen or more children singing and dancing superbly. 

The WNO chorus was on stage all through the two hour performance with a major singing role alongside individual soloists. Altogether a hundred people on stage. The libretto was sparse but powerful and the music emotionally rich and filmic, much like the Janacek we saw recently. 

After we said farewell to Chris, we stayed down the Bay for a while, enjoying a stroll in the evening sun, and then went to the station to meet Rhiannon from the train, coming to stay with us for a couple of nights. Last time she came she was unwell throughout, so it was lovely to have her with us for a catch-up. Since then she's been to Sta Pola with a couple of mates without her parents, and with her parents for a package holiday in Sorrento. She's now started working as a movie extra, introduced by Kath, who's been doing it for years. It's possible she may spend her gap year earning a living like this. It's well paid, if you're lucky enough to get hired, and she enjoys the social experience behind the actual performance she's required to be part of. She told us that she's going to training sessions for extras that involves fight simulation among other things, including basic stunt work. She said she's missed the Physical Theatre element of the drama course she's done in Stratford over the past two years, since finishing the course.

As we were about to eat supper, Rachel and Jasmine rang up, and the five of us joined in a video call. It's the first time in a couple of years since the two cousins were able to meet, albeit on-line. A fortunate stroke of luck for us. We watched telly for an hour and then turned in for the night.