Manchester International Festival: Day 14

• Richard Fair
• 11 Jul 07, 08:48 AM

I’d forgotten how entertaining unreserved seats could be. Despite my ticket telling me I was sat in seat GA3 14, it was in fact every man for him self. Brilliant. Half a dozen or so people wasted good seat finding time looking for row numbers, while all around them others dashed around the performance space trying to work out where the best view would be. Of course those that arrived late had to sit in a dark corner and think about what would have been if only they’d not stopped off on the way for nibbles.

The Pianist is based on the memoirs of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Jewish composer and concert pianist living in Warsaw during the German occupation in 1939. It’s a mix of readings, performed with true emotion by Peter Guinness and piano pieces from Szpilman’s concert repertoire played by Mikhail Rudy.

I found a seat that gave me an uninterrupted view of Rudy’s finger work as I expected that in the 1830 Warehouse at the Museum of Science and Industry, there would be little else to look at. Guinness did walk around the Grand Piano a lot delivering his sometimes graphically disturbing account of Szpilman’s time alone and hungry hiding from the German’s in an attic – and we were there with him. At times in near total darkness, wondering if the odd creak of the floor was an early warning that the guards were about to come in and find us.

Wonderfully staged, beautifully lit with a music score that would have filled the place on its own, The Pianist is no doubt be another of those events that will help cement the future of what has been a fantastic Festival.

Typecast
Are us journalists really that bad? I picked up my ticket from the Box Office and the young volunteer behind the desk confirmed with me that I was from the BBC. “Well the bar is just along there, but don’t forget that they won’t let you into the performance if you’re late.” Just to be on the safe side, I consumed nothing but the chilled night air.

Tonight
More classical music tonight, so I’m off to The Bridgewater Hall for The Cunning Little Vixen.

Blogs
Local Edition is not a Manchester Blog, but it does carry a review of The Pianist from someone who is happy to travel anywhere to see a good show.
Ben Musgrave is the author of Pretend You Have Big Buildings which premiers at the Royal Exchange this week as part of the Festival. He’s been blogging about the experience.
Finally I think I may have touched one of Greg Hall’s nerves, “I was harassed live on BBC Radio by Richard Fair, who was claiming that I was making a film "about Manchester", and that it was an unfair representation of the City.”