Week beginning 31 January 2024

Ramie Targoff Shakespeare’s Sisters Four Women Who Wrote the Renaissance, Quercus Books riverrun, March 2024.

Thank you, Net Galley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review.

Ramie Targoff begins with a reference to Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own in which she compares the success men win for their literary efforts in comparison with women of similar talent. Essential to women’s opportunities she believed were money and independent space. Also, of importance to Targoff’s effort to bring four women writers into the history they deserve, is Woolf’s reiteration of the story of Judith, Shakespear’s imaginary sister. Judith, it is said, was as brilliant a writer as William, but her sex reduced her to obscurity.  Targoff aims to give the four sisters about whom she writes their deserved place in the history of writing. Anne Clifford, Mary Sidney, Aemilia Lanyer* and Elizabeth Cary are given their literary due in this detailed account of their lives and work.

Targoff’s book is resplendent with detail. The women’s status, domestic and public lives and writing history and successes, alongside further details of their work, is thoroughly explored. So too is the political, social and economic environment in which they worked. My only quibble about this delightful book is that further detail of the literary context would have, I think, added to even greater understanding of the magnitude of the women’s achievements. (NB. the Epilogue incudes relevant sources). See Books: Reviews for the complete review.

* Next week I review Tudor Feminists by Rebecca Wilson which also features Aemelia Lanyer.

After the Covid update: Cindy Lou enjoys meals in Canberra and Sydney; Art Gallery of New South Wales visit; Museum of Contemporary Art visit; Tiddas at Belvoir Street Theatre; E. Jean Carroll on The Rachel Maddow Show; The Trump Trials by George Conway.

Covid update for Canberra

Cindy Lou enjoys meals in Canberra and Sydney

Bamiyan Restaurant

Bamiyan is a lively restaurant that serves delicious Afghani food in generous portions. We chose Banquet 2 with set entrees and the choice of four main dishes. The meals were served with hot bread, no rice, and we enjoyed this. Of course, it does require a mopping up of the sauces rather than the more elegant rice with sauce, but this is not a problem at this casual venue.

If I have a complaint, it is the level of noise that at times made conversation difficult. There is outside seating that could be a better choice if hearing is an issue.

Entrees came with a magnificent mixed grill which comprised chicken, and lamb meatballs. There was a salad, a selection of accompanying sauces, dumplings and a stuffed bread dish. The mains we chose were the prawns, lamb, chicken, and eggplant. All were delicious, but the prawn dish really stood out.

Basket Brothers, Surrey Hills

Many cafes in Surrey Hills were closed on Friday 26th, so we were pleased to find Basket Brothers open. This cafe has an interesting menu, friendly and prompt staff, and delicious food. A lemon, lime and bitters and vanilla milkshake were welcome as the day became hotter. My plate of two succulent mushrooms, beetroot dip and warm bread, spiced pumpkin, a generous portion of halloumi, avocado, pickled cucumber and two poached eggs with sprouts was amazing. Fortunately, the evening was given over to a visit to the Belvoir and no more eating.

Nour, Surrey Hills

Nour was a wonderful experience, from the welcoming smiles as we arrived, to the friendly farewells at the end of the night. We had a marvellous waiter who was most helpful in ensuring that we had a good understanding of portion sizes, the best way to enjoy the dishes (mix the eggplant with the sauce, which I think we did not really achieve so it was a disappointing dish) and the number of dishes that would work well. I particularly enjoyed the mussel parfait with a hot roll, the Murray cod mezze, the fish main and the cauliflower side. I would order the Fattoush salad in preference to the mushroom dish next time. The fresh mint tea made a lovely end to the meal. Others enjoyed the lamb shoulder, meat mezzes and the scallops. There is an excellent range of small and larger mezzes, four main dishes plus a special, and well-proportioned side dishes ‘from the garden’.

The Gallery Cafe, New South Wales Art Gallery

This is a lovely spot to eat, and enhanced for me by the connection with Mindy Woods, a Master Chef competitor whom I followed on the show. Alas, I did not order the healthy salad promoted in her name, the cakes looked too inviting and it was too early for lunch. Perhaps next time…

Breakfast at Rydges Central, Surrey Hills

Rydges Central offers a light breakfast comprising tea or coffee, toast and accompaniments, and a pastry. I have not seen this option elsewhere but found it an excellent choice after the meal at Nour, and before the morning tea at the Gallery Cafe. The usual continental and full cooked breakfasts were also available. The possibilities for both were very good indeed. After all this eating out I was pleased to arrive home and have hot buttered toast and baked beans. And a fasting day after that to celebrate.

Breakfast at The Rocks Cafe

The lemon meringue tart has changed drastically since the last time I was at The Rocks Cafe, just before Covid lockdown. For years it has been a magnificent sight of a mountain of meringue, which of course, would be impossible to eat. The breakfast was as I remember it from that previous occasion – generous and delicious, served with a smile and speed.

Two enjoyable Art Galleries in Sydney

I made a short visit to the Art Gallery of New South Wales in the couple of hours between checking out and catching a plane.

Museum of Contemporary Art

This gallery is in an enviable position, situated between Circular Quay and The Rocks, making it a wonderful interlude between the two tourist attractions. On this occasion the indigenous art continued the themes established by our attendance at Tiddas at The Belvoir.

Kevin Gilbert 1933 – 1993. Born Kalara riverbank (Lachlan River), Condobolin, New South Wales. Lived and worked Condobolin, Taree and Canberra. Wiradjuri Nation.

Left to right, linocuts: Boothung and Mirrigarn, 1967/1990; Corroboree Spirits, 1965/1990; Christmas Eve in the Land of the Dispossed, 1968/1992.

Gift of Reg Richardson AM and Sally Richardson, 2015.

Left to Right linocuts:

Colonising Species, 1989

Lineal Legends, 1965/1992; The Nomad, 1969/1992

Courtesy of the Estate of Kevin Gilbert.

The other exhibition that I found interesting was an artist’s response to demolition of a property. The art is a positive response to an event that was impossible to prevent, and I thought, is an excellent contribution to art, and to community history.

Simryn Gill

Tiddas at Belvoir Street

Image from another production – I rather like the Belvoir Street staging!

Tiddas (Sisterhood) is the 90-minute play based on Anita Heiss’ novel. The following is from the advertisement for the play. I am interested in the assertion that the women demonstrate unconditional friendship as the play showed some cracks arising from the book groups reluctance to consider the white author’s novels for discussion; her indigenous husband’s lack of commitment to his indigenous community and the others’ criticism of this; the trauma around one sister’s fertility and the other’s desperation after IVF treatment. These distinct differences were essential to the play; the women’s interaction; and our, as an audience, reaction to the huge ideas the play encompassed.

A SHOW OF SISTERHOOD AND SECRETS

Jacaranda season blooms early in Sydney as our 2022 smash-hit production, Tiddas, pays a visit.

Tiddas is a page-to-stage adaptation of Anita Heiss’ much-loved and best-selling novel.

Five women, best friends for decades, meet once a month to talk about books, life, love and the jagged bits in between.

Best friends tell each other everything, don’t they? But each woman carries a complex secret and one weekend, without warning, everything comes unstuck.

At its heart Tiddas is a story about enduring, unconditional friendship, and women supporting women.

Sydney audiences will be introduced to the story’s inimitable stars; Izzy, Veronica, Xanthe, Nadine and Ellen as part of Sydney Festival’s Blak Out program.

Tiddas was originally commissioned and produced by La Boite Theatre, Brisbane Festival and Queensland Performing Arts Centre. 

CAST

Louise Brehmer
Lara Croydon
Sean Dow
Roxanne McDonald
Anna McMahon
Perry Mooney
Jade Lomas-Ronan

CREATIVES

Playwright Anita Heiss, Co-Directors Nadine McDonald-Dowd and Roxanne McDonald, Set & Costume Designer Zoë Rouse, Associate Designer Grace Deacon, Lighting Designer Jason Glenwright, Sound Designer & Composer Wil Hughes and Fight & Intimacy Director Nigel Poulton

E. Jean Carroll on The Rachel Maddow Show

This was riveting watching as Rachel introduced the interview with a wonderfully graphic account of E. Jean Carroll’s background. A game? A men’s magazine? Eccentric articles? And that is only the beginning.

This was such a colourful introduction to this woman of distinction, originality and courage.

E. Jean Carroll was then asked by Elle to write a regular column which led to a stalwart and inspiring career.

George Conway comments in The Atlantic (George T. Conway III, The Atlantic <thetrumptrials@theatlantic.com> )

This is The Trump Trials by George T. Conway III, a newsletter that chronicles the former president’s legal troubles.

(Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty)

View in browser Eighty-three million, three hundred thousand dollars.  When a New York jury awarded that amount to E. Jean Carroll on Friday in her defamation action against former President Donald Trump, I was awestruck. Now, as a lawyer, I had thought a fair verdict could range anywhere from $75 to $100 million—or even more. Carroll had already obtained a $5 million verdict in a trial just last year, an amount comprising roughly $2 million for his having sexually abused Carroll in 1996, and roughly $3 million for his having defamed her in 2022, after he (unwillingly) left office.This trial, the second trial, was held to determine what damages she had suffered when he defamed her in 2019, when Carroll first told the world how Trump had assaulted her. It stood to reason that the damages for that slander would be much greater—after all, that had been the first time he’d lied about her, and, importantly, his status as president had compounded the impact of those lies. On top of all that, he continued to lie about her, over and over again, even during this second trial—displaying a maliciousness that could justify punitive damages several times higher than the amount quantifying her actual harm. So on a professional level, I wasn’t surprised. But on a personal one, I felt overwhelmed. Nine regular people in New York, picked at random, meted out justice to a man who had been president of the United States, a man who claims to have billions of dollars. They showed that the justice system still works in America. Donald J. Trump can’t do whatever he wants with impunity. He is not above the law. See Further Commentary and Articles arising from Books* and continued longer articles as noted in the blog for the complete article.