Post of the day

Medieval Moonship by Michael Wickwar

When is a post not a post? When it's a Medieval Moonship, as featured in the 'Flying Colours: Fascinating Forms' art exhibition at the Assembly Rooms in Norwich until 31st August 2011 (free admission). The show looks to be a first attempt to stage a RA Summer Exhibition for the East and, as such, it comes off quite well.

There's certainly no shortage of work displayed around the Assembly Rooms (which are worth a visit for the buildings alone) and, as always in this kind of open exhibition, there is a good amount of 'laugh out loud' art on show: sometimes the laughter is caused by the presumption of those who appear to value their derivative efforts alongside the masters they impersonate. But more often it is the result of an witty and ingenious idea skillfully executed, as with Michael Wickwar's Medieval Moonship (above). The small wooden post behind the sculpture announces the sale price for this work as £3,250 and when you look at the sheer amount of detailed work on it you can see why.

While Wickwar's work is one of several strong contenders for 'best in show', I must give a special mention to Will Teather's painting entitled "Gwendoline Bertram's Lunar Incantations". Priced at £3,500 it really is a 'must see' for anyone who truly appreciates fine art. I'm not saying why, though.

But you said there would be puppies!

Oh, right. Puppets...

The Post's first visit to Norwich Puppet Theatre yesterday to see Indigo Moon Theatre's production of "Aladdin". Some top quality design work in the shadow puppets and settings and a lot of hard work for a lone puppeteer handling all the characters and doing all the voices in a 50 minute performance, but... unfortunately it was one of those shows that had me looking at the architecture of the converted church that houses the theatre, the lighting rig and my watch for increasing periods from about 20 minutes in.

A shame, as anyone who has seen shadow puppetry will know what a magical experience it can be, but the pantomime-like performance style of this piece seemed to work against the medium. With a  tighter text, fewer (ideally no) attempts at playing for cheap laughs via topical references, less gratuitous audience interaction and more work on vocal control and developing a variety of character voices the piece might begin to come together. Still, I believe it's early days for this tour, so it may yet happen. In the meantime, it has the feel of an opportunity missed.

But maybe my experience of the show was unfairly coloured by the theatre's poor sight lines and the front-of-house staff sitting directly behind me chattering throughout the show, because apart from all that I quite enjoyed it.