Event
Valentino Paris Fashion Week : riffs on filigreed wrought iron gates
Valentino : Paris Fashion Week features enchanted gardens
by Jeanne Beker
Speaking of torch bearing, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli continue to wow Valentino devotees by remaining true to themselves and to the legacy of the house.
They, too, got their gardening gloves out and cultivated an achingly romantic collection that paid homage to the classic Roman garden. Presented in the swish salons of Hotel Salomon de Rothschild, there were riffs on filigreed wrought iron gates, masterfully recreated with swirls of piping, and embroideries that suggested garden mazes. Many dresses featured long sleeves, and novel cape-dresses were particularly modern.
A rested-looking Valentino watched from the front row, leaping to his feet at the show’s end to hug the designers as they passed by to take their bows. Evidently, the master is as proud of this talented duo, who have blossomed so beautifully.
from thestar.com
Wrought iron and Santa Cruz Chocolate Festival
Santa Cruz Chocolate Festival benefits UCSC re-entry students
By Cathy Kelly
More than 800 people turned out for the 6th annual Santa Cruz Chocolate Festival at the Cocoanut Grove Sunday, turning a love of everything chocolate into scholarships for re-entry students at UC Santa Cruz.
A representative of the UCSC Women’s Club, which organizes the event, said they hoped the event would raise about $15,000 for scholarships.
The festival offered six samples of chocolate for $15 and crowds milled about Sunday trying chocolate toffee, truffles and things such as chocolate-covered coconut curry cashew candies.
Other creations included a balsamic chocolate ganache and brie atop poached pear crostini by Lifestyle Culinary Arts of Santa Cruz and a Seattle-based company called Theo that claims to be the only one in the nation creating chocolate “from bean to bar” with organic, fair trade cocoa.
Lead organizer Ann Berry-Kline said the festival added wine tasting for the first time this year and that about half of the 38 vendors were new. They included several area chocolatiers, as well as ice cream makers and others.
“It’s been amazing; it’s going really well,” said Berry-Kline, a realtor with Bailey Properties. “We’ve got lots of great stuff.”
A new confectioner, Boulder Creek Candy, made their debut at the festival, selling mostly chocolate-covered caramels.
Jackie Young of Boulder Creek had a box of their chocolates under her arm, saying she wanted to support the new business. She also had something from the silent auction — a red, wrought-iron chair used as a planter with “hen and chicks” succulents growing from the seat.
“We’re really here to support the UCSC re-entry program,” Young said. “This is a great gathering of local talent. It was very enjoyable.”
The event also included naming of the Chocoholic of the Year — festival founder Lorraine Margon of Santa Cruz.
Margon’s husband, Bruce, is vice chancellor of research at UCSC. The couple moved to Santa Cruz from Maryland not long before she agreed to organize a new fundraiser, Margon said. She said she had her doubts about whether she could pull it off, especially since she was new in town.
But Joe Marini of Marini’s Candies was the first to agree to participate, giving her a verbal promise he made good on, and others followed, she said.
It has become a great fundraiser that has also brought the Women’s Club closer together, Margon said.
“I’m happy to see it going strong,” she said. “I didn’t realize how open Santa Cruz would be to a new festival. And it’s a great cause. A lot of students fall through the cracks and need help with summer tuition or childcare or a new laptop.”
Larry Mosely of Scotts Valley attended with his wife, Becca, and some friends.
“It’s wonderful,” he said. “I had a lot of fun. I tasted a lot of chocolate and decorated a cupcake.”
And ate it, his wife chimed in. Mosely smiled and gave a nod.
from santacruzsentinel.com
Wrought iron gates and Shakespeare at the Maynardville Open Air Theatre
Shakespeare’s ‘Lost Play’ Cardenio fulfils
Clifford Graham: Cardenio is in many ways a fulfilling play and Roy Sergeant’s staging for the 2013 season at Maynardville will be remembered for some time. I suppose it makes perfect sense, before going into a review of the current production of Cardenio at the Maynardville Open Air Theatre, to touch on the origins of this play and why it is referred to as Shakespeare’s lost play. Director Roy Sargeant in his programme notes points out that the play is the product of research by Gregory Doran, currently the Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, rather than a long lost manuscript found in someone’s attic or buried under a pile of documents in an obscure English archive.
The original play was known to have been performed by the King’s Men (a London Theatre company) at the court of King James I as early as 1613. It is attributed to William Shakespeare and John Fletcher. The work was probably based on an episode of Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote involving the character Cardenio, a young man who has been driven mad with love and betrayal and lives in the Sierra Morena. After 1613 the play seems to have disappeared and appears only sporadically under varying titles. No original text for the play survives.
However the play as it is presented using Gregory Doran’s text, re-imagined after William Shakespeare could be said to be in the style of Shakespeare. No matter, it is a very good play none the less. The synopsis of the play reads like a Mozart Opera, love triangles become foursomes with an evil don hell bent on seducing every vulnerable wench in sIght. Well yes, there is a lot of that, but there are some very human threads to the plot which enrich the story and keep the audience guessing throughout. It’s hard to be sure just how much of the play is the work of Messrs. Fletcher and Shakespeare, but perhaps it’s best to forget the complex provenance and just sit back and be entertained.
Set design by Dicky Longhurst is simple but effective. Wrought iron gates and window bars are reminiscent of Moorish architecture. Costume is detailed and for the most part accurate to the time. Roy Sargeant’s vision is clearly defined in the Spanish qualities that imbue the production. Light references to Catholic ritual, wild fiesta dances and obsessions of sex and death leave us in no doubt as to the plays’ Spanish temperament.
And of the ensemble? Some dazzling performances made Cardenio a pilgrimage I would have been happy to make on my knees. Francis Chouler’s Fernando, filled with menace and glimpses of a tyrant in the making, provides a pivot for the rest of the cast to react to. Jenny Stead’s Luscinda, filled with measured innocence, is charming, allowing audience sympathies to grow at each twist in the plot. Terence Bridget comes close to stealing the show with his sometimes comic, often bumbling take on the role of Don Bernardo, Luscinda’s father. Marcel Meyer as Pedro brings an air of reason to the plot.
But for me it’s the pairing of Armand Aucamp (Cardenio) with Francis Chouler (Fernando) that heightens the production as a whole. They were last seen together in Mary and the Conqueror (Artscape Spring Drama Season 2011). The chemistry between these actors seems to spur them on to greater performances.
Cardenio is in many ways a fulfilling play and Roy Sergeant’s staging for the 2013 season at Maynardville will be remembered for some time to come. Pack your picnic and make the pilgrimage. Cardenio is a must see! Cardenio is in rep with “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Maynardville Open Air Theatre in Cape Town until 9 March.
from artlink.co.za
The wrought iron beacon for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
Hadleigh: Jubilee beacon risk
By Emma Brennan
A ROW has broken out over the position of a beacon commissioned by Hadleigh Town Council to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
The wrought iron piece, which was made by a local craftsman and features a crown and the Olympic rings, was placed on Beaumont Primary School playing field after much debate about a suitable location.
The beacon has only been lit once at the end of a weekend of jubilee celebrations in June, but now Aldham Road resident Bob Southgate, who lives behind the playing field, has complained to the council about the risk to his home, should the beacon be lit again.
He said: “This beacon is right in front of my house about 20 yards from my bedroom window and I am concerned that with the prevailing winds from Kersey blowing straight in our direction, this could be potentially very dangerous.”
At a meeting last week, Mr Southgate asked the council to consider moving the beacon to a new home. But councillor Jan Byrne, who is also 
chair of the Hadleigh Society, said: “We chose the location for the beacon after careful consideration because it is the only piece of high ground that can be seen from all directions.
“The decision to put it there was because the play area is fenced off and locked at night which would prevent anyone getting to it. We were unable to plonk it right in the middle of the school playing field for obvious reasons, but there is still a hedge and a road between Mr Southgate’s house and the beacon.”
Although councillor Richard Whiting said it was “imperative” to move the beacon if it was causing distress, his colleague Penny Cook added: “It was extremely difficult to lift it into place and the cost of moving it – in the unlikely event that we found a suitable alternative location – would be prohibitive. As we are unlikely to light it for at least another 10 years, I think there is little point in going to the expense of moving it.”
from eadt.co.uk
Wrought iron fence for a “fair of the future”
Building a ‘fair of the future’
Fairgrounds getting upgrades to match city’s development, officials say
By BERTRAM RANTIN
This year’s fair runs Oct. 10-21, but State Fair manager Gary Goodman said the fair’s impact on the community is not limited to those 12 days.
“We want the fairgrounds to be a part of the city year-round,” Gary Goodman, said, citing the explosion of growth in the area and the resulting increase in traffic. “We recognized that we needed to be right in line with that (growth).”
Goodman said customary improvements at the fair had been spurred in recent years as the fair renegotiated a long-term contract with USC for football parking. That prompted the creation of a long-range plan that not only addressed normal growth but reflected the changing developmental landscape, he said.
The long-range plan was launched in 2009 with the opening of Carolina Park. The $5 million upgrade to the fairgrounds parking lot included 4,105 spaces on nearly 40 acres and as well as improved lighting, more green space and an extensive underground drainage system. About the same time, the fair added new wrought-iron exterior fencing along George Rogers Boulevard.
Since then the fair has expanded its Grandstand entrance and added an aerial security system throughout the grounds. Earlier this year, the landscaping was upgraded at several entrance gates.
Future projects include more exterior fencing, a pedestrian walkway along Bluff Road in conjunction with the S.C. Department of Transportation and Richland County, and new and renovated buildings.
The entire plan is expected to take from eight to 10 more years to complete. The total project cost was not known Monday.
Some changes won’t be as noticeable but will allow the fair to operate more efficiently, Goodman said. For example, he said the fair is upgrading its electrical system this year to support “the fair of the future.” The water system will be upgraded the following year.
The changes, which are not being paid for with taxpayer dollars, are being made as the fair generates revenue. Goodman said the current improvements near the front entrance and along the gates will cost about $300,000 but are necessary to help the fair maintain a fresh image.
“That area is such a visible part of the fair,” he said. Fred Delk, executive of the Columbia Development Corp., said the ongoing improvements to the fairgrounds are providing a needed boost to an area that has gone without revitalization for many years.
“This is so important to bring a better face to that end of town and to start creating redevelopment opportunities,” Delk said. “It creates a gateway for industrial development in that area and has to have a spin off for future development.”
State Fair operations director Tim Wilson said the fair has come a long way since the days of sawdust grounds and above-ground electric lines, but it can’t afford to get complacent.
“We don’t want to be satisfied,” Wilson said. “People that drive through this corridor, they notice. So if you can get it better, then make it better.”
from thestate.com
