Have you heard the one about a Sril Lankan British stand-up comedian called Jonathan, an Indian who forever changed the course of mathematics thinking and two guitarists called Martin, all of whom could be found in Bury St. Edmunds on a Friday and Saturday night? No, well read on…..
We managed to experience all of the above on an overnight stopover in Bury on the Friday and Saturday just gone. First up at the Apex was Romesh Ranganathan and the Jonathan aside is derived from a fine section of his act ribbing his parents for their confused attempts to integrate him into British life. It’s a set that takes us through everyday and sometimes trivial concerns – trips to Wagamama, iPhones v Androids, cinema popcorn portions – and fashions them into very funny and well delivered routines. He can on occasion be casually cruel, but his grumpiness, self deprecation and warmth always gets him through. Recommended, unless you’re offended by copious amounts of swearing.
We stayed overnight and so the next day we had time for a foray to Bury’s excellent Playhouse Film Theatre to catch “The Man Who Knew Infinity“. This drama centres on the extraordinary, little-known story of Srinivasa Ramunujan, a young Indian man at the beginning of the last century whose untrained genius for pure mathematics and a staggering volume of original work produced unaided and outside the academic system stunned the fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge to whom he had been introduced by his mentor, the distinguished mathematician GH Hardy. It was a little soft centred and I could have done without the treacly musical accompaniment but overall I thought it was well observed and quietly moving. Very well acted by all involved, it may have provided only a superficial understanding of Srinivasa Ramunujan’s importance in the field of mathematics, but that’s still a superficial understanding that I didn’t have before I went to see the film! Made me want to read the book.
On Saturday night it was the turn of the two Martins, again at the Apex. Martin Taylor (jazz guitarist) and Martin Simpson (folk, slide and roots) came together to provide a gig of jazz, gospel, blues and rootsy folk playing of exceptional flair and virtuosity. Not many could turn Cindy Lauper’s ‘Time after Time’ into an instrumental master class. Starting and finishing the gig as a duo, they each also performed a short solo spot either side of the interval but it was understandably when the two played together that we saw and heard something extra special. I’m often to be heard bemoaning the stripped down solo and acoustic gig, arguing for the fuller sound and dynamics that a group setting can provide, so it’s testimony to the skills of these two guitar giants that I didn’t miss any of their potential erstwhile collaborators all evening. Understated, but musically excellent.