Kulcha-Vulchas

Its Panto Season in these parts. Dan loves them and has been to two or three so far, with another one, Dick Whittington, today.

We usually go with him, but lately he has been to most of these shows with two carers while we do something else. I often think we are fools to miss out on all the fun. For instance,  this week we decided to go to the Fitzwilliam Museum and soak up some art while Dan watched Jack and the Beanstalk.

Hanna was the prime mover in this, but the museum has a great cafe so, what the heck? We tried their Duchess of Cambridge Tarts and did the Guardian Weekend crossword. I nearly bought an excellent knight's helmet made of plastic that we would have died for as kids, then we set off to see the guest exhibitions up-stairs.

Hanna wanted to see "White Gold; Contemporary Japanese Porcelain". What on earth for? I thought to myself. I was more interested in seeing Japanese prints from the 19th century and was all for dashing across to see my old friends the Impressionists before the museum closed.

We got stalled in a fascinating modern calligraphy exhibit on the way, then plunged into the print exhibition which is called "Snow Country; Woodcuts of the Japanese Winter." You have probably seen some of them in books or on cards and posters, but you need to get up really close to see them properly.  

Making a woodcut is just the first step in producing one of these pictures. The paper may be embossed, the image hand coloured and then splattered with white pigment to create a snow storm. The detail is often phenomenal, particularly in the characters that inhabit the snowy scenes, but often a mountain or a forest is depicted with just a  few masterful strokes.

It may be hard to see these pictures afresh as they have had such a profound influence on European Art since the Impressionists saw them in the great Paris exhibition. I particularly looked at the composition, expecting the Japanese to depart from our principles of design that have been used since the Renaissance; but they don't. It's mostly thirds. However, don't you think these prints influenced our 20th century landscape painters and photographers? I do.

Moving on, we opened the door to the porcelain exhibition and gasped.

Most of the works were made in 2012 and the breadth of approach was a surprise to us. Even the paintings on the walls were on porcelain, which gave them a deep, luminous quality, not unlike looking at a backlit computer screen.

Of course there were pots, vases and other 3D works, all glowing with light and colour, but I was transfixed by two black kimonos that were covered in tiny porcelain butterflies. I would love to photograph them, but it's not allowed. I couldn't even find an image on-line. You will just have to go and see them.

I like to imagine someone wearing one of these creations and walking outside into a sunlit glade where all the butterflies would come alive and fly away. Even the slightest movement would make them live. I looked at the museum guard and decided not to risk giving the kimonos a good shake!

It's wonderful to have access to such amazing exhibits in Cambridge and to be able to go and see something that, on the face of it, has nothing to do with our daily grind. But that's the point of art really.  We both felt a bit poorly and uninspired that day but a few minutes in the museum took us right out of ourselves. We were starry-eyed students again, at least for a few hours.

Cambridge does really well for music and theatre too. Yesterday we took Dan to a show in a studio- theatre attached to the Cambridge Junction venue where we have been to see so many live bands over the years.

"The DIY Nativity Show" is just an hour long and performed by three actors and the audience. The Guardian gave it a rave review, but it looked a bit shambolic at first. However, the show steadily built up pace and it was impossible to predict where it was going or what would happen next. There was a sort of plot, but it barely escaped alive because of the randomness of the crew and the audience input. It certainly made our day.