Latest news with #BethTaylor
The Guardian
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Giulio Cesare review – concert staging with plenty of sublime, and ridiculous, moments
There is a passage at the end of Act 1 of Handel's Giulio Cesare when a mother and son sing together, unaccompanied, united by loss. In this no-frills concert staging, mezzo-sopranos Beth Taylor (Cornelia) and Paula Murrihy (Sesto, a trouser role) faced each other, barely projecting, their vocal lines – locked in sighing parallel thirds – ringing absolutely true. It was one of the powerfully intense moments in a performance that ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. Also sublime: countertenor Christophe Dumaux's lucid, liquid ornamentation as Caesar admits he has fallen for 'Lydia' (Cleopatra in disguise), entering competitive musical dialogue with a solo violin and shrugging at a flurry of musical leaps he was never going to imitate. Or his extraordinary control of a single unaccompanied sustained note at the start of his heartfelt aria in the final act, shaping an achingly slow crescendo and decrescendo in a way that was little short of bewitching. Or John Holiday's compelling turn as Cleopatra's brother Ptolemy, his countertenor flexible, his ornamentation nimble. Or the English Concert under artistic director Harry Bicket – always energetic, always neat, never flamboyant – whose string tone was warm or frozen as the emotional temperature demanded, the horns burnished, the occasional woodwind solos elegantly shaped. At the opposite end of the spectrum was the appearance of Achilles (baritone Morgan Pearse) carrying a Waitrose bag, from which he produced the plot's all-important bloodied head to delighted giggles from the auditorium. Later – now mortally wounded – he arranged himself onstage with a grin at the audience. Meanwhile, after Ptolemy's death, Holiday picked himself up, dusted himself down and hoiked his trousers before walking off. And in the absence of 'staging' beyond that plastic bag, an urn and a plastic knife, there was a lot of dramatic walking: striding and shuffling, a few tentative steps and the occasional full-pelt dash. Some of this seemed mannered and self-conscious alongside an unequivocally world-class musical performance. The constant movement on and off stage also gradually began to pall. But one standout turn negotiated the rapid switches between carry-on comedy and searing tragedy with ease. Louise Alder's Cleopatra treated the stage like a fashion runway, her first aria a heady cocktail of charisma and confidence, crooning and ferocious coloratura. Yet it was her later sincerity that hit home above all: lines sustained with tenderness and poise, her ornamentation exquisitely graceful – all utterly compelling.
BBC News
12-03-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Grieving Scots welcome progress on miscarriage bereavement leave
Beth Taylor struggled to get out of bed after she was told she had miscarried at her 12-week pregnancy boss, she says, asked 'would she be back tomorrow or the next day?'The 25-year-old from Aberdeen had envisioned a life for her first child - one that was lost in an instant during the appointment last summer."Even if it's a week into the pregnancy and you lose it, you've still lost the whole future that you were going to have," she said. "The second you see those two lines on that test, your whole life is completely different - you picture your whole life completely differently."Beth is among the grieving people who have welcomed the UK government's backing of bereavement leave for couples who experience such a loss. Currently employees are eligible for parental bereavement leave if they or their partner lose their baby after 24 weeks of Minister Justin Madders told MPs he "fully accepts" the principle of bereavement leave for pregnancy loss at all stages, and promised to look at adding the right to the Employment Rights proposal will now be considered by the House of and charities have described it as a crucial step forward in acknowledging miscarriage as a bereavement. Beth told BBC Scotland News that when she asked her former workplace for time off after her loss, their response made an already traumatic time even harder."My boss just automatically assumed I'd want to come back to work after that and said 'will you be back tomorrow, or maybe the next day?'"And I was obviously, like, no, I'm going to need a bit of time."It felt that a lot of what I was feeling was sort of wrong, like it was a shameful thing I'd gone through, and no-one wanted to address it and say do you need some time to yourself?"Just walking around my house afterwards, it was hard. I couldn't go into the spare bedroom because that was going to be their bedroom."It was almost impossible to get out of bed, let alone go to work and be normal."Beth said her only option was to take unpaid leave, and the experience resulted in her leaving her job. Abi Clarke set up the Miscarriage Information Support Service, based in was after her own experience of baby also welcomed news of the proposed leave change."After such a traumatic loss - whatever your experience may be, however early, however late you were - it is a loss," she said."It is a bereavement - you're grieving."When you get that pregnancy test, when you get that positive your life changes - and when you have that loss, again your life changes again - it's something that always sticks with you."Just having that acknowledgement, being able to say that it's ok, that you've had a loss, it's not your fault - but also to know there's support available there as well." 'A uniquely devastating experience' When sports writer Michael McEwan and his wife went for their 12-week scan, they were also told they had lost their baby."In that moment my life completely changed. I don't think I've been the same since," he said."It's the most uniquely devastating, crushing experience, frankly, that I've ever had."The couple suffered two further miscarriages, before their daughter, now aged seven, was said his workplace at the time was supportive but that, with hindsight, he thought he maybe went back too quickly."I think I went back to work two days later," he said. "But it wasn't the right thing at that time."It's hard to articulate unless you've been through it - at the point you discover you're going to become a parent, you start behaving and feeling and acting like a parent."Even when you can't reach out and touch them, when you can't hold them, when you can't comfort them - they're still your child, and that's the part I think a lot of people don't understand."He said any progress on bereavement leave was a "positive thing"."It can only help people - and I wish it had been around 10 years ago," he added.
