Henry V, Globe

The Globe finished their World Shakespeare Season with Henry V, and also launched their new season with it. Jamie Parker returned as Hal and was as charming and cocky and young-Kenny-Brannagh as ever. We'd seen Henry IV parts one and two last year at the cinema and my god they were fantastic, so much better than the BBC's Hollow Crown series, Simon Russell Beale can fuck right off, he is a charmless slime-bucket, we love you Roger Allam, your Falstaff is my dream man, I was horrified at his "death scene cameo" (a large covered corpse was carried off) in Henry V. Yes, it was a good show and I'm glad I saw them all, but I miss Falstaff and as soon as it was over we went straight to the shop and bought Henry IV parts one and two on dvd to give to Dad-Y for birthday. Making this June!

My Week with Marilyn (2011)

Anna saw it at the cinema and said it was shite, which was a shame because I'd fancied seeing it because I wanted to see how Kenny tackled being Larry- to me it seemed the perfect casting.
My dad rented it and we watched it together. I thought it was brill! A great British ensemble piece and I actually managed to enjoy Judi Dench (there's a first!)
Also, just as I expected, Kenny nailed it. At some points I forgot he wasn't Olivier.

Anonymous (2011)

Good take on the 'who wrote Shakespeare's plays' theme. Nice acting and good story even if the script was a bit terrible, and I love it when acting families play older and younger versions of the same character. See photo of Joely Richardson playing young Queen Elizabeth and her mum Vanessa Redgrave playing older Bess. Thumbs up from British-actor-geek Amy!

The Artist (2012)

I was one of the people who saw the Artist without first seeing the spoiler-laden trailer.
I thought it was wonderful and a brilliant experience.
Everyone should see it at the cinema.

Anne Boleyn (Shakespeare's Globe)

A few weeks ago Alison and I saw Anne Boleyn at the Globe, I had wanted to see Rosencrantz and Guildenstern- and so had Alison! But Anna booked the tickets and then couldn't come.
Anyway, I enjoyed it, it was a million times better than The Other Boleyn Girl, Henry VII was hot and charming, Anne was a good lead and it was a good script, though James I and Villiers' dance and makeout number in the middle I recall was the real highlight.
It was fun and it was period so it fit at the Globe but as always, when I go to the Globe and I don't see a Shakespeare I kind of feel like what's the point?

Henry IV Part One and Part Two (Shakespeare's Globe)

Last weekend Anna and I went to the cinema to Shakespeare's Globe 2010 production of Henry IV- part one on saturday and part two on sunday.
We phyiscally saw (at the Globe) the production of The Merry Wives of Windsor that they're also screening at the cinema, about four years ago, it was absolutely wonderful and tons of fun. Andrew Havill in particualr as Ford was hilarious I remember. But that was the only expeience I'd had of Falstaff, played by Christopher Benjamin as the disgusting fat old wretch you expect when you read Falstaff.
I have chosen to post a photo of Roger Allam's Falstaff and his gang from part two rather than a photo of the two lovelies Sam Crane and Jamie Parker as Hotspur and Hal from part one because though, as I've cleary indicated, the boys were utterly lovely and such bloody good actors- Crane a brilliant creepy villain (and, above, a fun Russell Brand impersonator), Parker the ultimate young leading Shakespearean hero, such a natural charming actor, god, he was like a young Kenny Brannagh except Scripps!!- Anyway, I've chosen to post Falstaff here because I love Falstaff. Roger Allam was so so good. He won the Olivier, we all knew he was going to be good, the reviews were great but, man, he was SO good! I mean, yes, I've had a crush on him for a long time. Even as Falstaff with the padding on, he was such a fucking charming, warm, and witty, handsome coward! He was not a disgusting Falstaff and everything he said made perfect sense to me!!
Hot. This is getting tagged under 'handsomes'. Not for Scripps, not for Crane, for Allam.
Anyway, wonderful staging, so accessible, brilliant acting and ensemble. Part one was so much fun, part two was a tad depressing, especially as Allam was such a lovable Falstaff (don't like the idea of him dying in Henry V). I would have loved to have seen the shows live at the Globe and I'm so glad I got to see them now! I hope more theatres start filming and then showing in cinemas, instead of hiding them all away for the public never to see...

Small Island (2009)

I finally got round to watching this series last night with Anna. I watched half of the first episode when it was on but gave up after Ruth Wilson was dancing about in the air raid, I tried to remember why I stopped watching it, because really it was ok. I think I stopped because it was on the week that the Cambridge boiler was broken and it was just too cold to sit in the living room and watch it!

Anyway, funny that I should review this today as yesterday my pal Susie reviewed the book on her blog! She totally slated it! And it's all true, but as a 3 hour drama it was much better I reckon, for a start there are some fabulous shots of Jamaica and the rest of the art direction was fab too, it looked great! Then there's Naomie Harris and David Oyelowo both brilliant, they were why I enjoyed it. Ruth wasn't great and I'm usually a fan but she just wasn't right for the boring part and I didn't think her accent was up to much- it seemed a waste of Cumberbatch too but the guy playing his shellshocked father was good.

Anyway, like Susie said, the story was nothing special but I thought the two leads were very good- especially Naomie- and it made me want to go to Jamaica.

Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: the Golden Age (2007)

Anna told me just as I was away to watch these films "Look out for Tom Hardy and Lilly Allen, they make cameos."

Alfie Allen was in the first one and apparently Lilly was in the background of a scene, I didn't see her, Tom Hardy on the other hand was in a TV drama with Ann-Marie Duff as HM. But because I was on the look out for Tom and Lilly I noticed loads of other folk I might not have seen if I'd just been paying attention to the plot!

David Threllfall as John Dee, Adam Godley as Geoffrey Rush's brother and David Armand as Geoff's spy!

Who's David Armand?

"She's a witch!!!!" from Sorry I've Got no Head.

The Habit of Art (NT Tour- The Lowry)

Went to see Alan Bennett's play within a play, the one about W.H. Auden and Benjamin Britten having an imaginary conversation about Death in Venice. It was good, the first act I think was better, funnier, but then the second act was more focused on the fictional conversation whereas the first was more about the theatre- more of the play within a play.

The actors were all fantastic, not the original cast of course but with the National Theatre that doesn't matter, their touring casts are always just as good and I loved Desmond Barrit and Malcolm Sinclair, they were brill.

But I felt Bennett didn't have much to say with this play, it was self-indulgent of course, the History Boys was self-indulgent but fantastically focused. I can see why the National commissioned it though, it was very indulgent for them too! I really think they could have done a bit of rewriting for the tour, they kept referring to the theatre they were playing in as the National and there were a few bits at the end that of course didn't work in Manchester and NEVER could. A small point but one that bothered me nonetheless.

And I could have done with more of Britten's music, not just played it as the actors took their bows, there was poetry throughout, where was the music?

Danton's Death by Georg Büchner (National Theatre)

Tobes was his usual handsome, charming, brutish self as Danton but the real stand out performance was creepy, calculating, repressed Elliot Levey as Robespierre. Man, he was horrifyingly cold!! He even got booed at the end when the actors took their bows, which luckily he found quite amusing.

Great production- terrifyingly real guillotining at the end!

Russell Crowe's Robin Hood (2010)

So just what was Robin Hood trying to steal from the rich and give to the poor in this appallingly American rewrite of the legend Britain's best loved crim? Liberty?!

I have been watching a lot of Tony Robinson's Maid Marian and her Merry Men (1989-94) lately and I have to say that as a spoof and a children's show even MM was a better telling of the story than the drivel I sat through tonight! In Ridley Scott's RH Russell Crowe leads an army into battle with France on the shores of England. He never EVER steals anything from the rich and gives to the poor- he steals some grain from the church and gives it to the relatively wealthy bird that he fancies. NOTHING else.

The production design was awful, AWFUL. What the hell did they base the look of it on?! It was all wrong. Bad script, bad look, bad casting. Yeah, half the time- no wait, I'm being kind, MOST of the time I didn't have a clue what Russell Crowe was saying, I had no idea what his accent was supposed to be, Scouser, Geordie, Yorkshire, Irish?! What?!

I was angry that Guy of Gisborne never turned up, I was even angrier that the Sheriff of Nottingham had about three minutes screen time- especially as Matthew MacFadyen seemed to be the only one in the film not taking it so effing seriously! He must have signed up and thought "Yeah! Sheriff of Nottingham! That's a brill role! The bad guy, yeah?" Only to find that Mark Strong was the bad guy Godfrey of Basingstoke! He must have got his script and said: "Well eff this, if Alan Rickman can camp it up to fuck then so can I!" And he was extremely campy while everyone else mumbled their lines like it was a serious piece of history.

Yes, I enjoyed the Sheriff's cameo but I spent most of the film (trying to find something to enjoy) deliriously lusting over Mark Strong. The thing I usually like about Mark Strong is his ill-fitting wigs, they change from film to film, but in this, without the ridiculous syrup as sported in Sherlock Holmes, I could really appreciate just how perfect his face is. Pity he got that badly made scar right at the beginning of the film. Boo!

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Phew!
Suzie and I had a book club in Chicago, In between sight seeing and meal times we'd retire to the nearest cafe and open our books- her American copy with the Mason's seal on the front and my English copy with the key that appears only on one page of the book and is never used. Anyway, the point is it was much more exciting reading it with someone else, Suzie was always three pages ahead of me so I would hear her gasp and say things under her breath along the lines of "No way!" a minute or two before I did the same.
Yeah, I liked Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code (the first one especially as I read it in Rome) so I was really glad that this one came out just in time for my trip to America- a trip that involved 8 seperate flights (last one tomorrow). It was just as good as the other two- if you like that sort of thing- we especially liked the No-Way!-Chapter three quarters of the way through, and the Phew!-Chapter fifty pages afterwards!

Houses of Parliament Tour, Foreign Office Open House Weekend

You can tour the Houses of Parliament in August and September when the Lords and Politicians are on holiday. Anna and I went on thursday, it was most interesting. The only bit we were allowed to take photos of was the entrance hall that has been there since the 1000s, everything else was built in Victorian times and so was all gold and sparkly- though the main bit you see on telly (The Commons Chamber) was designed by the guy who designed the red telephone box. House of Lords was super sparkly though!

Lots of fab rooms, huge ones with paintings of past kings and queens- a nice cute one with the Tudors all around the picture rail, and HUGE murals of the battle of Trafalgar. Also, as you might expect there are statues of past prime ministers everywhere and the most horrific one was of Thatcher, the artist who sculpted it said that he did it so that when the revolution comes there'd be something to pull down. Ho ho ho. Anyway, worth a visit, very interesting.

We also dashed around the Foreign Office, this weekend was Open House Weekend where the public get access to all sorts of interesting buildings that are usually private. Well, The Foreign Office wasn't as exciting as all that. Victorian again, really nice indoor courtyard and lots of Venitian looking rooms, but only one really big impressive bit (The State Stair) -too many plebs wandering around.

Die Welle (The Wave- 2008)

The German film, based on the 1981 American TV series, based on the American novel, based on an actual 1967 American school project/experiment. Probably much more terrifying set in a German classroom. Though I don't know... the whole idea is terrifyingly possible- well, it IS possible! It's based on a true story! I think if I'd seen an American film version I would have just dismissed it as "Dumb Americans, they would conform to the idea of fascism without questioning it!" (Ha! I'm such a racist!) So seeing German kids do it was more appalling not just because of history but because German ideals and English ideals seem similar to me, obviously there's a lot of shame involved in being German- I'm serious. But there's shame in being English too! That's why I'm so glad I have my Scottish heritage to fall back on! Whilst on a train last year with Norwegian, Irish and English pals Norway asked; "Aren't you proud of your country?" Ireland was thrilled with herself, fellow Englander and I exchanged glances and then tried to explain the shame in being English. We're warmongers. It must be great to be Irish and be so hard-done-by and wonderful to be innocent and Norwegian, but to be English and have all that history of blood... in Norway you can fly the flag, over here if you fly the flag it's a statement, you're probably a skinhead BNP member, I avoid the Union Jack like the fucking plague!!

Why was I talking about that? Oh yeah, there was a bit in the film where the very liberal girls talk about how awful it was during the world cup having all the German flags up, I just identified with this shame (though I have to say shamed though I feel to be English, I am certainly relieved I am not German!!). Anyway, I was horrified at the film because I did think that if that experiment had started at my school when I was fifteen or whatever, on the first day I probably would have gone along with it too. But Fuck! Already by Tuesday (The story took place day by day over one week) I would have gone home and asked my mum if I could go to a new school!!!

If you don't know about this film (The original 1967 project was called The Third Wave) it is very interesting but very very scary- a mindfuck I mean, there was no violence, just political-horror... As a weeklong project to educate a class of students on the subject of autocracy a teacher decides to stage a small dictatorship within the classroom. It starts off ok-ish, well, not pure Nazism, just more rules than the laid-back schoolroom had before, but as the days go by it very quickly becomes a fucking Neo-Nazi nightmare- the biggest fright being that out of fifty students only two notice that it shouldn't be like this!

The kids like the community, the direction, the pride of being a unit. I mean, I liked that we wore a uniform at my school but not (as the girls in the film sighed:) "because it's such a hassle choosing what to wear every morning," because I was a fat poor kid who only had one pair of trousers and like two tshirts!! And I certainly didn't like my uniform because it made me feel like I was in a strong group that would soon overthrow the rest of Germany! ARGH!

I kept thinking while watching it 'This is why people are in gangs.' Because the kids who got really into it were the kids who didn't have any friends or direction before The Wave and were then part of a bigger group, a community where everyone looked out for each other- but seriously, surely you'd realize 'hey this ain't so great!' when your fellow Wavers (whatever) started to censor anything bad written about them or started to kick the crap out of people who weren't wearing white shirts!! Man, it was one terrifying film, but really really good.

The question at the beginning of the project was "Could a dictatorship ever be established in Germany again?" the kids rolled their eyes, of course not, how ridiculous, we've learned. Yeah, well, in FIVE days you all went fucking nuts you fascists! How far would you as a fifteen year old stay in The Wave?

I'd be out by day two that's for friggin' sure. I look terrible in white.

Julius Caesar (RSC, The Courtyard, Stratford-upon-Avon)

Lucy Bailey has directed bloodbaths at the Globe before, I think if this production had been performed in the open air it would have been a lot better- obviously the actors would have to learn to shout for it to be outside, though really they should have learned this before they came a-mumbling onstage at The Courtyard.

Going down to Stratford for the night to see The RSC's production of Julius Caesar was luckily not the only thing on our agenda, so the fact that the play was not great did not ruin our road trip. We went to Warwick for ice cream and charity shops, then to Charlecote Park for a country house and deer-spotting, finally we got to our thirty quid travel lodge (tres cheap though almost deathly in the heat with windows that open an inch) out for a nice dinner and then to the theatre. The next day we went to Broadway and Chipping-Camden to see ye olde Cotswald villages and had the most fabulous lunch we'd had for years sitting in the sun outside Russell's and eating two courses for £12; minute steak and celariac with rocket and parmesan salad followed by treacle tart and ice cream- I could spend a whole flipping blog on how wonderful the lunch was and how nice the boys who worked there were, but I'm supposed to be reviewing a play. We also stopped at farm shops on the way home and listened to Just William -the previous day we'd prepared ourselves for Shakespeare with William and the Lost Tourist ("What's the Avon?") and William Takes the Stage ("The flesh and hairys...").

So I've raved on this blog before about how the Royal Shakespeare Company trains in a way that even if you don't know the play it is instantly accessible, it isn't a mish-mash of acting styles to confuse like American film-versions of Shakey, everyone acts the same way, to the same rhythm etc. Well, it seems the entire company of last summer's Hamlet, Love Labour's Lost and A Midsummer Night's Dream are filming David Tennant's Hamlet for BBC2 to be shown at Christmas so this summer's company are as my sister put it "the dregs of the RSC" (or as my dad put it: "Anyone want to be in a play?" "Aye, I'll dae it, sae lang as I can be back at the chip shop for my night shift"). I still want to believe that it was because I didn't know it that I didn't enjoy it.

I was willing to look past the horrible 3D crowd projections and the strange choice of 1960s-Afternoon-Play music that intruded on every scene, and I didn't mind that some of the costumes were crap (Dad wondered why they were all dressed like Abba) I was convinced that the RSC would be able to act it and that was all I was interested in, a good story.

But is it a good story? Did Shakespeare even write it we wondered? He always writes such good parts for women, Caesar's wife was played by Noma Dumezweni who had played Titania so well last year in Midsummer- I was relieved to see her and thought "ho ho, it will be good now she's in it..." She had about two lines and was never seen again! Same with Portia, I was suddenly interested, thought with her we'd see another side to Brutus, but she died off stage after one scene and was only seen again as a ghost!! Had all of Shakespeare's boy-actors grown up when he wrote this play!? Why were there no women in it!?

It was a really hot day, so this affected the audience, hayfever and fatigue- I wondered if it was just that we'd done so much in the sun that day that I was tired and that was why in the first half hour of the play I couldn't keep my eyes open- anyway, the audience seemed to wait for dramatic pauses to cough loudly over the next lines so I didn't know what the fuck was going on. Back to the company though; it didn't help that they all seemed to be from a school of mumbling whisperers. Were they tired from the heat? Or were they just shit?

I felt like a lot of the time they were forgetting their lines! There were too many "dramatic pauses." There were only a couple of people who could really project and convey the frigging meaning of their lines, it wasn't that I was tired, suddenly someone new is speaking and I'm listening- I'm not drifting off.

The bloke who played Mark Anthony managed to make the "Friends, Romans, Countrymen..." speech boring and utterly undramatic, he was creepy and slimy, is he supposed to be? There was no Fool! (another reason we're not sure Shakespeare wrote it) Though the actor playing Caesar cracked a few jokes he was mainly creepy and slimy- was he supposed to be?! I thought he was supposed to be charismatic and god-like!! Only Robin Hood's Sam Troughton playing the lead was any good, though really I thought Brutus was supposed to be complex, he seemed to be a total coward (so...Much but with more lines) and was good with the worried-face. I still had trouble hearing him though, was he adjusting how he spoke to soft spoken Cassius' level? Project!! Perhaps they thought Sam Troughton would carry their show, we got Doctor Who last year, why not get someone from Robin Hood this year? For a start, I really don't think Much is a big enough star to attract huge audiences and secondly everyone in Tennant's plays last year were equally as good as him, Julius Caesar is much more a company play, you need a good company.

This production got good reviews. And three stars from the Guardian which I thought was generous. The fighting scenes were good (obviously the director's forte) and Caesar's murder- the scenes where women were allowed to act were good too, but I found the actors playing Cassius and Mark Anthony just bla, and unfortunately they were two very important parts.