Uncle Vanya, Play by Anton Chekhov, Mossovet State Academic Theatre Company directed by Andrei Konchalovski, Wyndham Theatre London, 8* out of 10

It all started at school with the red headed girl. My strategy to win her over was to impress her with my knack for learning languages. So I found myself enrolled in voluntary Russian lessons at my high-school in Salzburg (Austria) sitting next to the object of my desires.  What remains from that episode is my ability to state in passable Russian that Grigory is a tractor driver in a kolkhoz and my liking for the sounds most things Russian, from wistful novels to Fabergé eggs. And so, when I had the opportunity last night to join numerous elegantly dressed members of the Russian-speaking community in London to see Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” directed by Hollywood great Andrei Konchalowski I grabbed the high priced ticket without hesitation.

Like most of the males in the audience, I am a middle-aged man with a sizeable paunch, but contrary to most men in the audience I was not accompanied by a stunningly good-looking tall thin Russian lady half my age. Moreover, I belonged to the small minority of those present who depended on the English surtitles to follow the action on stage.

Vanya is member of a dysfunctional Russian landowning family and runs the estate for his brother in law the Professor, who is visiting the estate. The Professor was married to Vanya’s beloved late sister. Vanya’s family was so in awe  of his supposed intellectual prowess that they supported his career to the fullest and made over the estate to him and his first wife. In the meantime the Professor has remarried a young and beautiful wife, and Vanya at 40 years of age has realised that the old man is anything but brilliant; a legend only in his own mind.  So all the sacrifice Vanya’s family has made has been in vain and Vanya’s life feels wasted. Vanya is now dead keen to persuade the Professor’s wife to have fling with him. Meanwhile the Doctor, a friend of the family, who comes to visit the estate from time to time, is the object of desire of Vanya’s niece, daughter of his sister and the Professor.  But the Doctor, a man prone to melancholy, ecological sensibilities and vodka is impervious to Sonya's sincere adoration as she lacks more obvious womanly charms. Charms the doctor finds the Professor's wife having in abundance. As the Professor's stay at the estate is bringing the normal residents’ lives into disarray, some other quite comic characters such as the old nanny, the conflict averse "Waffles" Telegenin and Vanya’s rather stupid mother make their appearance.

Chekhov is brilliant at showing us how just below our cool, calm and collected surface, events can force us to show our hilariously embarrassing tragic-clownish selves. For the female characters this results in letting the hypocrisy of bourgeois conventions stop them from grabbing a little happiness when the chance presents itself. For the men in the play, it is a rush of the blood to other parts of their anatomy than those most adapted to rational thought. The result is a fascinating and entertaining portrait of the human condition ending in a moving outcry to the heavens before things settle back to their state of deceptive normality.

It is greatly enjoyable to see Chekhov performed in Russian by a company which has Russian sensibility at its heart. The comedy predominates as Pavel Derevyanko stands out as a fantastic Uncle Vanya on the verge of the nervous breakdown. On the other hand Yulya Vissotzkaya gives an moving performance with a highlight of true pathos in the role of Sonya.

Andrei Konchalovski’s production of Uncle Vanya in London is definitely worth a detour to the Wyndham.

http://www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk/Tickets/UncleVanya/UncleVanya.asp

King Charles III, play by Mike Bartlett, directed by Rupert Goold, Almeida Theatre London, 7* out of 10

A day in the not too distant future; the Queen is dead, Long live the King! On the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Charles, Prince of Wales has become King Charles III (Tim Piggot-Smith). While Charles is awaiting his coronation,  the Labour prime minister of the day presents new legislation, strengthening privacy protection and thereby restricting the freedom of the press. Seeing himself as the protector of democracy Charles, takes a principled stand defending press freedom and asks the government to change the legislation. For this he seeks the support of the leader of the opposition.

As both sides remain steadfast the situation escalates. Prince William  (Oliver Chris) and his astute and ambitious wife Kate, played with gusto by a very watchable Lydia Wilson, observe the situation with concern;  meanwhile, hapless and disheveled Prince Harry (Richard Goulding) falls in love is a republican arts student from St. Martin’s, who shows him that happiness may lie in a paternity test and the simpler life of a commoner.

The cut and thrust of politics and royal intrigue takes its course and the ghost of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, haunts both her former husband and her elder son, as they inevitably get drawn in ever more deeply into the political mire.

"King Charles III" is Mark Bartlett's bold and -  in today's Britain - eminently controversial stab at writing “a future history play”; copious self-conscious references to William Shakespeare are included both in the chosen genre and the writing. Is it supposed to be a drama that is based on a realistic premise? It can be read this way, but to me it appeared as part parody, part tragic comedy; humour is thrown in and succeeds in lightening things up. Whatever Bartlett intended, the quality of the writing is high.

The set, in a round purple hue makes impressive use of the theatre space. Sound, lighting and music work together well and to good effect.  The direction is handled skilfully by Rupert Goold, the choreography of crowd scenes by Anna Morissey inventive. Tim Piggot-Smith gives an excellent performance as King Charles: wracked by doubt, yet principled, kind to his family, naïve as far as his dealings with crafty politicians are concerned.  Other members of the cast give strong performances, too. Oliver Chris plays Charles's son William as a loving son and feminist husband, who must consider the future of his dynasty; Margot Leicester is a concerned Camilla, a loyal wife to troubled King Charles. Adam James and Nicholas Rowe are credible as leaders of the Labour and Conservative party, respectively.

"King Charles III" is an interesting and thought provoking play. It is recommended for those who have a strong interest in UK politics, the constitutional role of the Monarch and the current royals and their, at times, turbulently grotesque private lives.

http://www.almeida.co.uk/event/kingcharles

Locke, (2013) Film, written and directed by Steven Knight, 8* out of 10

Any plan made by Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy) is solid; preferably set in C6-quality concrete, no less.  He is loyal, reliable, no-nonsense; the kind of building project manager you want when you are putting up the largest skyscraper in Europe. Not only does he make sure there is a plan, and a back-up plan too, but he’ll also be on location to see it through to completion and manage any last minute hitches that might arise.

But when the “perfect storm” breaks out in perfectionist Ivan’s well-organised life, he has to set his priorities and manage the concurrent and disparate crises the only way he knows how. Actually, he really needs to be in three places at once. Although that's impossible, this is the 21^st century and Ivan Locke, project manager extraordinaire, believes that with the help of his mobile phone provider it must be feasible to “drive and chew gum” at the same time. But can personal crises be managed like major snags in a building-project? 

Steven Knight’s tightly scripted drama is a tour-de-force brought to the screen with an economy of means entirely consistent with telling the story grippingly.  Dickon Hinchcliffe’s score reinforces the pace. The screenplay is a gift for a gifted actor, which Tom Hardy picks up with a flourish; he is ably supported by a vocal acting ensemble.  The only slight flaw in the screenplay is making the psychological childhood trauma of the relationship between Locke and his father too explicit; here less amateur psychology and more confidence in the power of imagination the audience would have been better. But despite this, Locke is a terrific film. Incidentally, it is eminently suitable for adaptation to a theatre- or radio-play. 

Locke is a must for control-oriented managers who struggle to distinguish between their professional and private life. I plead guilty.  It is also very insightful for anyone, male or female, who aspires to a management career, or has to deal with a concrete- thinking management type in their lives.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2692904/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt

Calvary, (2014) Film written & directed by John Michael McDonagh, 9* out of 10

During a confession Father James Lavelle (Brandon Gleeson) is threatened by one of his congregants, who bears a deadly grudge against the church. Father James  experienced, wise, committed to his vocation is effective in his job and attentive in his interactions with the cast of colourful characters that make up his community.

His rogue congregant has given Father James one week to get his affairs in order before he will kill him. The priest uses this time to carry on his duties while deciding how best to deal with the threat.

Calvary is part drama, part thriller, part black comedy and chimes with the Christian Easter story. There aren’t many writers/directors who are able to pull off such a potentially incongruous mix of genres and turn it into a great film, but John Michael McDonagh succeeds brilliantly. With the help of a strong acting ensemble, he tells a moving, heart-warming story, at times laugh-out-loud funny, at times terribly tragic which holds the audience’s attention from beginning to end. The lynchpin of this terrific film is Brendan Gleeson who gives a brilliant performance as Father James. (The McDonagh family is clearly bursting with talent with John Michael’s brother Martin being responsible for the 2008 comedy/drama “In Bruges”).

Calvary is a thoughtful and original movie, surely among the best of 2014.  Suspenseful, moving, entertaining, at times hilariously funny, at times desperately sad, it is not to be missed.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2234003/

The Red Prince - The Fall of a Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Europe, Book by Timothy Snyder, Vintage Books, London 2009, 9* out of 10

The Red Prince tells the story of Wilhelm, the second of four sons of Stefan, an Austrian Archduke and member of the illustrious von Habsburg family, which, when Wilhelm was a child in the 1890s, had for hundreds of years ruled large parts of Eastern and Central Europe, not to speak of its Spanish branch, whose reign over that country and its vast colonies had ended somewhat earlier.

During the dramatic and turbulent first half of the 20th century in Europe, Wilhelm plays a minor, though by no means insignificant role in the attempts of the Austrian imperial and royal family  to hold on to its reign (or failing that some remnant of that reign) in all or part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. 

The long-term master plan for his children was set out almost at birth by Wilhelm’s father the Archduke Stefan. Together with the ethos of the family, and Wilhelms own colourful personality it makes Wilhelm’s biography worthy of any fictional historical novel. There are encounters with powerful historical figures of the early 20th century, such as Kaiser Wilhelm and of less powerful yet famous personalities like the French music hall star Mistinguette who publicly toyed with the idea of becoming Wilhelm wife.  He on the other hand was more interested in exotic young men.

In his meticulously researched and entertainingly written book, Timothy Snyder, not only introduces us to many colourful characters populating Europe’s upper echelon’s in the first half of the 20th century; he also gives a timely and readable insight into the little history of the region that is today Ukraine but also touches on Poland and Russia. As the centenary of World War I is being marked in many Western countries, very little is being said about the course this war took on its Eastern front.  In the course of following young Wilhelm’s early military career we learn about the beginnings of today's Ukraine as a nation and a state, and about the role Wilhelm played in it, under his Ukrainian nom de guerre Prince Vasyl Vishivanyi, as a young officer at the head of a Ukrainian regiment fighting for the Austro-Hungarian Empire against the Russians.

We also follow Wilhelm through the stormy interwar period where he changes his political convictions from Royalist multiculturalist philosemitic Austro-Marxist, hence the "Red" in his princely epithet, to briefly fascist, antisemitic supporter of Adolf Hitler to his premature death in a Soviet political prisoner camp. On the way we meet some other interesting characters of the von Habsburg family who put up resistance to the Nazis and ensured the brewing of beer in the largest Polish brewery in Żywiec, owned today by the Dutch drinks giant Heineken but housing in one of its buildings a niece of our protagonist.   

As a famous historian put it: “The future is fixed, the past is always open to debate”.  Reading The Red Prince is not only enjoyable, but can help making our debates about the past and future more informed. That, surely, must be a good thing.


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Red-Prince-Dynasty-Modern-Europe-ebook/dp/B0038LB4V2/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397310302&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Red+Prince

Archduke Wilhelm von Habsburg, The Red Prince

Under Milk Wood, by Dylan Thomas, Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Grand Theatre, Swansea, Wales, 10* out of 10

The uninitiated among the non-British readers of this blog may think that the footballer Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) and the acting legends Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins are “from England”. You would however, be wrong. They are all as Welsh as Swansea. We non-Brits often forget that there are three countries the main island of Great Britain: From North to West-Southwest: Scotland, England and Wales.

The greatest Welsh poet and writer in the English language is Dylan Thomas (1914 – 1952).  As this year is the 100th anniversary of his birth, the Clwyd Theatr Cymru, decided to tackle his poetic, comic “play for voices” Under Milk Wood, which Dylan had completed and premiered in Manhattan shortly before his death in 1952. This new production is directed by Terry Hands. 

Under Milk Wood acquaints us with the dreams and lives of the inhabitants of the fictional, though perhaps not totally untypical Welsh fishing village of Llareggub. Although the name sounds authentically Welsh is the anagram of the rather rude English expression “bugger all”. We follow the Llareggubians from nightfall to nightfall over a 24 hour period and are helped by two all-knowing narrators giving us access to all aspects of the villagers' inner, home and social lives.

This production brings Dylan Thomas masterpiece to life in multiple layers. You could close your eyes, forget the meaning of the words as they flow from the mouths of the actors to your ear, listening only to their tonality; a symphony of sound unfolds which all by itself conjures up the rough, green and rocky coastal village landscape of Llareggub and its curious inhabitants. In another layer, phrases and sentences express, in turn, joy, laughter and melancholic desire in a firework of alliterative reinforcements and juxtapositions. 

This production adds the direction and acting, which furnish each character with the body language perfectly matched to voice and interaction. Martyn Bainbridge's simple but imaginative set, colourful and spiralling, gives the play a sense of place.  

Under Milk Wood is performed here by an excellent acting ensemble made up of strong characters on and probably off stage as well. The cast brings Dylan Thomas’ iconic village to life, both in their personal eccentricities and in the full range of their interactions.  The actors clearly are enjoying themselves on stage and that enjoyment communicated itself to a Swansea-audience delighted and proud of their national poet's work being presented by an excellent Welsh theatre company. Owen Teale and Chris Patterson as first and second voice, respectively, stand out. Polly Garter’s (Katie Elin-Salt) pitch perfect a-cappella singing is breath taking.

This production of Under Milk Wood tours Britain from now until summer the summer. The dates can be found by clicking on the link shown below. It’s more than worth the trip. Whatever you do, don’t miss it!

http://www.clwyd-theatr-cymru.co.uk/en/whats_on/event/33166

Good People, Play by David Lindsay-Abaire, starring Imelda Staunton, Hampstead Theatre, London 7* out of 10

In rough, Irish working-class South Boston, Margie (Imelda Staunton), middle-aged mother of a grown-up handicapped daughter is again about to lose her job as a cashier in a supermarket.  She knows that her friend, sometime child-sitter and landlady Dottie (June Watson) will not remain friendly to her if the rent-money stops coming in. Her other friend and bingo-playing companion Jean (Lorraine Ashbourne) suggests she get in touch with an old boy-friend Mikey (Lloyd Owen), who has escaped life in South Boston and is a successful specialist physician with his own practice. When Margie and Mikey meet again, the tension between their common past and uncommon present gives rise to some uncomfortable confrontations.

After a slow first act, David Lindsay-Abaire’s play picks up pace and quality in the second. It does however not get as far as to question cherished liberal tenets on the inherent “good people”-hood of the working classes; not that the good people of Hampstead including your reviewer, who filled the seats of their local theatre, would mind too much. Director Jonathan Kent delivers an entertaining and professional quality production to West End standards. Imelda Staunton is excellent as always, leading a good cast. Angel Colby gives an excellent performance as Mikey’s wife Kate. Hildegard Bechtler’s set moves faultlessly between South Boston, the city centre and its wealthy suburbs.  A worthwhile, entertaining and not too challenging evening at the theatre.

http://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/whats-on/2014/good-people/

Putting it Together, Musical Review by Stephen Sondheim, St. James Theatre, London 9* out of 10

Putting It Together is a musical review consisting of songs taken from musicals by Stephen Sondheim and organised around the theme of love relationships among sophisticated urban dwellers at different stages of their lives. The songs run the gamut from hopeful anticipation to painful break-up with a lot joy and crisis in between.

Sondheim’s lyrics are masterful case studies in social psychology delivered in a firework of insight, wit and deep emotional intelligence. As his music serves to make the great lyrics even more effective, it doesn’t always get the recognition it deserves. But he has written some great tunes, too.

It is hard to believe that we had to wait more than 20 years for the London premiere of this gem. Alex Parker’s production matches the quality of the lyrics with the right level of energy and sophistication from an outstanding cast consisting of David Bedella, Daniel Crossley, Janie Dee, Damian Humbley and Caroline Sheen. Jointly and severally the actors get to show the range of interpretation they are capable of – and very capable they are, too. On the evening I saw the show, the rapport with the audience was evident and the energy on stage radiated back only to be picked again by actors and orchestra. Even in such a high quality ensemble, award-winning Janie Dee stands out by the sheer charisma of her performance. Body language and facial expression to match the emotions portrayed was magnetic. I have seen some of the numbers Dee performs here done by show business greats like Patti LuPone and Carol Burnett - but nobody did it better.  

Putting It Together is a thoroughly satisfying and uplifting experience for a delighted London audience, who deserve an extended West End run for this production which, unfortunately for those who do not have tickets is now almost completely sold out for the remainder of its short run.

http://www.stjamestheatre.co.uk/events/putting-it-together/#prettyPhoto

      

The Blackest Black, Play by Jeremy Brock, Hampstead Theatre, London, 7* out of 10

Abi (Charity Wakefield), an aspiring English artist has succeeded in obtaining a short residency in an Arizona astronomical observatory. There she meets Martin (John Light), an ambitious American scientist who wants nothing more than a tenure-position as a professor of Astronomy. Martin has a limited number of nights to make actual observations of the portion of the universe he specialises in. Chuck (Ian Bonar), part Native American, is the engineer whose job it is to set up the telescope in accordance with the wishes of his scientist clients. 

For all but the last night reserved for Martin’s observations the weather has been bad. Though married with one child, this has led to the very high-strung, scientific and logical Martin to spend the night with the very chaotic English resident artist, for whom human connections, sexual and otherwise are what life is all about. It seems that hormones generally flow more freely in the cleansing Arizona sunshine. But when passionate Abi draws country-boy and engineer Chuck into her schemes, far-reaching consequences ensue.

The Blackest Black is a play about the clash between two professional worlds across two continents - that of the English artist, who finds the scientific look at the world incredibly limited and pedantic and that of the American scientist, who has no feel for the emotionality and the sweeping metaphors of modern art and feels overwhelmed by it. Sexual attraction between the two lights a dangerous fuse for Chuck who is both practical and a bit of a dreamer but not as ruthless in pursuing his professional goals and carnal inclinations as either of the other two.

BAFTA and Oscar nominated screenwriter Jeremy Brock (Mrs Brown, The Last King of Scotland) has written an interesting play; for me he has left some doubts about the plausibility of the relationship between his two protagonists developing such passion in a relatively short time. Director Michael Longhurst, Charity Wakefield and John Light do their best to make the strength of that relationship believable - and their best is very good. Ian Bonar shines in the role of Chuck, a character strongly written and strongly played.

All in all, The Blackest Back is a very worthwhile and enjoyable new play. The Hampstead Theatre, both upstairs and downstairs has become an ever more interesting venue for quality theatre and great value for money. I’ll be back. 

http://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/whats-on/2014/the-blackest-black/

12 Years A Slave, Film (2013), directed by Steve McQueen 9* out of 10

March 1843 Saratoga New York. Salomon Northrup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), is black, a free man, married with a young family, living a bourgeois existence as a musician and farmer. But when he accepts in good faith, a contract to play the violin at circus performances in Washington DC he is kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Southern states. Suddenly, he enters a world, where in everyday life white people treat black people, as more or less valuable means of production without any rights. Salomon does not know how long it will be before he can regain his status as a free man, if ever, but he is determined to return to his wife and children. So he deploys his considerable skills and intelligence to get to understand the society he finds himself in. He resolves to make himself useful to his masters in order to achieve a position from which he has the chance to escape the cruel fate of being a slave in the American South of the mid 19th century.

Based on Salomon Northup’s biographical account originally published in 1853 (and dedicated to Harriet Beecher-Stowe the author of the fictional Uncle Tom’s Cabin), John Ridley (screenplay) and the black British artist Steve McQueen (director) tell an exciting story which is a powerful indictment of the system of slavery.  They are supported by an excellent cast including Hollywood stars (Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Giammati, Michael Fassbender) and less known but no less excellent actors notably Chiwetel Ejiofor in the main role and Lupita Nyong’o as the slave girl Patsey. The photography showing the landscape and architecture of the American South is beautiful. The camera often stays on a scene for a long time with only the natural sound as a soundtrack that is as rich as any musical score. 

12 Years a Slave grabs today's film-going audience, as everyone can identify with Salomon Northrup, a free man who is brutally plucked from a comfortable happy working and family life into the existence of a slave. More painfully and reluctantly we can, if we are honest, also identify with potentially good men trying to be “humane slave owners”, whom the system of slavery, of which they are part, has pushed into accepting and defending what, when looked at from the outside, they would know to be indefensible. Most complex and tragic is the role of the attractive woman slave. Separated from her children, she may obtain major privileges by becoming the master’s official “second wife”.  But that in turn brings mortal danger from the master’s first wife, let alone being subject to the master’s own whims and brutality. And in this film brutality is appropriately shown when it is part of the story. Some viewers may find this hard to cope with, but the accusation that director Steve McQueen is presenting “torture porn” is unjustified and disingenuous. Finally, 12 Years A Slave can be seen as an uplifting film as the US has come a long way in emancipating former slaves and their descendants. Yet slavery and slave-like working conditions still exist in many countries around the world. And we are all prone to assert ourselves by thinking that others are less than ourselves. Salomon Northrop’s story remains a powerful wake-up call to our better nature.   

Among the mainstream English language films of 2013, 12 Years A Slave is one of two films that stand out as high quality works of lasting value, (the other being Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine).  

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2024544/

Like Father Like Son, Film (2013) by Hirokazu Koreeda, 9* out of 10

Ryota Nonomiya (Masaharu Fukuyama) is an ambitious and fast rising executive in the architecture firm he works for. His wife Midori (Machiko Ono) has given up her career to look after their six-year-old son Keita (Keita Nonomiya). Ryota takes his role as provider seriously and his family lives very comfortably from the fruits of his hard work. He loves his son and wants to see him succeed in life. So the family applies to an elite private school and Keita has to take piano lessons although he does not excel as a musician. Ryota is concerned that Keita is not competitive enough. While Midori supports him loyally in his ambitions for Keita she also makes sure that Keita can also have some fun. The boy adores both his parents and particular loves it when he gets his fathers approval. 

The family is thrown into crisis when the provincial hospital where Keita was born informs Ryota and Midori that there may have been exchange of new-borns and Keita might not be their biological child.  As head of the family and in competent management mode Ryota takes the lead in dealing with the situation. If indeed there has been an exchange, his and Midori’s biological has grown up in a provincial family, the Saikis. The father Yudai (Riri Furaki) is a shopkeeper, older and not at all ambitious. He likes to spend any free minute playing with his three children, who delight in his presence and his ability to repair their broken toys. Ryota starts out with wanting to address this issue like one of the challenging management problem he is so successful at handling at work; but the decisions he has to make not only have serious consequences on others but also challenge his own life and world-view. Will he be able to cope with putting himself in question?

Like Father Like Son is a powerful and uplifting tale about relationships between fathers and children and beyond that human relationships within and between families from different social backgrounds. The interplay between adults and children and among the children themselves is finely observed. While we might expect Japanese culture and context to be very different from ours, the issues and feelings that this film so skilfully addresses are universal. Like Father Like Son captures our imagination and emotions. The credibility of Ryota’s development during the period of the events recounted depends on the performances of the other characters both adult and children. They shine with excellent performances.

Like Father Like Son deserves the prizes it has been awarded at the Cannes, London and other festivals; a delight. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2331143/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt

Saving Mr. Banks, Film (2013) directed by John Lee Hancock, 8* out of 10

London in the early 1960s. Behind her carapace of irony the English writer P. L. Travers (Emma Thompson), author of the Mary Poppins children’s books is faced with a dilemma. For 20 years Mr Walt Disney of the Disney Corporation has been asking for the film rights. For 20 years she has resisted, but now she is running out of money to finance an elegant home in an upmarket London neighbourhood, blossoming cherry trees and all. And so reluctantly, she will travel to America to seriously consider Disney’s offer, which by now includes giving Ms. Travers the final say on every detail of the film he would like Disney studios to make. 

Against this business-like background of the author resisting the "Disneyfication" of her work, “Saving Mr. Banks” tells the story not only of the evolution of Travers’ relationship with the team assigned by Disney to adapt her Mary Poppins books, but also the difficult events in her early childhood in the Australian outback that lie at the heart of the Mary Poppins story and of Travers’ personality.  The flashbacks to Travers’ youth feature her  bank manager father (Colin Farrell) uniquely unsuited to his job, her mother (Ruth Wilson) and the author's younger self (Annie Rose Buckley).  And Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) who is determined to win her over so he can sprinkle the lucrative Disney stardust on the Mary Poppins tale has not only commercial reasons for being so uncharacteristically patient and persistent in his campaign. During her stay in Los Angeles Travers and Walt Disney will cross swords more than once. Will their strong personalities allow them to reach real mutual understanding?

Saving Mr Banks is well written and superbly cast. At its centre are two people who have turned difficult childhoods into engaging fantasies which have entertained children of all ages. The authenticity of the story of the creation of the classic Mary Poppins movie is helped by the fact that Travers insisted that all her meetings with the scriptwriters, lyricists and composers would be taped. 

Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Paul Giamatti and Colin Farrell put in strong performances that are true to type. Hanks is the natural leader - serious businesslike charismatic and emotionally intelligent. Thompson is the English lady hiding her inadmissible feelings behind coolness and irony. Paul Giamatti as the driver of the Disney courtesy limousine, a "mensch" who brings slice of real life into the Disney dream machine. Farrell is the irresistible heartthrob and flawed lovably rogue.  

Script and direction set-up emotional highlights are very skilfully within this sentimental and likeable drama, so that even hardened critical film-buffs will have difficulty to stop themselves from welling up. Yes, this is Disney Films placing the Disney product (Disneyland, Disney corporate culture) very effectively within a story in which all things Disney play a major role; this film is also bestowing filmic sainthood on the eponymous Walt, founder of the Disney empire. Yet it cannot be denied that Saving Mr Banks is a very enjoyable film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2140373/

Fill the Void, Film written and directed by Rama Burshtein, 8* out of 10

It is a truth universally acknowledged in ultraorthodox Jewish communities that a man or woman of marriageable age must either be married or in want of a spouse.  In the Israeli film Fill the Void (Hebrew with subtitles), a costume drama playing in one such community in Israel, writer and director Rama Burshtein tells the story of how the young care-free Shira (Hadas Yaron) is unexpectedly thrown into emotional turmoil when, in the midst of the search for a suitable husband, her elder married sister, to whom she is close, dies giving birth to a boy. 

A few months after these events, Shira’s mother Rivka (Irit Sheleg) is faced with the possibility that her widower son-in-law Yochai (Yiftach Klein) might be offered a match with a widow in Antwerp. This would separate her from her beloved late daughter’s baby-boy. 

When she sees how Shira and Yochai look after the baby, she suggests to Yochai to consider a match with Shira. Irit’s plan is controversial not only with her husband but also in the community. For the the match go ahead requires not only the prospective husband and wife to agree with it but also the consent of the Rebbe, the religious and spiritual leader of the community. Moreover, Irit’s headstrong disabled sister Hanna has a different plan of her own. 

With beautiful costumes and set and scenes filmed at a slow pace, Rama Burshtein has succeeded in making an atmospheric film, particularly through the skilful use of photography and music. She gives a sensitive and sympathetic insight into the life of the community depicted in this film. Fill The Void does not deal with religious conflicts; it tells a universal tale, that of the powerful matriarch challenging those around her to respond and succeed in preserving their own identity and pursuit of happiness. 

Burshtein is helped by a strong ensemble of actors, with Irit Sheleg, and especially newcomer Hadas Yaron standing out. Hila Feldman also shines in the small but difficult role of Frieda.

Fill the Void is a demanding film, making the viewer work, as a number of key scenes are open to interpretation, particularly regarding the motives and emotions that lie behind the decisions and actions of the different characters. 

One sign of a quality film is that it leaves us with considerable food for thought and intelligent discussion; Fill the Void certainly does that.  

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2219514/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt

No Place to Go, written and performed by Ethan Lipton and his Orchestra, Gate Theatre, London 8* out of 10

I have just returned from a week in New York, NY, a lively city full of friendly and resilient people who would not want to live anyplace else. So it was appropriate, if unexpected, that yesterday afternoon I would enter the Gate Theatre in London’s Notting Hill to find it having been turned into a New York comedy club. 

On the stage are Ethan Lipton and his three piece orchestra. Ethan is one of those New Yorkers who have grown up in the city they love. Just like Mayor Bloomberg he has made a career of cleaning raw data to turn it into useful information and just like Mayor Bloomberg he has a second job. Unlike mayor Bloomberg, Ethan was a fairly low-level part-time employee and unlike Mayor Bloomberg his other job subsidised and thus made possible by the first one by the first one, is that of a writer and performer. 

Ethan and his band proceed in words and song to tell us the story of his employer, the information providing company, relocating from Brooklyn to planet Mars. Well, it may not really be Planet Mars but for a man from Brooklyn relocating to anywhere outside New York City might as well be relocating to Planet Mars; except perhaps having to relocate to New Jersey, the other side of Manhattan, which would be marginally worse than living on Mars.

In “No Place to Go ” Ethan Lipton and his band have put together a heartbreaking authentic story taking us through an emotional roller coaster of a middle-aged man and his colleagues facing up to the inevitable which hits them unprepared. It is a story that rings painfully true in the voice of the employee, a perspective from which it is rarely articulated. The force of gravity of our market system means that that roller coaster will drag us down. The force of human spirit means, that as we do not go gently into that good night, which the search for shareholders value has in store for many a knowledge worker in our postindustrial age.  The human spirit, even middle-aged, searches creatively for coping strategies. “No Place To Go” is a deeply true and moving story told in an original manner in soliloquy and song. It comes from the heart of New York City, post 9/11 post financial crisis. And New York City has a very human heart. 

Despite some shortcomings in the acoustics that occasionally made it difficult to follow some of the lyrics, No Place To Go, worthy winner of the OBIE award and voted Best Lounge Show In New York, is definitely worth seeing.

http://www.gatetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/no-place-to-go.aspx