Norwegian Wood, directed by An Hung Tranh based on the novel by Haruko Murakami, film (Drama/Romance), Japan, 3.75 * out of 5

The story follows the friendships and love life of its protagonist Toru Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama) as a teenager and later as a student at Tokyo University. The period of his studies falls into 1968 when as in many capitals in Europe the students in Tokyo rise up against their government and figures of authority. The student revolt however is only the backdrop to the story that concentrates on Watanabe's relationship with the women in his life. In his school days his close friends are a couple are Kizuki and Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi). They are childhood sweethearts that spend every minute of their free time together. At 17 Kizuki commits suicide for no apparent reason. As Naoko tries to get over Kizuki's death Toru and Naoko become ever closer. But Naoko finds it impossible to cope and goes to a sanatorium in the forest. Toru Watanabe meets Midori (Kiko Mizuhara) at university an outgoing self confident girl, a greater contrast to the sensitive, shy Naoko can hardly be imagined.

Norwegian Wood is an interesting beautifully photographed and directed film. Toru Watanabe is quite credible as the somewhat, withdrawn good looking student who attracts interesting women and is sexually confident in his emotionally quite taxing relationships. Excellent acting performance also from the other members of the cast.

The film is based on Haruko Murakami's 1987 cult novel of the same title. The original Japanese Title “Noruwei no Mori” would translate as Norwegian Forest. This is contrast to the meaning of Wood in the Beatles Song Norwegian Wood, which refers to furniture made of wood. The song is a favourite song of Naoko's and much of the important action in the novel plays in the beautiful forests in Japan, so the double meaning of “wood” in its title is quite appropriate.

Norwegian Wood is an interesting, challenging and beautiful film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270842/

Flare Path by Terence Rattigan, directed by Trevor Nunn at the Theatre Royal Haymarket London, 3.5* out of 5

A Lincolnshire guest house near an airfield during World War II is home to the Royal Airforce aircraft crews of whom Winston Churchill will say after the war: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” The men live their either alone or with their wives. At the centre of the play is the recently married Patricia (played by Sienna Miller). She has fled a long lasting turbulent with famous matinee idol Peter Kyle into a whirlwind marriage with a young socially awkward fighter pilot, Teddy. But Kyle and Patricia are still in love. At the same time the young aircraft pilot cannot believe his luck, that an attractive sophisticated woman like Patricia would have married him. When Kyle, aware that his status as a Hollywood actor is coming to an end, comes to the guest house to claim Patricia back she has a difficult decision to make. The stakes will transcend personal considerations. 

The guest house also houses other couples: a dare devil pilot Polish count recently married to an English barmaid and a gunner and his wife from a no nonsense, salt of the earth working class background.

The play was written in 1943 when a talented, intelligent and sympathetic observer, such as Terence Rattigan was himself part of the ground personnel of the Royal Airforce. His play is a study of the heightened emotional state brought about by a war situation. With intelligence and humour he has written a sensitive study of human character which, of course, is also a bit of a propaganda piece. Rattigan shows us how “situations make a man and not a man a situation”. For man here also read woman.

This is a play that will appeal to an English audience more than to overseas visitors, (although I would have said something similar about the recent film The King's Speech, which has struck a chord with American and other audiences, too.) As a somewhat ironic observer of English attitudes to the World Wars, I could not help being reminded of parodies of this type of piece by British comedians and sitcoms such as 'Allo 'Allo.

Given such caveats, Flare Path is worth a visit. Trevor Nunn's direction is excellent as always. There are also very good acting performances with Sheridan Smith as Doris, Countess Skriczevinsky and James Purefoy as Peter Kyle giving the strongest performances. Sienna Miller is quite credible as the attractive, cool Patricia, a lady who would make a worn out Hollywood matinee idol and a young RAF pilot with anxiety attacks lose their heads (and hearts).

The caricature-like role of the Polish Count Skriczevinsky is not an easy one to perform seriously, but Nunn would have done better to go for a Polish actor rather than rely on an unconvincing attempt of an English actor to play a Polish count.

The theatre was full and the audience very enthusiastic. On this showing This play will have a successful West End run.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flare_Path

Cabaret Russe by Amateur Theatre group Coup de Théâtre at the Café Lebewohlfabrik in Zurich, 3.75*out of 5

Cabaret Russe is a show by Coup de Théâtre, a French language amateur theatre group in Zurich. The show consists of a series of sketches and songs that celebrate Russian literature, poetry and song and their connection with France through a series of sketches and performances, in a cabaret setting.

A number of those associated with this production are friends and relatives of mine. Having declared this personal interest at the outset, I aim to make this review as unbiased as any other I have written.

While the performers and the creative team are amateurs they have brought into their midst some professional and semi-professional skills. The setting in the Lebewohlfabrik (not far from Lake Zurich in the Seefeld area) with tables and chairs takes the audience immediately into a cabaret setting and so does the polyglot master of ceremonies Jaroslav Kilian at home in French and Russian. The use of dance and projection of pre-filmed backgrounds works very well. The sketches and songs include familiar and less familiar pieces which span the period from the 19th century to today. This could have easily become a very disjointed programme; yet the production by Sylvia Radzyner and direction by Marie Noëlle Befferal ensures a natural flow from one subject to another from one time period to the next. This is helped by the inventive choreography (by Theresa d'Oliveira). The theatre company's enthusiasm shone through in the performances and infected the audience. The musical numbers are a highlight of the show with the semi professional bass-baritone Ted Kremer performing in English and Russian covering the genres of Musical (Fiddler on the Roof) and opera (Eugene Onegin). The piano accompaniment by Pavel Posdishev is of professional standard. The undisputed highlight of the show are the musical pieces performed and filled with life and grace by the Russian soprano Yelena Bulavko, whose singing and acting would not be out-of-place in any high quality professional theatre ensemble. Her performances of Russian chansons would by themselves already justify the price of the ticket.

An enjoyable evening. If you are in Zurich you could do worse than dropping in at the Café Lebewohlfabrik for a fun evening or afternoon There are two more performances on 12 March at 8 pm and on 13 March at 5pm at the Lebewohlfabrik, Fröhlichstrasse 23, 8008 Zurich.

Reservations +41 (0) 43 533 51 10

The Theatre of Life: Brüno and Galliano - Gaddafi and Sir Howard Davies

When Sacha Baron-Cohen created his fictional character Brüno, the flamboyantly gay fascista fashionista reporter on Austrian Youth TV, was he aware of any role-models he had met on the cat-walks of Milan, Paris, New York or London?

If so John Galliano, top fashion designer for Dior would qualify as a candidate for inspiring Brüno's political underpinnings, although he seems to totally lack Brüno's charm, intelligence and heart of gold. Witness Galliano's performance in a Paris Brasserie.

Here's a bit of Brüno:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsTXbOtS7Oc&NR=1

And here's a bit of Galliano:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3436757/Film-of-John-Gallianos-racist-rant-in-bar.html

So what would a PR campaigner suggest to Galliano to rehabilitate himself? A call to the Director of the London School of Economics and ex-Bank of England Deputy Governor Sir Howard Davies might be a first step.

Sir Howard Davies featured extensively as a character in David Hare's didactic play about the origins of the 2008 Banking Crisis “The Power of Yes” at the National Theatre. The play is prophetically aptly named for Sir Howard in particular, as it turns out.

http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/53565/past-nt-productions/the-power-of-yes.html

Galliano could propose to Sir Howard to fund a new LSE Research Centre on Racism and Antisemitism in the Luxury Industries. After all the LSE already has named its Sheikh Zayed Theatre Lecture Hall after a highly unsavoury character, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan. The Zayed centre at Harvard university had been closed down previously after it had come out with outrageously antisemitic and holocaust-denying publications. This however was no hindrance for the distinguished LSE committee ensuring compatibility between funding of research and maintenance of academic standards.

The LSE also provided civil rights research funded by Saif-Al Islam Gaddafi, and awarded him a PhD. Sir Howard Davies himself worked as an advisor to the (Gaddafi's) Libyan Central Bank. You can hear Howard Davies' explanation on how this happened in this BBC radio interview:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9409000/9409266.stm

More recently, the LSE has put Professor Martha Mundy and Dr. John Chalcraft, two vociferous leading members of the anti-Israel Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) campaign in charge of its Middle East Centre. The latter is vaunted as a “centre of excellence” for research on all countries in the Middle East and aims to build ties with universities there. Unfortunately, “due to an oversight”, the map of the Middle East in the Centre's brochures omits the country Israel. Whether this is just a rather extreme form of divestment or a lack of geographical research skills we may never know. Perhaps it is just a clumsy attempt to curry favour with the Middle East Centre's funders from the United Arab Emirates.

A recent report on the Middle East Centre by the organisation Student Rights, which fights extremism on UK university campuses can be found here

http://www.studentrights.org.uk/cms/rc1/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/LSE-Middle-East-Centre.pdf

So what does anti-Zionism have to do with Antisemitism, you may ask? Not much, perhaps; except in the mind and policies of LSE's Director where anti-Zionist funding from Arab sources can be balanced by funding from people “of Jewish origin”, such as George Soros. Here is an original quote from a recent interview the LSE Director gave the Times Newspaper:

“The biggest donor to the School in the past year is George Soros, who of course is of Jewish origin. We operate, I believe, a very balanced view.” 

The theatre of life. We may want to give it a miss but, whether we like it or not we're part of this production.

John Galliano

Water, created by Filter & David Farr, at the Tricycle Theatre, London, 4.5* out of 5

A young woman comes to Vancouver. She is a junior member of the British government and a negotiator on climate change. She is here to negotiate with her US counterparts a common stance on carbon emissions targets for the next major worldwide conference round. Privately the woman, who has been clear that her priority is her professional life is going through a crisis with her boyfriend, a record chasing deep sea diver. He is currently thousands of miles away from her. He has done all he can to make this relationship last and is disappointed at her reluctance to commit. She begins to question her priorities.

Also on his way to Vancouver is middle aged environmental officer from the UK. In his private life he is struggling with bouts of depression. He has come to Vancouver for the funeral of his estranged father, a professor of Oceanography at Vancouver University. He meets up with his half-brother and discovers the truth about his father.

Water is a drama about the tension of in life between private happiness, professional success and political realities. The play is very well constructed and holds the audience's attention from beginning to end. The cast is very good, but the stars of this show are the creative team particularly the sound. Water is vibrant, inventive entertaining and stimulating theatre at its best.

Among the “flood” of new plays on environmental issues currently on the London stage (e.g. Greenland, The Heretic), Water stands out for sheer quality and originality adding to the tricycle's highly deserved reputation for excellence.

http://www.tricycle.co.uk/current-programme-pages/theatre/theatre-programme-main/water/

The Heretic, Play/Comedy by Richard Bean, at the Royal Court Theatre London, 3* out of5

At some stage during this play, the daughter of “the Heretic”, a female professor of Earth Sciences at a modern Redbrick University in England, exclaims: this is like being in EastEnders (for overseas visitors to London deprived of quintessential UK TV experiences EastEnders is a long running TV soap-opera on BBC TV).

Perhaps not, but the play The Heretic is more like a light television sitcom than a play worthy of the Royal Court Theatre. Environmental issues are rather incidental to the plot. The question of what can happen to an academic whose findings do not match "group-think", is the subject of this comedy. There are death threats from extreme environmentalists and a not so gentle reminder about the funding implications for the Department from the scientist's boss.

Back to "The Heretic" proper. The first hour of is filled with very funny one liners and quite entertaining. As the play wears on, a rather thin plot is solely the vehicle for gags and one-liners. The supply of gags dries up in the second half of the play. For the last one and half hours, The Heretic turns into a romantic comedy with certain twist and turns of the plot bordering on the pathetic.

The talented cast and creative team are more than this play deserves. Having said that, a packed house applauded warmly; with part of the audience clapping enthusiastically. I guess a few good laughs are especially appreciated in these austere times.

And then there is this: sometimes the plots of comedies can be trumped by real life. The Global Governance research centre. funded by Saif-al-Islam Gaddafi at the London School of Economics might want to send its staff to The Heretic. Moreover, the Middle East Centre at the same university might wish to join them. This outfit would rather remove from their website a map of the Middle East that "erroneously" omitted the a country called Israel, than correct the error by adding Israel to their map. One must assume that this is its tactic to mollify the Emirates Foundation which funds the this research centre. Something very similar is demanded by her department head, from the scientist in The Heretic; except here it's about funding from the environmental lobby. Academic life can indeed be stranger than fiction.

I should mention that most of the reviews in the press are more enthusiastic than mine. You can read them via the link to the Royal Court Theatre's website below.

http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/the-heretic

Biutiful, Film/Drama, Mexico/Spain, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, 4.5* out of 5

Uxbal makes his living from helping to run illegal street selling and immigration in Barcelona (Spain). He has a heart for the African street sellers and the Chinese man and women living in squalid conditions whose labour he helps to sell to Spanish construction site managers. Uxbal also looks after his two children from his marriage to his estranged, bipolar wife.

A visit to his doctor brings bad news. For the sake of his children and he will have to bring some order into his life. Other people have come to rely on him, too. But terrible trials and tribulations still lie ahead.

Biutful is a deeply moving, sad, intelligent and indeed beautiful film. Xavier Bardem and Maricel Alvarez playing Uxbal's wife are outstanding. The other levers of the cast are excellent, too. The direction and photography reinforce the quality of this film.

Truly deserving of its Oscar Nomination for “Best Foreign Movie”, Biutiful is one of a group of “foreign” and art films - among them Of Gods and Men (Des Dieux et des Hommes) and Blue Valentine - which are of far higher quality than the actual nominees for Oscar-glory in 2011.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1164999/

Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre adapted by Tanya Ronder, Play, Young Vic, 4*out of 5

Vernon G. Little, aged 14, the (almost) eponymous hero of the play,based on the 2002 Booker Price winning début novel by DBC Pierre, is in trouble. His best friend just committed a massacre in his classroom and Vernon was found in the grounds of the school holding on to a bag of ammunition. He says he found this bag in the grounds of his school. The finger of the law and the media will soon resolutely point at this hapless Texas teenager, as one misfortune piles upon another.

Vernon Little is the Holden Caulfield for the 21^st century. His social context is on the intersection of Bowling for Columbine, South Park and Family Guy (see notes below). 

This play about, among other things, mass murder, suicide and serial killing is a riotously funny, serious tour de force accompanied by a cheesy live Country and Western soundtrack which the actors deliver with considerable musical skill. Young people in the audience will laugh at a cynical, crazy, all too real adult world which incorporates everything from the evil child molesting psychiatrist to the beloved but totally ineffectual mother, whose choice in men is less than fortunate. 

Meanwhile, we grumpy old adults in the audience are unable to get annoyed by how we are depicted, because we are cunningly distracted by the urge to quietly hum along to the hits of yesteryear - from Glenn Campbell's Galvistan to Johnny Cash's Rings of Fire (in Spanish for good measure).

This intelligent, irreverent and outrageous play is punchily presented in Rufus Norris' fast moving production of very high quality, inventive in many ways, for instance by conjuring up cars from sofas or shopping carts.

The ensemble of actors is outstanding. Johnnie Fiori as Pam and especially Joseph Drake in the title role deserve a special mention.

This is the play to get the age-group from 14 to 24 to love the theatre. The applause at the end of the play from an audience that included many young people was very enthusiastic - deservedly so!

Notes:

Holden Caulfield is the Teenage hero of J. D. Sallinger 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye

South Park is a North-American animated situation-comedy TV series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park

Family Guy is an animated situation-comedy television series created by Seth MacFarlane about a dysfunctional family. The characters tend to regularly break out in song.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Guy

http://www.youngvic.org/whats-on/vernon-god-little

The Human Resources Manager, Film (Israel), directed by Eran Riklis, 3.5* out of 5

A young woman is killed in a suicide bombing in Jerusalem, but for weeks nobody seems to miss her. A large Israeli bakery finds itself in the eye of a media storm when it turns out that she was part of the cleaning crew and apparently nobody at the bakery had noticed her absence.

The owner of the bakery asks the Human Resources Manager to investigate. He finds out that the young woman is a Romanian guest worker who has left her husband and child behind in her native country. In order to repair its image the owner decides that the bakery take on the mission of facilitating a funeral in the employees native Romania and assist her family there. She confides this mission to the Human Resources Manager who has family problems of his own.

The Human Resources Manager is an Israeli road-movie. As Israel is not large enough for a road-movie - you can drive end-to-end in about 3 hours - the bulk of the action takes place in Romania, which has no such limitation. The Romanian location does little to lighten what is a rather sad story. The writer of the screenplay Noah Stollman, who adapted a novel by A.B. Yehoshua, and the director Eran Riklis have managed to infuse a gentle note of humour into this film. This mainly lies in the depiction of the characters and is competently delivered by strong acting performances.

This is Riklis 3^rd major film after the Syrian Bride and the Lemon Tree and very deliberately the first one that does not look at the relations between Israelis and Arabs. The way the Human Resources Manager reacts to the bureaucratic and other obstacles put in his way and deals with having to function as an Israeli and in a way represent Israel in another culture provides a good metaphor of the disconnect between the way Israelis are, see themselves and the way they are perceived by others. In this sense, this non-political film can be seen as a bit political, too.

This is not a film of grand powerful emotions but a sympathetic portrayal of diverse, engaging characters brought into contact with each other by a sad event. They all have to deal with the absurd situation they have been thrown into by events as best they can.

It is the portrayal of the characters and our ability to identify with them, that makes going to see this film worthwhile.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1311075/

Des Hommes et des Dieux (Of Gods and Men), Film, directed by Xavier Beauvois, 4* out of 5

A group of catholic monks in Algeria enjoy very cordial relations with the local, mainly Muslim community to whom they provide important medical and social services. The monks are respectful of Islam and dedicated to working the land and living their spiritual lives. As a brutal Islamist movement encroaches on the neighbourhood of the Monastery the monks have to decide whether to leave or stay. The heavy handed suppression of terrorism by the Algerian army does not make life easier.

Based on a true story, Des Hommes et des Dieux is a great piece of individual and ensemble acting. Each one of the people in the monastery is an individual with his motivations, fears, strengths and weaknesses. The group dynamics in the discussions among them are beautifully scripted and wholly believable. None of the monks is a fanatic or a hypocrite. The last thing they seek is martyrdom.

After all the scandals of the last decade, the catholic church is in dire need of some positive role models. The Atlas Mountain religious community, skilfully depicted by writer/director Xavier Beauvais goes some way towards restoring the our belief in European and Christian values of practical tolerance and compassion.

The dialogues are very well written and the film is beautifully photographed, acted and directed. Of Gods and Men fully deserves its nominee-status for best foreign film at the 2011 Oscars.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1588337/

Black Swan, film directed by Darren Aronofsky, 4* out of 5, high quality psychological thriller

Nina (Natalie Portman) is a perfectionist ballerina in a prestigious New York ballet company. She lives with her possessive mother, who is more than committed to her daughter's dancing career. The ballet company's artistic director Tomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel)  retires his ageing prima-ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder). He now has to cast a new star-ballerina to dance two rolls in Swan Lake: the virginal, pure White Swan, and the sensuous, seductive Black Swan. Nina is ideal for the White Swan role - but will she be able to dance the Black Swan? Just as Nina thinks she has safely landed the role, Lily (Mila Kunis), a sensual new dancer appears on the scene. She definitely has what it takes to play the Black Swan.

Black Swan is a taut psychological thriller. Less of a dance film than a sort of “Gaslight” with a Swan Lake – or perhaps more accurately, “Gaslight”¹ with a twist (no dancing pun intended). The excellent direction definitely holds the viewer in constant tension and suspense. There are also some fairly steamy erotic scenes of the kind we are more used to from French productions than Hollywood. Overall, script and direction give this psychological thriller a Claude Chabrol-like quality – and a high quality at that.

Meeting on the set of “Black Swan” has led to romance for Natalie Portman and the aptly surnamed Benjamin Millepied ("millepieds" is French for "centipede"), who plays the male dancer David. He also created the choreography for the film's dance scenes. Millepied, the principal dancer of the New York City Ballet and Portman are engaged to be married. Portman is also expecting their first child.

1For the uninitiated “Gaslight” a classic 1944 film directed by George Cukor, starring Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotton and Ingrid Bergman. The plot aims to show that even paranoid people can have enemies.

Black Swan

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0947798/

Gaslight

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036855/

Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris, Royal Court Theatre, Highly Recommended

It is the late 1950ies.  A white middle class couple sells its desirable property below market value. A black couple buys it. They will be the first non-whites in the neighbourhood. The liberal white home-owners in the neigbourhood are none too pleased with their friends the sellers, and embarrassed about having to express their objections. It is 2009; a young yuppie couple has bought the same property and has plans to make extensive changes to it. The couple and its plans are not welcome by the existing home-owners in this mixed middle-class neigbourhood.

What have the efforts of the civil rights movement and others to combat racism achieved in the period from the 1950ies to 2009 ? Norris brings attitudes to race and home ownership together. He cleverly teases out ambivalence in our own attitudes; the audience is sent on an emotional roller-coaster ride of identification with the protagonists who confront each other on stage. 

We have by no means eliminated racist attitudes and probably never will, but the balance of power between black and white has changed significantly and that is clearly for the good of both. On stage in 2009, the neighbourly dispute about building restrictions leads to broader political debate. The stance taken by each party is affected, but no longer determined, by race. The same goes for the question of who has the upper hand in the combative exchanges. The outcome of civil rights struggle and social policy no doubt falls short of Martin Luther King's dream,nonetheless it is real and tangible progress. 

Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris is an intelligent, funny, cleverly constructed and fiendishly subversive American play, that makes you laugh and makes you think.  A strong ensemble cast and able direction keep the audience absorbed in the stage action.

Clybourne Park is transferring to London's  West End; Wyndham's Theatre, 28 January to 7 May 2011. Catch it there.

http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/clybourne-park-west-end

Barney's Version, Film directed by Richard Lewis, 4* out of 5, great film

Barney Panofsky is the owner manager of the film-production company “Totally Unnecessary Productions” and a regular at Grumpy's in his home-town of Montreal. Having reached his sixties he reflects on the important relationships of his life. Barney is a character; he is blunt, politically incorrect, impulsive, honest, direct, manipulative, self-centred yet lovable, tenacious in the pursuit of happiness.

Barney's important relationships are long lasting and stormy. None is stronger and more loving than the one he has with his father Izzy, a police detective, played here brilliantly by Dustin Hoffman. Izzy has a lot of Barney's qualities and character traits, but one senses that did not have the opportunities in his education and career.

The key to ensuring that Barney's tendency to extremes remains sufficiently channelled to make his tumultuous life one well lived, is the love he shares with his third wife, Miriam. Intellectually at least his equal, she demands and gives truth, honesty love and loyalty. Miriam is calm and understated where Barney is rambunctious and dramatic.

Barney's Version is very much a drama with comedic elements. Paul Giammati received a well deserved Golden Globe for his portrayal of the title role. Rosamund Pike deserves the highest accolades for a beautiful calm and controlled and highly believable performance as Barney's wife. Dustin Hoffman is brilliant, funny and lovable as Barney's dad.

Well played, scripted and directed, Barney's Version is a moving film of great quality, not to be missed.

I had the privilege of seeing Barney's Version at the Tricycle Cinema in London in an event organized jointly with the London Jewish Film Festival. The screening was followed by a Q&A session with Rosamund Pike, who played Miriam. One of Mordecai Richler's daughters was present in the audience. She told Rosamund Pike that her portrayal of Miriam, the character in Richler's novel who was based on her mother, Richler's third wife, was so authentic that the portrayal would have enchanted her father had he lived to see the film.

http://www.barneysversionthemovie.com/#/home

Woodysez – The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie, Arts Theatre London, 4* out of 5, it is great go see it

I do not usually go in for musical entertainment, but as with all my rules I make exceptions. One exception is whenever Stephen Sontheim is involved another is Woodysez, which has just begun a short run, until 2 April 2011, in London's Westend.

Wodysez tells the life story of folk-singer/poet/composer and political activist Woody Guthrie. Guthrie's struggle for the rights of deprived farmers and working-men during the Great Depression and beyond, is the stuff that legend is made of. He is a true and authentic American hero, a man who fought for labour union recognition, who remained clear-eyed and optimistic in a life full of tragedy until a debilitating hereditary disease Huntington's Corea struck him. Guthrie's poetic and musical talents are key lasting influence on the entire folk-singing movement from Pete Seeger to Bob Dylan and all the way to Bruce Springsteen.

Woodysez is a simple show, telling Woody Guthrie's life and performing many of his most famous songs. The cast consists of 4 talented and enthusiastic musicians led by the outstanding David M. Lutken who also co-wrote the show. The writers and cast are not only committed to their performance, but clearly have a lot of admiration and love for Woody Guthrie the man, his ideas and his struggle for the dignity of the American working man and woman. Guthrie's clear-sighted view of American society in the Great Depression and his enormous talent as a political songwriter and performer shine through the entire performance of Lutken and the other members of the cast, as they truly connect with their audience.

After the Saturday evening performance, the cast still had the energy for a hootenanny, an informal gathering with folk music, in the Arts Theatre Foyer Bar.  Anyone with a voice, a guitar or a fiddle was welcome to join in. To the delight of a packed swinging, singing crowd, making their request for American folk classics, quite a few talented musicians did.  

Woodysez was a hit when first performed in the UK at the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. For pure entertainment value it deserves to be sell out in London's Westend this year.

http://www.woodysez.co.uk/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOLoBK4aDQk&feature=player_embedded

Picture from the Hootenanny after the Saturday Night Performance 

Tiger Country – Hampstead Theatre written and directed by Nina Raine 3* out of 5

Tiger Country is set in a busy London NHS Hospital. It follows the professional life of doctors, consultants and surgeons who have to do their work under great pressure. How does a junior doctor cope with having to lead a first emergency at A&E? How can a doctor function emotionally when he has to make life and death decisions every day? What when illness strikes a doctor himself or his family? What compromises does a doctor have to make to advance her career?

Nina Raine's play deals with all these issues. It is well crafted and the cast gives a competent ensemble performance. Tiger Country concentrates on the professional conflicts and dilemmas of working as a doctor in an NHS hospital. That is commendable and it works quite well: the play holds the interest of the audience.

The main problem with the play is that we have seen all this in one way or another in films and numerous television series: a Wikipedia-search of the category “Medical Television Series”, for instance, yields 136 entries. A smaller problem is that the acoustics of the Hampstead Theatre are not the greatest. Having said that, it is very attractive looking theatre with comfortable seats.

In one Schultz' Peanuts comic strips, Linus remarks that there is no heavier burden than a great potential. Nina Raine, who won the Critics' Circle Award as Most Promising Young Playwright for her first play, Rabbit, can probably feel Linus' pain. Nevertheless, with the somewhat oddly named “Tiger Country” she has written a not very original, yet entertaining play. I, for one, will go and see her next play, too.

http://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/page/3031/Tiger+Country/199#-Overview

Blue Valentine (2010) Film directed by Derek Cianfrance 5* out of 5 (must see)

Blue Valentine is the story of a young couple Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams). It is told in documentary style and shows the defining scenes from a relationship and marriage that has run into difficulties. Cindy is a modern girl who does not show her feelings easily. She grows up in a home that is full of constant tension between her parents. Her grandmother is her refuge and source of advice on the important things in life. Dean is a young man, highly intelligent but without formal qualifications. He has a kind heart, which he wears on his sleeve. He is also an incurable romantic, ready to make sacrifices, particularly one's that suit him, but less ready to let Cindy forget that he made them.

We learn how Dean and Cindy meet, fall in love, decide to get married. We learn how everyday life takes its toll on two good people who love each other and their little girl. Dean does not like to admit to selfish needs, has become partial to drink and can be difficult to live with, both for his partner and for himself. Cindy, who has invested herself in a career as a doctor, has learnt not to show her feelings spontaneously. But sometimes, coping with earning money for the family, getting on in one's career, being a hard-working mother and dealing with an impulsive husband to whom she is emotionally indebted, becomes just too much. Anybody who has ever been in love and has tried to rescue a relationship, which is threatening to break apart on the frictions of every day life, will feel pangs of recognition.

Every now and again a film comes along that touches the heart and wrenches the gut. Blue Valentine is such a film. The acting performances by Ryan Gosling as Dean and Michelle Williams as Cindy are outstanding. Actors, writers and the director deserve the highest accolades. The film contains so much truth, some of it romantic, much of it painful, that it makes for utterly compulsive viewing.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1120985/

Midsummer by David Greig and Gordon McIntyre at the Tricycle Theatre London, recommended 4* out of 5 (do go see it!)

Helena is a high powered divorce lawyer having an affair with a married man. Bob is a second hand car salesman who has lost most of his poetic aspirations on the fringes of the Edinburgh underworld. Both find themselves in the same Edinburgh wine-bar/pub on Midsummer weekend.

David Greig's play with songs by Gordon McIntire is above all an intelligent drama/comedy that engages the viewer from beginning to end. The characters and the situations they find themselves in seem truthful. We can identify with them. The result is an authentic romantic drama/comedy that is not sugary. It contains appropriate strong language, the depiction of sexual activity and philosophical musings about the meaning of life at the age of 35.

The play was a hit when it premièred at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival some 2 years ago. In this production by the Traverse Theatre company, Cora Bissett and Matthew Pidgeon give outstanding performances under the excellent direction of the playwright David Greig. The audience is completely drawn into the action of the play. The music is seamlessly integrated into the play thanks to the talents of the cast.

For sheer quality and variety of the plays it has put on in 2010 and the first days of 2011 the Tricycle Theatre, celebrating its 35^th birthday this year, is hard to beat.

http://www.tricycle.co.uk/current-programme-pages/theatre/theatre-programme-main/misdummer/

Catfish, documentary film by Ariel Shulman, Yaniv Shulman and Henry Joost, recommended 4* out of 5

The documentary film Catfish follows the professional photographer of dance Yaniv Shulman from New York City, as he strikes up a Facebook friendship with an 8-year-old girl and other members of her family from a small town in Michigan. The eight-year-old sends him paintings she has made from his photos. Yaniv's brother Ariel, a documentary film maker, and their friend Henry Joost decide to make a film documenting the development of that Facebook friendship. Things get exciting when a very attractive and talented 20 year old sister of the little painter appears on the scene. Little do they know at that moment what twists and turns the relationship will take.

For the viewer there is some tension, some excitement and several surprises. A very pleasant surprise is the friendship between Yaniv, Ariel and Henry. They are articulate, perceptive and of high emotional intelligence. They also are not easily fooled. But when they begin to suspect that the Facebook family, as they call it, may not exactly be what it appears to be they try to find out more. What they find is interesting, surprising and moving.

Catfish is a fascinating documentary about human relationships and the human creativity and fantasy that can help us cope with difficult life situations. It is a skilfully made, sensitively researched documentary film, in turns funny, exciting and moving.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1584016/

Kin by E.V Crowe at the Royal Court Theatre; recommended: 4 * out of 5

Would you send your 10 year old daughter off to boarding school? After seeing E.V. Crowe's play Kin currently showing at the Royal Court Theatre you would not.

In an English boarding School 10 year old Mimi (Maya Gerber) and Janey (Madison Lygo) are seemingly best friends. Both are highly intelligent and precocious. Mimi is keen to have a role in the school play Arthur Miller's The Crucible about the Salem witch trials. Soon it is clear that the relationship between Janey and Mimi is complex and fraught. Their teacher, Mrs B, who thinks more rightly than wrongly as it turns out, that running a house of 10 year old girls is akin to being caught up in the plot of Golding's Lord of the Flies: “They are small dogs in packs or pairs, doing what small dogs do.” She suspects that Janey subjects Mimi to bullying or inappropriate sexual advances. Both offences according to the result in the offending child being thrown out of the school.

Kin tells us the story from the perspective of the children involved. The writing is outstanding as it captures tone and language in the dialogue among the children. They are quick, highly articulate and liberally use the foulest swearwords. The speed of the dialogue among the children takes some getting used to. Another strength of the play is the way it shows the relationship between the children at the boarding school and their parents through a series of telephone conversations, of which we only need to see one side to get a full picture.

The ensemble acting is of a high standard. The young protagonists played by Maya Gerber and Madison Lygo give outstanding performances in difficult roles.

The author, E V Crowe was a member of the Royal Court Young Writers Programme and has been on attachment at the Royal Court, Summer 2007 and National Theatre Studio, Summer 2010. There is not much more information available about the author, but I assume EV Crowe is a young woman.

Kin is a moving play that is well worth seeing. A rare opportunity to see the world from a child's point of view, skilfully captured with great authenticity. Most adults would feel that this is definitely not a play for children. Having said that, I saw one father bring his 10-12 year old daughter to this play.

The Royal Court deservedly receives much credit for giving very young and budding playwrights much encouragement and a strong helping hand. In Kin the audience benefits richly from this policy. I doubt whether an older playwright could have captured the voices of the children in the play with such force and authenticity.

http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/kin

Austrian/Israeli writer Doron Rabinovici reading from his acclaimed 2010 novel “Andernorts” ("Elsewhere") at the Literaturhaus in Salzburg, Austria

I am in Salzburg, the town where I was born, grew up. For my parents an unusual place to settle. Both, survivors of death camps, they found themselves in 1947 in the displaced persons camp “New Palestine” established by the allied forces in Salzburg after World War II. Most of the 10,000 people in the camp left for Israel and the USA. My parents stayed in Salzburg.

I return to Salzburg to visit good friends from my high school days. Friends from Vienna also made the 200- mile-journey to Salzburg, so we would be able to spend some time together. It did me good.

This evening, I go to see Doron Rabinovici read from his novel “Andernorts” ( translatable as “Elsewhere” but also denoting that this “elsewhere” is a particular place). I have discovered Rabinovici as a recommendation from my brother, a physician living in Zurich. There, I have heard Rabinovici deliver a talk at the ETH (The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology). The talk was on “guilt and language”. His thesis in a nutshell: good literature is a better means for exploring the complexities of events giving rise to disputes, misdemeanours and crimes than a trial in a court of law ever can. Rabinovici is a historian of note, an astute political commentator, resolutely on the intelligent left of the political spectrum. He is committed, but nuanced in analysis and judgement. Above all, Rabinovici is a writer, a talented writer of novels to boot.

Rabinovici, born in Tel Aviv of Viennese parents in the early 1960s, came to Vienna as a child in the mid 60s. He is Israeli and Austrian; he writes in German - German literature in a clear elegant prose, that is a pleasure to read. About complicated relationships and feelings, sensitive issues, stories with action, stories that move right along. “Andernorts” has been short-listed for the 2010 German Bookprize, the equivalent for German literature of the Mann-Booker Prize in the UK for Commonwealth writers.

The reading takes place in the Literaturhaus Salzburg (which was opened long after I left Salzburg after my high-school final exams). The Literaturhaus is on the Strubergasse, the street I grew up in. To get there, I walk across the railway bridge traversing the Salzach River. In my time here, the bridge was right in front of our house - and exclusively for trains. As a child, I often imagined it becoming a pedestrians bridge, saving me meters and minutes on errands. I must have been suffering from premature Taylorism. Now, in 2010, my wish has come true. A safe and comfortable pedestrian walkway has been established between two sets of rails. It will take me to the Literaturhaus. The reading by Doron Rabinovici is co-organised by the Centre for Jewish Culture at Salzburg university. This has been founded and funded recently. To me, having grown up in Salzburg in the 1960s, it's name sounds like “FIFA Ethics Commission” – the epitome of a contradiction in terms. As I reach the other side of the bridge there is a new train station for local trains. Poignantly, the next train on the modern electronic indicators is for Braunau am Inn, Adolf Hitler's birthplace. Its first syllable “Braun” was the inspiration behind the brown colour of the swastika flag and the brown shirts of the “brown-shirts”. I don't take the train. I walk five minutes further to the Literaturhaus.

“Andernorts” is a hilarious and moving account of love-hate relationships between different people living their different multiple identities in their personal, individual very human ways. Its protagonist, Ethan Rozen, is an Israeli social scientist working at a university research centre in Vienna. His fatherly mentor Dov Zedek, who had to flee Vienna in the 1930s, has just died. Rozen returns to Vienna from the funeral in Israel. He has applied for a professorship in Vienna recently and is seen as the “logical” candidate. Rozen has been asked to write an obituary for Dov Zedek for an Austrian newspaper, but has refused that assignment. On the air plane he finds that Rudi Klausinger, an Austrian, non-Jewish expert on Jewish culture has been tasked with writing the obituary instead. Klausinger's piece and the talkative passengers with whom Ethan Rozen is forced to communicate, more or less reluctantly, set in train a series of events that will affect the personal and professional lives of Ethan Rozen and other protagonists in the novel.

The human tendency to tirelessly search for cause and effect, even for supernatural influence plays a role here. Attempts are made to divide nature from nurture, to mix religion with genetics, to look for pragmatic solutions to the most tricky interpersonal problems. All this gives the novel drive impetus, absurdity and humour – the ingredients of heightened realism and insight. The differences between Vienna and Tel Aviv are skilfully presented. Which problems will be openly discussed which kept secret? How do people seek to resolve conflicts in the academic, personal and political sphere? Viennese obliquity, Tel Aviv directness – both have to be navigated by the protagonists. So does the weight of their histories. All this is serious and very funny too.

Rabinovici is a skilful reader and teller of anecdotes. When answering questions from the audience, he is modest. He listens, has an eye and ear for detail. He approaches his readers as he approaches the characters in his novel, primarily as people who are complex, who are human, in their weaknesses and strength.

A sample English translation of the turbulent first pages of his book “Andernorts” (“Elsewhere”) is provided in the second link below. Information about the author in English from his publishing house Suhrkamp and a synopsis of his book are in the first link.

I hope all of “Andernorts” will be available in English soon. When I first heard Rabinovici, I was reading this year's Mann-Booker prize winning novel “The Finkler Question”, by Howard Jacobson. To my question, Doron Rabinovici says that he was unaware of The Finkler Question. The two books deal with similar issues, are serious, moving, funny. The ideas expressed, the protagonists, the influence of place, the impact of secrets in family and friendship – the similarities and the differences between these two books are worth exploring.

http://www.suhrkamp.de/buecher/elsewhere-doron_rabinovici_42175.html?d_view=english

http://www.suhrkamp.de/download/foreign_rights/42175.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doron_Rabinovici