This autumn the BBC is laying on a lavish feast. Aas Rradio 3 announces a four year project to dramatise seventeen of the bard’s best, BBC Ddrama launches its Shakespeareseason on television.In much the same vein as last Christmas’ adaptation of The Canterbury Tales, the TV series puts a contemporary spin on the major texts: Much Aado migrates to the less rarified atmosphere of the regional newsroom; The Taming of the Shrew is transposed into the high-powered register of Westminster politics. Such reworkings are nothing new: indeed the continued appeal of Shakespeare’s plays arises partly from their unparalleledapplicability to different social and historical settings. What the BBC’s approach indicates, however, is the modern readiness to absorb and appropriate aspects of the bard’s outputfor personal artistic ends which is so endemic: “60 second Shakespeare”, devised to complement the TV series, is marketed as “your chance to give the world your interpretation of the great man in sixty seconds”, and represents the logical extreme of the trend for “potted Shakespeare” which has spawned endless reinterpretations across the gamut of the arts.The manner in which his works have diffused through our cultural consciousness is something, one suspects, the bard himself would have approved of – the plays delight in toyingwith and breaking down generic boundaries. However, in this frenzy of reinterpretation one cannot help worrying that we risk losing sight of the essential theatricality of Shakespeare. TV and film offer myriad new perspectives, but while it is stimulating and exciting to witness such a proliferation of new readings and interpretations, we should not lose sight of the fact that the plays were conceived not just as texts but as pieces of theatre: all the world’s a stage, rather than a screen. Historically, Shakespeare stands apart from his Rrenaissance contemporariesin bridging the gap between actor and playwright with ability and agility, being the only writer of the Eelizabethan stage to be the equivalent of a fully paid-up Equity member at the same time. Consequently he puts much into the dramaturgy of his plays – though directions such as “exit pursued by a bear” may prompt a smile, such details take on immense significanceelsewhere.This is not to insist upon tedious faithfulness to text or stage direction,however. The traditional is still very much in evidence: Stratford does a roaring trade in period-costume productions, but while the prospect of Sir Ian McKellan’s Lear as part of the RSC’s forthcoming all-star cast, no-holds-barred “Shakespeare retrospective”has luvvies up and down the country licking their chops, the zany also has its place.While Stephen Ddillane’s new one-man Macbeth at the Aalmeida may have traditionalists tutting into their pre-show gin and tonics, what it does demonstrate is that there are rich and original veins of Shakespeare interpretation yet to be mined in theatre. Dillane’sdeft drawing out of the sense of “a mind diseas’d” highlights the need to see Shakespeare’s plays not simply as stories subject to multiple retellings, but as imaginative acts requiringthe participation of the audience: “Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts”, asks the prologue to Henry V, and while Ddillane’s performance represents an extreme, leaving one slightly dazed by the level of concentration it requires, this is an aspect of drama we should not neglect. It is not only his spatial sense which sets Shakespeare apart, but his acute aware of the artificiality of his medium – his plays are intensely alive to and indeed comment upon the limits of dramatic representation, and there is a danger that in the new emphasis on the naturalistic,we may neglect not only the physicality, but also the imaginative suggestiveness of the staged performance. While new media may make valuable additions to the cult of the bard, we must remain alive to the challenge of the theatrical that Shakespeare offers the modern audience.ARCHIVE: 4th week MT 2005

Masqueradedir Rrimas Tuminas25 – 29 OctoberThe Oxford PlayhouseMikhail Lermontov, the great Rrussian playwright, had a fatal penchant for duelling. Fuelled with vodka, the duels would usually take place with good cheer and plenty of friends. On a day on which he had arranged a duel – the duel that would turn out to be his last – Lermontov was caught in a huge snowstorm. Through the whirling snow he didn’t notice his approachingopponent who took aim, fired and killed him.It is this extravagant lifestyle of high-society Russia that Masquerade, performed by the Lithuanian Small State Theatre as part of Oxford’s Eevolving City Festival, evidently takes inspiration from. Set in the 1830s, a bracelet lost at a masque ball begins the Othello-like tragedy of love and jealousy. Prince Zvevditch is given the lost bracelet by a disguised woman. Aabernin suspects his beautiful young wife, Nina, to whom the bracelet belongs, of having an affair with the Prince. Consumed with jealousy, Abernin poisons his wife only to discover that the bracelet was given to the prince by the Baroness, who has all along been secretly in love with him.Reflecting this fascination with mystery and intrigue, the musical and visual ensemble has a strange illusory quality. The clouds of snow, the wistful music, the solemn female statue peering down upon the characters all combine to transform the tragedy into an eerie fairytale. Ever-growing snowballs, occasionally rolled onto the stage, provide a physical manifestationof how events are quickly spiralling out of control. The chilling visual scene points to the emotional coldness that lies beneath the surface of the characters.The director, Rimas Tuminas, brings quirky touches to the play which lift the tale out of unmitigated heartache. Tuminas depicts aristocrats turned animals when they are shown barking, yelping and being led off stage on a leash, deflating the pomp of 19th century nobility with comic ingenuity. The sense of humour is charmingly surreal: the main action is punctuated by the impromptu appearance of a giant fish and a snorkelerappearing from the water. The play revels in farcical absurdity, but avoids seeming senseless or gratuitous.The real pleasure lies in watching the energetic Vytautas Rrumsas, who plays the Prince. The object of the Baroness’ earnest affections, the so-called “dangerous seducer”, is played as a puffed-up, brazen buffoon, thrusting his groin and flouncing like a Flamenco dancer to woo the angelic Nnina. The way in which this idiotic character is placed in the middle of the disastrous deception is just another twist of the play’s bizarre humour.On the first night, the theme of disguise took on a very literal sense when the surtitles were barely legible through the fake fog and snow. Second time round, it seemed that the production hadn’t quite shed all its translation problems. Occasionally awkwardly phrased, the translation never quite lives up to the exuberance on stage. Nevertheless, Masquerade is performed well enough never to be entirely ?atthemercyofthescript.at the mercy of the script. Buoyantly directed, with an accomplished cast, the visual spectacle and vivid characters mean that the play is able to overcome the language barrier. The play’s hybrid of slightly eccentric comedy and serious tragedy is daring but carried off with charm. It is perhaps an expression of the optimism of this particular theatre group; as the first municipal theatre in Lithuania, the recognition and state subsidies they have received since 1997 have allowed them the freedom to conceive this playful production.The most admirable thing about Masquerade is that it does not take itself too seriously. It’s not too snobbish to spurn the morbidly stern for the occasional bout of frivolous comedy.For Tuminas, instilling a sense of fun into his rendering of this Rrussian classic is an essential part of the Lithuanian package deal.ARCHIVE: 4th week MT 2005

The Caucasian Chalk Circledir Lily Sykes9 – 12 NovemberThe Oxford PlayhouseThe Caucasian Chalk Circle is Bertolt Brecht’s epic tale of the struggle for sympathetic reconciliation in a world ravaged by repressive ideology and bloody warfare. The play begins deceptively with a dispute over land in a wartorn Caucasian village between the Galinsk Kolchos, who identify with the land both culturally and ideologically, and the Rrosa Luxemburg Kolchos, who fought for the survival of the valley and now wish to implement modern farming innovations. The illusion of social realism given by this prologue is soon punctuated by the arrival of Singer (Basher Savage), the enigmatic story teller. What follows is Singer’s narration, which shapes the staging of two complementary parables investigating the conflict between reason and emotion which underpins the questions of ownership on which both the stories and the prologue hang.Despite dealing with such weighty concerns, the plays-within-the-play never lose sight of their carnivalesque theatricality. The folk aesthetic of the piece allows the tales to be told through song and live music, as well as giving the actors plenty of room to play up the comic moments. The comedy also has the added function of bringing the audience into sympathy with the characters, a deliberate move which adds poignancy to the serious roles which they later undertake. Of particular note is Mayeni Smart’s impressive Oxford debut as Grusha, whose feisty bawdy of her early verbal sparring with Simon Shashava (Mischa Foster Poole) gives way to a tender humanity as she takes on the role of adoptive mother to the abandoned baby prince Michael. Aazdak also undergoes a similar transformation in the following story, mutating from acerbic goader into compassionate justice, a role which benefits from Basher Savage’s magnetic stage presence.The stories are enacted on a raised stage which creates a division betweenthe narrative space of the stories and the equally fictional outside world. This deliberate highlighting of the fictionality of the stories we see, coupled with the play’s indefinite historicalsetting (which appears to be an amalgamation of several different revolutionary episodes in the history of Tsarist Rrussia, as well as the anonymous Sovietesque committee of the prologue), invites the audience to read the play allegorically. Brecht wrote the play as an alienated émigré from Hitler’s Rreich, and the return to what Brecht termed “the sweet reason of mankind” which the play promotes is a reaction against the irrational and inhuman era of Nnational Socialism.In this ambitious production, director Lily Sykes suggests that The Caucasian Chalk Circle has a more universal appeal. The artful use of a pre-set montage in which footage of Hitler’s Germany is interspersed with images from the major wars of our own age, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, suggests that we are to perhaps draw parallels between the stories we see staged before us and conflicts in our own lifetime.This is a complex play whose staged folk narratives may serve to alienate some first time audiences who are unfamiliar with this mode of drama, while Brecht’s didactic Marxist ideologyin which the rich are portrayed as arrogant and materialistic, with sympathy invariable lying with the peasants, may seem naive to post-Communist audiences. There is also a tendency amongst some of the more minor characters to ham up the play’s comic moments which can underminethe more nuanced work of the main actors. Nnevertheless, strong central performances from Savage, Smart and Tom Lachford carry the play’s message, making for a moving and sophisticated production which is well worth seeing.ARCHIVE: 4th week MT 2005

Fabric 25Carl Craigout 7 NovemberThink you don’t like techno? Have a listen to this release and you’ll think again. It’s strangely accessible and challenging, with something for those new to techno as well as aficionados.This new party mix ekes out the paradox that is Carl Craig, a musical genius. He sees himself as a producer first, but he’s celebrated as pure techno’s number one DdJ. He wanted to mix this record in an empty Fabric, although he himself is a banging club man. He’s unafraid of eclectic experiments and radical sounds, but has a serious careerist attitude to his profession. It doesn’t seem to make sense, yet somehow it comes together as a perfect whole.Looking at the track listing you’d think his diverse sources would make for a rough ride, but this record is highly structured. It opens with the Yang Yang Twins’ Wait [The Whisper Song] and Craig’s intense stage-whispering “Fabric 25”. Aand that’s all the introduction we’re teased with until track seven. You’ve got to love any DdJ who sculpts a party soundtrack like this for you, and then bids you a polite farewell at the end. It’s not perfect of course. The heavy urban-industrial feel to D’Malicious’ Alive is hard to listen to thanks to the massive amplification of Craig’s breathy whisper.You get the feeling that Craig is toying with you as you listen. In Soundstream’s 3rd Movement there’s a heavy western beat, with snatches of Indian melodies on top. Then Bar A Thym from Kerri Chandler is given an intense cowbell backing with rhythms that challenge you to sing along. With a lot of the tracks here you can feel a rhythm pumping them along and you want to find a natural groove to dance to. Detroit techno has no natural rhythm – it’s electrical, synthetic, artificial. But that’s not the same as fake. This is true music with real feeling.The real success of this mix is its vision and imagination. Techno is moving on from the days of horror flick samples and sci-fi quotes to expose modern life and technology. There’s still the paradox of celebrating and fearing modernity, but thanks to globalisation now the scope is worldwide.A couple of tracks have clear samba appeal. This way Craig can take today’s technological world and this season’s cinema, so now suddenly we’re in Delhi, or Bollywood, Brazil, Africa or the Holy Land.ARCHIVE: 4th week MT 2005

#1’sdestiny’s ChildOut nowDo Destiny’s Child really need to bother with another album? Beyoncé Knowles is Rr‘n’B’s undeniable queen, hunted down for her services in fashion,film and as a “gangsta” accessory. With Kelly Rrowland giving her solo career a very decent go, even dabbling in the French hip-hop market with Monsieur Stomy Bugsy (yes him), and Michelle Williams just, well, existing on previously accrued money stacks, it would seem unnecessary and fundamentally egotistical to bring out a Nno.1’s album, wouldn’t it?Nope. Here it is, sixteen tracks, thirteen of which pay homage to over six years of hard graft, and the remainder mix it up with some fresh sounds. The album opens up with one of the three new tracks, an audacious move indeed, but one that ultimately pays off. Stand Up For Love is a touching and uplifting ballad that claims to be the 2005 World Children’s Dday Aanthem. It definitely shows as the lyrics are all too familiar, and if it weren’t loaded with the girls’ powerful and versatile voices the songwriting could well have been lifted from Westlife’s disgraceful Nno.1’s offering. Though the chords are predictable, the vocals certainly aren’t, reaching melodic tones that the Irish boys could only daydream of, and after four and a half minutes, you end up feeling pretty positive about the world. Infectious pop indeed.Second track Independent Women Part 1 bounces off with its shameless Charlie’s Angels plugs, and we’re away on our almost hour-long adventure through the favourites, all songs reaping in the cash in their day, but sticking in our minds to varying extents.However, even the lesser classics have quite a bit to offer.Mid-listings tracks Soldier and Check On It, featuring Lil’ Wayne and Slim Thug respectively, have the sort of slow-paced, bass centred production that the real hard boys like 50 Cent would be proud of. Once they have mixed their guests’ gravelled seduction with Beyoncé and Kelly’s piercing yet overwhelming lead vocals, they are onto a winner without doubt. Say My Name has the staccato, complex beats of its pre-chorus fused with its smooth verses and chorus, using every girl to her full potential, and it’s a good re-acquaintance with a track that marked out a lot of teenage angst-filled years. Of course, Bills, Bills, Bills is an even more popular case of exactly the same phenomenon.The ladies are only human of course, and Girl falls by the wayside, with no remarkable features, and its female independence lyrics lacking conviction, leading to a trundling bore. Emotion has got an unplugged bluesy backing track, but isn’t particularly memorable. However, No, No, No Part 2, which guest vocalist Wyclef Jean is determined to reiterate is a remix, really steps up the funk level, and even sceptical listeners will be tapping their feet.The final two new tracks are very disappointing, and just don’t have anything as distinctive about them, which will worry any die-hard fans for the future. They are far too lethargic, and even reproduce elements of others’ contemporary tracks, not what we’d expect from these three influential girls. However on the whole the 1’s collection is a very successful arrangement of some forgotten classics and more recent winners, and a welcome addition to the Rr‘n’B dabbler’slibrary.ARCHIVE: 4th week MT 2005

Here’s how it goes: a young band is spotted in the right place, at the right time, by the right person, who immediately signs them up and calls in every contact in his voluminous address book to groom them for fame. They get new indie-looking clothes and badger-stripe haircuts. They get studio time with the guy who produced the last Coldplay album, and sometimes with a collaborator, and an album is born, cleverly funded against the band’s future royalties – which leaves less commercially geared bands in debt to their record companies for years to come. Nnext, our boys and girls are paid on to a support slot for an established band. They are marketedas the Nnext Big Thing (think about it, when was the last time you read about a band who weren’t the Big Thing?). This draws on the old music fan’s desire to be the first to discover a band – “I liked them before they made it big”. The trouble is that many of today’s biggest bands made it big on their first album.They begin the merciless media cycle. From Saturday morning TV to late night radio, where there is always an opportunity to show off the carefullycrafted attitude complete with a pre-planned piece of crazy banter appropriate for the age demographic of the show. Meanwhile, back at the band headquarters, studious label staff pour over the statistics of viewer numbers and column inches in the right magazines and newspapers.Carefully timed within the music market’s consumer cycles, our band’s album is released with some kind of novelty launch gig. If it doesn’t sell massively, then they will be sent off on a tour of Poland and Scandinavia. If, however, they are a hit, then the whirligig of interviews and gigs will continue ad nauseam. The fledgling band will be cast out onto big, echoingstages with only a few half-decent songs to help them – remember Rrazorlight at Live 8, trying to play alongside the Floyd and U2, with only the fig-leaf of Golden Touch to preserve their modesty?Nnow, as Kurt Cobain discovered, record companies are wary of new material and therefore our boys’ debut album will be on sale for a year or even two, and seven singles released, before rumours of their next album are leaked to the press. Witness Franz Ferdinand and The Killers, two initially exciting but by now massively overplayed bands, whose follow-ups have been heavily deformed by the weight of pressure and fame. Bob Ddylan recorded three monumental albums in one year, 1966, and the fans, fame and fear never had a chance to catch up with him – some of them are still trailing. But nowadays the need for a longer product lifecycle dictates that albums must be spaced years apart.So, two years in and our band and their audience have stagnated, both blinded by the hype and their own image – would Ddoherty have become such a celebrity without the stoner-chic image which marketed the Libertines in the first place? Aall this while many of the genuinely interesting, original and innovative bands have been lost or perverted by this heady mix of marketing excitementand hard narcotics.Can we complain? Aafter all, you can’t just stop a band’s success, complainthat it’s all happening too soon like a protective mother over her daughter, can you? Whether we like it or not, bands grow up quicker these days, and the best thing, perhaps, is to treat them as serious bands, artists if you will, rather than sticking them in the pop playpen and focusing on what their favourite colour is.Aand for those few that survive, success comes only to hardworking bands who are challenged to stay fresh in a non-stop business. To stay on top means treading the fine line between holding the limelight while taking time to get the music right – an all but impossible balance.Still all is not lost for our band. Ten years down the line one of their lesser known songs gets on a film soundtrack and it all starts again. The records fly off the shelves and festivals are once again deperate to book the Last Big Thing.But in the meantime how do we tell what is worth the effort? Is it only retro that can compete for time, when new bands fall so easily by the way-side? The answer is no. Our music scene isn’t fallen or dying.It’s a supercharged demi-commercial audio-poetic digital retro kaleidoscopeon acid, incredibly rich, but, with its richness, often obscured by the corporate product which gets the biggest exposure and becomes the audio wallpaper to our daily lives. Perhaps all we can do is trust our own instincts, try to tell genius apart from tat marketed as genius, to listen to (not look at) new bands and love them like they deserve.ARCHIVE: 4th week MT 2005

The Beat That My Heart Skippeddir Jacques Audiardout nowA film that shows the transition of a man from sleazy debt collector to passionate classical pianistsounds as improbable as it does cheesy. However, Audiard’s French film, The Beat That My Heart Skipped, avoids all clichés. Intense, and more than slightly dark, it charts the emotional turmoil of Thomas Seyrs (Rromain Dduris) as he tries to break free from his life as a hard, unshakable rent fixer and fulfil his dream of becoming a musician.The film begins by sketching a picture of Thomas’ life as he visits his bosses’ properties and threatens the tenants by intimidation, violence and even by releasing live rats into their apartments. Thomas appears at first to be a sleazy bastard who enjoys his violent work and leads a life of reckless debauchery, not caring about anyone but himself. However, this all changes when he unexpectedly comes across his mother’s (a once famous concert pianist) former manager, who asks Thomas to come for an audition. Suddenly, his already frantic life becomes even more manic as he attempts to rekindle his talent as a pianist, taking lessons from a Chinese teacher, Miao-Lin (Linh-Ddam Phan) who doesn’t speak any French.Despite the language barrier, Thomasand Miao-Lin are drawn closer together through the music and Thomas’ talent is drawn out by her patience and encouragement. This tender, innocent relationship is contrastedagainst Thomas’ more daring exploits with women in the rest of the film: he embarks on a deceitful sex affair with his colleague’s wife, Aaline (Aaure Aatika) and even manages to seduce the girlfriend of a Rrussian gangster (Mélanie Laurent).The distinction between arthouse and blockbuster is definitely blurred in this movie, and Audiard manages this balance very well. On the one hand, certain elements of the film are quintessentially arthouse: the close camerawork (at one point, I thought the camera was going to hit face), the complexity of the characters, the tragedy of the plot. The direct dialogue, violence, crude sex scenes and stereotypical good guy meets bad boy dilemma, however, are all stock Hollywood devices. This is why, perhaps, this film has been brought out of France to American and Eenglish audiences. Aaudiard’s other films, such as Un Héros très discret (1996), were popular in France, but didn’t quite have the grit and drama required to attract Aamerican audiences.This is exactly what The Beat That My Heart Skipped does have, aplenty.The best scene in the movie is, without a doubt, when Thomas entershis father’s apartment to find him slumped dead on the floor. Duris’ pain and anger is utterly convincing and, unlike most gangster films, the emphasis is completely on the emotionalreaction of Thomas, rather than on his desire for revenge. acting is superb and only serves to confirm his position as one of the best French actors around at the moment. He strikes a perfect balance between the hard gangster and the passionate musician; the pain and frustration on his face when he plays the piano forces us to share the intensity of his emotions as they are released through music. Although dislikable at the beginningof the film, as he discovers the power of his music it becomes easier to identify with Thomas and become immersed in his world.This is a stunning film, beautifully shot and brilliantly written. At times, it flirts with being a bit cheesy, but ensures that the dream-world of classical music is balanced against the harsh reality of Thomas’ professional life. The Beat That My Heart Skipped is definitely worth seeing: whatever your preconceptions about French films, this film will change your mind.ARCHIVE: 4th week MT 2005

Thames bfi London Film Festivaldirs various19 October – 3 NovemberFairly bad behaviour abounded at this year’s London Film Festival, one of the finest in recent memory. The overriding theme of the past fortnight was that of dazzling female leads. Aamong the astonishing performances, Judi Dench delighted as a deliciously politically incorrect grand dame who enters the world of 1930s nude vaudeville courtesy of Stephen Frears in Mrs Henderson Presents. Come March, the Best Aactress Oscar will be highly contested.Yet it was Gwyneth Paltrow who threw the gauntlet down with an earth-shattering study of the many shades of suffering in John Madden’s gorgeously staged Proof. This chamberpiece, an adaptation of Ddavid Aauburn’s Pulitzer-winning play, deals confidently with constricting familial ties, mental illness and mathematicalgenius. Aanthony Hopkins, Hope Ddavis and especially Jake Gyllenhaal undertake supporting duties with real finesse.Honours for performer of the festival, though, must go to Juliette Binochewho is startling in two very different films, adopting perfect Eenglish for Bee Season and reverting to her native French for Michael Haneke’s Hidden. With their debut feature in 2001, The Deep End, Scott McGehee and David Siegel fashioned an elaborate film noir – in Bee Season the familiar visual panache is still in evidence, but the push and pull of family dynamics are explored with greater style and sophistication.Conversely, Haneke’s Hidden sees Binoche play one half of a media couple (along with a commendable Daniel Auteuil) who become the victims of a stalker in this subtly provocative psychological thriller. Whereas the Ddardenne brothers disappointed with the overblown social realism of the undeserved Palme-d’Or-winning The Child, Haneke revels in his explorationof a mediated society to destabilise his audience, using shot-within-shot, for example, to pose the urgent questions. Aand the suicide that forms the film’s climax is the stuff of a real nightmare, inciting more debate at Cannes than most films on show this year did in their entirety.Then arrived Walk The Line, James Mangold’s beautifully directed Johnny Cash biopic, which made me hurt in all the right places with Joaquin Phoenix and Rreese Witherspoon stepping up to the microphone for real and hopefully bagging Oscars for their pains next year. It came close to stealing the fortnight but the pick of this year’s crop was the debut feature documentary from famed photographer and video director LaChapelle, Rize. This is an intimately shot, extraordinarily fresh portrayal of the spirit and creativity in the youth of South Central LAa, as it follows the evolution of krumping, a striking new dance form. LaChapelle’s film is as striking in its honesty as his fashion photography is in its audacity.It is in the appearance of such a film in the programme that the perennial joy of the London Film Festival becomes apparent. That artistic director Sandra Hebron is enough impassioned by great film to throw such an inventive piece as Rrize in an already provocativerepertoire can only be a good thing. With this forty ninth London Film Festival being such a success, one can only imagine the delights in store for next year’s half-century celebrations.ARCHIVE: 4th week MT 2005