Theatre - Journey's End - The Lowry

Star rating - 7/10

Seeing a play about the horrors of the trenches during the First World War should have had a particular poignancy on the day before the 11^th of November, and in many ways it did, but this particular performance suffered so much from the audience reaction to it that it was all a bit spoilt.

This was nothing to do with the actual performance; it was entirely due to the Lowry being full of literally coach loads of teenagers on school trips. I don’t want to sound churlish, and I am all for people of all ages enjoying the theatre as much as I do, but I have never experienced so much coughing, rustling of sweet papers, playing on mobile phones, back ground chatter, and – worst of all – laughing throughout the play in totally inappropriate places. Full marks to the actors for playing on despite the distractions.

Now to the actual play – this is a moving and harrowing story which is on its national tour after a successful West End run. The author, D. C. Sherrif based it on his own experiences, and it is all the more realistic for that. It is the story of fresh faced Lieutenant Raleigh, who arrives in France straight from school, and is thrilled to find that the company captain is his older school friend Captain Stanhope. But war has changed his old friend considerably, not least by his new reliance on copious amounts of whiskey to get him through each day. James Norton as Stanhope and Graham Butler as his young devotee are very well played.

Some of the boredom of the long hours spent waiting for something to happen is transmitted well, although in truth perhaps the play could have had the same effect and been slightly shorter. But the small details of the terrible experience lighten the hours, such as the terrible food, served up with great care by their cook. The noise of the battle, when it comes, is terrific. And the great staging transmits something of the claustrophobia the men must have felt, like foxes in holes.

So it was a great play, with a poignant ending, which is inevitably heart wrenching, despite the unruly audience. To be fair, and oddly, the teenagers whooped with joy at the end of it, despite their seeming unappreciation all the way through. It’s a very sobering thought that many of them are the same age as the young men who were sent, and many of whom volunteered, to fight and die in the Great War.

Film - Weekend directed by Andrew Haigh

Star rating – 9/10

This beautiful, tender, and moving film by director Andrew Haigh will probably be billed as a gay Brief Encounter, and yes it sort of is that, but it is so much more besides. It would be more accurate to say it is the story of a romance that develops over a single weekend between two people, who happen to be gay men.

It is beautifully acted by the two leads, Tom Cullen and Chris New. New was last seen very recently in the title role of the Royal Exchange’s great production of Edward II, and here he shows that he is just as impressive on the screen as he was on the stage. The dialogue between the two men seems very natural, and although they are obviously following a script, it doesn’t feel like that for a second.

Their love story begins when Russell (Cullen) , who is single, and seems fairly happy with it, leaves the house of his straight friends early during a party, and goes to a gay bar in the centre of Nottingham instead. He finds himself back in his flat the next morning with Glen (New). And they find what was assumed to be a one night stand developing slowly into the promise of something much more.

Homophobia is not made a big issue in this film, but is not ignored either, with a couple of minor incidents just treated as part of the context for the story. The relationship is not over done in any sense, and the interaction between the men is simple and touching. There is a wonderful scene where Russell, who likes old things to fill his 14^th floor tower block home, tells Glen gently why he loves the fact that his old second hand flowery, chintzy mug is special to him.

All in all, this is just a beautiful and moving love story about two people who find each other and both feel, whether they say it or not – that it could be much more. It has a haunting soundtrack too, including a few songs by John Grant, whose ‘I Wanna Go To Marz’ over the final credits stays with you for ages, as does the whole film itself.

Film - The Ides of March - directed by George Clooney

Star rating – 8/10

Ryan Gosling is smoking hot right now – he lights up any and every film he is in and is a sure fire box office talisman. But when you are delving into the realms of dramatising American presidential politics, there is really only one winner, and that is not director and star of ‘The Ides of March’, George Clooney, it is Aaron Sorkin, writer of arguably (and I would) the smartest, most brilliant TV series ever, ‘The West Wing’.

That feels a bit unfair, as Clooney has given us a great film here, and lifts the lid (again) on the total lack of scruples of just about anyone involved in any way in a US presidential campaign. He plays presidential hopeful, Democrat candidate Mike Morris, as the primaries take place to decide on their candidate for the White House. And Clooney is very presidential; with his trademark style and smoothness he is a shoe in for the role.

But the real star of the film is Gosling, who plays a young ambitious but morally upright and loyal party aide, Stephen Meyers, who is glad to be working on the presidential campaign of a candidate he can truly believe in. The story is all about Meyers, and how he is manipulated into a compromising position, but how he in turn uses attractive young intern Molly, played by Evan Rachel Wood, when he cannot resist the temptation she brings. He ends up being just as bad as all the rest, as he fights dirty when backed into a corner. Gosling is wonderful to watch, playing tender, playful, intelligent, mean, and ruthless with equal conviction. Something biblical about gaining the world and losing your soul came to mind.

But the reason why I wasn’t blown away with the film overall, despite its stellar cast including Paul Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman, is that I missed that whip smart dialogue and fast plotting that Sorkin brought to us with the West Wing’s Bartlett presidency, and which I still miss now. This just felt a little slow and laboured at times by comparison. Must dig out those box sets again soon...

Books - Charles Dickens - A Life by Claire Tomalin

Star rating – 9/10

There is a definite skill to writing a great biography, and Claire Tomalin proves again with her latest work on the life of Charles Dickens that she has it in spades. Her books are always packed with meticulously researched detail, a genuine appreciation of her subjects and their lives, and above all are riveting reads.

Charles Dickens was possibly the most famous man of his age, and is still certainly one of our best loved and prolific enduring writers. Tomalin uncovers many fascinating aspects of his life with a sympathetic and affectionate eye, whilst not trying to cover up or excuse his many failings along the way. Chief of these has got to be the treatment he cruelly gave to his loyal wife Catherine, whom he was married to whilst still a young man, who bore him an energy sapping ten children and suffered many more heartbreaking miscarriages along the way. And when Dickens had grown tired of her and wanted to pursue a new, albeit secret, relationship with a young actress, Nellie Ternan, he was scathing and false in public about his wife’s part in their failed relationship. He does not seem to have paid much heed to Catherine or to many of the children, regarding some of them as surplus to requirements. And to add to Catherine’s misery, her own sister chose to stay living with Dickens after they parted rather than siding with her.

His affair with Nellie has been covered by Tomalin in great and painstaking detail by Tomalin in ‘The Invisible Woman’ and she does not go over all that old ground in as much detail here. Instead we get glimpses of the relationship that Dickens held most dear for the longest time, that of his deep friendship with John Forster. Dickens was an arrogant and vain man at his worst, and Forster seems to have been one of the very few people who were allowed to be honest with him about his own behaviour.

And quite how Dickens managed to write quite so many fabulous novels is enough to make you dizzy, as he had to fit the monthly or weekly instalments in which they were published into his hectic schedule including speaking tours at home and abroad; acting; contributing to and editing his own magazine; his family ties; and almost obsessive walking around and between his beloved Kent and London. Tomalin gives a great summary of each novel, woven in with the details of Dickens manic and fabulously successful life. She is honest about some of the failings of his stories, as well as making you want to read the most celebrated ones all over again. And this book reminds us that he wrote all his novels in instalments, week by week or month by month, and so could change the course of his stories according to the reaction of his devoted readership.

Dickens was obviously the kind of person who lit up a room, and who revelled in the limelight. But the book reveals some very odd traits in his character, like the yearlong ‘therapy’ he gave to the wife of a French banker, Augusta De La Rue, who was suffering from a mysterious nervous disorder. Dickens was not particularly qualified for the role, but he undertook to treat her nevertheless, and used mesmerism to help her to face whatever demons were haunting her.

His sense of social conscience and liberal reform, which is so clear in his fiction, was also present in his actions, as he devoted much time and energy to, for instance, a home for prostitutes to escape their profession. Tomalin succeeds in bringing the story and times of Dickens to life wonderfully on the page. This is a fabulous book, and well worth all the effort that she must surely have put in to create it.

Exhibitions - William Morris:Story, Memory, Myth - Two Temple Place

Star rating – 10/10

Every once in a while you stumble cross a hidden gem that is an absolute joy to behold, and such a small but perfectly formed building has been hiding away in the heart of London near the Thames’ Victoria Embankment for over a century.

Two Temple Place is a small gothic mansion built by rich American business William Waldorf Astor, later Viscount Astor, as his English pied-à-terre in 1895. Designed by architect John Loughborough Pearson, it oozes wealth and opulence. Astor filled its small but delightful spaces with his sense of fun and his literary favourites. The Three Musketeers adorn the exquisite mahogany staircase, and characters from Shakespeare and Arthurian legend decorate the rooms. It is absolutely breathtaking.

Astor used it until his death in 1920, when it was sold, badly damaged in the Second World War, then restored and used as offices. The Bulldog Trust acquired it and have until now used it exclusively to hold private functions as a way of raising money to enable its doors to be opened again to the public.

It is currently hosting a great exhibition by William Morris, who had nothing to do with the venue, and as a socialist would probably have hated all it stood for. But his beautiful and intricate prints and designs look wonderful in this setting. As well as works by Morris there are Pre Raphaelite treasures by such as Rossetti; and beautiful illustrations by Edward Burne-Jones.

Two Temple Place is stunning - and free – so unless you work in a firm rich enough to hold your annual Christmas Party there – get yourself down there and enjoy its unique appeal while you can.