COVID 19 Friday Five: Even More ISO TV

I would watch Keeley Hawes in anything; so would Richard Madden in Bodyguard

As we have continued our strange year, I have been watching TV series in groups; trying to mix up the comedy, tragedy, period drama and police procedural. This is a snapshot of some of that.

5 TV Shows Recently Watched:

1. Bodyguard (7plus) - I think Keeley Hawes is excellent and will happily watch her in anything from Life on Mars or Line of Duty to The Missing or The Durrells, so when I saw she had a starring role in a British police political thriller, I wasn't going to miss it. The Jed Mercurio-written drama has garnered rave reviews and high ratings from critics and viewers alike. Hawes is Julia Montague, the Home Secretary battling corrupt politicians, international terrorism and secret schemes to overthrow the government. Richard Madden is David Budd, the special protection officer who is charged with keeping her safe, but he has issues of his own, including PTSD from Afghanistan, burning resentment and a tendency towards anger. Nothing is as apparent as it seems, and story arcs are not always concluded in conventional ways - sometimes irritatingly so - but it is both bright and dark, and ultimately binge-worthy.
2. Dracula (BBC One and Netflix) - sexy and hysterical; the three-part series is as if three different script-writers and directors had a go at bringing together a story. In truth, the drama-horror series was developed and written by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, but there is indeed a different director for each installment (Jonny Campbell; Damon Thomas; Paul McGuigan). We follow Dracula (Claes Bang) from his origins in Eastern Europe to his battles with Van Helsing (Dolly Wells) and her descendants. It's all slick and sensual, but the middle episode, confined to a boat with a claustrophobic sense of impending doom and psychological terror, is my clear favourite.
3. Sex Education (Netflix) - We binged two whole seasons of this show one wet weekend, and I'm still trying to work out why I was so invested in watching a series about teenagers and their hormones. Forays into adulthood are fraught with angst and we all remember our own with less than fondness, so to watch others deal with feelings, emotions and sexual expectations is probably better than having to relive our own experiences. Asa Butterfield stars as an insecure young lad at a highly progressive high school doling out advice he has gleaned from his sex therapist mother, Gillian Anderson, who has her own unresolved relationship conflicts. Although it is a British series (created by Laurie Nunn; a variety of British accents; filmed in Wales), the aesthetic is highly mixed with an American-style high school and education system, but beautiful British scenery and sensitivity. The time period in which it is set is also deliberately disorientating with many modern references, but fashion, decor and bicycles from the 80s. It's an intriguing and generous mash-up; sort of like The Breakfast Club meets Gregory's Girl. Strangely recommended.



Michael Sheen and David Tennant in the lockdown drama for our times



4. Staged (ABC iview) - And now, for our times, this is a lock-down comedy about actors who desperately want to act, but the theatres are closed, so they take out their frustrations and their theatrical rivalries over Zoom meetings. David Tennant and Michael Sheen play hyper-real versions of themselves which are equally irritating and fabulous. The six episodes are only fifteen minutes long (the perfect length for a Zoom call) and prove that you can pack a lot in if you know what you are doing. The pair were due to star in a production of Six Characters in Search of an Author on the West End but the pandemic has put paid to that. Not wanting to let this opportunity slip through his fingers, their director Simon Evans (who also wrote the script) attempts to get them to rehearse over the internet, if only they can overcome their distractions, boredom and egos to read the first scene. There are some brilliant cameo appearances from Samuel L. Jackson, Nina Sosanya, Adrian Lester and Dame Judi Dench, and evidence-based research (Him Outdoors and me) proves this is entertaining fare for theatre and non-theatre types alike.
5.  Vanity Fair (BBC First) - I love the novel; I love the character of Becky Sharp; and I love this adaptation by writer Gwyneth Hughes. Olivia Cooke is bold and beguiling (unlike many insipid heroines of period drama) and all her relationships, with Amelia (Claudia Jessie), Jos (David Fynn), George (Charlie Rowe), Rawdon (Tom Bateman), Martha (Sian Clifford), Sir Pitt (Martin Clunes), and Aunt Matilda (Frances de la Tour) are honest and brilliantly played. It's colourful and gaudy and breathtakingly bedazzling. The fact that each episode is opened by a top-hatted Michael Palin orchestrating the carousel at the titular carnival can't do any harm either.

Olivia Cooke is brilliant as Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair

Friday Five: Five (More) Theatre Outings

I have been on more theatrical excursions of late, so here is a brief summary of some of the shows I have seen:

Dracula by shake & stir theatre co

1. Hamlet at The Phoenix - advertised as 'A staged reading of an edited Hamlet by William Shakespeare', this is Cameron Thomas and a group of his mates reading sections of an extremely abridged Hamlet in a pub. As one would expect, there are drinks between acts, which means things get a little loose towards the end, but as the audience do too and pretty much everyone dies anyway (you can't possibly call that a spoiler!), it seems to fit the theme. Some of the actors are much better than others (inasmuch as some of them can actually act), and some sound like they are reading it for the first time - which, they might well be, as rumour has it that someone pulled out on the day of the performance. Live music from Cameron Ewens on keyboard throughout keeps things moving along nicely, and the actors swap characters along with their hats, which provides some humorous moments. There isn't a lot of depth or complexity (Fortinbras and the notion of restoration of order to Denmark is entirely absent) but it is fun and fast and not at all furious.
2. Dracula produced by shake & stir theatre co. at The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre - Shake and Stir once again bring sumptuous production values to the stage. The design and technical elements are faultless with a multipurpose revolving set and truly atmospheric sound and lighting. The adaptation honours the original book, eschewing some of the more schlocky aspects of later incarnations. While the darkness is ever-present, however, the fear and tension is absent, which may be because Old Creepy Dracula (Nick Skubij) seemed to morph into The Terminator, and I kept expecting him to say, "I'll be back."
3. The Iliad Out Loud & Abridged at The Street - Three people (William Zappa; Nick Byrne; Chrissie Shaw) read an adapted version (by William Zappa) of Homer's Iliad over the space of nine hours (that's three hours a night). They don't interact with each other or the audience, and harangue us with details of ships and battles, misogynistic Gods and rampant masculinity, while percussionist Gary France hits things in the background. They all have beautiful voices and bring out the poetry of the repetitious language, which was always meant to be spoken aloud rather than read in isolation. There is a strong appeal to school groups and university scholars, of which there are probably many in Canberra, who want to feel worthy. This is theatre for radio; best listened to while doing chores about the house.
4. The Play That Goes Wrong produced by Lunchbox Theatrical Productions Pty Ltd at The Canberra Theatre Centre - The fast-paced, critically well-timed production provides a really enjoyable night out. There are laughs a-plenty in the first act, which feels like comedy; fewer in the second, which feels like farce. Strangely enough, I've never enjoyed watching women trying to upstage each other while fighting in their underwear (it's just not funny, although many men seem to think so), but the stage crew logistics were superb, and the risk-assessment necessary is mind-blowing. The acting is all highly-stylised and unsubtle (co-writer Henry Lewis credits The Art of Coarse Acting, Monty Python and Laurel and Hardy, so that's hardly a surprise) and the story (of who murdered whom and why) becomes increasingly irrelevant as theatre tropes come flying from all directions, along with the props and set itself. 
5. A View from the Bridge produced by Canberra Repertory Society at Theatre 3 - Director Chris Baldock gives Arthur Miller's classic the 'bigger-than-Ben-Hur' treatment with a set that upstages itself, built from pallets and netting to represent the wharves where Eddie works. It is superbly lit and dominates the action (too much in places, where more intimacy would be welcome) but is awkward at times with actors struggling up and down gangplanks and crashing through flimsy wood in an alarming manner. The young leads are excellent and the relationships between the immigrant Italian bothers Rodolpho (Alexander Chubb) and Marco (Chris Zuber) are compelling and affecting. As Catherine, Karina Hudson is delightfully fresh and conflicted as she struggles to understand her uncle and aunt, and their attitudes to her burgeoning maturity. Less impressive is the central relationship between Eddie (Knox Peden) and Beatrice (Karen Vickery), which is too combative and lacks any hint of the warmth and affection Beatrice claims to miss. Nuances of text and movement are swamped by over-gesticulations, shouting and the chorus of (largely ineffective) actors who remain on stage throughout, patronising the audience's intelligence by miming the action. The production is bold, brave and bombastic, but bigger isn't always better. 

The Play That Goes Wrong by Lunchbox Theatrical Productions